KR101620399B1 - Refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a refrigerator, including: a handle rotatably installed on a front surface of a door of a refrigerator; A slide member which slides inside the door by rotation of the handle; A link member connected to the slide member; And a push arm connected to one side of the link member and rotatably coupled to the inside of the door, wherein as the slide member is slid toward the front side of the door, the free end of the push arm contacts the rear side of the door The door opening device of the refrigerator is provided.

Refrigerator, door, gasket, push

Description

Refrigerator {REFRIGERATOR}

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0001] The present invention relates to a refrigerator, and more particularly, to an opening device mounted on a door of a refrigerator to allow the door to be opened more easily, and a refrigerator using the same.

The refrigerator can be classified into various types according to its use and form, but in any case, the refrigerator has a main body that provides a storage space for storing an object to be stored, and a main body that is opened / .

Such a door can be divided into a rotary door in which one side is hingedly coupled to the front surface of the main body and opened and a drawer-type door that is opened while being slid in the front-rear direction of the main body. At this time, a gasket is installed between the main body and the door so as to prevent the cool air from leaking between the contact surfaces of the door and the main body. When the user does not want the gasket, the door can be kept in close contact with the main body It also functions as a fixing device.

That is, a magnet is built in the gasket so that the gasket is held in close contact with the main body of the refrigerator using magnetic force. Due to such a structure, the door can be fixed to the main body to a sufficient degree, thereby enhancing the hermeticity thereof. However, there is a problem that a greater force is required for opening the door. Particularly, due to the internal temperature of the refrigerator, a pressure difference is generated between the inside space of the main body and the outside, and this pressure difference makes the opening of the door more difficult.

In order to solve this problem, a refrigerator in which a door opening device capable of assisting opening of a door is attached to a door of a refrigerator has been proposed. For example, in European Patent EP 1 174 668, a handle for opening a door is rotatably mounted on a door, a door opening having a push rod which is in contact with one end of the handle and protrudes from the inner side of the door when the handle is rotated Device.

Referring to FIG. 1, a door 20 is disposed on a front surface of a refrigerator body 10, and a door 20 is disposed between the body 10 and the door 20. Referring to FIG. 1, The gasket 30 is positioned. A handle 22 is rotatably coupled to the front of the door 20 by a hinge and a push rod 24 is provided at an end of the door 20 in contact with an end of the handle 22 have. In addition, a spring 26, which applies an elastic force in the direction of retracting the push rod 24, is located between the door and the push rod.

1, when the user pulls the handle 22, the handle rotates about the hinge so that the push rod 24, which is in contact with the end of the handle 22, protrudes toward the main body 10, 20 from the main body 10. As a result, the gasket 30 can be more easily separated from the main body 10, so that the door can be easily opened even with a small force.

However, in the above example, since the push rod 24 is set to be long enough to pass through the door 20, it is vulnerable to deformation. Further, since the push rod 24 is moved by the displacement of the handle 22, the rotational angle of the handle 22 fixed in the pivot form must be turned on in order to obtain a sufficient displacement. As a result, there is a problem that door opening becomes inconvenient.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a refrigerator capable of opening a door of a refrigerator more easily and conveniently than the conventional refrigerator.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a refrigerator comprising: a handle rotatably installed on a front surface of a door of a refrigerator; A slide member which slides inside the door by rotation of the handle; A link member connected to the slide member; And a push arm connected to one side of the link member and rotatably coupled to the inside of the door, wherein as the slide member is slid toward the front side of the door, the free end of the push arm contacts the rear side of the door The door opening device of the refrigerator is provided.

In the above aspect of the present invention, when the user pulls the handle, the slide member slides inside the door so that the push arm protrudes and presses the body. In this case, since the push arm rotates about the joint with the door as if it is seesaw, the ratio of the distance between the coupling point and the link member and the distance between the coupling point and the free end is adjusted, It is possible to appropriately adjust the degree of protrusion of the end portion or the force pressing the front surface of the main body. This makes it possible to open the door even if the handle is rotated a little.

