JP4991236B2 - refrigerator - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a refrigerator provided with a door opening device that can easily open a storage room door by a user's touch operation.

  In recent years, household refrigerators have become larger due to the diversification of the storage temperature range and ease of use. Similarly, the larger storage capacity of the door inner pocket makes the door itself larger and heavier. Products with door opening devices that automatically open large refrigerator doors with one touch have been commercialized.

  In a refrigerator equipped with a device that automatically opens this kind of door, an operation panel, which is a touch panel for opening the door, is placed on the surface of a door such as a refrigerator compartment, and the user presses the operation panel. The actuator of a mechanical member such as a micro switch attached to the panel part is moved by pressing or the like, and the door opening mechanism such as a solenoid is operated and opened by energization by this movement (for example, patent document) 1).

And as a device for opening the double doors adopted in the refrigerator compartment of the refrigerator, when the other door opening switch is operated during energization to drive one door opening device, the energization When the other door opening device is energized after the energization of the inner door opening device is completed, and the left and right door opening switches are operated almost simultaneously, the opening device on the door side with the lighter load Patent Document 2 discloses a configuration in which the door is driven first and the door with the heavier load is opened after the end of energization.
JP 2004-079250 A JP 2005-214490 A

  However, since each door opening switch of the door opening device in the double doors in the refrigerator compartment is normally provided close to the facing part on the opening side of the left and right doors, an error occurs when opening one of the doors. The other door opening switch is operated at the same time, or the other door opening switch is touched while the door opening device is energized by opening one door. There is a possibility that a door unintended by the person will open, and that a heavy door that opens momentarily will point out or hit the face.

  The present invention has been made in consideration of the above points, and an unintended door can be opened due to an erroneous operation on a double door that opens and closes an opening of a storage room or a plurality of opening switches that drive a door opening device adjacent to the top and bottom. An object of the present invention is to provide a refrigerator that is controlled so as to prevent the door from being opened and that is free from injuries.

The present invention includes a plurality of doors for closing a front opening of a storage chamber provided in a main body, a door opening switch for outputting a driving signal by a user operation provided corresponding to a predetermined door, and the door opening A door opening device that opens and closes the predetermined door by a drive signal from the switch, and when at least one of the door switches that detects the opening / closing state of the predetermined door detects the opening, It is a refrigerator characterized by prohibiting reception of the corresponding opening switch .

According to the refrigerator of the present invention, even if the user has been operated unintended door opening switch, it is possible to prevent the door opening operation of the door as the operation of the unexpected because not intent, injury from sudden door opening It is possible to obtain a safe door opening device that does not do the above.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The refrigerator main body (1) which shows the front view of a closed state in FIG. 1 is provided with a refrigeration room (2) for storing and storing refrigerated food at the top, and an ice making room (3) and a temperature switching room (4 ) And a storage room along a predetermined storage temperature, such as a vegetable room (5) and a freezing room (6) provided at the lowermost position.

  A door is disposed at the front opening of each storage room, and the left door is a double door opening type with the hinges pivoted to the refrigerator main body (1) side by hinges at the front opening of the refrigerator compartment (2). (7) and the right door (8) are attached, and the storage chambers (3) to (6) below the refrigerator compartment (2) are slidable in the front-rear direction together with the door. The drawer door system is designed to be pulled out.

  The left and right doors (7) and (8) for the refrigerator compartment are each formed by a front plate (7a) made of a thin steel plate as shown in FIG. 2, which is the open state of the left door (7). The inside of the refrigerator compartment (2) has a door inner plate (7b) that forms a pocket for storing stored items inside, and the space formed between these members is made of urethane foam. It is comprised by foam-filling the heat insulating material which becomes.

  Below the front plate (7a), although not shown, a display panel for displaying an operating state or setting a temperature is installed, and a door opening switch for operating a door opening device (9) to be described later. A touch panel (10) is provided.

  In this touch panel (10), the part touched by a human finger when the door is opened, that is, the touch area is subjected to metal plating to form an electrode. When the person touches the touch area, the capacitance between the electrode and the contact part is increased. The change is detected by the touch detection unit, and a signal for opening the door is sent to the door opening device (9) to drive the door opening device (9). In (8), they are arranged close to each other so as to face each other at the lower end on the open side. In addition, the ice making chamber (3) and the drawer doors (11) and (12) for the temperature switching chamber (4) arranged in the lower part of the refrigerator compartment (2) are provided with the same touch panel (13) as above. In this case, in consideration of the design effect, it is arranged close to the opposing position on the upper side of the drawer doors (11) and (12) so as to be adjacent to the touch panel (10) on the refrigerator compartment (2) side.

  Each of the touch panels (10) and (13) operates as an opening switch by a user's touch operation, and is preferably installed at a height of 100 cm or more from the ground from the surface of usability. The configuration is not limited to the above, and a configuration in which a mechanical switch such as a microswitch for driving the door opening device by connecting a contact installed on the panel by pressing operation is connected.

  And in the front upper part of the refrigerator body (1), a known door opening device (9) comprising mechanical means for pushing the door with a solenoid or the like is installed facing each door (7) (8). Yes. This door opening device (9) is composed of a solenoid and a knock pin. The door opening signal from the touch panel (10) is input to the drive circuit to operate the solenoid, and the door is pushed to push the edge of the door. For example, when the user touches the touch panel (10) which is an opening switch of the left door (7) of the refrigerator compartment (2), the corresponding door is opened. An opening signal is input to the opening device (9), and this is driven to press and open the left door (7).

