KR102043211B1 - refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a refrigerator, and to a refrigerator in which a user can easily insert / draw a stored product. More specifically, the present invention relates to a refrigerator that can easily use a drawer for storing a stock.
According to one embodiment of the invention, the cabinet is provided with a storage compartment; A door rotatably provided in the cabinet to open and close the storage compartment; A drawer provided in the storage chamber and a sensor for detecting the opening of the door, the drawer being provided to move from the initial position to an operation position spaced forward by a predetermined distance from the initial position; A drawer holder which is elastically deformed when the drawer is moved from the initial position to the manipulation position and provides an elastic restoring force so that the drawer moves from the manipulation position to the initial position; An electric drive unit which moves the drawer from the initial position to the operation position and elastically deforms the drawer holder; And a refrigerator including a rail provided so that the drawer is moved back and forth with respect to the storage compartment may be provided.

Description

Refrigerator {refrigerator}

The present invention relates to a refrigerator, and to a refrigerator in which a user can easily insert / draw a stored product. More specifically, the present invention relates to a refrigerator that can easily use a drawer for storing a stock.

In general, a refrigerator is a device for freezing or refrigerating food or the like by discharging cold air generated by a refrigeration cycle including a compressor, a condenser, an expansion valve, an evaporator, and lowering the temperature in the refrigerator.

The refrigerator generally includes a freezer compartment for freezing food or beverages and a refrigerating compartment for storing the food or beverage at low temperature.

The refrigerator has a top mount type in which the freezer is arranged at the top of the refrigerating compartment, a bottom freezer type in which the freezer is arranged at the bottom of the refrigerating compartment, and a side by side type in which the freezer and the refrigerating compartment are divided into left and right sides. It can be divided into (Side By Side Type). In this case, a door is provided in each of the freezing compartment and the refrigerating compartment, and the freezing compartment or the refrigerating compartment may be accessed through the door.

Besides the refrigerators in which the refrigerator compartment and the freezer compartment are distinguished from each other, there is a refrigerator that can access the freezer compartment and the refrigerator compartment through a single door. Most of these refrigerators are small, and a freezer is generally provided in a predetermined space inside the refrigerating compartment.

In addition, French type refrigerators in which top refrigerators are opened and closed through left and right doors are also provided. The freezer compartment of the French type refrigerator may likewise be opened and closed through the left and right doors.

The refrigerating compartment and the freezing compartment are generally provided with shelves on which storage items are stored or storage boxes containing the storage items. The storage box is generally provided to form an independent storage space in the storage compartment. That is, a storage box may be provided to store vegetables or fruits independently from other storages, or to store meat or fish and fish products independently from other storages.

Recently, the capacity of refrigerators has become larger. Therefore, the front and rear widths of the storage compartments such as the refrigerating compartment and the freezing compartment are increased, so that it is not easy to pull out the storage stored deep inside. Therefore, most of the storage boxes are provided in the form of drawers. In other words, the user can pull out the storage box and take out the internal storage. In particular, such drawer-type storage boxes are mostly provided in the lower area of the refrigerator to enhance user convenience.

In addition, recently, a home-bar, an ice maker, a shelf, or a door box is installed on the back of the refrigerator door, so that the door back is used as a separate storage space or a separate functional space. have. In other words, the function of the door goes beyond simply opening and closing the freezing compartment or the refrigerating compartment, and the door forms an additional storage space or performs additional functions such as generation and supply of ice or cold water. For this reason, the distance that the door back is drawn into the refrigerating compartment or the freezing compartment is getting longer. Therefore, a problem may occur that the front end of the shelf and the storage box provided in the rear of the door and the refrigerating compartment or the freezing compartment interfere with the rear of the door.

In order to reduce such interference, the front end of the shelf or the storage box may be positioned to be spaced backwards from the front of the main body of the refrigerator by a predetermined distance. That is, the front end of the shelf or storage box may be positioned to be further spaced to the rear of the freezing compartment or the refrigerating compartment. Therefore, when the storage box is provided in a drawer shape, it may be difficult for a user to grasp the front end of the storage box and draw it out. In other words, it may be difficult for the user to pull out the storage box after inserting the hand deeper into the storage compartment. In particular, when the storage box is located in the lower portion of the refrigerator, it may not be inconvenient to extend the hand in the squat posture and draw out the storage box.

When the user opens the door to withdraw the storage box, imagine that the front end of the storage box (ie, the handle of the storage box) is not located directly in front of the user but located deep inside the storage compartment, this inconvenience may be readily understood.

On the other hand, the drawers in the conventional refrigerators, in particular the drawers of the freezer compartment are drawn in and out through the rails. In general, the rail is provided on the side wall of the storage compartment and the drawer is provided with a rail connection portion. The rail connecting portion is formed in a roller shape so that the drawer moves back and forth in a state of being inserted into the rail.

However, this type of drawer is not easy to couple the drawer to the rail. In particular, in a state in which heavy items are stored in a drawer, fitting a roller to a rail in a state in which the user lifts the drawer may be an easy task.

If necessary, the drawer may be used after the drawer is removed from the refrigerator, instead of accommodating the storage items or taking out the storage items. In this case, it would not be cumbersome to separate and reconnect the rail connections from the rails one by one. Therefore, unless there is a special situation, the user knows the necessity of separating the drawer, but it can be said that most of them are used without separating.

The present invention basically aims to solve the problem of the conventional refrigerator.

Through one embodiment of the present invention, when the user opens the door of the refrigerator to draw a drawer provided in the storage compartment automatically draws a predetermined length forward. That is, the drawer is to provide a refrigerator that automatically moves from the initial position to the operation position.

Through one embodiment of the present invention, the drawer is automatically moved from the initial position to the operation position through the electric drive unit, to provide a refrigerator that the user does not need to apply additional force in addition to the force to open the door.

Through one embodiment of the present invention, when the user closes the door of the refrigerator drawer to automatically return to the initial position from the operation position to provide a refrigerator. In other words, while reducing the effort of the user to draw the drawer from the initial position to the operation position, and to reduce the effort of the user to draw the drawer from the operation position to the initial position.

Through one embodiment of the present invention, to draw a drawer automatically by the operation of the electric drive unit, to provide a refrigerator that can automatically draw the drawer by the elastic restoring force of the spring.

Through one embodiment of the present invention, through a sensor that accurately detects the door opening (close) angle, to provide a refrigerator that can significantly reduce the interference between the drawers that move automatically when opening and closing the door. That is, when the door opening (close) angle is set to minimize the interference between the door and the drawer, to provide a refrigerator that can detect the door opening (close) very accurately at the set angle.

Through one embodiment of the present invention, even if the predetermined door opening angle is changed according to the product model to provide a door opening detection sensor and a refrigerator including the same that can flexibly respond.

Through an embodiment of the present invention, it is easy to apply in a conventional refrigerator, and to provide a refrigerator that can detect when the door open detection and the door closed detection at the same angle through a single sensor.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a configuration for automatically drawing a drawer is not exposed to the inside of the storage compartment, thereby protecting the electric drive unit, and providing a refrigerator having a convenient interior design and a beautiful storage compartment. .

Through one embodiment of the present invention, to provide a refrigerator capable of moving a plurality of drawers from the initial position to the operation position at the same time through one electric drive.

Through one embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a refrigerator in which automatic drawing and withdrawing of a drawer can be performed with reliability and durability. In particular, it is an object of the present invention to provide a refrigerator capable of minimizing damage to the electric drive unit due to overload or long-term repeated use of the electric drive unit.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, a refrigerator that can be easily assembled and easily repaired as necessary while simultaneously assembling the components associated with such components, such as an automatically drawn drawer and an electric drive unit for automatically drawing the drawer To provide.

Through one embodiment of the present invention, a plurality of drawers to be automatically withdrawn at the same time to provide a refrigerator that is easy to manufacture and maintain.

Through one embodiment of the present invention, to provide a refrigerator that can easily connect and disconnect the drawer to the rail supporting the drawer.

Through one embodiment of the present invention, to provide a refrigerator that can be easily separated and combined only the basket for storing the storage in the drawer. In other words, while maintaining the connection between the rail and the rail connection of the drawer, to provide a refrigerator that can be easily separated and recombined only the basket.

Through one embodiment of the present invention, to provide a refrigerator that can minimize the rail is visible to the user.

Through one embodiment of the present invention, to minimize the load of the motor and to provide a control method of the refrigerator that can flexibly respond to the various use environment for the drawer.

In order to achieve the above object, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the storage compartment is provided; A door rotatably provided in the cabinet to open and close the storage compartment; A drawer provided in the storage chamber and a sensor for detecting the opening of the door, the drawer being provided to move from the initial position to an operation position spaced forward by a predetermined distance from the initial position; A drawer holder which is elastically deformed when the drawer is moved from the initial position to the manipulation position and provides an elastic restoring force so that the drawer moves from the manipulation position to the initial position; An electric drive unit which moves the drawer from the initial position to the operation position and elastically deforms the drawer holder; In addition, a refrigerator including a rail provided to move the drawer back and forth with respect to the storage compartment may be provided.

The drawer holder preferably includes a hook member selectively connected to the drawer, and a spring elastically deformed or elastically restored according to the moving direction and distance of the hook member. That is, the spring may be elastically deformed when the drawer is moved forward while the hook member is connected to the drawer. In addition, when the force for pushing the drawer is removed while the hook member is connected to the drawer, the drawer may be moved backward by the elastic restoration of the spring. Therefore, the forward movement (draw) of the drawer is automatically performed by the drive of the electric drive unit, and the rear movement (draw) of the drawer can be automatically performed by the elastic force of the drawer holder.

Preferably, the drawer is provided with a locking member selectively connected to the drawer holder.

The drawer holder may include a housing in which a slot is formed to accommodate the spring and guide the movement of the hook member. The housing is provided in a fixed state, and the hook member moves with respect to the housing. Of course, the hook member may be provided to move with the drawer.

The hook member may protrude in a horizontal direction with respect to the housing and may be selectively connected to the drawer.

The electric drive unit may include a motor assembly and a moving frame, and the moving frame may be provided to be moved back and forth by driving the motor assembly between the initial position and the operation position.

The moving frame may include a transmission member for transmitting a force to the drawer, and the transmission member may push the drawer to move the drawer from the initial position to the operation position.

The electric drive unit may include a transfer member moved back and forth by driving the motor assembly and the motor assembly, and the transfer member may be provided to move the catching member of the drawer forward through the hook member. Therefore, automatic withdrawal and automatic withdrawal are possible through one locking member provided in the drawer.

The hook member may protrude from the housing of the drawer holder to be connected to the hook member of the drawer, and the transmission member may be provided to push the hook member in a direction perpendicular to the protruding direction of the hook member.

One side of the hook member is preferably formed with a seating portion to be seated in contact with the transfer member. Through this, it is possible to transmit a stable force and displacement from the transfer member to the hook member.

As the transfer member is seated on the seating portion and moves forward, the movement of the transfer member is transmitted to the hook member, and when the transfer member is separated from the seating portion and moves backward, the transfer member and the hook member It is preferable that the connection of is released. That is, the transmission member is provided to push the hook member but is not provided to pull.

In order to achieve the above object, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the storage compartment is provided; A door rotatably provided in the cabinet to open and close the storage compartment; A sensor for detecting opening of the door; A drawer provided in the storage compartment to move to an operation position spaced forward by a predetermined distance from an initial position when the opening of the door is detected and including a locking member; A drawer holder including a hook member selectively connected to the locking member and a spring elastically deformed or elastically restored by the movement of the locking member; An electric drive unit including a transmission member for moving the drawer from the initial position to the operation position by pushing the hook member, and a motor assembly for electrically moving the transmission member; In addition, a refrigerator including a rail provided to move the drawer back and forth with respect to the storage compartment may be provided.

Preferably, the connection between the locking member and the hook member is maintained in the section between the initial position and the operation position. Therefore, the spring of the drawer holder may be elastically deformed by drawing out the drawer in the section.

As the drawer is further drawn out from the manipulation position, the connection between the catching member and the hooking member may be released, and the drawer may be manually drawn out. That is, when the connection between the locking member and the hook member is released, the drawer is no longer elastically deformed from the spring of the drawer holder. And, when the connection is released, the spring is preferably maintained in an elastically deformed state.

In order to move the drawer from the operating position to the initial position, the electric drive unit is preferably driven to move the rear member. That is, it is preferable that the force pushing the drawer is no longer transmitted to the drawer. Thus, as the spring is elastically restored, the hook member may move the locking member to the rear so that the drawer may return from the operation position to the initial position.

Preferably, the drawer holder includes a housing in which a slot is formed to accommodate the spring and guide the movement of the hook member.

The hook member may protrude toward the drawer with respect to the housing and may be selectively connected to the drawer.

The transmission member is located between the housing and the locking member, it is preferably provided to push the hook member forward from the rear of the hook member.

The drawer is provided in plurality up and down, the transfer member is provided in each of the plurality of drawers, the electric drive unit is provided to integrally move the plurality of transfer members by the drive of the motor assembly. It may include a moving frame.

In order to achieve the above object, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the storage compartment is provided; A door rotatably provided in the cabinet to open and close the storage compartment; A magnet provided in the door and provided to rotate with a predetermined radius of rotation about a rotation axis of the door as the door is opened; It is provided on the upper or lower portion of the magnet so as to be spaced apart from the magnet, and is fixed to the cabinet irrespective of the rotation of the door, the effective magnetic strength for switching the contact when the opening angle of the door reaches a predetermined opening angle A refrigerator including a reed switch having a critical point of may be provided.

The magnet may be provided such that as the opening angle of the door is changed, the vertical distance to the reed switch is maintained and only the horizontal distance is changed. Therefore, when the horizontal distance between the reed switch and the magnet is outside the critical point, the reed switch detects that the door is opened at a predetermined opening angle.

The magnet may be mounted inside a door decor forming a lower surface of the door, and the reed switch may be provided under the magnet.

The rotation axis of the door is formed in a vertical axis so that the door is rotated to the left and right to open and close, it is preferably provided spaced apart in front of the cabinet from the left or right of the cabinet.

The reed switch may be provided to be spaced apart from the front of the cabinet, and may be provided toward the left and right centers of the cabinet from the rotating shaft of the door.

The reed switch is preferably provided on a hinge cover that forms a rotation axis of the door and is formed horizontally with respect to the ground.

The magnet is preferably provided such that the horizontal distance with the reed switch is increased through the vertical upper portion of the reed switch as the opening angle of the door increases.

Preferably, the opening or closing of the door is detected by switching the contact of the reed switch. In addition, the contact change is preferably performed at the same door opening angle. The door opening angle may be set to approximately 90 degrees. When the door is opened and opened to an angle of 90 degrees, the contact of the reed switch is switched to detect the opening of the door. The door can then be further opened. When the door is closed to a 90 degree angle while the door is opened in excess of 90 degrees, the contact of the reed switch may be switched to detect the closing of the door.

The magnet preferably includes a plurality of magnets having different horizontal angles with respect to the reed switch. This significantly reduces errors and deviations between products, compared to using only one magnet.

The magnet may include a horizontal magnet provided in parallel with the front surface of the cabinet and a vertical magnet provided in a longitudinal direction substantially perpendicular to the horizontal magnet, based on a state in which the door is closed.

