JP3430395B2 - refrigerator - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In a refrigerator having a pair of double doors, the pillar for receiving the swinging front end of the door is omitted, and the gap between the adjacent doors is sealed by a seal provided on each door. There is a form to stop. The present invention relates to a refrigerator in which a pillar of this kind is omitted.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As such a refrigerator door seal structure,
Many proposals have been made that utilize the attractive force of a magnet, and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-72650 is an example thereof. There, a vertically long seal frame is fixed to each of the inner surfaces of the vibrating tips of adjacent doors, one side of the seal frame is fitted with a rubber seal strip, and the other seal frame is made of steel plate. A suction plate is attached. Heaters are arranged on both sides of the suction plate. On the door outer surface side of the sealing surface between the sealing strip and the suction plate, rib-shaped sealing walls that closely adhere to the inside and outside when the door is closed are provided so as to protrude from each sealing frame.
These seal walls cooperate with the above-mentioned sealing strip and the suction plate to seal the gap between the doors in the inner and outer sides. In addition, a locking claw that holds the door in a closed state is projected from the upper end of each seal frame, and the locking claw is elastically engaged with a socket fixed to the ceiling wall in the refrigerator to allow one of When the door is opened, the other door is connected to prevent the door from swinging open.

[0003]

As described above, according to the door seal structure in which the seal strip in which the magnet is buried is attached only to one seal frame, the seal strip itself can be elastically deformed inward and outward. Therefore, when both doors are closed, the magnet and the attraction plate may be attracted in a state of being displaced inward and outward, and the magnet and the attraction plate may not be able to face each other in an appropriate attraction posture. For example, the inner and outer edges of the magnet may be magnetically attracted to the attraction plate, and the sealing strip may be flexed and deformed inward and outward. In such a state, since the joint width between the magnet and the attraction plate in the inner and outer directions becomes small, the cold air in the refrigerator easily leaks. Further, when the door is opened, the adhering plate and the front and rear edges of the magnet are rubbed against each other until their front and rear edges are completely separated from each other, so that they are easily worn out early.

Since the latching claw provided on the seal frame is press-fitted and engaged with the socket to maintain the door closed state, the latching claw is worn during long-term use and the engagement force with the socket is gradually reduced. It is unavoidable that the closing retention force of is reduced. In the worst case, when one of the doors is opened and operated, the other door must be held and held unopenable.

An object of the present invention is to incorporate a magnet into each of a pair of sealing strips and limit the area where the two magnets attract each other within a narrow range, so that the opposing sealing strips can be placed inside and outside. Prevents them from sticking in a misaligned state,
The purpose is to ensure proper bonding at all times, thereby ensuring a more airtight seal between the doors. Another object of the present invention is to speed up the separation of the pair of magnets to prevent the sealing strips from rubbing against each other when the door is opened, thereby improving the durability of the sealing strips. Still another object of the present invention is to obtain a refrigerator provided with a door catch that can securely hold each door even during long-term use.

[0006]

The refrigerator of the present invention is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3, it has a pair of doors 3 for swinging and opening and closing the doorway 2, and a swinging tip of both doors 3 is provided with a door seal structure for sealing a gap between the doors. Paragraphs 5 are provided along the four edges of the inner surface of each door 3, and a door packing 4 containing a magnet 7 is attached to an inner edge wall 6 of the paragraph 5 which is parallel to the outer wall of the door. The door seal structure has a vertically long seal frame 9 that covers the outer surface of the paragraph 5 in a state of including the door packing 4 of each door 3, and the seal frame 9 is provided with a first seal 10 and a second seal 11. Has been. The seal frame 9 is a frame side wall 13 attached to the door 3.
And a hollow inner frame 14 made of plastic. The first seal 10 has a frame side wall 13 as shown in FIG.
The seal strip 27 made of an elastic hollow strip provided with a plurality of supporting legs 53 and 54 that can be fitted and attached to the seal strip 27 and the magnet 51 embedded along the vertical direction of the protruding end of the seal strip 27. Consists of. The second seal 11 is formed of an elastically deformable flat plate-like lip 23 that is superposed and closely adhered inside and outside when the door is closed, and is provided vertically along the frame side wall 13. In the state where the pair of doors 3 are closed, the polarities of the magnets 51 attracting each other are buried in opposite directions in the inner and outer directions.

