KR100572870B1 - Hinge-shaft mounting structure for chest type refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a hinge shaft mounting structure of the chest type refrigerator. The present invention relates to a chest type refrigerator in which a door 22 is installed to open and close about a hinge assembly 30 at an upper end of a refrigerator body 20 having a storage space opened upward, and the storage space is opened and closed. A connection portion 35 formed at the tip of the hinge shaft 34 protruding out of the housing 32 of the housing 30 and seated and fastened to the recess 41 of the door 22, and of the door 22. And a reinforcing member 50 fixed to the door 22 across the concave inlet portion 41 and supporting the connection portion 35 seated on the concave inlet portion 41. A stepped portion 54 is provided to reinforce the portion of the connecting portion 35 in which the moment due to the load of the door 22 is applied. According to the hinge shaft mounting structure of the chest type refrigerator according to the present invention having such a configuration, the hinge shaft is more firmly connected to the door to smoothly open and close the door, and operation noise is not generated when the door is opened or closed. Therefore, there is an advantage that the moment due to the weight of the door is more effectively supported.

Refrigerator, Chest Type, Door, Hinge Shaft, Fastening, Reinforcement

Description

Hinge-shaft mounting structure for chest type refrigerator

1 is an exploded perspective view showing the configuration of a hinge assembly of a refrigerator according to the prior art.

Figure 2 is a rear perspective view showing the configuration of the refrigerator employing the hinge assembly of the embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 3 is an enlarged perspective view showing the main portion of the embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 4 is a partial cross-sectional perspective view showing a part of the configuration of the embodiment of the present invention.

5 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the main portion of the embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 6 is a perspective view showing a reinforcing member constituting an embodiment of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols on the main parts of the drawings

20: refrigerator body 22: door

30: hinge assembly 32: housing

34: hinge axis 35: connection portion

36: through hole 37: seating groove

38: fastening groove 40: fastening boss

41: recessed part 42: fastener

45: tightening screw 46: head

47: body portion 50: reinforcing member

51: reinforcing body 52: fastener

54: step 56: reinforcing rib

The present invention relates to a refrigerator, and more particularly, to a structure in which a hinge shaft serving as a center for opening and closing a door of a chest type refrigerator is mounted on the door.

The refrigerator keeps the storage fresh for a long time by maintaining the storage space inside the set temperature. There are various types of such refrigerators, and the present invention relates to a chest-type refrigerator in which a door is formed on an upper surface of the refrigerator body.

In the chest type refrigerator, the door is configured to open and close in the direction of gravity and vice versa. In particular, in the door of the chest type refrigerator, since the load of the door acts on the hinge shaft as it is, it is preferable that the hinge assembly is firmly mounted to the door of the refrigerator body.

1 shows an hinge assembly according to the prior art and a configuration corresponding thereto in an exploded perspective view. According to the figure, the housing 1 forms the external appearance of the hinge assembly. The housing 1 is formed to have a substantially cylindrical shape, and a predetermined space is formed therein. One side of the housing 1 is integrally formed with a mounting bracket (3) mounted to the refrigerator body. The mounting bracket 3 is drilled with mounting holes 3 'through which screws pass. The end of the housing 1 is provided with a side cap 5 for shielding the space therein. The side cap 5 also serves to ensure that the components constituting the hinge assembly are installed in place within the housing 1. The side cap 5 is fastened to the housing 1 with screws.

A hinge shaft 7 is installed inside the housing 1 to protrude outward through the side cap 5. The hinge shaft 7 is rotated together with the door to the center of rotation of the door. A portion of the hinge shaft 7 which protrudes out of the housing 1 through the side cap 5 is a connecting portion 9 connected to the door. The connecting portion 9 has a bar shape with a substantially rectangular cross section.

The connecting portion 9 is connected to the hinge bush 10 fixed to the door. The hinge bush 10 has an insertion hole 12 into which the connecting portion 9 is inserted. The insertion hole 12 is also rectangular in cross section so that the connecting portion 9 is not rotated with respect to the hinge bush 10.

In the configuration as described above, the housing 1 is fixed to the refrigerator body and the hinge shaft 7 is fixed to the hinge bush 10 of the door by the connecting portion 9, the hinge shaft 7 is a door It rotates with the door with respect to the housing 1 at the time of opening and closing.

However, the hinge assembly according to the prior art as described above has the following problems.

The connecting portion 9 of the hinge shaft 7 is simply press-fitted into the insertion hole 12 of the hinge bush 10 provided in the door. Therefore, a gap may occur between the connecting portion 9 and the insertion hole 12 in the process of opening and closing the door, which is a relatively heavy object. The gap is large due to the continuous opening and closing operation of the door originates from the assembly tolerance generated during assembly.