The magnet is a bar magnet and preferably has a greater length than the height of the magnet in the mounted state.

The reed switch may be provided to have a square shape having a horizontal side and a vertical side. The length of the horizontal side of the reed switch is preferably larger than the length of the vertical side. The length of the horizontal magnet and the vertical magnet is preferably larger than the horizontal side of the reed switch.

When the opening angle of the door is 90 degrees, the angle between the horizontal magnet and the horizontal side of the reed switch is preferably 90 degrees.

Preferably, the radius of rotation of the horizontal magnet about the door axis of rotation is smaller than the radius of rotation of the vertical magnet.

In order to increase the opening angle of the door corresponding to the critical point, the horizontal magnet is mounted so that the distance between the horizontal magnet and the door rotation axis becomes smaller, and to reduce the opening angle of the door corresponding to the critical point, the horizontal The horizontal magnet may be mounted to increase the distance between the magnet and the door axis of rotation.

In order to achieve the above object, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the storage compartment is provided; A door rotatably provided in the cabinet to open and close the storage compartment; A reed switch provided at the door and fixed to a magnet and a cabinet at a predetermined rotation radius about the rotation axis of the door as the door is opened, and having a contact switch switched at a critical point of effective magnetic strength by the magnet. And a sensor configured to detect that the door is opened when a predetermined opening angle of the door is reached. An electric drive unit for moving the drawer from an initial position to an operation position spaced forward by a predetermined distance when the door is opened; In addition, a refrigerator including a rail provided to move the drawer back and forth with respect to the storage compartment may be provided.

The magnet is preferably provided such that as the opening angle of the door is changed, the vertical distance to the reed switch is maintained and only the horizontal distance is changed.

The magnet is mounted inside a door decor that forms a lower surface of the door, and the reed switch is preferably provided under the magnet.

The magnet preferably includes a plurality of magnets having different horizontal angles with respect to the reed switch.

In order to achieve the above object, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the storage compartment is provided; A door rotatably provided in the cabinet to open and close the storage compartment; A drawer provided to be movable back and forth in the storage compartment; And a rail for supporting the drawer so as to be movable back and forth with respect to the storage compartment, wherein the drawer includes: a basket accommodating the storage; The refrigerator may include a drawer frame having a basket seating portion on which the basket is seated and a rail coupling portion seated on the rail and coupled to the rail. Therefore, the basket may be easily detachable from the drawer frame. In addition, the drawer frame may be easily attached to the rail through the rail coupling portion.

The basket is mounted to the basket seating portion in a vertical downward direction is coupled to the drawer frame, the basket is preferably provided so that the coupling with the drawer frame is released while moving upward.

An opening may be formed in the central portion of the drawer frame, and the seating portion may be formed around the opening.

The basket may include a lower basket inserted into the opening and an upper basket seated on the seating portion, and the lower basket and the upper basket may be integrally formed.

The rail coupling portion is provided to extend back and forth in both the left and right sides of the drawer frame, the upper basket is preferably formed to have a larger left and right width than the lower basket to cover the rail coupling portion from the top. Through this, the rail and the rail coupling portion can be prevented from being visible to the user.

The rail preferably includes a moving rail which moves forward and backward integrally with the drawer.

The rail coupling portion may be formed in a cross section of a channel shape such that the rail coupling portion is seated while surrounding the moving rail.

The rear end of the moving rail is preferably caught by the rear end of the rail coupling portion is formed to limit the rear movement and the upper movement of the rail coupling portion is formed.

The locking portion may be formed to insert the rear end of the rail coupling portion.

An elastic protrusion is provided at the front end of the moving rail, and a mounting hole may be formed at the front end of the rail coupling part to be inserted while being elastically restored after the elastic protrusion is elastically deformed.

In the state in which the rear end of the rail coupling portion is inserted into the locking portion, as the front end of the rail coupling portion moves downward, the elastic protrusion may be inserted into the mounting hole after the elastic protrusion is elastically deformed.

That is, the front end of the rail coupling portion may be positioned higher than the rear side, and the rear end of the rail coupling portion may be first inserted into the locking portion. Through this, left and right and front and rear positions of the rail coupling portion coupled to the rail may be determined. Thereafter, the front of the rail coupling portion can be moved downward. When the front of the rail coupling portion is moved downward, the elastic protrusion is inserted into the mounting hole. As a result, the left and right front and rear support points of the rail coupling portion may be formed. Therefore, the rail coupling portion can be coupled to the rail very easily. On the contrary, the user can press the elastic protrusions respectively positioned on the left and right sides. Then, the front of the rail coupling portion can be lifted upward while the elastic protrusion is pressed. This releases the coupling between the front of the rail coupling and the rail. Thereafter, the user may pull the rail coupling forward and lift the entire rail coupling upward. Thus, the rail coupling portion can be completely separated from the rail.

On the other hand, the drawer frame formed with the rail coupling portion can be easily separated from the basket as described above. Therefore, the user may first combine the drawer frame with the rail coupling unit and then combine the drawer frame with the basket. Of course, the separation order may be performed in reverse. In the state where the storage is stored in the basket, the drawer itself may have a significant weight. Therefore, it is difficult to separate or join the whole drawer at once on the rail. However, since the basket and the drawer frame can be easily separated and combined, it is very easy to couple the drawer to the rail or to remove it from the rail.

The moving rails are provided on both sides of the drawer, respectively, and the drawer frame is fixed to the moving rails through four support points front, rear, left, and right by the elastic protrusion and the locking part.

Preferably, the rail includes a fixed rail provided below the movable rail and fixed in the storage compartment, and the movable rail is provided to be slidable with respect to the fixed rail.

The drawer preferably includes a drawer decor provided to extend left and right in the front lower portion of the basket to cover the rail coupling portion in front of the drawer. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the rail and the rail coupling portion from being visible to the user through the drawer decor.

Specifically, the basket is covered by the upper portion of the rail and the rail coupling portion and the drawer deco is covered by the front.

In order to achieve the above object, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the storage compartment is provided; A door rotatably provided in the cabinet to open and close the storage compartment; A drawer provided in the storage compartment so as to be movable back and forth, the drawer frame including a basket and a rail coupling part for receiving the storage; And a rail coupled to the rail coupling part to support the drawer to move forward and backward with respect to the storage compartment, wherein the rail coupling part is formed in a channel shape to be seated downward from the top of the rail to surround the rail. The rear of the rail may be provided with a latching portion into which the rear end of the rail coupling portion is inserted, and a front side of the rail may include a refrigerator having an elastic protrusion inserted into a mounting hole provided at the front end of the rail coupling portion. have.

The rail may include a movable rail and a fixed rail slidably supporting the movable rail at a lower portion of the movable rail, and the rail coupling part may be coupled to the movable rail.

The mounting hole is formed in a side flange covering the outer surface of the moving rail, it is preferable that the elastic protrusion is elastically deformed in the left and right center direction of the drawer is restored to be inserted into the mounting hole.

An elastic protrusion bracket for mounting the elastic protrusion on the fixed rail is mounted at the front end of the fixed rail, and an incision is formed between the elastic protrusion bracket and the elastic protrusion to allow elastic deformation of the elastic protrusion. . Therefore, since the elasticity of the configuration itself is used, the structure of the elastic projection bracket or the elastic projection can be very simple.

In order to be easily mounted in the mounting hole or to be easily separated from the mounting hole, the elastic protrusion is preferably formed in a round shape.

The rail preferably includes a rail bracket for fixing the fixed rail to the side wall of the storage compartment.

The rail bracket preferably includes a front rail bracket and a rear rail bracket provided at predetermined distances before and after the fixed rail. Therefore, the rail can be stably supported. Through this, the drawer can also be stably supported.

The drawer frame includes a catching member protruding toward the sidewall of the storage compartment, and a transmission member protruding toward the drawer frame from the sidewall side of the storage compartment and pushing the catching member from the rear of the catching member. Can be. That is, the transmission member may be provided to move back and forth.

An electric drive unit may be provided to move the locking member through the movement of the transfer member to move the drawer to an operation position spaced apart from the initial position by a predetermined distance forward. That is, the transmission member may be moved back and forth by the drive of the electric drive unit.

The forward and backward movement of the transfer member may be interfered by the front rail bracket and the rear rail bracket. Therefore, the transmission member and the locking member is preferably provided to be moved between the front rail bracket and the rear rail bracket in the section between the initial position and the operating position of the drawer.

In order to achieve the above object, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the storage compartment is provided; A door rotatably provided in the cabinet to open and close the storage compartment; A sensor for detecting opening of the door; A drawer provided in the storage chamber so as to be movable back and forth, the drawer frame including a basket accommodating the storage, a rail coupling part, and a catching member protruding toward the side wall of the storage chamber; A rail coupled to the rail coupling part to support the drawer so as to be movable back and forth with respect to the storage compartment, and supported on a side wall of the storage compartment through a front rail bracket and a rear rail bracket; And a transmission member protruding toward the drawer frame from the side wall of the storage compartment, and when the opening of the door is detected, the locking member is moved by moving the transmission member to move the drawer forward from an initial position. It includes an electric drive for moving to the operation position spaced apart by a predetermined distance, the transmission member, the section between the initial position and the operating position of the drawer, in order to avoid interference between the front rail bracket and the rear rail bracket The refrigerator may be provided to be moved between the front rail bracket and the rear rail bracket.

In order to achieve the above object, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the storage compartment is provided; A door rotatably provided in the cabinet to open and close the storage compartment; A drawer provided in the storage compartment and including a locking member; A sensor for detecting opening of the door; In addition, a refrigerator may be provided that includes a moving assembly coupled to the drawer to support the drawer so as to be movable back and forth with respect to the storage compartment and integrally coupled to and separated from the right or left sidewall of the storage compartment.

The moving assembly may include: a support frame provided to be coupled to the side wall; A motor assembly mounted to an inner side of the support frame facing the side wall; A rail mounted to an outer surface of the support frame to support the drawer to be moved back and forth; And a transfer member mounted to the support frame to be moved back and forth by the driving of the motor assembly in the space between the side wall and the support frame, the transfer member being provided to push the locking member from the rear side through the support frame. It may include a frame. Therefore, the support frame, the motor assembly, the rails, and the entire moving frame may be detachably provided on the sidewall through the support frame.

The side wall may be a partition wall that partitions the storage compartment from side to side, and the moving assembly may be mounted on at least one of a left side and a right side of the side wall.

Preferably, the barrier rib is formed with a penetrating portion through which at least a portion of the motor assembly penetrates.

When the moving assemblies are mounted on the left and right sides of the partition wall, the through part is preferably formed such that the motor assembly on one side and the motor assembly on the other side are disposed vertically through the through part. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the thickness of the partition wall from increasing due to the motor assembly. This means that it is possible to prevent the reduction of the storage space due to the increase in the thickness of the partition wall.

The support frame may be provided to cover the through part as it is coupled with the partition wall.

The partition wall may be formed with an opening for extending the wire through the partition wall.

The barrier rib is provided with a wire through part for extending the electric wire to the motor assembly, and a wire connecting part or a wire coupling part for connecting with the motor assembly is provided at the end of the electric wire.

Therefore, after the motor assembly is connected through the wire coupling part, the moving assembly may be integrally coupled to the side wall or the partition wall. On the contrary, after the moving assembly is integrally separated from the side wall or the partition wall, the connection of the motor assembly may be separated through the wire coupling part. Thereafter, the moving assembly may be completely separated from the side wall or the partition wall.

A plurality of fastening parts may be formed on the support frame, and a plurality of fastening parts corresponding to the support parts of the support frame may be formed on the sidewalls.

The support frame may be provided with a motor avoidance groove for receiving at least a part of the motor of the motor assembly. It is possible to prevent the thickness of the entire partition wall from increasing or the volume of the entire support frame protruding into the storage chamber through the motor avoidance groove. This means that the reduction of the space of the storage compartment can be minimized.

The drawer is provided with a plurality of up and down, the rail is provided with a plurality of up and down to support a plurality of rails, the motor avoidance groove is formed between a specific rail and a rail located above or below the specific rail desirable.

The support frame is formed with a slit formed in front and rear to guide the movement of the transfer member, the transfer member is preferably provided to pass through the slit from the inside of the support frame to the outside.

Preferably, the rail is mounted to the support frame through a front rail bracket and a rear rail bracket, and the slit is formed between the front rail bracket and the rear rail bracket.

The moving assembly includes a drawer holder that is elastically deformed upon withdrawal of the drawer and provides the drawer with an elastic restoring force upon entry of the drawer, the drawer holder mounted to an outer surface of the support frame. Is preferred.

The drawer holder may include a housing in which a slot is formed in a length direction and a spring is provided; Moving along the slot to generate the elastic deformation and elastic recovery of the spring, preferably comprises a hook member that is selectively connected to the drawer.

The drawer includes: a basket for receiving a stock; And it is preferred to include a rail coupling portion formed in a channel shape to be seated from the top of the rail to the bottom to surround the rail.

The rear of the rail is preferably a locking portion for inserting the rear end of the rail coupling portion is formed, the front of the rail is preferably formed with an elastic protrusion inserted into the mounting hole provided in the front end of the rail coupling portion.

The drawer preferably includes a drawer frame provided with a basket seating portion on which the basket is seated and the rail coupling portion.

Preferably, the locking member protrudes from the drawer frame toward the side wall of the storage compartment.

In order to achieve the above object, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the storage compartment is provided; A door rotatably provided in the cabinet to open and close the storage compartment; A drawer provided in the storage compartment and including a locking member; A sensor for detecting opening of the door; And a moving assembly coupled to the drawer to support the drawer so as to be movable back and forth with respect to the storage compartment, and integrally coupled to and separated from the right or left sidewall of the storage compartment, wherein the moving assembly includes: A support frame provided to be coupled to the side wall and having slits formed therein; A motor assembly mounted to an inner side of the support frame facing the side wall; A rail mounted to an outer surface of the support frame to support the drawer to be moved back and forth; And a moving member mounted to the support frame so as to move back and forth by the driving of the motor assembly in the space between the side wall and the support frame, the transfer member being provided to push the locking member from the rear through the slit. A refrigerator comprising a may be provided.

The barrier rib is provided with a wire through part for extending the electric wire to the motor assembly, and a connection part for connecting with the motor assembly is provided at an end of the electric wire.

In order to achieve the above object, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the drawer is provided to be movable back and forth within the storage compartment provided in the motor, the cabinet and the drawer is pushed by the drive of the motor to initialize the drawer. A control method of a refrigerator comprising a transfer member for automatically withdrawing from a position to an operation position, the control method comprising: a determination step of determining a condition for automatically withdrawing the drawer in a standby state; A drawing step of performing the drawer draw out to the operation position by moving the transfer member forward by driving the motor in one direction when the condition is satisfied in the determining step; A stop step of stopping drawing of the drawer by maintaining one-way driving of the motor after the drawing step; And after the stop step may be provided a control method of the refrigerator comprising a return step of driving the motor in the reverse direction to return the transfer member to the rear.

In the stopping step, the drawer is stopped at the operation position. However, one-way drive of the motor is maintained. That is, the force pushing the drawer is maintained. That is, the drawer may be automatically prevented from being drawn in while the one-way driving of the motor is maintained. In other words, it is possible to prevent the drawer from being drawn in automatically even if the user tries to withdraw the drawer while the drawer is automatically drawn out to the operation position.