  The door opening device (9) is not limited to the above-described solenoid system, and the door may be pressed by a protruding member of a rack and pinion using a motor rotation or a cam system. As for the lower doors such as the drawer door type ice making room door (11) other than the refrigerating room (2) which is rotated and opened, the door opening device has the same configuration as above or the rear part of the storage room. It is good also as a structure which arrange | positions and presses from back and opens a door. When each door is opened, the magnet gasket provided on the back of the door also moves from the main body, so the door switch is composed of a reed switch attached to the back of the partition plate below the refrigerator compartment (2). Detect in (15), turn on the interior lamp, and stop the cooling fan.

  Next, when energizing to drive the door opening device (9) by touching the touch panel (10) which is an opening switch of one left door (7) in the double door of the refrigerator compartment (2). A control example when the touch panel (10 ′) of the other right door (8) is operated will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  First, when the left and right doors (7) and (8) are closed and the left door (7), which is one of the doors, is opened from the state in which the door switches (15) and (15) are turned off. When the user touches the touch panel (10) on the left door, the door opening signal is energized (S1), and a door opening signal is sent to the door opening device (9). It is controlled to drive it by energization (S2).

  Since the door switch (15) of the left door (7) opened with the opening is turned on, the other door, that is, the right door (8) is simultaneously detected by detecting the ON state of the door switch (15) (S3). ) Is prohibited (S4) from accepting an opening signal by touching the touch panel (10 ').

  In this case, not only the right door (8) but also the ice making room door (11) and the temperature switching room door (12) located below the refrigerator compartment (2) are prohibited from accepting the opening signal. Yes, even if the door opening operation is performed to the touch panel (10 ') (13) whose reception is prohibited, the drive signal to each door opening device (9) is not output, and therefore each door does not open. .

  Then, when all the door switches (15) are turned off (S5), that is, when all the doors are closed, the prohibition of acceptance of the touch panel (10 ') is released (S6). When the reception of (10 ′) is allowed and a touch operation is performed, a door opening signal is output, and the corresponding door opening device (9) is driven to open the door (8).

  In contrast to the above-described embodiment, it is detected that the predetermined door is in an open operation state not by detecting the ON state of the door switch (15) but by energizing the door opening device (9), and opening the doors to other doors. It may be possible not to open the door by prohibiting reception of the switch. That is, as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 4, first, from the state (S1) in which the left and right doors (7) and (8) are closed and the respective door switches (15) and (15) are turned off, for example, the left door ( When the user touches the touch panel (10) of 7), the door opening signal is energized (S2), and the door opening device (9) is controlled to send the door opening signal and drive it. At the same time, reception of the touch panel (10 ') with respect to the right door (8) is prohibited (S3), so that a door opening signal by touch operation is not output.

  In this case, if there is little possibility of erroneous operation of the touch panel (13) (13) of the ice making room door (11) and the temperature switching room door (12) located below, The door opening device (9) may be configured to prohibit the reception of the door opening signal only from the door (8), and even if the opening operation is performed on the touch panel (10 ') of the right door where the reception is prohibited. No drive signal is output, so the right door (8) does not open.

  And energization to the door opening device (9) of the left door (7) is started (S4), the door opening device (9) is driven by the output of the door opening signal, and the left door (7) is opened. However, in the case of the present embodiment, when the energization is completed (S5) together with the opening operation, by detecting this, the other side, that is, the prohibition of acceptance of the right door (8) is canceled (S6). I have to.

  In each of the above-described embodiments, the case of the double door type left and right doors has been described, but it goes without saying that the same applies to doors that are in a vertical relationship. Moreover, the door which prohibits reception of door opening operation may be applied to all except the door to open, or may be applied only to the door which opposes right and left or up and down as mentioned above.

  As a result of the configuration described above, if one door is opened using a door opening switch such as a touch panel, the door opening switch such as the touch panel of another door may be accidentally touched. The door is not energized and the corresponding door opening device will not be energized, so other doors will not open, and there is no risk of hitting or pointing in the face due to unexpected opening of the door. An opening device can be provided.

  In addition, when it is desired to open both the left and right doors at the same time, such as with a double door in a refrigerator, as shown in the second embodiment, the door opening device (9) by opening the touch panel (10). If it is controlled to cancel the prohibition of acceptance to the door opening switch when the energizing time for the door is completed, a new door opening operation to another door can be performed in a short time of about 0.1 seconds. If the touch panels on the left and right doors are sequentially touched, both the left and right doors can be opened without giving the user dissatisfaction.

It is a front view of the closed door state of the refrigerator which shows one Embodiment of this invention. It is the front view which opened one side of the folding door type refrigerator compartment door of the refrigerator of FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the door opening control of the refrigerator of FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the other Example of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Refrigerator body 2 Refrigeration room 3 Ice making room 4 Temperature switching room 7, 8 Refrigeration room door 9 Door opening device
10, 13 Touch panel
11 Ice making room door
12 Switching room door
15 Door switch

Claims (4)

A plurality of doors closing the front opening of the storage chamber provided in the main body;
An opening switch that outputs a drive signal by a user's operation provided corresponding to a predetermined door;
A door opening device that opens and closes the predetermined door by a drive signal from the door opening switch,
A refrigerator characterized in that when at least one of door switches for detecting the opening / closing state of a predetermined door detects opening, reception of the opening switch corresponding to another door is prohibited . If the door switch detects the closing of all the predetermined door refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the releasing the rejection of door opening switch to another door. The refrigerator according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the predetermined doors are left and right doors that are closed by a double door system. The refrigerator according to claim 1 or 2 , wherein the predetermined door is a door that closes each front opening of a storage chamber provided at least two above and below.

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