JPH09264661A - Refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve an aesthetic outer appearance and increase an effective indoor capacity by forming a recessed portion extending from one side of an upper surface to a front surface of a main body, mounting an upper hinge plate and a base member in which a rear portion of the upper hinge plate is embedded in the recessed portion and protruding the upper hinge plate frontwardly from the front surface of the main body. SOLUTION: A cutoff portion 10 is formed in an area which covers a front portion of an upper surface 4A of an outer frame 4, a front flange 12 and a rear flange 13. The cutoff portion 10 has the lower portion thereof sealed by a bottom plate 11 so as to define a recessed portion 16 on the bottom plate 11. The recessed portion 16 is formed such that it enables a mounting of a base member 2A of a hinge member 2 therein. Namely, the shape of the recessed portion 16 approximately conforms to the shape of the base member 2A. When the base member 2A is fixedly mounted in the recessed portion 16, the upper surface of the base member 2a becomes approximately coplanar with the upper surface 4A of the outer frame 4, while the upper hinge plate 2B of the upper hinge member 2 protrudes frontwardly from the recessed portion 10 formed in the front flange 12 and the rear flange 13. In this manner, since the upper hinge member is prevented from protruding upwardly from a main body, an effective capacity in a refrigerator is increased.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a refrigerator in which a door is pivotally supported on one side of a main body which is opened forward to openably close the opening.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Heretofore, this type of refrigerator has a heat-insulating box body which is opened forward as shown in, for example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 2-146490 (F25D23 / 02) and Japanese Patent Publication No. 4-297774 (F25D23 / 02). The inside of the main body is divided into upper and lower parts by a partition wall, one of which is a freezing room and the other is a refrigerating room, and the opening of each room is closed by a heat insulating door.

In this case, an upper hinge plate is attached to either the right or left side of the top surface of the main body, the middle hinge plate is attached to one side of the front surface of the partition wall, and the lower hinge plate is attached to one side of the lower part of the front surface of the main body. Plates are attached to each of the upper and lower doors, and one side of each door is rotatably supported by a hinge shaft (rotating shaft) of each hinge plate.

[0004]

However, since the upper hinge plate is conventionally attached to one side of the top surface of the main body, the external dimensions of the refrigerator are enlarged accordingly. For this reason,
There has been a problem that the ratio of the inner volume to the outer volume (hereinafter referred to as effective volume efficiency (inner volume / outer volume)) becomes low. In addition, since the upper hinge plate can be seen from the front in the form of protruding upward, there is a problem that the appearance is deteriorated.

Therefore, for example, in Japanese Patent Publication No. 2-146490 (F25D23 / 02), a recess is formed in the top surface of the main body, the upper hinge plate is housed in this recess, and the cover is concealed to improve the appearance. Although it was attempted to improve it, it was still difficult to make the top surface flat, and there was a problem that the upper hinge plate and the surrounding structure were extremely complicated in order to avoid the pivoting door, causing a rise in cost. .

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned conventional technical problems, and aims to improve the appearance while
It is an object of the present invention to provide a refrigerator capable of expanding effective volume efficiency and reducing the number of assembling steps.

[0007]

That is, the refrigerator according to the invention of claim 1 is provided with a main body which is opened forward, and a door which is rotatably supported by the main body and which is openably and closably closed. And a recess formed from one side of the upper surface of the main body to the front surface, an upper hinge plate for pivotally supporting the door and a base body in which a rear portion of the upper hinge plate is embedded. An upper hinge member is provided, and the base has a shape that substantially matches the shape of the recess. The upper hinge plate projects forward from the front surface of the main body when the base is mounted in the recess.

In the refrigerator of the second aspect of the present invention, a heat insulating material is foam-filled between the outer box and the inner box, the main body is opened forward, and the main body is rotatably supported by the main body to open the opening. A door provided with a door that can be opened and closed freely, and has a notch portion formed from one side of the upper surface of the outer box to the front surface, and a recessed shape fixed to the outer box by closing the notch from below. A recess formed by the bottom plate; and an upper hinge member for pivotally supporting the door so as to pivotally support the door and an upper hinge member including a base in which a rear portion of the upper hinge plate is embedded. The base has a recess shape. The upper hinge plate is formed into a substantially matched shape, and the upper hinge plate projects forward from the front surface of the outer box in a state where the base body is mounted in the recess.