When power is applied to the refrigerator, it is preferable to include an initial step of moving the transfer member to the initial position by driving the motor in the reverse direction to start the standby state. That is, the initialization step is preferably performed. This is because the delivery member may be located at a different position from the initial position while the refrigerator is provided to the user.

In the initial stage, the motor is preferably driven in the reverse direction until a signal is generated from the first Hall sensor for sensing the initial position or until a predetermined time is reached.

When the driving of the motor is stopped in the initial stage, it is preferable that a standby state for performing the determination stage is started.

In the initial stage, when a signal is generated from the second hall sensor for sensing the operation position or the motor is driven until the predetermined time is reached, it is preferable that a notification step notifying that the operation is abnormal.

In the drawing out step, the motor is preferably driven until a signal is generated from the second hall sensor sensing the manipulation position or until the predetermined time is reached.

The motor is a brushless DC (BLDC) motor, and the duty ratio for driving the motor is changed according to the calculated FG by calculating a frequency generator (FG) generated when the motor is rotated in the drawing step. Control box is preferred. The FG is preferably calculated every predetermined time. For example, it may be performed every 100 ms (milliseconds). The larger the calculated FG, the greater the control of the duty ratio.

During the withdrawal step, if the calculated FG is smaller than the obstacle FG corresponding to the obstacle that prevents the drawer from drawing, the stop step is not performed and the return step is performed.

In the withdrawal step, when the signal is generated from the first hall sensor for detecting the initial position or the motor is driven until the predetermined time is reached, it is preferable that a notification step indicating that the operation is abnormal. .

Preferably, the stopping step is performed for a predetermined time with a minimum duty ratio among duty ratios for driving the motor.

The FG is calculated in the stop step, and when the FG calculated during the stop step is smaller than a predetermined FG, the return step is preferably performed.

Preferably, the returning step includes stopping driving of the motor for a predetermined time.

In the returning step, the motor may be driven in the reverse direction until a signal is generated from the first hall sensor sensing the initial position or until a predetermined time is reached, thereby stopping the driving of the motor.

In the returning step, when a signal is generated from the second hall sensor sensing the manipulation position or the motor is driven until the predetermined time is reached, a notification step notifying that the operation is abnormal is preferably performed.

It is preferable that the driving of the motor is stopped to switch to the standby state.

The refrigerator includes a door that opens and closes the storage compartment and a sensor that detects the opening of the door when the opening angle of the door is a predetermined opening angle, and a condition for automatically withdrawing the drawer is door opening through the sensor. It is preferable to include the generation of a signal.

The refrigerator includes a door switch that detects whether the door is opened or closed based on whether the door is in close contact with the cabinet,

Preferably, the condition for automatically withdrawing the drawer further includes door opening detection through the door switch.

If the closing of the door is detected through the sensor during the drawing step or the stopping step, an emergency return step of stopping the drawing step or the stopping step to be performed and driving the motor in the reverse direction to return the transmission member to the rear is performed. This is preferred.

At the start of performing the emergency return step, when the motor is being driven in one direction, the motor is preferably driven in the reverse direction after stopping the driving of the motor for a predetermined time.

Features of each of the above-described embodiments may be combined in other embodiments.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, when the user opens the door of the refrigerator, a drawer provided in the storage compartment may automatically provide a refrigerator having a predetermined length drawn out. That is, it is possible to provide a refrigerator in which the drawer automatically moves from the initial position to the operation position.

Through an embodiment of the present invention, the drawer is automatically moved from the initial position to the operation position through the electric drive unit, it is possible to provide a refrigerator in which the user does not need to apply additional force in addition to the force to open the door. .

According to one embodiment of the present invention, when the user closes the door of the refrigerator, a drawer may automatically provide a refrigerator capable of returning to the initial position from the operation position. That is, it is possible to provide a refrigerator capable of reducing the trouble of the user drawing the drawer from the initial position to the manipulation position and at the same time reducing the effort of the user drawing the drawer from the manipulation position to the initial position.

Through one embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to provide a refrigerator in which the drawer is automatically drawn out by the operation of the electric drive unit, and the drawer is automatically drawn in by the elastic restoring force of the spring.

Through one embodiment of the present invention, through a sensor that accurately detects the door opening (close) angle, it is possible to provide a refrigerator that can significantly reduce the interference between the drawers that move automatically when opening and closing the door. That is, when the door opening (close) angle is set to minimize the interference between the door and the drawer, it is possible to provide a refrigerator capable of detecting the door opening (close) very accurately at the set angle.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, even if a predetermined door opening angle is changed according to a product model, a door opening detection sensor and a refrigerator including the same may be provided.

Through an embodiment of the present invention, it is easy to apply in a conventional refrigerator, and to provide a refrigerator that can detect when the door open detection and the door closed detection at the same angle through a single sensor.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, a configuration for automatically withdrawing a drawer is not exposed to the inside of the storage compartment, thereby protecting the electric drive unit, and providing a refrigerator having an interior design that is easy to use and has a beautiful storage compartment. have.

Through one embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to provide a refrigerator capable of moving a plurality of drawers from an initial position to an operation position at substantially the same time through one electric drive unit.

Through one embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to provide a refrigerator in which automatic drawing and drawing of a drawer can be performed with reliability and durability. In particular, it is possible to provide a refrigerator capable of minimizing damage to the electric drive unit due to overload or repeated long-term use of the electric drive unit.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, a refrigerator that can be easily assembled and easily repaired as necessary while simultaneously assembling the components associated with such components, such as an automatically drawn drawer and an electric drive unit for automatically drawing the drawer Can be provided.

Through one embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to provide a refrigerator that is automatically withdrawn a plurality of drawers integrally and at the same time easy to manufacture and maintain.

Through one embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to provide a refrigerator capable of easily connecting and detaching the drawer to a rail supporting the drawer.

Through one embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to provide a refrigerator capable of easily separating and combining only a basket for storing a storage in a drawer. That is, it is possible to provide a refrigerator in which only the basket can be easily separated and recombined while maintaining the connection between the rail and the rail connection part of the drawer.

Through one embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to provide a refrigerator that can minimize the rail is exposed to the user visually.

Through one embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to provide a control method of a refrigerator capable of minimizing a load of a motor and flexibly responding to various use environments for a drawer.

1 illustrates a front side of a refrigerator according to one embodiment of the present invention,
FIG. 2 shows a lower compartment part of the refrigerator shown in FIG. 1;
3 illustrates an embodiment of the sensor illustrated in FIG. 2 and a mounting state of the sensor;
4 illustrates another embodiment of the sensor illustrated in FIG. 2 and a mounting state of the sensor;
5 is an exploded view of the side wall and the moving assembly shown in FIG. 2;
FIG. 6 is a view illustrating a rail and a drawer holder mounted on a support frame in the moving assembly shown in FIG. 5;
FIG. 7 shows initial positions of the motor assembly and the moving frame in the moving assembly shown in FIG. 5;
FIG. 8 shows the operating positions of the motor assembly and the moving frame in the moving assembly shown in FIG. 5;
9 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the connection portion of the drawer and the moving assembly,
10 shows a side view of the drawer, in particular the connection part of the drawer frame and the moving assembly,
FIG. 11 illustrates a connection relationship between a drawer and a drawer holder according to a drawer draw distance;
12 shows another embodiment of a moving assembly,
FIG. 13 shows the positions and connection relations of the catching member of the drawer, the hooking member of the drawer holder and the transmitting member in the operating position shown in FIG. 12;
FIG. 14 shows the positions and connection relations of the locking member, the hook member, and the transmission member in a state where the drawer is further drawn out at the operating position in the embodiment shown in FIG. 12;
15 shows a drawer applicable to one embodiment of the present invention;
16 shows a rail applicable to one embodiment of the present invention,
FIG. 17 shows the drawer shown in FIG. 15 engaged with the rail shown in FIG. 16;
FIG. 18 shows the front end of the drawer shown in FIG. 15 combined with the front end of the rail shown in FIG.
19 is a block diagram of a control configuration that can be applied to an embodiment of the present invention,
20 to 26 are flowcharts for each step in the control method that can be applied to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described embodiments of the present invention;

1 shows the front of a refrigerator 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. An example of a four-door refrigerator having a refrigerating chamber 11 and a freezing chamber 12 and 13 at a lower portion thereof is illustrated. For convenience, the left and right doors of the upper refrigerating compartment are omitted, and the left door of the lower freezing compartment is omitted, so that only the right door 20 of the lower freezing compartment is shown. Of course, the present embodiment can be applied not only to this type of refrigerator but also to a side-by-side type refrigerator. That is, this embodiment may be applied to a refrigerator having a door for opening and closing a storage compartment and a drawer moving back and forth in the storage compartment.

The refrigerator includes a cabinet 10 having storage compartments 11, 12, and 13, and a door 20 that is rotatably provided in the cabinet to open and close the storage compartment. As described above, when there are a plurality of storage compartments, a plurality of doors may be provided correspondingly.

The refrigerating compartment 11 and the freezing compartments 12 and 13 may be partitioned from each other through the horizontal partition wall 14. The left freezer compartment 12 and the right freezer compartment 13 may be partitioned from each other through separate sidewalls or partition walls 16. The partition wall 16 may be referred to as a vertical partition wall for convenience. The refrigerating compartment 11, the left freezing compartment 12, and the right freezing compartment 13 may be opened and closed by respective doors.

The storage compartments 11, 12, 13, in particular the freezing compartments 12, 13, may be provided with a drawer 30 including a basket 31 for receiving the storage. The drawer 30 may be provided in plurality up and down. 1 shows an example in which three drawers 30a, 30b, and 30c are provided up and down, respectively, in the right freezer compartment and the left freezer compartment. Of course, this embodiment may be applied to the case where the drawer is provided in the refrigerating chamber as well as the freezing chamber. In addition, one or two drawers in one door may be automatically interlocked with one door, and four or more drawers may be automatically interlocked with one door.

This embodiment, in conjunction with the opening and / or opening and closing of the door 20, the drawer 30 is to provide a refrigerator that can automatically move for the convenience of the user. For example, as the right freezer compartment 13 is opened or closed through the door 20, a drawer 30 provided in the right freezer compartment 13 may be automatically moved. Of course, this automatic movement of the drawer can be applied only to either of the freezer compartments 12 and 13, and may be applied to both. In addition, it may be applied to the refrigerator rather than the freezer.

FIG. 2 illustrates only the lower freezer compartments 12 and 13 in the refrigerator illustrated in FIG. 1. The left freezer compartment door may be closed, and the right freezer compartment door 20 may be open.

As shown in the drawing, the drawer 30 provided in the left freezer compartment may be more drawn into the storage compartment than the drawer provided in the right freezer compartment. That is, based on the state shown in FIG. 2, the position of the drawer 30 provided in the left freezer compartment may be referred to as an initial position and the position of the drawer 30 provided in the right freezer compartment.

In other words, it can be said that the drawer 30 in the state in which the door 20 is closed is located at the initial position, and the drawer 30 in the state in which the door 20 is open is located in the operation position. .

As described above, the storage box or the basket 25 is provided on the rear surface of the door 20, through which a separate door storage area 21 may be formed. In order to exclude interference between the drawer 30 and the basket 25 provided in the door 20, the drawer is drawn into the initial position while the door 20 is closed. When the user opens the door 20 to withdraw the storage, the drawer 30 is moved to the operation position moved forward from the initial position so that the user can easily withdraw the drawer. Therefore, since the front end or the handle 35 of the drawer is moved to a position closer to the user, the user can more easily withdraw the drawer.

That is, the initial position may be referred to as a drawer position in a state where the drawer is substantially moved to the inside of the storage chamber at the maximum, and the operation position may be a position spaced apart by a predetermined distance in front of the initial position. In this operating position, the user does not have to put his hand deep into the storage compartment to hold the handle 35, so that the drawer 30 can be operated very conveniently. On the other hand, the operation position may also be referred to as the standby position. This is because the drawer side may be a position waiting for a user's manipulation.

As shown in FIG. 2, it is preferable that the drawer 30 does not leave the opening 17 of the storage chamber even at the operation position. That is, even if the door 20 is opened, it is preferable that the front end or the handle 35 of the drawer 30, in particular, the drawer, is located behind the opening 17. That is, it is preferable that the drawer 30 is still located inside the storage compartment. This is because opening of the door 20 by the user may not necessarily mean the use or withdrawal of the drawer 30. For example, the door 20 may be opened to use the door storage area 21. In addition, when there are a plurality of drawers 30, since only a specific drawer can be withdrawn, the drawer 30 which is not drawn out to the outside of the storage chamber only causes cold air loss.

As will be described later, embodiments of the present invention can provide a refrigerator that allows the drawer to be automatically moved according to the door opening type of the user, in particular, the door opening angle. Through this, it is possible to prevent the drawer from moving unnecessarily, thereby reducing cold air loss and energy loss. In addition, it is possible to provide a refrigerator in which interference between the drawer and the door can be minimized.

In addition, when the door is opened, the cold air of the storage compartment is basically lost. As the drawer is withdrawn, the cool air inside the drawer's basket is lost. That is, as the draw length of the drawer is increased, the loss of cold air in the basket is accelerated. In particular, when the drawer is drawn forward more than the opening, the loss of cold air may be accelerated. Therefore, in order to minimize the loss of cold air in the basket at the operating position, it is preferable that the drawer 30 does not leave the inside of the storage chamber even at the operating position of the drawer.

The manipulation position may be, for example, a position moved approximately 120 mm forward from the initial position. Of course, the interval between the operation position and the initial position may be set differently according to the shape of the refrigerator, the position of the drawer, the distance in which the storage area 21 of the door is inserted into the storage compartment, and the capacity of the refrigerator. However, the operation position is preferably a position where the front end or the handle 35 of the drawer does not leave the opening 17 of the storage compartment. That is, it is preferable that the front end portion or the handle is positioned inside the opening portion without departing from the opening portion.

According to the present embodiment, when the door 20 for opening and closing the storage compartment is opened, the drawer provided in the storage compartment may be related to a refrigerator which is automatically moved (drawn out) from the initial position to the operation position. Therefore, the refrigerator according to the present embodiment includes an electric drive unit 150 (see FIG. 5) for moving the drawer, and includes a sensor 40 (see FIG. 3) for detecting a condition in which the electric drive unit is driven. desirable.

In detail, the sensor 40 is a sensor provided to detect the opening of the door 20. When the sensor 40 detects the opening of the door 20, the electric drive unit 10 operates to detect the opening of the door 20. The lower 30 is moved from the initial position to the operation position.

The door 20 is a swing type door and may be referred to as a door that is opened and closed by rotating about a vertical axis. That is, when the door 20 completely defines the state of completely blocking the opening 17 as an angle of 0 degrees, the door 20 may be opened by rotating to exceed 90 degrees.

In this case, when the door 20 is slightly deviated from the opening 17, the door 20 may be opened. For example, when the adhesion between the door 20 and the opening 17 is released, the door may be opened. More specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, when the close contact between the gasket 22 and the cabinet 10 provided on the rear surface of the door 20 is released, the door 20 may be opened. Therefore, cold air loss may inevitably occur in this state.