Specifically, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, each door 3 is held in a closed state between the cap 35 that closes the upper end of the seal frame 9 and the ceiling wall inside the cabinet facing the doorway 2. A door catch 40 is provided. The door catch 40 includes a magnet catch 44 and a magnetic attraction plate 41, and the magnet catch 44 and the attraction plate 41 are provided on the cap 35 and the ceiling wall in the refrigerator, respectively.

On the inner surface of the seal frame 9 facing the door packing 4, a dew condensation preventing heater unit 12 is inserted and loaded. As shown in FIG. 3, the heater unit 12 is composed of a vertically long base 31 formed of a strip-shaped magnetic metal plate and a heating element 32 mounted on the base 31. Inside the seal frame 9, a pair of guide grooves 21 for inserting and loading the base 31 and a duct 16 for accommodating a power supply line 33 to the heating element 32 are provided. The door packing 4 vertically passing through the inside of the seal frame 9 adheres to the base 31 via the magnet 7 by a magnetic attraction force.

[0009]

The effect of the present invention is that the seal frame 9 is arranged at the swinging end of each door 3, and the seal strips 27 in which the magnets 51 are embedded are attached to the facing surfaces of both seal frames 9, respectively.
Since the polarity of is set to the opposite direction inside and outside, both magnets 5
The area where the ones stick to each other can be limited to a narrow range, whereby the opposing sealing strips 27 can always be properly and closely joined. That is, it is possible to prevent the pair of sealing strips 27 from being joined to each other while being displaced inward and outward. When one of the magnets 51 and 51 exceeds the central portion in the width direction of the other magnet 51 when the one door 3 is opened, both magnets 51 and 51 repel each other, so that the seal strips 27 are separated from each other quickly. Therefore, the rubbing of the sealing strip 27 can be suppressed accordingly. This can improve the durability of the sealing strip 27.

The door catch 40 is replaced by the magnetic catch 4
4 and the magnetic attraction plate 41, and holds each door 3 in a closed state by a magnetic attraction force, the door holding member is not worn or damaged even during long-term use, and the door holding force is stable. Can be demonstrated. Therefore, the door 3 can always be reliably kept in the closed state unless the user has a clear intention.

Since the seal frame 9 is formed in the shape of a hollow frame and the heater unit 12 and the power supply line 33 are arranged by utilizing the inner space thereof, the assembly of the heater unit 12 can be facilitated. Particularly, the base 31 and the heating element 32 attached to the base 31
Heater unit 12 configured as a unit part with
Can be easily assembled by simply inserting the base 31 into the guide groove 21 provided in the seal frame 9 and loading.
If the first seal 10 and the second seal 11 are damaged, the seal frame 9 and the like can be easily replaced. The heater unit 12 mounted on the seal frame 9 uses the base 31 to divide the inside of the seal frame 9 to form an independent air layer similar to the duct 16, so that the heat insulating property of the door seal structure portion is improved. It is advantageous to suppress heat loss due to heat conduction.

[0012]

1 to 6 show an embodiment of a refrigerator according to the present invention. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 1 is a refrigerator body.
The inside of the refrigerator main body 1 is divided into upper and lower stages, and each of the entrances and exits 2 can be opened and closed by a pair of swingable doors 3, 3. Each door 3 is swingably supported by door hinges provided on both outer sides of the refrigerator main body 1, and can be opened by a handle 3a provided on the swinging tip side of the outer surface of the door. A door seal structure for sealing a gap between the doors is provided between the swinging tips of the doors 3 forming a pair on the left and right. In addition to this door seal structure, door packings 4 are provided along the four edges of the inner surface of the door 3.

In FIG. 3, the four edges of the inner surface of the door 3 are
The paragraph 5 is provided, and the door packing 4 is attached to the inner edge wall 6 of the paragraph 5 which is parallel to the outer wall of the door. The door packing 4 is made of a rubber-made packing for refrigerators, which has been widely used in the past, and a square bar-shaped magnet 7 is embedded therein. Of the door packing 4 assembled in the shape of a rectangular frame, the packing portions along the upper and lower edges of the door 3 and the side edges on the hinge side are in close contact with the opening peripheral wall of the doorway 2 and between the door 3 and the refrigerator body 1. Seal the gap.

In FIGS. 3 and 4, the door seal structure has a vertically long seal frame 9 made of an extruded product, which covers the outer surface of the paragraph 5 including the door packing 4 along the side edge on the swinging tip side of the door 3. And a first seal 10 and a second seal 11 provided on the seal frame 9. Door packing 4
A heater unit 12 for preventing dew condensation is arranged on the inner surface of the seal frame 9 facing the.