If a gap is formed between the connecting portion 9 and the insertion hole 12 as described above, a time interval occurs between the opening and closing operation of the door and the rotation operation of the hinge shaft 7, so that the hinge load cannot be properly supported. There is a problem that the opening and closing of the door is not smooth.

In addition, when a gap is generated between the connection part 9 and the insertion hole 12, the connection part 9 collides with the inner surface of the insertion hole 12 in the opening and closing process of the door, thereby causing operation noise.

In addition, as the capacity of the chest type refrigerator increases, the weight of the door becomes heavy accordingly. As such, when the weight of the door becomes heavy, there is a problem in that a lot of force is applied between the connecting portion 9 and the hinge bush 10 during opening and closing of the door, thereby making it vulnerable to breakage.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve the problems of the prior art as described above, and to provide a hinge shaft mounting structure for smoothly opening and closing the door even after long use.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a hinge shaft mounting structure having a secure engagement with the door side.                         

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a hinge shaft mounting structure that effectively supports a moment generated by the load of a heavy door.

According to a feature of the present invention for achieving the object as described above, the present invention is a chest type refrigerator in which the storage space is opened and opened by opening the door so as to open and close around the hinge assembly on the top of the refrigerator body with the storage space opened to the top In the hinge assembly, which is formed at the tip of the hinge shaft protruding out of the housing of the hinge assembly, the connection portion is seated and fastened to the recessed portion of the door, the fixed portion is fixed to the door across the recessed portion of the door and seated on the recessed portion It is configured to include a reinforcing member for supporting the connecting portion, the reinforcing member is provided with a stepped portion to reinforce the portion in which the moment is applied by the load of the door.

The reinforcing body constituting the reinforcing member is formed with a stepped portion having a step difference corresponding to the height difference between the both ends of the concave portion, and both ends of the reinforcing body are formed with fastening holes through which the fastening screw for fastening to the door is formed. Reinforcing ribs are formed at both ends of the reinforcing body across the part.

The connection part has a through hole through which a fastening screw for fastening the connection part to the door is formed. On one surface of the connection part corresponding to the outlet of the through hole, a fastening groove is formed around the edge of the through hole, and the recess of the door. The fastening boss is inserted into the fastening groove is provided, the fastening hole penetrating the fastening boss is formed to have an inner diameter smaller than the diameter of the fastening screw.

According to the hinge shaft mounting structure of the chest type refrigerator according to the present invention having such a configuration, the hinge shaft is more firmly connected to the door to smoothly open and close the door, and operation noise is not generated when the door is opened or closed. Therefore, there is an advantage that the moment due to the weight of the door is more effectively supported.

Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the hinge shaft mounting structure of the chest type refrigerator according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

2 is a rear perspective view showing the configuration of the refrigerator employing the hinge assembly of the embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of the main components of the embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a partial cross-sectional view of the configuration of the embodiment of the present invention. It is shown in a perspective view, in Fig. 5 the main construction of the embodiment of the invention is shown in a schematic cross-sectional view, and in Fig. 6 a reinforcing member constituting the embodiment of the invention is shown in a perspective view.

As shown in these figures, a storage space (not shown) is formed inside the refrigerator main body 20. The storage space is opened to the upper portion of the refrigerator body 20. The storage space is opened and closed by the door 22. The door 22 is installed to be opened and closed by the hinge assembly 30 in the refrigerator body 20. That is, the door 22 is opened and closed around the hinge assembly 30 connecting the upper end of the rear surface of the refrigerator body 20 and the rear end of the door 22.

The lower rear end of the refrigerator body 20 is provided with a machine room 24 in which various elements constituting the cycle of the refrigerator are installed, and the machine room 24 is shielded by the back cover 26. The back cover 26 shields the machine room 24 so that the inside thereof is not visible.

The hinge assembly 30 pivotally connects the door 22 with respect to the refrigerator main body 20. The hinge assembly 30 has a damping function so that the door 22 does not close rapidly due to its own weight. One end of the hinge shaft 34 protrudes to one end of the housing 32 constituting the exterior of the hinge assembly 30. The portion of the hinge shaft 34 protruding to the outside of the housing 32 is a portion that is engaged with the door 22 side as the connection portion 35.

The connection part 35 has a substantially flat hexahedral shape, through which a through hole 36 is formed. The through hole 36 is formed by penetrating the connecting portion 35 in a direction perpendicular to the rotational direction of the hinge shaft 34. Two through holes 36 are drilled in this embodiment, but are not necessarily the same, and may be more or less depending on design conditions.