In order to detect the close contact between the door 20 and the cabinet 10 may be provided with a door switch to be described later. The door switch may be provided to interlock with the operation of the lighting device provided in the storage compartment. That is, when it is determined that close contact between the door 20 and the cabinet 10 is released through the door switch, the lighting apparatus may be controlled to be turned on. After the lighting device is turned on, if the close contact between the door 20 and the cabinet 10 is performed through the door switch, the lighting device may be controlled to increase. Therefore, the door switch detects whether the door is opened or closed through a relatively small opening angle. In general, such a door switch may be formed to have a structure that swings mechanically according to the separation distance between the door and the cabinet.

Details of the door switch and the lighting device will be described later.

However, the opening of the door in this embodiment can be said to be based on the withdrawal of the drawer as described above. That is, when the user opens the door 20 under the premise of using the drawer, the drawer is preferably moved to the operation position. Therefore, it can be said that the opening angle of the door for detecting the opening of the door is very important. In addition, the opening angle of the door for drawer withdrawal can be said to be relatively much larger than the opening angle of the door detected by the door switch described above.

For example, when the user wants to withdraw only the storage stored in the door storage area 21 behind the door 20, the door may be opened only at an angle of 40 degrees to 50 degrees. In this case, it will be preferable that the drawer continues to be in an initial position. Of course, it can be said that the door switch determines that the door is open.

When a user tries to draw and use a drawer, the user generally knows that the door must be opened more than 90 degrees. This is because, at the door opening angle of 90 degrees or less, the drawer is caught by the basket 25 on the rear surface of the door before the drawer is completely drawn out. In order for the drawer to be fully pulled out substantially without interference with the door, it is common for the door to be opened, for example, at least 100 degrees.

Thus, the opening angle of the door for the automatic movement of the drawer is preferably at least 80 degrees, more preferably at approximately 90 degrees back and forth angle. That is, it is preferable to open the door at such an angle so that the electric drive unit is driven. This is because the drawer takes a certain time to move to the operation position. That is, the angle at which the opening of the door is sensed is preferably smaller than the opening angle of the door where the interference between the drawer and the door is completely excluded. Of course, it is preferable that the angle at which the door is opened and the drawer starts the automatic movement is determined so that the drawer at the door and the operation position do not interfere with each other.

On the other hand, the opening angle of the door for the automatic movement of the drawer may be an angle that does not interfere with the rear basket 25 of the door in the state that the drawer is drawn out to the operation position. As shown in FIG. 2, the basket 25 may protrude in a direction perpendicular to the rear surface of the door. Accordingly, the basket 25 is located at a position outside the opening 17 in the state where the door is opened 90 degrees. This means that the drawer 30 does not interfere with the basket 25 until the drawer is drawn out to the opening 17. Of course, when the drawer is further drawn out when the door is opened at 90 degrees, interference between the drawer 30 and the basket 25 may occur. Therefore, in order to draw out the drawer completely, the opening angle of the door has to be increased.

For this reason, it is preferable that the sensor 40 is a sensor capable of accurately detecting a preset door opening angle for drawing the drawer 20. To this end, the sensor 40 preferably includes a magnet 42 and a reed switch 41. Of course, only the reed switch 41 may be referred to as a sensor, and the reed switch may be said to sense a predetermined door opening angle through the magnet 42.

As the distance between the reed switch 41 and the magnet 42 is varied, the magnetic force applied to the reed switch is varied. That is, the specific distance between the reed switch 41 and the magnet 42, that is, the distance at which the contact point of the reed switch 41 is changed can be predicted relatively accurately by varying the magnetic force of the magnet 42 itself.

3 shows the positional relationship between the reed switch 41 and the magnet 42 in one embodiment for the sensor 40. Specifically, Figure 3 shows the door 20 is opened at an angle of 90 degrees. That is, the door 20 is rotated by 90 degrees with respect to the hinge cover 45 positioned near the leg 2 fixed to the ground. 3 is a view looking upward from the ground.

The reed switch may be located at the hinge cover 45 and the magnet 42 may be provided under the door 20. Specifically, the magnet 42 may be provided on the cap deco 24 of the door 20. Of course, the reed switch may be located on the door 20 and the magnet 42 may be located on the hinge cover. However, since the contact is formed and the configuration for transmitting the door opening signal or the closing signal to the outside is a reed switch, the reed switch is preferably fixed, that is, located in the hinge cover 45.

Since the door 20 rotates about the hinge axis 23, that is, the rotation axis of the door, the vertical separation distance between the reed switch 41 and the magnet 42 is the same regardless of the opening angle of the door 20. However, as the opening angle of the door 20 is changed, the horizontal distance between the reed switch 41 and the magnet 42 is changed. That is, the magnet 42 is rotated with the same radius with respect to the hinge axis 23, the horizontal distance with the magnet 42 is changed according to the rotation angle at this time.

With the door 20 closed, the magnet 42 is located near the reed switch 41. Therefore, when the door 20 is closed, the magnetic force of the magnet 42 may affect the reed switch 41. In addition, as the opening angle of the door 20 increases, the magnet 42 closes to the reed switch to the maximum and then moves away from the reed switch. That is, as the opening angle of the door 20 increases, the magnetic force of the magnet 42 does not affect the reed switch 42. Therefore, as an example, when the opening angle of the door 20 reaches an angle of 90 degrees, the contact of the reed switch 41 may be changed. This change in contact point of the reed switch 41 may be referred to as generation of a door open on signal. That is, when the door is opened to a predetermined angle it is possible to detect this as the door opening. In other words, the magnetic force of the magnet 42 affects the reed switch 42 in a section between the opening angle (for example, 90 degrees) with the door 20 closed, so that the contact of the reed switch 41 is closed. When the opening angle is reached, the magnetic force of the magnet 42 no longer affects the reed switch 42 so that the contact of the reed switch 41 is changed.

In other words, when the opening angle of the door reaches a predetermined opening angle, the reed switch has a critical point of the effective magnetic strength for contact switching. That is, the contact point of the reed switch is switched to reach the threshold, which may be said to sense that the door is open.

Therefore, by implementing a sensor for detecting the opening of the door through the reed switch 41 and the magnet 42, it is possible to generate a door opening on signal at a desired door opening angle (preset angle).

As described above, when the door is opened and the door opening angle is reached, the magnetic force of the magnet 42 does not affect the reed switch 41. That is, out of the critical point. On the contrary, this means that the magnetic force of the magnet 42 affects the reed switch 41 when the door opening angle is reached when the door is closed while the door is opened beyond the door opening angle. Therefore, the door opening angle for detecting the opening of the door and the door closing angle for detecting the closing of the door can be set to be the same. In addition, it is possible to detect the opening of the door and the closing of the door through the same angle through one sensor 40.

In other words, the sensor 40 may perform door opening detection and door closing detection through the same angle. For example, after the door opening is sensed at the same angle, the next sense of the same angle may be referred to as door closing detection. In addition, the same angle after the door closing detection may be referred to as door opening detection.

This is because, as described above, interference between the door and the drawer needs to be excluded when the door is opened as well as when the door is closed. That is, as will be described later, even when the drawer is automatically drawn in, it may be said to automatically draw the drawer before the door interferes with the drawer.

However, when one magnet 42 is used as shown in FIG. 3, a problem may occur in which a deviation of an opening angle of a predetermined door occurs for each product. For example, when the magnet 42 and the reed switch 41 are mounted by setting the opening angle of the door to 90 degrees, a deviation of the door opening angle may occur for each product. That is, some products detect an opening angle of 85 degrees, some products detect an opening angle of 90 degrees and some products, the detection deviation may occur for each product. Such deviation may be caused by various causes such as magnetic force deviation of the magnet 42 and mounting deviation of the magnet 42 and the lease switch 41.

In addition, when one magnet 42 is used, it is not easy to change the opening angle of the door. This is because a specific model may have an opening angle of 90 degrees for each product model, but an opening angle of 85 degrees may be desirable for other specific models.

Therefore, it can be said that it is desirable to provide a sensor 40 that can reduce the deviation in the preset opening angle of the door and elastically change the opening angle of the door. Applicant intends to provide a sensor 40 using a plurality of magnets in order to solve the problem of the sensor 40 implemented through one magnet 42.

Hereinafter, another embodiment of the sensor 40 will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 4. Basically, this embodiment is very similar to the above-described embodiment. However, in the present embodiment, a plurality of magnets may be provided unlike the above-described embodiment.

Also in this embodiment, the reed switch is located in the hinge cover 45, a plurality of magnets 42 may be provided in the cap deco 24 of the door 20. The cap deco 24 may be referred to as a configuration for forming a lower surface of the door 20. Thus, the magnet 42 is located inside the door 20.

The reed switch 41 may be provided to be fixed to the cabinet 10. For example, it may be provided in the hinge cover 45 protruding in front of the cabinet 10. In addition, the door 20, in particular the cap deco 24, has a predetermined upper and lower gaps at the upper portion of the hinge cover 45, and opens and closes based on the hinge shaft 23.

The magnet 42 may include a horizontal magnet 42a and a vertical magnet 42b. The horizontal magnet 42a is a magnet provided to be parallel to the front surface of the door 20 or the front surface of the cabinet 10, and the vertical magnet 42b is a magnet positioned substantially perpendicular to the horizontal magnet 42a. can do.

In the state in which the door 20 is closed, the horizontal magnet 42a may be positioned to be parallel to one surface of the reed switch 41. The reed switch 41 may be provided in a quadrangular shape, and the horizontal magnet 42a may be positioned to be parallel to the horizontal side of the reed switch 41. In addition, the vertical magnet 42b may be positioned to be parallel to the vertical side of the reed switch 41. The horizontal side of the reed switch may be formed larger than the vertical side of the reed switch.

In addition, the horizontal magnet 42a and the vertical magnet 42b may be formed in a rod-shaped magnet having a length greater than the height based on the vertical cross section shown in FIG. 4.

In the state in which the door 40 is closed, the horizontal magnet 42a may be positioned to be long and stretched from the rear of the reed switch 41 to the left and right. In addition, the vertical magnet 42b may be positioned to be elongated back and forth on the left or right side of the reed switch. That is, the two magnets 42a and 42b may be spaced apart from each other and positioned to surround the reed switch 41. Therefore, the horizontal magnet and the vertical magnet may be provided by varying the horizontal angle with respect to the reed switch.

Thus, when the door 20 is closed, the two magnets 42a and 42b simultaneously provide effective magnetic force to the reed switch 41.

Further, the distance between the horizontal magnet 42a and the hinge axis 23 is smaller than the distance between the vertical magnet 42b and the hinge axis 24. That is, the radius of rotation of the horizontal magnet 42a is smaller than the radius of rotation of the vertical magnet 42b. In addition, the distance between the reed switch 41 and the hinge shaft 24 may be set to be similar to the rotation radius of the horizontal magnet 42a.

Through this, the horizontal magnet 42a is rotated near the reed switch 41 as the door 20 is opened, and the vertical magnet 42b is rotated at a position relatively far from the reed switch 41. Done. This means that the area where the horizontal magnet 42a can overlap with the reed switch 41 is relatively large.

Therefore, basically, the magnetic force sensed by the reed switch 41 is a magnetic force generated by the horizontal magnet 42a, and the magnetic force generated by the vertical magnet 42b auxiliaryly affects the reed switch 41. Go crazy.

On the premise that the strength of the magnetic force is inversely proportional to the square of the distance, the strength of the magnetic force decreases very rapidly as the position of the magnet 42a moves away from the reed switch 41. This means that even if the magnet moves in a very short section, a very large change in magnetic strength can occur. For this reason, it is very difficult to accurately set the threshold point at which the magnetic force is not affected, that is, the door opening angle, at the position where the magnetic force is affected. In other words, when only one magnet, for example, the horizontal magnet 42a, is provided, it is difficult to set the critical point because a sudden change in magnetic strength occurs before and after the critical point.

In the present embodiment, the change in the magnetic strength is smoothly progressed to the critical point through the vertical magnet 42b, and then the change in the magnetic strength is suddenly generated after the critical point. That is, since the vertical magnet 42b continuously provides the auxiliary magnetic force up to the critical point, the rapid magnetic force change up to the critical point may be limited.

 On the other hand, according to the present embodiment, the threshold point, that is, the opening angle of the door can be easily set to about 90 degrees. That is, the opening angle of the door detected by the reed switch 41 can be easily adjusted.

Specifically, the position of the vertical magnet 42b may move the horizontal magnet 42a shown in FIG. 4 back and forth in a fixed state. That is, the vertical magnet 42b may be referred to as a fixed magnet and the horizontal magnet 42a may be referred to as a floating magnet.

When the horizontal magnet 42a is moved backward, the distance between the horizontal magnet 42a and the hinge shaft 23 becomes small. In other words, the distance between the horizontal magnet 42a and the reed switch 41 becomes small with the reference shown in FIG. 4 (that is, with the door open at 90 degrees). Therefore, the door 20 must be further opened to exclude the influence of the magnetic force of the horizontal magnet 42a on the reed switch 41. That is, the horizontal magnet 42a can be horizontally moved close to the hinge shaft 23 in order to preset the door opening angle by more than 90 degrees.

On the contrary, the horizontal magnet 42a can be moved forward. That is, the horizontal axis can be moved away from the hinge axis 23. In this case, the distance between the horizontal magnet 42a and the reed switch 41 becomes large. Therefore, the influence of the horizontal magnet 42a can be excluded in a state where the door opening angle is smaller than 90 degrees.

As a result, it is possible to flexibly set the door opening angle through the fixed magnet 42b as the auxiliary magnet and the variable magnet 42a as the main magnet.

Meanwhile, in the above-described embodiment of the sensor 40, an example in which a reed switch is provided below the magnet has been described. However, on the contrary, a reed switch may be provided on the magnet. For example, the magnet is provided in the door decor that forms the upper surface of the door 40, and the reed switch may be mounted at a position facing the door decor. In either case, the vertical distance between the magnet and the reed switch is fixed regardless of the opening angle of the door, and the horizontal distance between the magnet and the reed switch will vary as the opening angle of the door is changed.

Through this embodiment, it is possible to detect the opening of the door and the closing of the door simply and accurately at a preset door opening angle using a relatively very simple reed switch and magnet. In addition, the door opening angle may be set to some extent for each model of the refrigerator. In this case, it is possible to flexibly apply the position of any one of the plurality of magnets by varying the position.

As described above, when the opening of the door is detected through the sensor 40, the drawer 30 is moved from the initial position to the operation position. Therefore, there is a need for a structure that supports the drawer 30 to be movable, a structure or configuration for automatically moving the drawer 30. Hereinafter, the moving assembly 100 for supporting the drawer and moving the drawer will be described in detail. Hereinafter, specific configurations of the drawer associated with the moving assembly 100 will be described in detail.