Here, the slide member may include a slide plate disposed parallel to a side surface of the refrigerator body. In this case, the handle may be a so-called " vertical " handle disposed up-and-down with respect to the body.

In addition, the slide member may include a slide plate disposed in parallel with the bottom surface of the refrigerator body. In this case, the handle may be a so-called " horizontal " handle disposed laterally with respect to the main body.

Here, a stopper for limiting the amount of sliding of the slide plate may be formed inside the door. In addition, a case in which the slide plate is accommodated may be mounted inside the door, and the stopper may be formed in the case. The stopper includes: a guide boss protruding from the case; And a guide groove into which the guide boss is slidably inserted into the slide plate.

On the other hand, at the initial stage of opening the door, it is necessary to apply a large amount of force to separate the gasket. To do so, the pushing arm may protrude slowly at first and then rapidly protrude after the gasket is separated. At this time, it is preferable that the push arm is protruded slowly at an initial stage and rapidly protruded thereafter even when the pull is pulled at a constant speed, not by the user.

To this end, the ratio of the amount of projection of the push arm to the unit slide amount of the slide member may be increased as the slide member is slid. In this case, the ratio may increase linearly as the slide member protrudes, or may increase non-linearly.

For example, the push arm may have an elliptic arc shape, and the curvature may be set so that the curvature decreases from the coupling point to the free end of the door.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a refrigerator including: a case fixedly installed inside a refrigerator door; A handle rotatably installed inside the case; A link member having one side connected to the handle and displaced by rotation of the handle; And a push arm connected to the link member and displaced by the displacement of the link member so that one side protrudes toward the main body of the refrigerator.

Here, the handle may include a handle disposed on a front surface of the door; A hinge engaging portion spaced apart from one side of the handle portion; And a connection part extending from the hinge coupling part.

The link member may have one end connected to the connection portion and the other end connected to the push arm.

The ratio of the pushing distance of the push arm to the rotational angle of the handle may be increased as the rotational angle of the handle increases. In this case, the push arm has an elliptic arc shape, and the curvature of the push arm can be reduced from the coupling point on the inside of the door to the free end.

According to aspects of the present invention having the above-described configuration, since the distance that the push arm protrudes can be adjusted according to the rotation angle of the handle, the door can be opened without excessively rotating the handle, .

Hereinafter, embodiments of the refrigerator door opening device according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

2 is a perspective view illustrating an embodiment of a refrigerator having a door opening device according to the present invention. The present invention is directed to a refrigerator in which a refrigerator compartment and a freezer compartment are arranged vertically. However, the refrigerator is not necessarily limited to this type, but may be applied to a refrigerator having any form such as a two-door refrigerator or a drawer refrigerator.

2, the refrigerator 100 includes a main body 102 in which a storage space for storing food or the like is formed. The main body 102 is provided with a refrigerator-side door for opening / (104) and a freezing room side door (106) are provided on the upper and lower portions of the main body (102), respectively. One side of each of the doors 104 and 106 is hinged to the main body 102 and rotates about the hinge coupling point to open and close the inside space.

To facilitate this opening and closing process, a handle 110 is provided on the front of the doors 104 and 106, respectively. The handle 110 has a shape extending along the longitudinal direction as a whole and is installed substantially parallel to the bottom surface of the main body 102. Here, the free end 112 of the handle 110 is bent so that the user's hand slides along the handle when the door is opened and closed, thereby preventing the user from missing the handle. A guide slot 114 is formed near the fixed end of the handle 110 and the guide slot 114 extends along the longitudinal direction of the handle 110.

Meanwhile, the handle 110 is fixed to a pair of door opening devices installed to be inserted into the doors 104 and 106. 3 is an enlarged perspective view of the door opening device 120. The door opening device 120 includes a handle 130 and a handle 130 so as to protrude outward near the upper end of the case 130, . 2, the handle fixing part 132 is positioned to protrude to the outside of the refrigerator door, and one end of the handle is hinged to the bottom surface of the handle fixing part 132 and is rotatably mounted .