The seal frame 9 has a frame side wall 13 attached to the side end wall of the door 3 and a frame inner wall 14 which bulges inward from the inner surface wall of the door 3, and the frame side wall 13 and the frame inner wall 14 are provided. The inner surfaces of the frame are connected to each other by the connecting wall 15 having an irregular cross section,
A duct 16 for wiring is defined between the connecting wall 15 and the connecting wall 15.
It consists of a hollow frame made of hard plastic. A fixed wall 18, which is fastened to the inner surface of the door with a screw 17, is provided on the outer surface of the intersection of the frame inner wall 14 and the communication wall 15.

A hollow reinforcing frame 20 projecting inward of the duct 16 is provided in the middle of the connecting wall 15. Further, guide grooves 21 for loading the heater unit 12 are provided on the outer side of the door with respect to the connecting wall 15 in a laterally opposed shape. Frame side wall 1
Connection claws 22 that are inserted into and engage with the side end walls of the door 3 are provided at four upper and lower locations on the inner surface of the outer side 3 of the door 3. Although the connecting claw 22 is originally continuous in a rib shape, it is formed to have a predetermined vertical length by cutting out an unnecessary portion thereof (see FIG. 5). A second seal 11 made of soft plastic is provided on the outer surface of the frame side wall 13 in the front-rear midway portion. Second seal 11
Is composed of a plate-shaped lip 23 protruding in a cantilever manner, and is integrally formed by a two-color molding method when the seal frame 9 is molded.

The frame side wall 13 is provided with a recess 24 for mounting the first seal 10 on the inner side of the door with respect to the second seal 11, and the groove 2 communicating with the duct 16 is provided on the bottom wall of the recess 24.
Open 5. The first seal 10 is inserted into and engaged with the groove 25. The first seal 10 has a vertically long mounting portion 26 made of hard plastic, and a sealing strip 27 made of soft plastic integrally formed on the outer surface of the mounting portion 26, and has two colors when the mounting portion 26 is extruded. Sealing material 2 by molding method
7 is integrally molded. The mounting portion 26 is fitted into the recess 24 to receive the base wall 28, and the base wall 2
8 and an engaging leg 29 having a cross section of an arrowhead shape protruding from the inside. The engaging leg 29 is inserted into the duct 16 through the groove 25 and engaged with the seal frame 9 to prevent the seal frame 9 from slipping off.

As shown in FIG. 4, the sealing strip 27 has a joint portion 52 in which a magnet 51 having a quadrangular cross section is embedded. The joint portion 52 and the base wall 28 are a pair of front and rear U-shaped supporting legs. 53, and the joint portion 52 and the base wall 28 are connected between the support legs 53, 53 by a support leg 54 having a crank cross section. Three support legs 53, 53
54 can be elastically deformed toward or away from the base wall 28, respectively. In the free state, 54 is closer to the center position of the gap between the doors 3 where the joints 52 face each other.
It is in a position approaching the base wall 28 side (solid line state in FIG. 4). Incidentally, when the pair of doors 3 are respectively closed, the opposing sealing strips 27 are attracted to each other by the magnetic attraction force of the magnet 51, so that the support legs 53 and 54 are elastically deformed away from the base wall 28 ( (See FIG. 1). This state is shown by an imaginary line in FIG.

The magnet 51 is embedded over the entire length of the sealing strip 27 in the vertical direction, and the magnet 5 on one door 3 side is embedded.
The magnetic pole No. 1 is arranged so that the N pole and the S pole are adjacent to each other in the inner and outer (front and rear) directions. Further, the magnetic poles of the magnet 51 on the other door 3 side are arranged so that the polarities thereof are opposite to those of the preceding magnet 51 inside and outside. In this way, the magnets 51 that attract each other
If the polarity of 51 is reversed inside and outside, both magnets 51
Can be prevented from being adsorbed in the state of being shifted back and forth, and the sealing strips 27 can always be properly and closely joined to each other. When one of the doors 3 is opened and operated, the pair of magnets 51 repel each other at the time when the magnets 51 cross the central portion of the front-rear width, so that the sealing strips 27 can be quickly separated. The support legs 53 and 54 of the sealing strip 27 are elastically deformed in the opposite directions to pull back the joint portion 52, which also serves to accelerate the separation of the sealing strip 27.