The inlet of the through hole 36 is formed in a seating groove 37 formed by being recessed in one surface of the connecting portion 35. The head 46 of the fastening screw 45 to be described below is seated in the seating groove 37. A fastening groove 38 is formed on the other surface of the connecting portion 35 to include the outlet of the through hole 36. The fastening groove 38 is formed on the opposite surface of the connecting portion 35 in which the seating groove 37 is formed. Therefore, the cross section of the connecting portion 35 including the through hole 36, the seating groove 37, and the fastening groove 38 is H-shaped as shown in FIG. The fastening groove 38 is a part into which the fastening boss 40 to be described below is press-fitted.

A fastening boss 40 is formed in the door 22 to allow the connection part 35 to be fastened to the door 22. The fastening boss 40 is formed to protrude to the rear appearance of the door 22. The fastening boss 40 is press-fitted into the fastening groove 38 of the connecting portion 35. The fastening boss 40 is preferably formed by the number of fastening grooves 38 of the connecting portion 35.

The fastening boss 40 is provided in the recess 41 formed at the rear end of the door 22. As shown in FIG. 4, the recess 41 has a depth enough to allow the connection part 35 to be seated. The front end side surface ff of the door 22 adjacent to the recess 41 is more protruded than the rear end side rf. Of course, the more protruding side of the door 22 has the same height as the surface of the connection part 35 when the connection part 35 is seated on the recess 41.

Fastening holes 42 are formed through the fastening boss 40. The fastening screw 45 penetrating the through hole 36 of the connecting portion 35 is fastened to the fastening hole 42. The fastening screw 45 has an outer diameter greater than the inner diameter of the fastening hole 42 so that when the fastening screw 45 is fastened to the fastening hole 42, a screw portion is formed at the inner diameter of the fastening hole 42. Is inserted. To this end, it is preferable to increase the outer diameter of the fastening screw 45 by approximately 15 to 20% larger than the inner diameter of the fastening hole 42. Since the diameter of the fastening screw 45 is relatively larger than the inner diameter of the fastening hole 42, the fastening boss 40 is deformed to extend in the circumferential direction by tightening the fastening screw 45. The fastening groove 38 is press-fitted without a gap.

The fastening screw 45 is composed of a large head 46 and the body 47, the head 46 is size that can be seated in the seating groove (37). The outer diameter of the body portion 47 is formed relatively larger than the inner diameter of the fastening hole (42). The outer diameter of the body portion 47 is formed with a screw portion.

The reinforcing member 50 is mounted to the door 22 across the concave portion 41 on which the connecting portion 35 is seated. The reinforcing member 50 allows the connection part 35 to be firmly fastened to the door 22 and to support the moment due to the weight of the door 22.

The reinforcement body 51 of the reinforcement member 50 has a predetermined width, thickness, and length, and is formed to have a length longer than the width. Fastening holes 52 are drilled at both ends of the reinforcing body 51, respectively. The fastening screw 53 fastened to the door 22 side passes through the fastening hole 52. For reference, as shown in FIG. 5 so that the fastening of the fastening screw 53 is secured to the part of the door 22 to which the fastening screw 53 is fastened, a boss may be formed inside or a separate reinforcement may be provided. have.

The reinforcement body 51 is formed with a stepped portion 54. The step portion 54 allows both ends of the reinforcing body 51 to step with each other, and is in contact with one side of the connection portion 35 seated on the recess 41. The step portion 54 is formed to have a length corresponding to the height difference between the surfaces ff and rf at both ends of the concave portion 41.

A reinforcing rib 56 is formed at a portion of the reinforcing body 51 that shields the connection part 35. The reinforcing ribs 56 are formed to extend in the longitudinal direction at both ends of the reinforcing body 51, respectively. The reinforcing rib 56 may more effectively withstand the force acting on the reinforcing body 51 when the door 22 is opened and closed by the weight of the door 22.

Hereinafter, the operation of the hinge shaft mounting structure of the chest type refrigerator according to the present invention having the configuration as described above will be described in detail.

In the present invention, the housing 32 of the hinge assembly 30 is fastened to the refrigerator main body 20, and the door 22 is provided at an end portion of the hinge shaft 34 which is rotated with respect to the housing 32. The connection part 35 is fastened. In addition, the reinforcing member 50 covers and reinforces the connection part 35 seated on the recess 41 of the door 22.

Here, it will be described that the connection portion 35 is fastened to the door 22. First, the connection part 35 of the hinge assembly 30 is mounted on the door 22 so that the fastening boss 40 formed on the door 22 is seated in the fastening groove 38 of the connection part 35. At this time, the fastening boss 40 is loosely inserted into the fastening groove 38.