The refrigerator of the invention of claim 3 is the same as that of claim 1.
Alternatively, in the second aspect, the base body of the upper hinge member is made of a hard synthetic resin, and the upper hinge plate is integrally molded.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. 1 is an enlarged vertical side view of an upper front end of a refrigerator 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view of one side of a front end of the refrigerator 1, and FIG. 3 is a front view of the upper part of the refrigerator 1 excluding an upper hinge member 2. FIG. 4 shows a refrigerator 1 equipped with an upper hinge member 2.
Each shows a front view of the upper part.

The refrigerator 1 according to the embodiment includes an outer box 4 made of a steel plate that opens to the front, and an inner box 6 made of hard synthetic resin that is also open to the front and is installed in the outer box 4 at intervals. A main body 8 is composed of a polyurethane foam insulation 7 filled between the boxes 4 and 6 by an in-situ foaming method. The inside of the inner box 6 is divided into upper and lower parts by a partition wall (not shown), and a freezing chamber 15 is formed on the upper side and a refrigerating chamber (not shown) is formed on the lower side. The front opening of the freezing compartment 15 is openably and closably closed by the door 5, and the refrigerating compartment is also openably and closably closed by a door (not shown).

At the opening edge of the outer box 4, a front flange 12 (main body 8) is bent inward at a substantially right angle and folded back.
And a rear flange 13 which is opposed to the rear side with a space therebetween, and is formed in a bent manner. The inward groove 1 is formed between the front and rear flanges 12, 13.
4 are configured. The front end of the rear flange 13 is bent rearward, and the rear end flange 13A is formed therein.

A front flange 12 is provided from one side of the front surface 4A of the outer box 4 (which is the top surface of the main body 8) (right side toward the front).
A cutout portion 10 is formed across (to be the front surface of the main body 8) and the rear flange 13. The cutout portion 10 is closed by a bottom plate 11 from below, and a recess 16 is formed on the bottom plate 11. There is. The bottom plate 11 has a concave shape, and is welded and fixed to the upper surface 4A, the rear flange 13 and the rear end flange 13A from the inside.

Further, the bottom plate 11 is formed with a plurality of screw holes 31B ... (Three places in this case) for fixing the base body 2A of the upper hinge member 2.

The recess 16 is constructed so that a base body 2A of an upper hinge member 2 which will be described later can be attached to the recess 16 and has a shape substantially matching the base body 2A. When the base body 2A is fixed in the recess 16, the base body 2A is substantially flush with the upper surface 4A, and the upper hinge plate 2B of the upper hinge member is located in front of the notches 10 of the front flange 12 and the rear flange 13. It is configured to project to.

On the other hand, the upper hinge member 2 is the upper hinge plate 2B.
And a base body 2A in which the upper hinge plate 2B is embedded. The upper hinge plate 2B is composed of a main body fixing piece 2E at the rear portion and a rotary shaft fixing portion 2C at the front end. And
The main body fixing piece 2E is integrally molded with a hard synthetic resin, and is used as the base body 2A. As described above, the base body 2A is formed into a shape that substantially matches the shape of the recess 16, the upper surface of which is flat and has the same color as the outer case 4.

Further, the main body fixing piece 2E of the upper hinge plate 2B.
And a step portion 2D slightly higher than the main body fixing piece 2E is formed on the boundary between the tip end rotary shaft fixing portion 2C, and the rotary shaft fixing portion 2C is provided with a rotary shaft 24 of a predetermined shape on the lower side. It is fixed by caulking.

Before assembling the inner box 6 into the outer box 4, a plurality of screw holes 31B provided on the bottom plate 11 of the upper surface 4A of the outer box 4 are closed from the inside with paper tape or the like, and both boxes are kept in this state. A heat insulating material 7 is filled between 4 and 6 by an in-situ foaming method.
As a result, the heat insulating material 7 foamed between the boxes 4 and 6 becomes
Of the screw holes 31B provided in the recess 16 are prevented from leaking.

Next, the base body 2A of the upper hinge member 2 is housed in the recess 16 of the upper surface 4A of the outer box 4, and they are aligned with each other and fixed with three screws 31 ... At this time, the heads of the screws 31 ... Are screwed below the upper surface of the base body 2A. As a result, the upper hinge member 2 is fixed to the outer box 4, and the upper hinge plate 2B projects forward from the notches 10 of the front flange 12 and the rear flange 13 of the outer box 4.

On the other hand, the door 5 is constructed by connecting the upper and lower surfaces of the outer surface plate and the inner surface plate with a cap (not shown) made of resin, and filling a heat insulating material between them. (Not shown) is formed, and the rotary shaft 24 provided in the rotary shaft fixing portion 2C of the upper hinge plate 2B can be rotatably inserted into the engaging hole.