5 shows a moving assembly 100 that can be coupled to the freezer sidewall of the refrigerator shown in FIG. 1. Specifically, there is shown a partition 16, which is one of the side walls of the freezer compartment, and a moving assembly 100 positioned on the left and right sides of the freezer compartment partition 16, respectively. Of course, this is a case where a freezing compartment is provided on each side of the freezing compartment partition wall 16, and when there is one freezing compartment, the partition 16 may be a left side insulation wall (left side wall) or a right side insulation wall (right side wall) of the freezing compartment. . In addition, when each freezer compartment is provided on each side of the partition wall 16, the moving assembly 100 may be provided only in one freezer compartment, not in both freezer compartments. In any case, the moving assembly 100 is preferably mounted on the side wall of the storage compartment.

However, when the left and right freezer compartments shown in FIG. 1 are divided, mounting the moving assembly 100 on the left side insulation wall or the right side insulation wall is very disadvantageous in terms of insulation performance. When maintaining the thickness of the conventional insulation wall there is a fear that the space inside the moving assembly 100 storage compartment is very small. Therefore, it is preferable to mount this moving assembly 100 in the freezer compartment partition wall 16, in which the insulation performance is not preferred among the sidewalls of the freezer compartment.

The partition 16 is a partition partitioning the left and right freezer compartment is preferably formed symmetrically. That is, moving assemblies of the same shape may be mounted in the same shape on the left and right sides of the partition 16. Therefore, drawers which are automatically withdrawn / retracted in both the left and right freezer compartments may be provided.

Hereinafter, an embodiment in which the moving assembly 100 is mounted on the sidewalls forming the storage compartment, in particular, on the left and right sides of the partition 16 partitioning the left and right storage compartments, will be described in detail.

The moving assembly 100 performs a function of movably supporting the drawer 30 back and forth. And, the drawer 30 forms structures that can be automatically withdrawn. In addition, the drawer 30 may form structures that can be automatically retracted.

The moving assembly 100 preferably includes a support frame 110. The support frame 110 may be mounted on one side wall of the freezer compartment, in particular the partition wall 16. As will be described later, the support frame 110 may be provided so that various components, such as an electric drive unit, may be mounted, and the moving assembly 100 may be a single assembly through one side of the freezer compartment through the support frame 110. It may be mounted on or separated from the partition 16. That is, the moving assembly 100 may be integrally coupled to or separated from the side wall of the storage compartment. Therefore, the manufacturing can be very simple, and further maintenance can be performed very easily. This is because, as will be described later, after the drawer 30 is separated from the rail 120, the moving assembly 100 including the support frame 110 may be separated from the partition 16. . On the contrary, after all the moving assemblies are formed, the drawers 30 may be coupled to the rails 120 after being mounted on the partition walls 16. Therefore, manufacture and subsequent maintenance become very easy.

The rail 120 may be mounted on the support frame 110. The rail 120 may be provided so that the drawer moves back and forth in the storage compartment. That is, the drawer 30 may be supported to move back and forth in the storage chamber through the rail 120. The drawer 30 may be moved while sliding back and forth through the rail 120.

When there are a plurality of drawers 30, a plurality of the rails 120 may be provided accordingly. Therefore, the plurality of rails 120 may be mounted on the single support frame 110. Specifically, the plurality of rails 120 may be mounted vertically.

On the other hand, the support frame 110 is mounted on the partition 16, thereby forming a predetermined space 130 between the partition 16. The predetermined space 130 may be referred to as a space that is not exposed inside the storage compartment. Therefore, the configuration provided in the predetermined space 130 is not exposed into the storage compartment. For this reason, the predetermined space may be referred to as an isolation space, and may be referred to as an electric drive unit mounting space for mounting the electric drive unit as described below.

The predetermined space, the isolation space or the electric drive mounting space 130 is provided between the inner surface 112 and the partition wall 16 of the support frame 110, and the components mounted on the inner surface 112 are the storage compartment. It will not be exposed internally. On the other hand, components mounted on the outer surface 111 of the support frame 110 may be exposed into the storage compartment. For example, the rail 120 may be mounted on the outer surface 111 of the support frame 110, and thus the rail 120 may be exposed in the storage compartment.

An electric drive unit 150 may be provided on the inner side 112 of the support frame 110. That is, the electric drive unit 150 may be located in the predetermined space 130. Therefore, the electric drive unit 150 is substantially not exposed to the inside of the storage compartment. This is because the support frame 110 covers the electric drive part 150.

Specifically, the electric drive unit 150 may be mounted on the inner surface of the support frame 110 instead of the partition wall 16. That is, when the support frame 110 is separated from the partition 16, the electric drive unit 150 may also be separated from the partition 16.

The electric drive unit 150 may be referred to as a configuration for moving the drawer 30 from the initial position to the operation position as it is driven. Accordingly, the electric drive unit 150 includes a motor assembly 160 generating a force for moving the drawer 30 and a moving frame 170 for applying a force to the drawer so that the drawer 30 moves. It can be done by.

The moving frame 170 may be provided to move back and forth by driving the motor assembly 160. Here, the forward and backward movement may be referred to as the same direction as the forward and backward movement of the drawer 30. That is, the moving frame 170 may be provided to move in the same direction as the moving direction of the drawer 30 by the driving of the motor assembly 160.

Specifically, the moving frame 170 may be mounted to the support frame 110 to be movable. For example, the moving frame 170 may be mounted on the inner surface of the support frame 110 to be moved forward and backward. Therefore, since the entire moving frame 170 is substantially positioned in the predetermined space 130, the moving state of the entire moving frame 170 and the moving frame 170 may not be seen in the storage compartment. However, as will be described later, the movement of the moving frame 170 should be transmitted to the drawer 30 provided in the storage compartment. Therefore, the configuration for transmitting the force, for example, the transmission member to be described later is preferably to be exposed to the outer surface of the support frame 110.

Therefore, the moving frame 170 may be referred to as a configuration that transmits the force of the motor assembly 160 located in the predetermined space 130 to the drawer 30 located outside the predetermined space 130.

Meanwhile, as shown in FIG. 5, a through part 16a may be formed in the partition 16. The through part 16a may be formed to penetrate the motor assembly 160. The motor assembly 160 may have a left and right width preset based on the reference illustrated in FIG. 5. Therefore, when the motor assembly 160 is located in the predetermined space 130 to be separated from the storage compartment, the left and right widths of the partition 16 and the left and right widths of the support frame 110 may be excessively large. This can be said to narrow the space inside the storage compartment. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the storage space from being reduced due to the motor assembly 160 through the through part 16a.

Specifically, when the moving assembly 100 is positioned on the left and right sides of the partition 16, a part of the motor assembly (motor assembly for moving the drawer of the left freezer compartment) on the left side may pass through the through portion 16a. It may be penetrated and positioned in the predetermined space 130 on the right side. On the contrary, a part of the motor assembly on the right side (motor assembly for moving the drawer of the right side freezer compartment) may be positioned in the predetermined space 130 on the left side through the through portion 16a. In addition, the two motor assemblies 150 may be positioned in parallel with each other. That is, the two motor assemblies 150 may be positioned side by side up and down so that portions of the left and right widths overlap each other. Through this, it is possible to minimize the influence of the thickness due to the moving assembly than when the two motor assembly 150 is located side by side side by side.

Here, the through part 16a may be formed to correspond to the outer shape of the motor assembly 150. Therefore, the motor assembly 150 may be joined to the through part 16a to be fixed and supported. In addition, when the motor assembly is provided on each of the left and right partition walls 16, the penetrating portion 16a may be formed to extend vertically. One motor assembly penetrates the upper side and the other motor assembly penetrates the lower side. That is, two motor assemblies may be disposed up and down through the penetrating portion 16a. The through part 16a may be covered by the support frame 110 as the support frame 110 is coupled to the partition 16.

On the other hand, the motor assembly 150 includes a motor 162 that operates through electrical energy. Therefore, a wire for supplying electrical energy should be connected to the motor assembly 150. That is, a wire should be connected from the power supply device (not shown) of the refrigerator to the motor assembly 150.

The partition 16 may be formed with an upper opening 16b for connecting electric wires. The wires connected from the power supply may extend through the horizontal partition 14 shown in FIG. 1 to the upper opening 16b of the vertical partition 16. The wire through part 16c may be formed in the horizontal partition wall 14. That is, the electric wire may further extend from the upper opening 16b to the electric wire penetrating portion 16b. After the wire 16d extends further from the wire through part 16c to the right, the wire coupler 16e may be finished. The illustrated wire coupling portion 16e may be referred to as a wire coupling portion for being connected to the motor assembly 150 provided on the right side. Similarly, the wire and the wire coupling portion may be provided on the left side of the wire through portion 16c.

Before mounting the moving assembly 100 to the partition 16, the electric wire may be extended through the horizontal partition 14 and the vertical partition 16, and then the wire may penetrate the wire through part 16c. The wire coupling portion 16e may be formed at the end of the wire.

The wire coupling part 16e is positioned in the predetermined space 130 described above. Therefore, before mounting the moving assembly 100 to the partition 14, the motor assembly 150 is first connected through the wire coupling portion 16e. The moving assembly 100 may be fixed to the partition wall 16 through the fastening part 115 formed on the support frame and the fastening part 16f formed on the partition wall 16. The fastening portions 115 and 16f may be formed in a boss shape for screwing. In contrast, the moving assembly 100 may be spaced apart from the partition 16 by removing the screws. Thereafter, by removing the connection between the wire coupling portion 16e and the motor assembly 100, the moving assembly 100 may be completely separated from the partition wall 16. That is, the structural and electrical connections with the partition 16 can be eliminated.

Therefore, through the structure of the partition wall 16, the structure of the moving assembly 100, the connection structure of the wire through the partition, etc., the coupling, separation and connection of the moving assembly 100 can be performed very easily. .

As described above, the motor assembly 100 includes a motor 162. In general, the motor is formed in a cylindrical shape. The direction of the rotation axis of the motor may be perpendicular to the partition wall 16. Therefore, the left and right widths of the motor assembly 100 may increase due to the size of the motor itself (height of the cylindrical motor).

As shown in FIG. 5, a motor avoidance groove 116 may be formed in the support frame 110. That is, a circular motor avoidance groove 116 may be formed according to the shape of the motor. The motor avoidance groove 116 may accommodate at least a portion of the motor. Therefore, the left and right widths of the entire motor assembly 100 may be expanded so that only a portion corresponding to the motor is expanded. The motor avoiding groove 116 may be formed in the support frame 110 to exclude the interference with the extended portion.

The motor avoidance groove 116 protrudes to the right with respect to the right support frame. Other components mounted to the support frame may be interfered with by the protruding motor avoiding groove 116. In order to prevent this, the motor avoiding groove 116 is preferably formed at a position corresponding to the rail 120 and the rail 120.

Assuming three rails 120 are mounted on the support frame 110, the motor avoidance groove 116 may be formed between the middle rail and the lower rail in the right support frame. On the contrary, the motor avoiding groove 116 may be formed in the left support frame between the upper rail and the intermediate rail.

Through the motor avoidance groove 116, the motor assembly 160 may be more firmly coupled to the support frame 110. In addition, by forming the motor avoiding groove 116 between the rail and the rail, it is possible to minimize the reduction of the storage space due to the entire expansion of the predetermined space 130 described above.

If, in consideration of the size of the motor to further increase the left and right width of the entire motor assembly 100, for example, further increases the left and right width of the entire housing 16 of the motor assembly, the motor assembly 100 and the In order to avoid the interference between the rails, the storage space inevitably will be reduced.

Hereinafter, a structure for supporting the drawer and applying a force to the drawer will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 6. FIG. 6 illustrates a rail 120 corresponding to one drawer 30 to the support frame 110 and a structure for transmitting a force to the drawer 30.

Although not shown in FIG. 6, the drawer 30 is supported to be movable back and forth through the rail 120. In general, the user draws or draws the drawer while pulling or pushing the drawer 30. In this case, it can be said that the rail 120 is provided to facilitate the drawing and drawing of the drawer while minimizing the required force. Accordingly, the rail 120 may be mounted on the outer surface 111 of the support frame 110, that is, the surface facing the inside of the storage compartment.

As described above, the electric drive unit 150, in particular the motor assembly 160, may be mounted on the inner side 112 of the support frame 110. Here, the inner side surface 112 may be referred to as a surface facing the side wall or partition wall 16. Therefore, there is a need for a structure for transmitting the force generated in the inner side portion 112 of the support frame to the outer side portion 111 of the support frame.

To this end, the support frame 110 is preferably formed with a slit 113. That is, the slit penetrating the support frame 110 is preferably formed. It is possible to transmit the movement of the moving frame 170 to the drawer 30 through the slit 113.

Specifically, the moving frame 170 may include a transmission member 171 for transmitting a force to the drawer (30). The transmission member 171 may be provided to penetrate the slit 113. That is, substantially the whole of the moving frame 170 is moved in the portion of the inner surface 112 of the support frame, but a portion of the moving frame, that is, the transmission member 171 passes through the slit 113 to support the It is desirable to move in the outer surface 111 portion of the frame. Thus, the transmission member 171 is shown to move back and forth along the slit 113.

The transmission member 171 transmits the power of the electric drive unit, in particular, the movement of the moving frame 170 to the drawer 30. That is, the transfer member 171 may push the drawer 30 so that the drawer 30 is moved through the rail. In other words, the drawer 30 can be automatically moved even if the user does not manually operate the drawer.

Meanwhile, the drawer holder 180 may be mounted to the support frame 110 together with the rail 120. Specifically, a pair of rails 120, one slit 113, and one drawer holder 180 may be provided in one drawer 30 as a set. If there are a plurality of drawers 30, they may likewise be provided in plural sets.

The drawer holder 180 may be provided to provide elastic restoring force to the drawer 30. In particular, the drawer 30 may be elastically deformed when drawn out, and provided to provide the elastic restoring force to the drawer 30 when the drawer 30 is drawn in. That is, as described above, the withdrawal of the drawer may be automatically performed by the electric drive unit, and the drawer may be automatically performed by the drawer holder 180. Details of the mechanism between such drawer holder 180 and drawer 30 will be described later.

Hereinafter, the mechanism between the electric drive unit 150 and the drawer 30 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8. FIG. 7 is a view of the moving assembly 100 at the initial position of the drawer as viewed from the inner side 112 of the support frame 110, and FIG. 8 is a view of the moving assembly 100 at the drawer operating position. As seen from the inner side 112 of the (110).

The motor assembly 160 may be provided in a predetermined space or the electric drive mounting space 130 between the inner side 112 of the support frame 110 and the partition 16. Specifically, the motor assembly 160 may be mounted on the inner side 112 of the support frame 110.

The motor assembly 160 may include a housing 161, and a power configuration such as a motor 162 and a gear 162a may be accommodated in the housing 161. Therefore, the housing 161 is fixed to the support frame 110, so that the motor assembly 160 can be stably supported on the support frame. As described above, the housing 161 of the portion corresponding to the motor 162 by the shape of the motor 162 may be formed to protrude more than the other portion, which is in the above-described motor avoidance groove 116 Can be seated.

The gear 162a may be provided in plural to reduce the rotation speed and transmit the torque.

The electric drive unit 150 may include a connection member 163. The motor assembly 160 may be said to include the connection member 163. The connection member 163 may be provided between the motor assembly, in particular, the housing 161 of the motor assembly 160 and the moving frame 170. That is, the connection member 163 may be provided to connect the motor assembly 160 and the moving frame 170.