Here, it is not necessarily required that the handle fixing portion 132 protrude to the outside of the door, and an example in which only the handle is located outside the door and located inside the door may be considered.

The case 130 has a generally rectangular parallelepiped shape, and a slide plate 140 is slidably mounted in the case 130. A link portion 142 extending toward the door side is formed on one side of the slide plate 140. An engaging projection 144 formed at an end of the link portion 142 is inserted into the guide slot 114 Respectively. As a result, the rotation of the handle causes slide movement of the slide plate 140. A stopper may be provided to limit the movement of the slide. The stopper includes a guide groove 146 formed in the slide plate 140 and a guide boss 136 formed in the case 130 so as to be inserted into the guide groove 146 .

A hinge coupling part 134 is formed at the other end of the case 130 and a push arm 160 is rotatably inserted into the hinge coupling part 134. [ The push arm 160 is bent to have a V-shape as a whole and the one end 162 is located outside the case 130. The end 162 is also positioned to face the body of the refrigerator.

A link 150 is positioned between the push arm 160 and the slide plate 140. The link 150 is connected at both ends to the push arm 160 and the slide plate 140 to convert the slide movement of the slide plate 140 into the rotational movement of the push arm 160 .

In other words, when the user pulls the handle 110, the handle 110 is rotated and the link portion 142 is pulled so that the slide plate 140 is retracted in the same direction as the handle 110 . The retraction of the slide plate 140 causes the rotation of the link 150, so that the push arm 160 also rotates. The end portion 162 of the push arm 160 is protruded to the outside of the case 130 due to the rotation of the push arm 160 because the center portion of the push arm 160 is hinged to the case 130 .

That is, the end portion 162 of the push arm 160 protrudes in a direction opposite to the handle 110. The degree of the protrusion of the end portion 162 is determined by the distance a between the hinge coupling portion 134 and the end portion and the distance b between the hinge coupling portion 134 and the fixed portion of the link 150, Of the total. In other words, when a is larger than b and a is smaller than b, the protruding amount of the end portion is larger than that of the latter when the handle is rotated in the same manner. In this case, the force by which the end pushes the main body of the refrigerator becomes small. Therefore, in the case of the former, there is an advantage that the door is opened even if the handle is slightly pulled, and in the latter case, the door can be opened even with a small force.

Accordingly, it is possible to appropriately set the opening force of the door in consideration of the weight of the refrigerator door, the adhesive force of the gasket attached to the door, and the like.

Meanwhile, the shape of the push arm does not necessarily have to be a V shape as shown in the figure, but may have an elliptical arc shape as a whole. In this case, when the handle is retracted by a predetermined distance, the free end of the push arm also protrudes as much as the corresponding amount. This amount of protrusion increases nonlinearly as the handle retracts farther. This is because the push arm has an elliptic arc shape in which the curvature becomes smaller as it goes from the hinge-engaging portion of the push arm to the free end, so that a relatively large force is initially applied to the body, Since the gasket can be easily separated and a large force is unnecessary after the gasket is separated, the free end can be rapidly protruded to facilitate opening.

4 is a perspective view showing another embodiment of the door opening device according to the present invention. The embodiment shown in Fig. 4 basically has the same structure as the embodiment shown in Fig. 3, but has a difference in that the handle and the case are located parallel to each other. Specifically, the handle fixing portion 132 'formed on the case 130 extends parallel to the bottom surface of the case 130. Therefore, in the case of the above embodiment, the case is disposed in parallel with the bottom surface of the refrigerator on the inside of the door.

5 is a perspective view showing still another embodiment of the door opening device according to the present invention. 5, in this embodiment, the handle 210 has a flat rectangular plate shape, and a support arm 212 protrudes from the inner surface of the handle 210. A sleeve 214 is formed at an end of the support arm 212 so that the drive arm 216 extends from the sleeve 214 at an angle that is not parallel to the support arm 212. 5, the angle is approximately 90 [deg.].

