JP5517300B2 - Door opening and closing structure for automatic ice machines, etc. - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a door opening / closing structure of an automatic ice maker, etc., and to a technique for improving the opening / closing operability of a door panel that is slid in the vertical direction. The door opening and closing structure according to the present invention can be applied to refrigerators and the like in addition to automatic ice makers.

  The automatic ice maker is provided with a door panel on the front of the ice maker body that can be opened and closed in the vertical direction so that the ice blocks stored in the ice storage can be removed. There is something. The same applies to refrigerators, and there is a refrigerator panel provided with a door panel for opening and closing an outlet so as to be slidable in the vertical direction (Patent Document 1).

  In the door opening / closing structure of the refrigerator shown in Patent Literature 1, guide rails extending in the vertical direction are provided on the left and right sides of the door frame that forms the doorway. A total of four rolling rollers are provided on the left and right sides of the door panel. The door panel is connected to the weight via a wire. Specifically, a wire is connected to the upper end of the door panel, and the wire is wound around a pulley and the door panel is suspended by a weight. Further, a weight having an appropriate weight is connected to the other end of the wire. In this way, if the weight is connected to the door panel via the wire, the load on the door panel can be offset by the reaction force of the balancer, so the door panel can be opened and closed with a small force in the vertical direction. be able to. The door panel can be stopped at an arbitrary position in the vertical direction.

Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 49-129163 (FIGS. 1 and 2)

  As shown in FIG. 10, in the door opening / closing structure according to Patent Document 1, each rolling roller 102 is mounted on a roller shaft 103 formed to project from the left and right end surfaces of the door panel 100 in the left and right outer horizontal direction, The roller shaft 103 is configured to be rotatable and rotatable. In the door opening and closing structure according to Patent Document 1, the left and right guide rails 101 are formed in a U-shaped cross section having an opening on the door panel 100 side.

  Specifically, as shown in FIGS. 11A and 11B, the guide rail 101 has a left and right back end wall 104 directed to the door panel 100 side and a rear side extending from the rear side of the back end wall 104 in the left and right direction. A wall 105 and a front wall 106 extending in the left-right direction from the front side of the back end wall 104 are provided, and are formed in a U-shaped cross section having an opening on the door panel 100 side (left-right inner side). The rear wall 105 extends straight in the horizontal direction. The front wall 106 is formed in a semicircular arc shape that curves so that the left and right center part protrudes forward, and as it approaches the back end wall 104 from the left and right center part, or as it approaches the opening part from the left and right center part, The distance between the rear wall 105 and the rear wall 105 is gradually reduced. That is, the rail width of the guide rail 101 is configured such that the left and right central portions are wide and the left and right end portions are narrow.

  In the door opening / closing structure according to Patent Document 1, when the door panel 100 is operated to slide up and down without tilting, the rolling roller 102 is positioned at the center of the left and right of the guide rail 101, and the front and rear of the rolling roller 101. Only one side surface of this is in contact with one of the front and rear walls 106 and 105. That is, when the left and right sides of the door panel 100 are vertically slid in an appropriate posture state extending in the vertical direction, the rolling roller 102 is positioned at the left and right center portion of the guide rail 101, and the front and rear pieces of the rolling roller 102 are separated. Only the side faces are in contact with either of the front and rear walls 106 and 105. Therefore, when the door panel 100 is operated up and down without tilting, the front side surface of the rolling roller 102 contacts only the front wall 106 and rotates, or the rear side surface of the rolling roller 102 contacts only the rear wall 105. Then, the door panel 100 can be slid and moved lightly.

  However, as shown in FIG. 10, when the door panel 100 is tilted, that is, when the left and right sides of the door panel 100 are tilted from the vertical direction, as shown in FIGS. Both side surfaces of the front and rear of 102 are in contact with both front and rear walls 105 and 106 of the guide rail 101 at the same time, making it difficult for the rolling roller 102 to rotate around the axis. As a result, the door panel 100 slides lightly. Operation may be impaired. That is, as shown in FIGS. 11A and 11B, when the front side surface of the rolling roller 102 contacts the front wall 106 of the guide rail 101, the rolling roller 102 is rotated in the clockwise direction on the front side surface. Alternatively, a force for rotating in the counterclockwise direction acts. On the other hand, when the rear side surface of the rolling roller 102 comes into contact with the rear wall of the guide rail 101, a rotational force in the direction opposite to the previous front side acts on the rear side surface. For this reason, when the door panel 100 is inclined, the rolling roller 102 cannot rotate in any rotation direction, and it is impossible to slide the door panel 100 lightly along the guide rail 101. There was room for improvement in that point.