The connection member 163 may be provided to have a withdrawal distance from the motor assembly 160, in particular the housing 161. That is, the withdrawal distance of the connection member 163 may be varied. As the drawing distance of the connecting member 163 increases in the fixed housing 161, the distance between the housing 161 and the moving frame 170 increases. On the contrary, the distance between the housing 161 and the moving frame 170 decreases as the drawing distance of the connecting member 163 decreases. Therefore, the motor assembly 160 drives the drawing distance of the connecting member 163 to vary, and as a result, moves the moving frame 170.

One side of the connection member 163 is fixed to be movable relative to the motor assembly 160, the other side is preferably fixed to move integrally with the moving frame 170. That is, the other side of the moving frame 170 may be coupled to the moving frame 170. A connecting member coupling part 174 may be formed on the moving frame 170, and the moving frame 170 and the connecting member 163 are coupled to each other through the connecting member coupling part 174. Therefore, the movement of the connecting member 163 may be transmitted to the movement of the moving frame 170.

Specifically, the connection member 163 may be formed in a rack shape, and the motor assembly 160 may be provided in a pinion shape. That is, any one of the gears 162a may be connected to the connection member 163 as a pinion gear. For example, the clockwise rotation of the motor 162 may be converted to the forward movement of the connecting member 163 through the gear 162a, and the counterclockwise rotation of the motor 162 may be the gear ( It can be converted to the rear movement of the connecting member 163 through 163a. Of course, due to the gear configuration, the direction of rotation of the motor and the direction of movement of the connecting member may be formed to be reversed.

Accordingly, the drawing distance of the connecting member may be increased or decreased according to the forward and reverse driving of the motor assembly 160. The driving of the motor assembly 160 pushes or pulls the connecting member 163 and thus pushes or pulls the moving frame.

The moving frame 170 may be referred to as a configuration for transmitting the driving force of the motor assembly 160 to the drawer (30). Therefore, basically, the moving frame 170 is moved by driving the motor assembly 160. Specifically, the moving frame 170 is preferably provided to be movable on the inner surface 113 of the support frame 110.

As described above, not only one drawer but also a plurality of drawers may be provided in the storage compartment, and when the door is opened, it is preferable to move all of the plurality of drawers from the initial position to the operation position. The movement of the plurality of drawers is preferably performed in a batch. Accordingly, the moving frame 170 may be provided to transmit a force to not only one drawer but also a plurality of drawers.

In order to transfer the force to the plurality of drawers arranged up and down, the moving frame 170 is preferably formed to extend up and down. In addition, the moving frame 170 may be provided with a plurality of transmission members 171. Similarly, the transfer members may be disposed up and down on one moving frame 170. One transmission member 171 may be provided to correspond to one drawer (30).

7 and 8 illustrate an example in which three transmission members 171 are formed in one moving frame 170. This means that one moving frame 170 may move to move three drawers disposed up and down. That is, it means that the three drawers can be moved from the initial position to the operation position at the same time through the movement of the single connecting member 163. Through this, it is possible to simultaneously move a plurality of drawers through one motor assembly 150, one connection member 163 and one moving frame 170. That is, despite having only one electric drive unit 150 interlocked with one door 20, the plurality of drawers can be easily moved. Thus, the configuration can be simple and it is possible to implement easy and easy control logic.

The moving frame 170 is preferably supported to move back and forth on the inner surface 112 of the support frame 110. More specifically, the moving frame 170 is preferably supported to slide back and forth.

As described above, the moving frame 170 may be provided to move the plurality of drawers 30. Therefore, the moving frame 170 is provided in the form of a plate extending up and down, therefore, it is preferable to minimize the movement deviation of the upper and lower when the moving frame 170 moves.

To this end, the upper and lower portions of the moving frame 170 is preferably provided with a sliding support 172, respectively. The sliding support 172 may be formed on the upper portion of the moving frame 170 and a pair at the lower portion. Thus, the moving frame 170 may be moved with four support points on the top, bottom, left, and right sides. Through this, it is possible to prevent the moving frame from twisting when the moving frame 100 moves forward and backward.

The left and right widths of the moving frame 170 may be extended in order to form the support part 172. The transmission member 171 may be formed in this extended portion. On the other hand, such an extended portion may not be formed in the transfer member portion formed in the middle. Therefore, a problem may occur that the transfer member 171 formed in the middle is separated from the moving frame 170 when used for a long time. That is, there is a fear that the connection portion between the transfer member 171 and the moving frame 170 is broken. This is because the transmission member 171 may be formed to protrude from the moving frame 170, and may be damaged by bending the transmission member 171 when used for a long time.

In order to solve this problem, it is particularly preferred that a strength reinforcing rib not shown is formed between the transmission member and the moving frame 170 provided in the middle. Such strength reinforcement ribs may be formed in parallel with the direction in which the force is applied, and a plurality of strength reinforcement ribs may be formed.

In order to more smoothly allow movement of the moving frame 170, a guide bar 114 may be formed on the support frame 110. The guide bar 114 may be formed to correspond to the upper and lower portions of the moving frame 170, respectively. Thus, the guide bar may include an upper guide bar and a lower guide bar. The sliding support 172 may be formed to surround the guide bar 114. Therefore, the sliding support 172 may be slid back and forth in a state surrounding the guide bar 114.

A liner 173 (see FIG. 9) made of POM may be interposed between the guide bar 114 and the sliding support 172. That is, a liner formed of an engineering plastic such as polyacetal or polyoxymethylene may be interposed. POM materials have very good mechanical strength, wear resistance, low frictional resistance and self-lubrication. Therefore, even when used for a long time it can be supported so that the moving frame 170 can be moved smoothly. Of course, the guide bar 114 may be coated with a lubricant such as grease.

Meanwhile, in FIG. 7, the motor assembly 160 is mounted at a position lower than the vertical center of the support frame 110. This is to allow the two motor assemblies 160 to be mounted up and down through the partition 16 as described with reference to FIG. 5. That is, the motor assembly 160 may be mounted at a position higher than the upper and lower centers of the support frame 110 on the opposite support frame 110.

Due to the position of the motor assembly 160, the connection member 163 pushes or pulls the upper biased portion or the lower biased portion, not the upper and lower center portions of the moving frame 170. Therefore, basically, the connecting member 163 has no choice but to apply a force to twist the moving frame. In order to minimize the force applied to the eccentric portion other than the upper and lower center portion of the moving assembly 170, the connecting member 163 includes an extension 164. The extension part 164 may be formed to extend upward or downward from an end of the connection member 163 (that is, an end connected with a moving frame). The extension part 164 is preferably formed to further pass through the vertical center of the moving assembly 170. That is, the extension part 164 shown in FIG. 7 further extends from the upper and lower center lower portions of the moving assembly 170 to the upper portion, and in the case of the opposite extension portion, further extends from the upper and lower center upper portions of the moving assembly 170 to the lower portion. It is desirable to. Through this, even if the upper and lower centers of the connecting members 163 and the upper and lower centers of the moving frame do not coincide, the distortion of the moving frame 170 can be minimized. In addition, the connection member 163 may be coupled to the moving frame by coupling the extension part 164 to the connection member coupling part 174. The connection member coupling part 174 may be provided in plural, so that the force and the movement displacement applied through the connection member 163 may be uniformly transmitted to the entire upper and lower sides of the moving frame 170.

As described above, a slit 113 is formed in the support frame 110. The slits 113 may be formed in the same number as the number of drawers 30. The slit 113 is formed to penetrate the support frame 110, and is formed long to the left and right of the support frame 110 based on FIGS. 7 and 8. The transmission member 171 is moved left and right along the slit 113. Based on the refrigerator, the transfer member 171 moves back and forth along the slit 113. Since the transfer member penetrates through the support frame 110, the transfer member may be connected to a drawer 30 provided on an outer surface 111 side of the support frame 110. That is, the transfer member 171 may be combined with the drawer 30 or in contact with the drawer 30. The transfer member 171 is connected to the drawer to be able to apply a force directly to the drawer (30).

As shown in FIG. 7, the distance between the motor assembly 150 and the moving frame 170 at the initial position is relatively small. In this state, the moving frame 170 is positioned to the left side. In other words, it is located deeper inside the storage compartment of the refrigerator.

When it is determined that the door 20 is opened through the sensor 40, that is, when the door open signal is generated, the motor assembly 150 is driven, and the distance between the motor assembly 150 and the moving frame 170 is Relatively increased. That is, the connecting member 163 pushes the moving frame 170 to move the moving frame 170 forward. At this time, the transmission member 171 of the moving frame 170 pushes the drawer 30 to move the drawer 30 to the operation position. In other words, the state of the moving assembly 100 in the initial position shown in Figure 7 is changed to the state of the moving assembly 100 in the operating position shown in FIG. In other words, the connecting member 163 and the moving frame 170 shown in FIG. 7 may be located at an initial position, and the connecting member 163 and the moving frame 170 shown in FIG. 8 may be positioned at an operating position. It can be said. On the other hand, the relative position change of the support frame 110 and the housing 161 of the motor assembly does not occur. Therefore, the moving frame 170 can be said to be movable back and forth by the drive of the motor assembly 160 between the initial position and the operation position. In addition, the moving frame 170 may be connected to the drawer to apply a force to the drawer in the direction in which the drawer is drawn from the initial position to the operation position.

As will be described later, the connection between the drawer 30 and the moving frame, in particular, the transmission member 171 may be referred to as a latch, and the release of the connection may be referred to as a release. In particular, when the moving frame 170 is moved from the operation position to the initial position, it is preferable that the disconnection between the moving frame 170 and the drawer 30 is performed. That is, it is preferable that the release is performed. For this reason, when the moving frame 170 is moved from the operating position to the initial position, it is preferable not to apply a force to the drawer 30. In other words, the movement from the initial position of the drawer 30 to the operation position is performed by the driving of the electric drive unit 150, whereas the movement from the operation position to the initial position is driven by the electric drive unit 150. It is desirable to be independent of. Details thereof will be described later.

Hereinafter, the automatic movement mechanism of the drawer 30 will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 9. 9 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a portion in which the drawer 30 is connected to the moving assembly 100.

The drawer 30 may include a basket 31 for receiving a storage and a drawer frame 32 provided outside the basket 31. The basket 31 may be movably supported on the rail 120 through the drawer frame 32. The basket 31 and the drawer frame 32 is preferably provided to be integrally movable. The drawer frame 32 may be provided under the basket 31. Details of the structure of the drawer 30 and the coupling structure between the drawer 30 and the rail 120 will be described later.

The drawer frame 32 and the moving frame 170 are partitioned through the support frame 110. However, the transmission member 171 of the moving frame 170 may extend to the drawer frame 32 through the slit 113 formed in the support frame 110.

The moving frame 170 may be selectively connected to the drawer frame 32. Through the connection of the moving frame 170 and the drawer frame 32, the movement of the moving frame 170 may be converted to the movement of the drawer frame 32, that is, the drawer 30. On the contrary, by disconnecting the moving frame 170 and the drawer frame 32, the movement of the moving frame 170 may be prevented from being converted to the movement of the drawer 30.

Specifically, the drawer 33 may be formed in the drawer. The locking member 33 may be referred to as a first locking member 33 for convenience in order to distinguish it from other locking members to be described later. The first catching member 33 may be formed in the drawer frame 32 and may extend to face the moving frame 170.

As described above, the moving frame 170 may be moved forward from the initial position to the operation position. The movement of the moving frame 170 is converted to a movement from the initial position of the drawer 30 to the operation position. In addition, the movement from the initial position of the moving frame 170 to the operation position may be generated by a force pushing the moving frame 170 from the rear. Therefore, it is preferable that the moving frame 170 moves the drawer 30 from the initial position to the operation position by pushing the drawer 30.

To this end, the first catching member 33 is preferably located in front of the transfer member 171. In addition, when both the moving frame 170 and the drawer 30 are in the initial position, it is preferable that both of the moving frames 170 and the drawer 30 come into contact with each other. Thus, as the transfer member 171 moves from the initial position to the operation position, the first locking member 33 can be continuously pushed. For this reason, the drawer 30 can also be moved from the initial position to the operation position.

On the contrary, when the drawer 30 is in the operating position, the transfer member 171 may be returned to the initial position. That is, at this time, the connection or the locking of the transmission member 171 and the first locking member 33 is released. Accordingly, the drawer 30 maintains the operation position, and the transmission member 171, in particular the moving frame 170, may be returned to the initial position.

As described above, the initial position of the drawer 30 can be said that the drawer 30 is still located inside the storage compartment. Therefore, when the drawer 30 is used, the user opens the door 20 and pulls the drawer 30 so that at least a part of the drawer 30 leaves the storage compartment. Therefore, the maximum withdrawal position of the drawer 30 can be defined. That is, the maximum withdrawal position may be referred to as the position where the drawer 30 is pulled forward as much as possible while being supported by the rail 120. This maximum withdrawal position may be preset through the rail 120. That is, the separation distance between the manipulation position and the maximum withdrawal position may be preset.

Basically, the drawer 30 may be movably supported between the initial position and the maximum withdrawal position through the rail 120. As described above, the drawer 30 may be automatically moved from the initial position to the operation position by the driving of the electric drive unit 150.

Here, it is preferable that the drawer 30 is drawn out manually from the manipulation position to the maximum withdrawal position (the position spaced apart by a predetermined distance forward from the manipulation position). That is, the connection between the moving frame 170 and the drawer 30 is released from the manipulation position to the maximum withdrawal position, so that the drawer 30 is capable of manual withdrawal.

When the door 20 is opened, the drawer 30 can be automatically moved to the operation position so that the user can easily withdraw the drawer 30. When the user uses the drawer 30, the drawer can be further drawn out manually from the operation position. Then, when the use of the drawer (30) is finished, the drawer (30) can be drawn manually. For example, the user may manually draw the drawer 30 to the manipulation position or the vicinity of the manipulation position. Of course, it may be possible to manually draw the drawer 30 to an initial position.

That is, the automatic withdrawal of the drawer 30 linked with the opening of the door may be performed from the initial position to the operation position, and may be manually withdrawn from the operation position to the maximum withdrawal position.

On the other hand, when the drawer 30 is drawn out to the operation position, the motor assembly 160 may operate to move the connection member 163 to the initial position. Thus, the retraction of the drawer 30 can always be performed manually.

For example, the user may directly push the drawer 30 from the maximum withdrawal position to the initial position. In addition, after the user pushes the drawer 30 directly from the maximum withdrawal position to the operating position, the drawer 30 can be drawn to the initial position by closing the door 20. In this case, as the door is closed, the door basket provided on the rear surface of the door 20 may be said to push the drawer 30. Therefore, when the user manually closes the door 20, the user must close the door by applying a force more than a force for drawing the drawer.

In the above, basically the mechanism between the drawer 30 and the moving assembly 100 was demonstrated from the viewpoint of automatic withdrawal of the drawer 30. However, it is desirable to minimize the user's effort when drawing as well as drawing the drawer 30.

In the present embodiment, in order to provide a user's convenience when the drawer 30 is drawn in, the drawer 30 may be automatically provided with a refrigerator into which the drawer 30 may be automatically inserted. In particular, it is possible to provide a refrigerator in which the drawer 30 is automatically introduced into the initial position from the operation position or the position near the operation position. In other words, the user's power may not be required for the automatic drawing of the drawer 30, just as the user's power is not required for the automatic drawing of the drawer 30. In addition, the door basket on the rear surface of the door 20 may be prevented from impacting the drawer, and the user does not need to apply a force to draw the drawer in addition to the closing force of the door 20.