The handle 210 is rotatably installed inside the case 230. More specifically, a fastening boss 232 protruding from the bottom surface of the case 230 is formed in the case 230, and the sleeve 214 is inserted into the fastening boss 232. Through this, the handle rotates about the fastening boss 232. At this time, a return spring (not shown) for applying an elastic force to the handle is provided on the fastening boss, so that the end of the push arm 160 is kept as close as possible to the case when no external force is applied.

A hinge coupling part 234 is formed in the case 230 and the push arm 160 is rotatably coupled to the hinge coupling part 234. A link 150 is connected between the push arm 160 and the end of the driving arm 216.

In the above embodiment, the slide plate shown in Fig. 3 is formed integrally with the handle. Through this, the structure can be further simplified and the structural strength can be improved.

The door opening device shown in Fig. 5 may be mounted horizontally with the bottom surface of the refrigerator or vertically mounted. That is, the embodiment shown in FIG. 5 can be commonly used for a horizontal type in which the handle is horizontally mounted to the bottom surface of the refrigerator, and a vertical type in which the handle is vertically mounted.

1 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of a conventional refrigerator door opening device.

2 is a perspective view illustrating an embodiment of a refrigerator to which a door opening device according to the present invention is applied.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged perspective view of the door opening device in Fig. 2. Fig.

4 is a perspective view showing another embodiment of the door opening device according to the present invention.

5 is a perspective view showing still another embodiment of the door opening device according to the present invention.

Claims (13)

A refrigerator body having a storage space formed therein; A door opening / closing the storage space; And And a door opening device provided on the door to allow the door to be spaced apart from the refrigerator body when the door is opened, The door opening device includes: A case provided in the door; A slide plate slidably disposed in the case and having a coupling protrusion at a front thereof; A stopper restricting movement of the slide plate; A handle hinged to the case at one end and having a guide slot inserted between the one end and the other end so that the coupling protrusion can be relatively movably inserted; A link whose one end is rotatably connected to the slide plate; And A push arm which is in contact with a front surface of the refrigerator body so as to be protruded so as to be pressurizable and whose other end is connected to the link and between the one side and the other side is rotatably coupled to a hinge engaging portion provided in the case; The refrigerator comprising: The method according to claim 1, Wherein the slide plate is disposed parallel to a side surface of the refrigerator body. The method according to claim 1, Wherein the slide plate is disposed parallel to the bottom surface of the refrigerator body. The method according to claim 1, The stopper includes: a guide boss protruding from the case; And a guide groove in which the guide boss is slidably inserted into the slide plate. delete 5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, Wherein the ratio of the amount of projection of the push arm to the unit slide amount of the slide plate increases as the slide plate is slid. The method according to claim 6, Wherein the ratio increases nonlinearly as the slide plate protrudes. The method according to claim 6, Wherein the push arm has an elliptic arc shape and the curvature decreases from the hinge connecting portion to the free end. A refrigerator body having a storage space formed therein; A door opening / closing the storage space; And And a door opening device provided on the door to allow the door to be spaced apart from the refrigerator body when the door is opened, The door opening device includes: A case provided on the door and having a fastening boss; And a drive arm extending from the end of the support arm at a predetermined angle so that a boundary point between the support arm and the drive arm is rotatably coupled to the engagement boss, Handles; A link whose one end is rotatably connected to the drive arm; And Wherein the one side is connected to the front side of the refrigerator body so as to be capable of being pressed, the other side is connected to the link, and the one side and the other side are pivotally connected to a hinge- ; And, Wherein the push arm has an elliptic arc shape and the curvature decreases from the hinge connecting portion to the free end. 10. The method of claim 9, Wherein the handle is disposed on a front surface of the door. 10. The method of claim 9, Wherein a sleeve is provided at a boundary between the support arm and the drive arm so that the fastening boss is received therein. 12. The method according to any one of claims 9 to 11, Wherein the ratio of the projection distance of the push arm to the rotation angle of the handle increases as the rotation angle of the handle increases. 12. The method according to any one of claims 9 to 11, Wherein a distance from the hinge coupling portion to the free end of the push arm is larger than a distance from the hinge coupling portion to the coupling portion of the link.

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