With the above construction, when the door 5 is attached to the main body 8, the rotary shaft 24 of the upper hinge plate 2B is rotatably inserted and engaged with the engaging hole formed in the door 5. Further, the lower right part of the door 5 is rotatably engaged with a middle hinge (not shown), so that the door 5 is rotatably supported by the main body 8.

At this time, the upper surface of the door 5 is the upper surface 4A of the outer box 4.
And the rotation shaft fixing portion 2C of the upper hinge plate 2B is flush with the upper surface of the door 5 by the step portion 2D.
The upper hinge member 2 is thereby hidden from the front. Also,
Since the base body 2A of the upper hinge member 2 is fixed flush with the upper surface 4A and has the same color as the outer box 4, the appearance is also improved.

Since the upper hinge member 2 can be fixed with the screw 31 after the heat insulating material 7 is foamed between the boxes 4 and 6 to complete the main body 8, a jig for foaming the heat insulating material 7 can be provided. In addition to being simplified, the number of assembling steps is also reduced, and the cost can be significantly reduced.

Further, since the upper hinge member 2 does not project above the main body 8, the effective volume efficiency of the refrigerator 1 can be increased, and also when other refrigerators are stacked on the main body 8. The hinge member 2 does not get in the way.

Although the door 5 is pivotally supported on the right side of the main body 8 in the embodiment, the invention is not limited to this, and the door 5 may be pivotally supported on the left side. The refrigerator 1 is not limited to the home use of the embodiment, but the present invention is also effective for a so-called commercial refrigerator installed in a kitchen of a restaurant or the like.

[0026]

As described above in detail, according to the invention of claim 1, the upper hinge member having the upper hinge plate for pivotally supporting the door is formed from one side of the upper surface of the main body to the front side. It becomes possible to store it in the recess. As a result, the upper hinge member does not project upward from the main body, so that it is possible to increase the effective volume efficiency of the refrigerator, and the upper hinge member becomes an obstacle when stacking other refrigerators on the main body. Will disappear.

In particular, since the rear portion of the upper hinge plate is embedded in the base body to form the upper hinge member and the base body has a shape that substantially matches the shape of the recess, the mounting on the main body is ensured. The finishing accuracy is improved and the number of parts is reduced, so that the number of mounting steps is also reduced.

According to the invention of claim 2, in addition to the above, after the heat insulating material is foam-filled between the outer and inner boxes, the upper hinge member can be attached to the main body.
It is possible to simplify the foaming jig.

Further, according to the invention of claim 3, in addition to the above, the base of the upper hinge member is made of a hard synthetic resin, and the upper hinge plate is integrally molded with the hard synthetic resin, so that the productivity is improved. However, the manufacturing cost can be reduced, and the base body can be colored in the same color as the main body, so that the unity feeling can be further improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an enlarged vertical side view of an upper front end of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of one side portion of the front end of the refrigerator of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a front view of the upper part of the refrigerator of the present invention excluding the upper hinge member.

FIG. 4 is a front view of the upper part of the refrigerator of the present invention to which an upper hinge member is attached.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Refrigerator 2 Upper hinge member 2A Base body 2B Upper hinge plate 4 Outer box 4A Upper surface 5 Door 6 Inner box 7 Insulating material 8 Main body 10 Notch 11 Bottom plate 12 Front flange 13 Rear flange 15 Freezer 16 Recess 24 Rotating shaft

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A refrigerator provided with a main body that opens forward and a door that is rotatably supported by the main body and that opens and closes the opening so as to extend from one side of the upper surface to the front side of the main body. An upper hinge member formed of an upper hinge plate for rotatably pivoting the door and a rear part of the upper hinge plate embedded therein; The refrigerator is characterized in that the upper hinge plate projects forward from the front surface of the main body when the base body is mounted in the recess. 2. A main body which is formed by foaming and filling a heat insulating material between an outer box and an inner box and which is open forward, and a door which is rotatably supported by the main body and which opens and closes the opening. In the refrigerator provided, a cutout portion formed from one side of the upper surface of the outer box to the front surface and a recess formed by a recessed bottom plate fixed to the outer box so as to close the cutout portion from below. An upper hinge member for pivotally supporting the door and an upper hinge member made of a base body in which a rear portion of the upper hinge plate is embedded, the base body having a shape substantially conforming to the recess shape. The refrigerator is characterized in that the upper hinge plate projects forward from the front surface of the outer box in a state where the base body is mounted in the recess. 3. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the base of the upper hinge member is made of a hard synthetic resin, and the upper hinge plate is integrally molded.