  The present invention was made to solve the problems of the door opening and closing structure of the conventional ice storage and the like, and even when the door panel is tilted up and down, the door is lightly slipped. An object of the present invention is to provide a door opening / closing structure such as a new ice storage capable of sliding the panel up and down.

The present invention includes a pair of left and right guide rails 17 and 17 provided at the left and right edges of the entrance 14 and a rolling roller 30 configured to roll within the left and right guide rails 17 and 17. The door panel 15 that is guided and supported in the vertical direction and the holding mechanism 19 for suspending and holding the door panel 15 are provided. The door panel 15 that is slid in the vertical direction closes the doorway 14 so that it can be opened and closed. The door opening / closing structure 12 of the automatic ice making machine 1 or the like that can be used. The guide rail 17 has left and right end walls 21 and 21 and back walls 22 that connect the front and rear ends of both end walls 21 and 21, and is formed in a U-shaped cross section having an opening 18 in the front and rear direction. The left and right end walls 21, 21 constituting the pair of left and right guide rails 17, 17 are formed in a bent shape so as to extend in the front-rear direction, and the left and right end walls 21, 21 of each guide rail 17, 17 are formed. The rail width B1 defined by the facing interval is set to be wide at the center portion in the front-rear direction and narrow at the end portion in the front-rear direction. The rolling roller 30 is configured to be rotatable around a roller shaft 34 extending in the front-rear direction.

Rail width B2 of the guide rail 17 according to the open mouth 18 is set to be smaller than the roller diameter D that is defined by the left and right edges of the rolling roller 30.

  The holding mechanism 19 can include a cable body 39 fixed to the upper end of the door panel 15 and a winding device 40 using a constant load spring for winding the cable body 39 as a power source.

  It has a front panel 16 having an entrance 14 and a decorative panel 9 arranged closer to the front than the front panel 16. An accommodation space 41 for accommodating the pushed-up door panel 15 is formed between the panels 9 and 16. A winding device 40 of the holding mechanism 19 is disposed on the upper portion of the accommodation space 41.

  In the present invention, the guide rail 17 is formed in a U-shaped cross section having left and right end walls 21 and 21 and a back wall 22 connecting the front and rear ends of both end walls 21 and 21 and having an opening 18 in the front-rear direction. The rolling roller 30 is configured to be rotatable around the roller shaft 34 extending in the front-rear direction. According to this, as shown in FIG. 8, even when the door panel 15 is tilted, as shown in FIGS. 9A and 9B, the left and right ends of the rolling roller 30 are connected to the guide rail 17. There is no simultaneous contact with the inner surfaces of the left and right end walls 21 and 21, and the rolling roller 30 can rotate without any trouble. Therefore, there is no problem that the sliding operation of the door panel 15 in a light and vertical direction is hindered due to the rolling roller 30 becoming unrotatable, and the door panel 15 is always slid smoothly. Is possible. This means that the door opening / closing structure 12 excellent in operability and reliability can be obtained, and can contribute to improving the reliability of the automatic ice making machine 1 and the like to which the door opening / closing structure 12 is applied.

  The rail width B1 in the front-rear direction of the guide rail 17 defined by the facing distance between the left and right end walls 21 and 21 of the guide rail 17 is formed so as to decrease as it approaches the opening 18. The rail width B <b> 2 of the guide rail according to the above can be configured so as to be smaller than the roller diameter D defined by the left and right edges of the rolling roller 30. According to this, it is possible to reliably prevent the rolling roller 30 from being inadvertently detached from the opening 18 of the guide rail 17 and to obtain a door opening / closing structure with higher reliability.

  If the holding mechanism 19 includes a cable body 39 attached to the upper end of the door panel 15 and a winding device 40 using a constant load spring for winding the cable body 39 as a power source, the holding mechanism 19 Since the space occupied by the mechanism 19 can be reduced, space saving of the door opening / closing structure 12 can be achieved. That is, when the holding mechanism is provided with a weight as in the conventional door opening / closing structure, the weight moves up and down as the door panel is operated up and down, so that the operating space for allowing the weight to move up and down is provided. Therefore, it is difficult to save the space for the door opening / closing structure. On the other hand, when the holding mechanism 19 is configured by the winding device 40 using a constant load spring as a power source as in the present invention, the operating space of the weight can be eliminated. Can be saved. This means that the degree of freedom in designing the automatic ice making machine 1 or the like to which the door opening / closing structure 12 is applied is improved, which can contribute to an increase in the space in the warehouse.