To this end, as shown in FIGS. 5, 6 and 8, the drawer holder 180 may be provided. That is, like the rail 120, the drawer holder 180 may be mounted on the outer surface 111 of the support frame 110.

Specifically, the rail 120 may be mounted on the lower part of the slit 113 based on the slit 113, and the drawer holder 180 may be mounted on the upper part of the slit 113.

The drawer holder 180 may be provided to provide elastic restoring force to the drawer 30 when the drawer 30 returns to the initial position from the operation position or the position near the operation position. The drawer 30 may be automatically returned to the initial position through the elastic restoring force.

To this end, the drawer holder 180 may be provided to be selectively connected to the drawer (30). That is, it may be provided to selectively hold the drawer.

Specifically, the drawer holder 180 may include a hook member 181. The hook member 181 may be provided to be selectively connected to the drawer (30). More specifically, the drawer may be provided with a second catching member 34. That is, a second locking member 34 connected to the hook member 181 of the drawer holder 180 may be provided separately from the first locking member 33 connected to the transmission member 171 of the moving frame.

The second catching member 34 may be provided above the first catching member 33. Specifically, the second catching member 34 may be formed to protrude from the drawer frame 32 toward the support frame 110.

As shown in FIG. 10, the hook member 181 of the drawer holder 180 may be selectively connected to the second catching member 34 provided in the drawer 30. For example, in a section from the initial position of the drawer 30 to the manipulation position (which may be referred to as an elastic section), the second catching member 34 is connected to the drawer holder 180. Can be.

When the drawer 30 is withdrawn from the elastic section, a spring (not shown) provided in the drawer holder 180 is elastically deformed. Then, when the drawer 30 is retracted in the elastic section, the spring is elastically restored.

Specifically, the drawer 30 in the elastic section is automatically drawn to the front by the operation of the electric drive unit 150. That is, it is drawn out to the operation position. As the drawer 30 is drawn out, the second catching member 34 provided in the drawer 30 pushes the hooking member 181. The hook member 181 moves forward with the second locking member 34, and thus the spring may be elastically deformed. In one example, the spring may be tensioned. At this time, the elastic restoring force generated is automatically drawn into the drawer 30.

More specifically, the drawer 30 may be automatically drawn out by overcoming the elastic force of the drawer holder 180 by the operation of the electric drive unit 150. As described above, when the force pushing the drawer 30 through the electric drive unit 150 is removed, the drawer 30 is applied to the elastic restoring force by the drawer holder 180. Therefore, the hook member 181 pulls the second catching member 34 of the drawer by the elastic restoring force. Therefore, even if the user does not apply a separate force to draw the drawer 30, the drawer 30 can be automatically drawn in.

Thus, while the transmission member 171 is provided only to push the first locking member 33, the hook member 181 is pulled by the second locking member 34 and the second locking member 34 It can be said that it is provided to pull. That is, the hook member 181 is pulled by the second catching member 34 when the drawer 30 is pulled out, and the second catching member 34 is pulled out when the drawer 30 is pulled out. Pulled. In other words, it is preferable that the hook member 181 and the second catching member 34 are always connected to each other when the drawer 30 is drawn in and drawn out in the elastic section. Therefore, when the drawer is drawn in, it is possible to operate the drawer very conveniently by enabling automatic drawing instead of manual drawing. Of course, it is preferable that the automatic drawing of the drawer 30 is performed to the initial position in the vicinity of the operation position or the operation position, not the section from the above-mentioned maximum withdrawal position to the initial position.

Hereinafter, the automatic retracting mechanism of the drawer by the drawer holder 180 will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 10.

As described above, the drawer holder 180 is elastically deformed when the drawer 30 is moved from the initial position to the operation position, and when the drawer 30 is moved from the operating position to the initial position. The elastic restoring force is provided to the drawer 30. Here, elastic deformation and elastic restoration may occur in the drawer holder 180 continuously from the initial position to the operation position.

In FIG. 10, an example is shown in which the elastic section starts more forward than the initial position and ends more forward than the operation position.

First, in FIG. 10, the second locking member 34 in the initial position is shown. In this initial position, the first locking member 33 and the transmission member 171 are shown connected.

When the door is opened, the electric drive unit 150 is operated so that the transmission member 171 pushes the first locking member 33 forward. Thus, the drawer 30 is pulled forward, and likewise the second locking member 34 is moved forward.

In FIG. 10, for convenience, one hook member 181 is shown in the elastic starting position and the operating position, respectively. And, for convenience, one transmission member 181 is shown to be positioned at the initial position and the operation position, respectively. It can be seen that the transmission member 181 is biased to the left side of the slit 113 at the initial position, and to the right side of the slit 113 at the operation position.

When the second catching member 34 is moved forward from the initial position to the elastic start position, the second catching member 34 is connected to the hooking member 181. The elastic starting position may be preset between the initial position and the operation position, which is the shape of the slots (183, 184) formed in the housing 182 of the drawer holder 180 and the hook member 181 This can be done by varying the relationship of.

For example, when the separation distance between the initial position and the operation position is 120mm, the elastic start position may be set to be separated 30mm forward from the initial position.

Since the drawer is released from the initial position to the elastic start position, the coupling between the second locking member 34 and the hook member 181 is released, so that the spring of the drawer holder 180 is not elastically deformed. Then, as the drawer is further drawn to reach the elastic start position, the hook member 181 is moved forward to elastically deform the spring. And, when the drawer moves further forward to reach the operation position, the elastic shift is further increased. That is, the hook member 181 shown on the right side of FIG. 10 is in a state where the second catching member 34 is engaged, and the drawer 30 is in an operating position.

As shown, it can be seen that the drawer holder 180 at the operating position of the drawer 20 exerts a force to draw the drawer (30). Therefore, in this embodiment, the operation of the electric drive unit 150 in the operation position can be controlled to be maintained (for example clockwise drive). That is, it is preferable that the operating state of the electric drive unit 150 is maintained so that the drawer 20 is always pushed in the state in which the door 20 is opened. In other words, the driving of the motor assembly 160 is maintained while the door is opened, so that the moving frame 170 can be controlled to maintain the operation position. Of course, as will be described later, when the closing of the door 20 is detected, the motor assembly 160 may be driven in reverse (for example, counterclockwise driving) so that the moving frame 170 returns to an initial position.

On the other hand, maintaining the operation of the electric drive unit 150 in the drawer 30 in the operation position may cause an overload of the electric drive unit 150. This is because the connection member 163 cannot move forward, because the motor is idle. Therefore, the electric drive unit 150 may maintain the operation for a predetermined time after moving the drawer 30 to the operation position, and then return the moving frame 170 to the initial position by reverse driving. The predetermined time may be determined in consideration of the time taken by the user to select a specific drawer and withdraw the specific drawer. For example, the electric drive unit 150 may be controlled to be driven in reverse after maintaining the operating position for about 5 seconds after moving the moving frame 170 to the operating position.

As described above, the automatic withdrawal of the drawer 20 by the electric drive unit 150 is preferably from the initial position to the operation position. Therefore, the withdrawal from the operation position to the maximum withdrawal position can be performed manually. In other words, the user can directly pull out the drawer 20.

The drawer holder 180 may be elastically deformed in a direction that prevents the drawer when drawing the drawer 20 from the operation position to the maximum withdrawal position. Therefore, it is preferable that the connection between the drawer holder 180 and the drawer 30 is released during manual withdrawal.

To this end, it is preferable to form the inclined slot 185 in the slot formed in the housing 182 of the drawer holder. Specifically, it is preferable to form the inclined slot 185 in front of the lower slot 184 of the two slots (183, 184) formed up and down side by side. The inclined slot 185 may be referred to as a first inclined slot 185 for convenience in order to distinguish it from other inclined slots to be described later.

The first inclined slot 185 is located in front of the slot 184. If the user draws the drawer 30 further forward from the manipulation position, the hook member 181 may be constrained to the first inclined slot 185. At this time, the hook member 181 is rotated so that the coupling between the hook member 181 and the second locking member 34 is released. In addition, a position at which the coupling between the hook member 181 and the second locking member 34 is released may be referred to as an elastic end position. Therefore, the elastic starting position in this embodiment is the front of the initial position, and likewise, the elastic ending position can be referred to as the front of the operation position.

When the coupling between the hook member 181 and the second locking member 34 is released, the user can easily withdraw the drawer up to the maximum withdrawal position without being disturbed by the drawer holder 180. Will be.

According to the present embodiment, as described above, the moving frame 170 may maintain the operation position in the open state. Therefore, in the state in which the door is open, the user can pull out the drawer 30 manually after drawing out the drawer.

At this time, the user may not draw the drawer 30 to the operation position. However, as described above, in this embodiment, the distance between the elastic end position and the operation position is relatively very short. Therefore, the door may push the drawer 30 as the door is closed. That is, the second locking member 34 may be reconnected with the hook member 181 by pushing the drawer 30. When the door is closed, since the moving frame 170 returns to the initial position, the force for drawing the drawer 30 is removed. Therefore, the hook member 181 may pull the second catching member 34 by the elastic restoring force of the drawer holder 180 to allow the drawer 30 to automatically return to the initial position. .

Unlike the above, the elastic starting position and the initial position may be the same. In this case, however, an impact may be applied to the drawer 30 when the drawer 30 returns to the initial position. In this case, since the elastic deformation amount of the spring is relatively large (that is, the elastic section is large), the elastic restoring force of the spring may decrease with time.

Thus, by setting the elastic start position to be spaced forward than the initial position, the initial return speed of the drawer can be relatively fast and the late return speed can be relatively slow. Here, it can be said that such a difference in the return speed is very important.

The initial return speed is related to the closing speed of the door. For example, if the door closes very quickly and the drawer's initial return speed is slower than the door's closing speed, the drawer may be impacted by the door. On the contrary, if the terminal return speed is high, a large impact may be applied to the rail 120 by the drawer 20 as described above. Therefore, it is preferable that the drawer return quickly at the beginning and then return smoothly and slowly at the end. In other words, it is desirable to allow the drawer to be returned by inertia at the end.

On the other hand, the second locking member 34 is connected to the hook member 181 at the elastic starting position when the drawer 30 is pulled out, on the contrary, at the elastic starting position when the drawer 30 is pulled out. The connection between the second locking member 34 and the hook member 181 is released. This can be done in the same way as the structure at the above-mentioned elastic end position. Similarly, a second inclined slot 186 is formed at the rear end of the upper slot 183 to allow the hook member 181 to rotate at the elastic starting position. If the hook member 181 in the aforementioned first inclined slot rotates counterclockwise to release the connection, the hook member 181 in the second inclined slot 186 rotates clockwise to release the connection. can do.

According to the above-described embodiment, the drawer may be automatically withdrawn and automatically withdrawn in the following order.

1) The drawers are in the initial position when the door is closed.

2) When the door open signal is generated, the electric drive unit is driven to move the moving frame from the initial position to the operation position. Accordingly, a plurality of drawers are integrally moved from the initial position to the operation position to stop.

3) At the drawer's operating position, the user can draw out the drawer manually.

4) If a predetermined time elapses after the door closing signal is generated or the drawer is moved to the operation position, the electric drive unit is driven in the reverse direction, and the moving frame is returned to the initial position. As the door is closed, the door may push the drawer back to the initial position.

5) When the drawer returns to the initial position, it can be automatically returned by the elastic restoring force. The elastic restoring force at this time is generated by the elastic deformation generated when the drawer is moved to the operation position. The elastic deformation and elastic recovery may be generated by a spring provided in the drawer holder.

Therefore, according to the present embodiment, when the door is opened, the drawer can be automatically drawn out to an operation position where the user can easily draw the drawer. As the door is closed at the operation position, the door may be pushed into the initial position by pushing the drawer, and the drawer may be automatically drawn to the initial position by using an elastic restoring force.

Hereinafter, the withdrawal and withdrawal steps of the drawer will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 11. 11 illustrates the connection and disconnection of the drawer holder 180 according to the positional change of the drawer 30.

FIG. 11A illustrates a state in which the drawer holder 180 and the drawer 30 are disconnected at the initial position of the drawer.

When the door open signal is generated, the electric drive unit is operated to move the drawer to the operation position. FIG. 10 (b) shows a point in time at which the drawer holder 180 and the drawer 30 are connected while the drawer moves from the initial position to the operation position. This position may be referred to as an elastic start position as described above.

From the initial position to the elastic starting position, no reaction force is applied except for the friction force of the rail 120, which can be substantially ignored. In other words, no force is hindered from drawing out the drawer. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the overload of the electric drive unit in the initial operation of the electric drive unit. Then, the spring of the drawer holder 180 is elastically deformed from the elastic starting position. The elastic starting position may be set to a position spaced 30mm forward from the initial position, for example.

As the drawer moves further out of the resilient starting position, the spring of the drawer holder continues to elastically deform.

Fig. 10 (c) shows the position where the spring of the drawer holder is elastically deformed.

10 (d) shows a state in which the drawer moves further forward and the drawer holder 180 is disconnected from the drawer, that is, the elastic end position. Therefore, the elastic restoring force by the spring of the drawer holder is not applied to the drawer at the elastic end position.

In the above-described embodiment has been described that the operation position is a position between Fig. 10 (c) and 10 (d). Therefore, the user must draw out the drawer manually from the operating position to the elastic end position, in which case the user must overcome the elastic restoring force of the drawer holder spring for a very short distance. The user can further draw the drawer manually at the drawer's resilient end position. At this time, the user does not draw the drawer while winning the elastic restoring force.

On the contrary, when the drawer is retracted, the user can manually retract the drawer further back than the elastic end position shown in FIG. That is, the drawer can be drawn manually to the operation position. At this manipulation position, the drawer holder 180 and the drawer are reconnected.

When the door closing signal is generated or the electric drive part has elapsed for a predetermined time from the operation position, the electric drive part is returned to the initial position. That is, the force pushing the drawer through the electric drive is no longer maintained. Thus, the drawer at the operating position is provided with an elastic restoring force by the spring of the drawer holder. As a result, the drawer is automatically drawn in.

As the drawer is retracted, the resilient restoring force of the drawer holder is provided to the drawer up to the position shown in Figure 10 (b). Thus, the drawer can be returned at a very high speed. In addition, when approaching the initial position, that is, the elastic restoring force is released in the section between FIG. 10 (b) and FIG. Therefore, in this case, the drawer may be returned to the initial position by the inertia force.

In the above, the embodiment for the automatic withdrawal of the drawer and the embodiment for the automatic drawing of the drawer have been described in detail. Specifically, an embodiment in which the drawers are provided with at least two catching members 33 and 34 for automatic withdrawal and automatic withdrawal of the drawer has been described in detail.

Hereinafter, with reference to Figure 12 will be described in detail with respect to another embodiment that can implement the automatic withdrawal and automatic retraction of the drawer through a single locking member. The basic mechanism or configuration may be applied similarly or identically to the above-described embodiment. Therefore, features different from the above-described embodiment will be described in detail.