As shown in FIG. 4, the heater unit 12 is a vertically long base 3 made of a magnetic metal plate such as a strip-shaped steel plate.
1 and a heating element (heater wire) 32 fixed to the inner wall surface of the base 31. As shown in FIG.
By inserting and engaging the left and right ends of 1 in the width direction into the pair of guide grooves 21, the seal frame 9 is mounted and fixed. By assembling the heater unit 12 in the seal frame 9 in this way, a compartment similar to the duct 16 is formed between the communication wall 15 and the base 31. These compartments block heat conduction of the seal frame 9 and provide heat insulation. A power supply line 33 connected to the heating element 32 is passed through the duct 16. Heating element 32
May be a planar heating element.

After the first seal 10 and the heater unit 12 are assembled to the seal frame 9, the connecting claws 22 as shown in FIG.
Is press-fitted into an engagement opening 34 provided on the side end wall of the door 3, and in this state, the fixed wall 18 is fastened to the inner wall of the door with a screw 17, whereby the seal frame 9 is fixed to the door 3. In the state where the seal frame 9 is fixed to the door 3, the door packing 4, which extends vertically through the frame, is brought into close contact with the base 31 while being elastically deformed inward and outward of the door, and the close contact state can be maintained by the attracting action of the magnet 7. . This divides the space between the base 31 and the inner edge wall 6 into a number of compartments in the left-right direction, and also blocks heat conduction.

As shown in FIG. 5, caps 35 made of injection molded products are attached to the upper and lower ends of the seal frame 9, respectively, and fixed with screws 36 screwed into the reinforcing frame 20. A door catch 40 for holding the door 3 in a closed state is provided between the cap 35 and a pedestal 37 fixed to the ceiling wall of the refrigerator with screws.

In FIG. 5, the cap 35 is a frame inner wall 14
The groove 3 is formed so as to cover the end faces of the communication wall 15 and the recess 24, and the suction plate 41 is assembled on the inner peripheral surface of the storage.
Eight. The cap 35 is provided with a sealing wall 39 that is continuous with the second seal 11 along the upper surface along the outer peripheral edge of the door and the peripheral edge facing the gap between the doors. The seal wall 39 protruding toward the top surface of the cap is
The door is in close contact with the opening edge of the doorway 2 in the closed state.
The seal wall 39 is made of a soft plastic material,
When the cap 35 is molded, it is integrally molded by a two-color molding method.

In FIG. 6, the pedestal 37 is made of a plastic molded product having two pockets 43 opening toward the inner surface of the door, and a commercially available magnet catch 44 is housed in each pocket 43 and fixed with a screw. I am doing it. The magnet catch 44 and the suction plate 41 fixed to the cap 35 constitute the door catch 40. Adsorption plate 41
Is formed of a magnetic metal plate such as a steel plate, and is engaged and fixed in the groove 38. Each magnet catch 44 is provided corresponding to the left and right doors 3, 3.

According to the door seal structure constructed as described above, when the left and right doors 3 and 3 are closed,
The seal strips 27 of the first seal 10 are attracted to each other to seal the gap between the doors, and the second seals 11 are polymerized and adhered inside and outside to seal the gap between the doors double inside and outside. Therefore, although the support pillars for receiving the doors 3 and 3 are omitted, it is possible to reliably prevent the cold air from leaking and the outside air from entering the storage. Further, the inside of the seal frame 9 is divided into a plurality of sections by the connecting wall 15 and the base 31 of the heater unit 12, and the seal frame 9 is further divided by the door packing 4.
Since the space between the inner wall 6 and the inner edge wall 6 can be divided into a plurality of sections, the divided air layers prevent heat conduction in the door seal structure portion and improve heat insulation. Magnet catch 4
Since the door closed state of each of the doors 3 and 3 is maintained by the door catch 40 using 4, the stable door holding force is exhibited even during long-term use, and when the one door 3 is opened and operated, the other The door 3 is surely prevented from being connected and opened.

In the above embodiment, the first seal 10 is constructed as a separate part from the seal frame 9 so that only the new seal can be replaced. However, this is not necessary, and the second seal 11 is not necessary.
Like the above, it can be integrally formed with the seal frame 9. On the contrary, the second seal 11 may be formed separately from the seal frame 9 and may be inserted and fixed to the frame side wall 13 like the first seal 10. The magnet catch 44 may be arranged on the door 3 side, and the suction plate 41 may be arranged inside the refrigerator. The refrigerator in the present invention also includes a freezer, a cool box, and the like.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional plan view showing a door seal structure.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the refrigerator.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional plan view showing a door seal structure of one door.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the door seal structure in a disassembled state.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a door catch.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a pedestal of a door catch.