  If the winding device 40 is arranged on the upper part of the storage space 41, the part that is originally a dead space can be effectively used without waste, contributing to space saving of the door opening and closing structure 12, The design flexibility of the automatic ice making machine 1 and the like can be improved.

It is a cross-sectional top view of the principal part of the door opening and closing structure which concerns on this invention. 1 is a front view of an automatic ice making machine to which a door opening / closing structure according to the present invention is applied. It is a front view which shows the whole structure of the door opening / closing structure which concerns on this invention. It is a front view of the principal part of the door opening and closing structure which concerns on this invention. It is a vertical side view of the door opening and closing structure according to the present invention, and is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. It is a vertical side view of the door opening and closing structure which concerns on this invention, and is the BB sectional drawing of FIG. It is a front view which shows the holding | maintenance state in the upper position of the door panel of the door opening / closing structure which concerns on this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating operation | movement of the door opening / closing structure which concerns on this invention, and is a front view which shows the state in which the door panel inclined. (A) * (b) is a figure for demonstrating operation | movement of the door opening and closing structure which concerns on this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating operation | movement of the conventional door opening / closing structure, and is a front view which shows the state which the door panel inclined. (A) * (b) is a figure for demonstrating operation | movement of the conventional door opening / closing structure.

(Example) In FIG. 1 thru | or FIG. 9, the Example which applied this invention to the door structure of the automatic ice maker is shown. In the present invention, front / rear, left / right, and upper / lower follow the cross arrows shown in FIGS. 1 to 5 and the front / rear, left / right, and upper / lower indications shown near each arrow.

  In FIG. 2, the automatic ice making machine 1 has an ice storage chamber 3 formed inside a heat insulating box 2 constituting the ice making machine 1, and an ice making mechanism 4 is disposed above the heat insulating box 2. The ice produced by the ice making mechanism 4 is configured to be stored in the ice storage chamber 3. A machine room 5 including a heat exchanger and a fan is provided in the lower part of the heat insulating box 2, and the previous ice storage room 3 is provided in the upper part.

  The front surface of the heat insulating box 2 is, from the bottom, the lower front panel 7 that covers the front surface of the machine room 5, the middle front panel 8 that covers the front surface of the ice storage chamber 3, and the upper front panel that constitutes the door opening / closing structure 12. (Decorative panel) 9 and covered. A front opening 13 is provided in a majority upper portion of the heat insulating box 2, and a door opening / closing structure 12 and an upper front panel 9 constituting the door opening / closing structure 12 are mounted so as to cover the front opening 13. ing. The door opening / closing structure 12 is provided with a door panel 15 for opening / closing the entrance / exit 14 connected to the ice storage chamber 3 via the front opening 13 so as to be slidable in the vertical direction. Then, the ice block can be taken out from the ice storage chamber 3 through the front opening 13 and the entrance 14.

  The door opening / closing structure 12 includes a front panel 16 having an entrance 14 opened in a rectangular shape, a pair of left and right guide rails 17 and 17 provided at left and right edges of the entrance 14, and left and right guides. A door panel 15 that is slidably operated in a vertical direction through a rolling roller 30 configured to be able to roll in the rails 17 and 17 and that closes the doorway 14 so as to be opened and closed, and a door panel 15 are suspended. A holding mechanism 19 for lowering and supporting the upper front panel 9 is included.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the guide rail 17 has left and right end walls 21, 21 and a rear wall (back wall) 22 that connects the rear ends of both end walls 21, 21, and has an opening 18 in the front. The rear wall 22 is fixed to the left and right edges 23 and 23 of the front panel 16. The left and right end walls 21 and 21 are bent so as to extend forward in a letter shape, and the rail width B1 of the guide rail 17 is set to be wide at the center portion in the front-rear direction and narrow at the end portion in the front-rear direction. Has been. As shown in FIG. 4, a catcher 24 for holding the door panel 15 at the uppermost position is provided at the upper end of each guide rail 17, 17. The catcher 24 is formed of a leaf spring, and one end is fixed to the left and right edges 23 and 23 of the front panel 16.