In this state, the fastening screw 45 is fastened to the fastening hole 42 of the fastening boss 40 through the through hole 36 of the connection portion 35. At this time, the inner diameter of the fastening hole 42 is smaller than the diameter of the body portion 47 of the fastening screw 45, the fastening screw 45 is inserted into the fastening hole 42, the fastening hole 42 On the inner surface of the threaded portion is formed.

On the other hand, the part of the fastening boss 40 protruding to the outer surface of the door 22 is deformed in the centrifugal direction by the body portion 47 of the fastening screw 45 is inserted. That is, the outer diameter of the fastening boss 40 will be larger. As the outer diameter of the fastening boss 40 increases as described above, the outer circumferential surface of the fastening boss 40 is in close contact with the inner surface of the fastening groove 38. This means that the connection part 35 and the fastening boss 40 are firmly fastened.

The fastening screw 45 is tightened until the head 46 is seated in the seating groove 37 of the connecting portion 35. When the fastening screw 45 is fastened to the fastening boss 40 by passing through each through hole 36 of the connection part 35, the fastening between the hinge assembly 30 and the door 22 is completed.

Next, the reinforcing member 50 is fastened to the door 22. That is, the fastening hole 52 of the reinforcing body 51 of the reinforcing member 50 is positioned at both ends of the concave inlet portion 41 so that the reinforcing body 51 is fastened with the fastening screw 54. To be fastened to. In this case, the step portion 54 is in close contact with one side of the connecting portion 35 exposed to the outside of the concave portion 41, the reinforcing body 51 across the concave portion 41 and the connecting portion Shield 35.

For reference, the portion marked with M in FIG. 5 is the portion that takes the most moment. The reinforcing member 50, the stepped portion 54 of the reinforcement to prevent it from being damaged by the moment.

Next, the hinge assembly 30 is fastened to the refrigerator main body 20 by the housing 32 of the hinge screw. Of course, the fastening of the hinge assembly 30 and the refrigerator body 20 may be performed at any time before or after the hinge assembly 30 and the door 22 are fastened.

On the other hand, the connection portion 35 is fastened to the door 22, the portion is preferably shielded by a separate cover so that it can not be seen from the outside.

The rights of the present invention are not limited to the embodiments described above, but are defined by the claims, and those skilled in the art can make various modifications and adaptations within the scope of the claims. It is self-evident.

For example, in the illustrated embodiment, a configuration in which the connection portion 35 and the fastening boss 40 are firmly coupled by the deformation of the fastening boss 40 according to the fastening of the fastening screw 45 is adopted, but this is different. The structure may be changed and the reinforcing member 50 may be fastened to the door 22.

In the hinge shaft mounting structure of the chest type refrigerator according to the present invention as described in detail above, the following effects can be obtained.

First, in the present invention, since the fastening boss of the door fastened to the connecting portion of the hinge shaft is deformed to expand in the centrifugal direction by fastening the fastening screw to be pressed into the fastening groove of the connecting portion, the hinge shaft is more firmly connected to the door to open and close the door. The effect is that the operation becomes smoother.

In addition, since the fastening boss of the door is connected to the fastening groove formed in the connecting portion of the hinge assembly without any gap, the operation noise does not occur when the door is opened and closed, thereby improving the quality of the product.

In addition, in the present invention, since the reinforcing member appropriately supports the moment acting on the hinge shaft, there is an effect that the hinge side and the door connection state can be more firmly maintained even if the weight of the door is relatively high.

Claims (3)

In the chest type refrigerator in which the storage space is opened and closed to open and close the hinge assembly on the top of the refrigerator body with the storage space opened upwards, A connection part formed at a tip of a hinge shaft protruding out of the housing of the hinge assembly and seated and fastened to a recess of the door; And a reinforcing member fixed to the door across the recess of the door and supporting the connection portion seated on the recess, The reinforcing member has a hinge shaft mounting structure of the chest type refrigerator, characterized in that the stepped portion is provided to reinforce the portion of the connecting portion to the moment of the load. According to claim 1, wherein the reinforcing body constituting the reinforcing member is formed with a stepped portion having a step as much as the height difference between the both ends of the concave portion, the fastening screw through the fastening screw for fastening to the door at both ends of the reinforcing body The ball is formed, the hinge shaft mounting structure of the chest type refrigerator, characterized in that the reinforcing ribs are formed at both ends of the reinforcing body across the recess. According to claim 1 or 2, wherein the connecting portion is formed with a through hole through which the fastening screw for fastening the connecting portion to the door is formed, one surface of the connection corresponding to the outlet of the through hole is surrounded by the edge of the through hole A fastening groove is formed, The concave part of the door is provided with a fastening boss inserted into the fastening groove, The fastening hole penetrating the fastening boss is hinge shaft mounting structure of the chest type refrigerator, characterized in that it is formed to have an inner diameter smaller than the diameter of the fastening screw.

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