[Explanation of symbols]

2 doorway 3 doors 4 door packing 5 paragraphs 6 inner wall 7 magnets 9 seal frame 10 First seal 11 Second seal 12 heater unit 13 Frame side wall 26 Mounting part of 1st seal 27 Seal strip 51 magnet 53/54 support legs

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) Reference JP 10-54649 (JP, A) JP 9-72650 (JP, A) JP 10-122729 (JP, A) JP 9- 14825 (JP, A) Actual Kaihei 6-40785 (JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) F25D 23/02 305

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A refrigerator having a pair of doors 3 for swinging and opening / closing the entrance / exit 2, and a door seal structure for sealing a gap between the doors at the swinging ends of both doors 3. Paragraphs 5 are provided along the four peripheral edges of the inner surface, and an inner edge wall 6 parallel to the door outer surface wall in the paragraphs 5,
A door packing 4 having a built-in magnet 7 is attached, and as a door seal structure, a vertically long seal frame 9 that covers the outer periphery of the paragraph 5 in a state where the door packing 4 of each door 3 is included.
And a first seal 10 and a second seal 11 are provided on the seal frame 9, and the seal frame 9 includes a frame side wall 13 attached to a side end wall of the door 3.
And a frame inner wall 14 that bulges inward from the inner wall of the door 3 and is made of a hard plastic. The outer side of the frame side wall 13 is made of soft plastic.
The second seal 11 protrudes from the second seal 11. The second seal 11 is formed by an elastically deformable flat plate-shaped lip 23 that is superposed and closely adhered inside and outside when the door is closed, and is vertically long along the frame side wall 13. It is provided on the frame side wall 13 at a position closer to the inner side of the door than the second seal 11.
1 The recess 24 for mounting the seal 10 is provided.
A groove 25 communicating with the hollow inside of the seal frame 9 on the bottom wall of the portion 24.
The Yes opened, the first seal 10, taken long in the vertical made of hard plastic
The attachment part 26 and the soft surface integrally formed on the outer surface of the attachment part 26.
And a sealing strip 27 made of plastic, and the mounting portion 26 is fitted into the recess 24 and received.
Base wall 28, and a protrusion protruding inside the base wall 28.
It is composed of a compound leg 29, and the engaging leg 29 is inserted into the groove 25 and engaged.
It can be attached to the seal frame 9 by retaining it
The seal strip 27 has a magnet 51 having a rectangular cross section in the vertical direction.
Has a joint portion 52 embedded along the joint portion 52 and
The base wall 28 and a plurality of supports that can be expanded and contracted in the left-right direction.
The supporting legs 53 and 54 are connected by the holding legs 53 and 54 , and the supporting legs 53 and 54 are close to the base wall 28.
Can be elastically deformed away , and in the free state
Than the central position of the gap between the doors 3 where the joints 52 face each other
A refrigerator in which the polarities of the magnets 51 attracting each other are set to be opposite to each other in the inward / outward direction when the pair of doors 3 are closed at a position close to the base wall 28 side . 2. A cap 35 for closing the upper end of the seal frame 9.
And a ceiling wall in the cabinet facing the doorway 2 are provided with a door catch 40 that holds each door 3 in a closed state. The door catch 40 includes a magnet catch 44 and a magnetic attraction plate. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the refrigerator comprises a cap 35 and a magnet catch 44 and a suction plate 41 provided on the cap 35 and the ceiling wall in the refrigerator, respectively. 3. A dew condensation preventing heater unit 12 is inserted and loaded on an inner surface of a seal frame 9 facing the door packing 4, and the heater unit 12 is a vertically long base formed of a strip-shaped magnetic metal plate. 31 and a heating element 32 mounted on the base 31. A pair of guide grooves 21 for inserting and loading the base 31 inside the seal frame 9 and a power supply line 33 to the heating element 32.
And a duct 16 that accommodates the magnet 7 and the door packing 4 that vertically extends through the inside of the seal frame 9.
The refrigerator according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the refrigerator is in close contact with the base 31 via a magnetic attraction force.