  The door panel 15 includes two front and rear panels 25 and 25, a frame member 26 disposed so as to surround the four peripheral edges of both panels 25 and 25, and a square frame disposed between the panels 25 and 25. Shaped gasket 27. The frame member 26 located below the front surface of the door panel 15 is provided with a handle 28 as an operation piece for placing a finger when the door panel is slid in the vertical direction. The handle 28 is a plate body that protrudes forward, and is formed over substantially the entire left and right direction of the door panel 15.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, a total of four rolling rollers 30 are attached to the frame members 26 at the left and right ends constituting the door panel 15 via brackets 29. As shown in FIG. 1, each bracket 29 includes an L-shaped attachment portion 31 that is fixed to the left and right outer surfaces of the frame member 26, and a bearing portion that is formed in a U-shape by being continuously bent to the attachment portion 31. 32 is a stainless steel press fitting that is long in the vertical direction. An insertion hole 35 for a roller shaft 34 described later is formed in the rear wall 33 of the bearing portion 32. The bracket 29 is fixed to the frame member 26 by screwing or spot welding the end wall 36 of the mounting portion 31 of the bracket 29 to the outer surface of the frame member 26.

  A roller shaft 34 is attached to the bearing portion 32 of the bracket 29 in a state of being inserted through the insertion hole 35, and a rolling roller 30 is attached to the roller shaft 34 so as to be freely rotatable. That is, the rolling roller 30 is mounted so as to be freely rotatable around a roller shaft 34 extending in the front-rear direction. A bearing (not shown) is assembled between the rolling roller 30 and the roller shaft 34. For the purpose of preventing the rolling roller 30 from inadvertently coming off the opening 18 of the guide rail 17, the roller diameter D defined by the left and right edges of the rolling roller 30 is the rail width of the guide rail 17 related to the opening. It is set to be larger than B2.

  In FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the code | symbol 10 shows the side panel with which the heat insulation box 2 was mounted | worn for the purpose of covering the guide rail 17 and the rolling roller 30. FIG. A gasket 37 is mounted on the free end side of the side panel 10, and the gasket 37 ensures airtightness between the door panel 15 and the doorway 14 when closed.

  As shown in FIGS. 3 to 5, the holding mechanism 19 winds a pair of left and right wires (strands) 39 fixed to the left and right ends of the frame member 26 constituting the upper side of the door panel 15, and each wire 39. It includes a pair of left and right winding devices 40 and 40 for taking. The winding device 40 uses a constant load spring as a power source, and the total tensile load of both the winding devices 40 and 40 is set to be slightly larger than the total weight of the door panel 15. Thus, if the total of the tensile loads of the winding devices 40 and 40 is set slightly larger than the total weight of the door panel 15, the door panel 15 can be operated up and down with a small force. The door panel 15 can be held at an arbitrary position in the vertical direction.

  5 and 6, reference numeral 41 denotes an accommodation space that is formed between the front panel 16 and the upper front panel 9 and accommodates the door panel 15 that is slid upward. That is, the door panel 15 is configured to be slidable between a lower end position that closes the doorway 14 and an upper end position that is accommodated in the storage space 41. In FIG. 3, reference numeral 42 denotes a stopper that regulates the upward movement limit of the door panel 15. The stopper 42 is made of rubber and is fixed to the front panel 16. When the door panel 15 is moved upward, the upper edge of the frame member 26 of the door panel 15 comes into contact with the stopper 42, so that upward movement is restricted. At the same time, as shown in FIG. 7, the rolling roller 30 is supported by the catcher 24, whereby the door panel 15 is held at the upper end position.

  As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the winding device 40 is disposed above the storage space 41. Thus, when the winding device 40 is disposed in the upper part of the accommodation space 41, the part that was originally a dead space can be effectively used without waste, and thus the space for the door opening / closing structure 12 can be saved. This contributes to the improvement of the design freedom of the automatic ice making machine 1. Further, if the holding mechanism 19 includes the winding device 40 that uses a constant load spring as a power source, the operating space of the weight (see Patent Document 1) can be eliminated. Thus, the design flexibility of the automatic ice making machine 1 can be improved.

  In the door opening / closing structure 12 having the above-described configuration, when the force is applied to the left and right ends of the handle 28 and the door panel 15 is pushed up or down, the entire door panel 15 may tilt. . FIG. 8 shows a state in which a push-up operation force is applied to the left end portion of the handle 28 and the door panel 15 is tilted to the left-up position. FIG. 9A shows the state of the upper right rolling roller 30 in this state. FIG. 9B shows the state of the rolling roller 30 on the lower right side in this state.

  As shown in FIGS. 9 (a) and 9 (b), when the door panel 15 is tilted to the left upward position, only the right side surface of the rolling roller 30 on the upper right side comes into contact with the right inner surface of the guide rail 17, and the right side Only the left side surface of the lower rolling roller 30 is in contact with the left inner surface of the guide rail 17. The same applies to the left rolling roller 30. The upper left rolling roller 30 is in contact with the right inner surface of the guide rail 17 only on the right side, and the lower left rolling roller 30 is on the left side. Only the surface is in contact with the left inner surface of the guide rail 17. As described above, even when the door panel 15 is tilted, all the rolling rollers 30 can be rotated in the guide rail 17, and therefore the door panel 15 can be pushed upward without any trouble. .

  Thus, according to the door opening / closing structure 12 according to the present embodiment, even when the door panel 15 is inclined, the left and right ends of the rolling roller 30 are simultaneously with the left and right end walls 21 and 21 of the guide rail 17. The rolling roller 30 can rotate in the guide rail 17 without any trouble. Therefore, there is no problem that the sliding operation of the door panel 15 in a light and vertical direction is hindered due to the rolling roller 30 becoming unrotatable, and the door panel 15 is always slid smoothly. The door opening / closing structure 12 having excellent operability and reliability can be obtained.

  In the said Example, although the guide rail 17 has the opening part 18 in the front, this invention is not limited to this, You may have the opening part 18 in the back. The door opening / closing structure 12 according to the present invention is not limited to the door structure of the automatic ice making machine 1 and can also be applied to a door structure such as a refrigerator.

1 Automatic ice machine 9 Makeup panel (upper front panel)
12 door opening / closing mechanism 14 doorway 15 door panel 16 front panel 17 guide rail 18 opening 19 holding mechanism 21 end wall 22 rear wall 30 rolling roller 34 roller shaft 39 cord-like body (wire)
40 Winding device 41 Storage space B1 Rail width B2 Rail width D Roller diameter

Claims (4)

A pair of left and right guide rails (17, 17) provided at the left and right edges of the doorway (14), and rolling rollers configured to roll within the left and right guide rails (17, 17) ( A door panel (15) guided and supported in the vertical direction via 30) and a holding mechanism (19) for suspending and holding the door panel (15), and being slid in the vertical direction ( 15) A door opening / closing structure (12) such as an automatic ice maker (1) capable of closing the doorway (14) so as to be freely opened and closed by
The guide rail (17) has left and right end walls (21, 21) and a back wall (22) connecting the front and rear ends of both end walls (21, 21), and has an opening (18) in the front-rear direction. It has a U-shaped cross section,
The left and right end walls (21, 21) constituting the pair of left and right guide rails (17, 17) are bent so as to extend in the front-rear direction in the shape of a letter, and each guide rail (17, 17) The rail width (B1) defined by the facing distance between the left and right end walls (21, 21) is set to be wide at the center in the front-rear direction and narrow at the end in the front-rear direction,
A door opening / closing structure of an automatic ice making machine or the like, wherein the rolling roller (30) is configured to be rotatable around a roller shaft (34) extending in the front-rear direction. The guide rail width of the rail (17) (B2) is set to be smaller than the roller diameter defined by the left and right edges of the rolling roller (30) (D) according to the prior SL openings (18) The door opening / closing structure for an automatic ice making machine or the like according to claim 1.   The holding mechanism (19) is a winding (39) fixed to the upper end of the door panel (15), and a winding using the constant load spring for winding the rope (39) as a power source. A door opening / closing structure for an automatic ice making machine or the like according to claim 1 or 2, comprising a device (40). A front panel (16) having the doorway (14), and a decorative panel (9) disposed closer to the front than the front panel (16),
An accommodation space (41) for accommodating the pushed-up door panel (15) is formed between both panels (9, 16),
The door opening / closing structure for an automatic ice making machine or the like according to claim 3, wherein a winding device (40) of the holding mechanism (19) is arranged on an upper portion of the accommodation space (41).

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