In this embodiment as well, the motor assembly 160 and the moving frame 170 may be provided. The motor assembly 160 may be mounted on one side wall of the storage compartment, and the motor assembly 160 is connected to the moving frame 170. Similarly, as the motor assembly 160 operates, the moving frame 170 moves back and forth.

In addition, the drawer holder 180 may be provided in the present embodiment as well. The drawer holder may also be mounted on one side wall of the storage compartment. The drawer holder 180 may be the same drawer holder as in the above-described embodiment. However, in this embodiment, the drawer holder 180 may be provided such that the hook member 181 protrudes laterally without protruding downward or upward. In other words, the hook member 181 may be provided to protrude toward the drawer 20.

The drawer 30 may be provided with a locking member 36. That is, the drawer 30 is moved forward by pushing the catching member 36. The locking member 36 may be provided to be selectively connected to the hook member 181 of the drawer holder 180. Therefore, the locking member 36 moves the hook member 181 forward by the forward movement of the drawer 30. That is, since the hook member 181 is selectively connected to the hook member 181, the locking member 36 in the present embodiment may correspond to the second locking member 34 in the above-described embodiment.

However, the locking member 33 may be referred to as a configuration that is moved forward by the transfer member 171 provided on the moving frame 170. That is, the locking member 36 in the present embodiment may correspond to the first locking member 33 in the above-described embodiment. Therefore, in the present embodiment, it can be said that one locking member 36 is connected to the holder 180 and the moving frame 170.

Specifically, the transmission member 171 provided on the moving frame 170 may be provided to push the hook member 181 of the drawer holder 180. That is, the transmission member 171 pushes the hook member 181 connected to the locking member 36, and as a result, pushes the locking member 36. In other words, the transmission member 171 may be provided to push the hook member 181 at one rear side of the hook member 181 protruding in the drawer direction.

The moving frame 170 in the present embodiment may be provided with a connection member coupling portion 174 coupled with the connection member 180. The moving frame 170 may be provided with a roller 176 to stably move the moving frame 170 back and forth.

The roller 176 may be formed in two places on the upper portion and two places on the lower portion of the moving frame. Thus, the moving frame can be stably moved with four support points. Of course, the roller 176 may be provided to be rolled on one side wall of the storage compartment.

The moving frame 170 may be provided to move back and forth between the drawer holder 180 and the drawer 30. In particular, the transfer member 171 of the moving frame 170 may be provided to move back and forth within the interval between the locking member 36 of the drawer and the drawer holder 180.

The moving frame 170 may be formed in a plate shape, and a plurality of slits 175 may be formed to reduce weight. In addition, when the moving frame 170 is provided to move three drawers arranged up and down, three transfer members 171 should also be provided. In this case, the two transmission members 171 may be provided at the top and bottom of the moving frame 170. The intermediate transfer member 171 may be formed through the slit 175. Specifically, it may be formed through the slit 177 is formed in the middle. That is, the portion where the slit is not formed in the slit 177 may be referred to as the intermediate transfer member.

Hereinafter, a drawer capable of the above-described automatic withdrawal and automatic withdrawal will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. The drawers described may be equally applicable to general manual withdrawals and manually drawn drawers.

The drawer 30 may include a basket 31 and a drawer frame 32. The basket 31 may be provided to accommodate the storage. The drawer frame 32 may be provided to support the basket 31.

Specifically, the drawer frame 32 may include a rail seating portion 37 coupled to the basket seating portion 38 and the rail 120.

The basket may be seated on the basket seating portion 38 so that the basket 31 may be coupled to the drawer frame 32. In particular, the basket 31 may be seated on the basket seat 38 in a vertical downward direction and may be coupled to the drawer frame. On the contrary, the basket 31 may be vertically moved upward and released from the drawer frame. Therefore, the drawer frame 32 and the basket 31 are easily coupled and separated.

An opening 38a may be formed in the center portion of the drawer frame. In addition, the seating portion 38 may be formed around the opening 38a.

The basket 31 may include an upper basket 31a and a lower basket 31b. The lower basket 31b may be inserted into the opening 38a, and the upper basket 31a may be seated on the seating portion 38. In addition, the upper basket 31a and the lower basket 31b may be integrally formed.

The rail coupling portion 37 may be provided to extend back and forth from both left and right sides of the drawer frame 32. The rail coupling portion 37 and the rail are preferably hidden from the user's field of view.

To this end, the upper basket is preferably formed to have a larger left and right width than the lower basket to cover the rail coupling portion 37 from the top. In addition, the drawer frame 32 may include a drawer deco 39. The drawer decor may be provided in front of the drawer frame 32. In particular, the drawer deco 39 may be provided to extend left and right from the front lower portion of the basket (31). That is, it may be provided to cover the rail coupling portion 37 in front of the drawer (30).

On the other hand, the drawer frame 32 may be formed with the above-described locking member 33. The drawer may be commonly used in the left freezer compartment and the right freezer compartment. Therefore, the locking member 33 may be formed on the left and right of the drawer frame 32, respectively. As described above, when the drawer 30 is formed in the right freezer compartment, only the locking member 33 provided on the left side may be used.

The drawer frame 32 may be provided with a locking member mounting part 34a for mounting a locking member for coupling with the drawer holder. Similarly, the mounting portion 34a may be formed on both left and right sides of the drawer, respectively.

The catching member 34 coupled with the drawer holder is provided for automatic drawing. Therefore, when the automatic drawing is not necessary, the locking member 34 may be omitted. Therefore, unlike the locking member 33 is integrally formed in the drawer frame 32, the locking member 34 is preferably provided detachably to the drawer frame.

Hereinafter, the rail 120 will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 16.

The rail 120 is configured to support the drawer 30 to be movable back and forth. Therefore, the rail 120 preferably includes a moving rail 121 that moves back and forth integrally with the drawer 30.

In addition, the rail coupling portion 37 may be provided to be coupled to the moving rail 121.

Specifically, the rail coupling portion 37 may be formed to have a cross-section of the channel shape to be seated while surrounding the moving rail 121. That is, the rail coupling portion 37 is preferably mounted on the moving rail 121 is coupled.

A catching part 125 may be formed at the rear end of the moving rail 121. The locking portion 125 may be formed so that the rear end of the rail coupling portion 37 is inserted. Therefore, when the rail coupling portion 37 is inserted into the locking portion 125, the rear movement and the upper movement at the rear end of the rail coupling portion 37 can be limited.

An elastic protrusion 128 may be formed at the front end of the moving rail 121. In addition, a mounting hole 37 a for inserting the elastic protrusion 128 may be formed at a front end of the rail coupling part 37.

The moving rail 121 may be provided with an elastic protrusion bracket 126 coupled with the moving rail 121 to form the elastic protrusion 128. One side of the elastic protrusion bracket 126 may be provided with a mounting portion (126a) and the other side may be provided with the elastic protrusion support (126b). Therefore, the elastic protrusion bracket 126 may be coupled to the moving rail 121 through the mounting portion 126a.

An incision 127 may be formed between the elastic protrusion support 126b and the mounting portion 126b. In addition, the elastic protrusion 128 may be formed in a form bent from the elastic protrusion support 126b. Therefore, the elastic protrusion 128 may be elastically deformed with respect to the elastic protrusion support 126b through the cutout 9227.

Specifically, the elastic protrusion support 126b may be horizontally formed, and the elastic protrusion 128 may be formed to be bent vertically downward from the elastic protrusion support 126b. Therefore, the elastic protrusion may be elastically deformed in a direction in which the angle with the elastic protrusion support 126b is reduced. That is, it may be elastically deformed toward the left and right centers of the drawer.

Meanwhile, the rail 120 may include a fixed rail 122. The fixed rail 122 supports the fixed rail 122 to be slidably moved from the lower side of the movable rail 121.

The rail 120 may be fixed to the side wall of the storage compartment or the support frame 110 through the rail brackets 123 and 124. The rail bracket may include a front rail bracket 123 and a rear rail bracket 124. That is, at least two support points may be formed at the front and the rear of one rail. These rails 120 are provided on both sides of the drawer 30, respectively.

The front rail bracket 123 and the rear rail bracket 124 are formed to be spaced apart from each other by a predetermined distance. The transfer member 171 described above may be provided between the front rail bracket 123 and the rear rail bracket 124. That is, the section between the initial position and the operating position of the transmission member 171 is located between the front rail bracket and the rear rail bracket. Therefore, the transfer member 171 and the brackets 123 and 124 are not interfered with. This means that a slit 113 of the support frame 110 is formed between the front rail bracket and the rear rail bracket.

Hereinafter, the coupling structure of the drawer 30 and the rail 120 will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. 17 and 18.

In order to couple the drawer frame 32 to the rails 120, the user places the drawer frame 32 with the front of the drawer up and the rear of the drawer down as shown in FIG. 17. You can move it backwards. At this time, the rear end of the rail coupling portion 37 is inserted into the locking portion 125 provided in the rail to be caught.

As shown in FIG. 9, the rail coupling part 37 may be seated while surrounding the moving rail 121 at the upper portion of the rail 120, in particular, the moving rail 121. Therefore, when the rail coupling portion 37 is seated on the moving rail 121, the left and right movement of the drawer is limited.

Thereafter, in the state shown in FIG. 17, the user may lower the front of the drawer frame 32 downward. At this time, the elastic protrusion 128 is elastically deformed in the direction of the left and right center of the drawer, when the rail coupling portion 37 is completely seated on the moving rail 121, the elastic protrusion 128 is elastically restored and mounted It is inserted into the hole 37a. The mounting hole 37a may be formed in the side flange 37b covering the outer surface of the moving rail. Therefore, even if the elastic protrusion 128 is protruded after being inserted into the mounting hole 37a

Therefore, the drawer frame 32 may be fixed to the moving rail 121 by the locking portion 125 and the elastic protrusion 128.

Meanwhile, the state illustrated in FIG. 17 may be referred to as an initial position of the drawer 30. As shown, it can be seen that the locking member 33 and the locking member mounting portion 34a are positioned between the front rail bracket 123 and the rear rail bracket 124 at the initial position of the drawer 30. In particular, it can be seen that the rear rail bracket 124 is located biased.

When the drawer 30 is moved to the operation position, the locking member 33 and the locking member mounting portion 34a may move forward, and may be positioned to be inclined to the front rail bracket 123. Therefore, the locking member 33 and the locking member mounting portion 34a are always positioned between the front rail bracket 123 and the rear rail bracket 124 in the section between the operation position and the initial position of the drawer 30. Is preferred.

Hereinafter, with reference to FIG. 19 will be described in detail the relationship between the control elements that can be applied to an embodiment of the present invention.

First, the refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a main controller 200. Basic operation of the refrigerator may be controlled through the main controller 200.

The refrigerator according to one embodiment of the present invention may include a motor assembly 160. The motor assembly 160 may include a motor 162 and a motor controller 160. The motor 162 may be driven in the forward and reverse directions. For example, the above-described transmission member 171 can be moved forward by forward (clockwise) driving. On the contrary, the transmission member 171 can be moved backward by the reverse driving.

The driving direction of the motor 162, a duty ratio applied to the motor, driving and stopping of the motor may be controlled through the motor controller 160.

The motor assembly 160 may include a connection member 163 moving back and forth as described above. The maximum protruding length of the connecting member 163 corresponds to the operation position of the transfer member, and the minimum protruding length of the connecting member 163 corresponds to the initial position of the transfer member. Thus, the connecting member 163 is moved between the maximum protrusion length and the minimum protrusion length.

Using this, it is possible to determine whether the connection member 163 is located at a position corresponding to the initial position of the drawer or at a position corresponding to the manipulation position in the motor assembly 160. That is, the motor assembly 160 may be provided with two Hall sensors 166 and 167.

As illustrated in FIGS. 7 and 8, the motor assembly 160 may be provided with a magnet 168. The magnet 168 may be provided to move in the housing 161 according to the movement of the connection member 163. Therefore, when the first hall sensor 166 recognizes the magnet 168, it can be seen that the transmission member is the initial position. In addition, when the magnet 168 is recognized by the second hall sensor 167, the transmission member may be recognized as an operation position.

The hall sensors 166 and 167 may be used to determine whether the motor assembly 160 is operating normally. This will be described in detail in the control method described later.

The motor controller 165 basically operates the motor 162 when a door opening is detected through the sensor 40. Here, the sensor 40 may be referred to as a sensor for detecting the opening of the door at a predetermined opening angle (for example, a 90 degree opening angle). That is, when the sensor 40 detects that the door is opened by 90 degrees, for example, the motor control unit 165 operates the motor 162 so that the drawer is drawn out from the initial position to the operation position.

When the door opening is detected by the sensor 40, a door opening signal may be generated and transmitted to the motor control unit 165 through the main control unit 200. Of course, the door open signal may be directly transmitted to the motor controller 165.

On the other hand, the refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention may include a door switch 50. The door switch 50 may be a configuration generally used in a refrigerator. When the opening of the door is detected by the door switch 50, the lighting device 60 for illuminating the storage compartment may be activated. Here, the door switch 50 may be referred to as a configuration that is provided separately from the sensor 40. That is, it can be basically referred to as a configuration provided only for the control of the lighting device (60). For example, the door switch 50 may determine that the door is opened at a relatively very small opening angle to allow the lighting device 60 to operate. Basically, it can be said that the configuration that can detect the state in which the close contact between the door and the cabinet is released by the door open.

As described above, the door opening detection through the sensor 40 should be generated under the premise of opening detection of the door through the door switch 50. This is because the door opening detection through the door switch 50 is performed at a very small opening angle, and the door opening detection through the sensor 40 is performed at an opening angle of approximately 90 degrees, for example. Control logic through the sensor 40 and the door switch 50 will be described later.

Hereinafter, a control method that can be applied to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 20 to 26.

First, the initial step S10 will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 20. The initial step may be referred to as the step of driving the motor 162 first when power is applied to the refrigerator. That is, the motor 162 may be referred to as a step of initializing the electric drawer system by moving the transmission member to the initial position by the initial drive.

Therefore, when the initial step (S10) is started, the motor operates (S30). That is, it operates to return the transfer member 171 to the initial position. At this time, the motor driving direction may be a counterclockwise direction. Hereinafter, it will be described on the premise that the transmission member moves backward when the motor driving direction is counterclockwise and the transmission member moves forward when it is clockwise.

The operation of the motor can be controlled at a predetermined duty ratio. The operation of the motor is terminated when it is determined that the transmission member 171 is returned to the initial position through the first hall sensor 166. For example, when an on signal is generated from the first hall sensor 166, the operation of the motor is stopped (S40).

In addition, the operation of the motor may be controlled to stop when the operation time passes a predetermined time. For example, the predetermined time may be 5 seconds. Here, the predetermined time may be set larger than the maximum allowable motor operating time in consideration of the margin. Therefore, the operation of the motor may be normally performed until the on signal from the first hall sensor 166 is generated before reaching the predetermined time.

Therefore, after the motor is stopped (S50), if the operating time of the motor is longer than a predetermined time or if the on-signal generated from the second hall sensor 167 is detected (S50), an error has occurred in the electric drawer system. Can be judged. Therefore, when an error occurs, the notification step S100 may be performed. That is, the step of indicating an error can be started.

Here, it is normal that the ON signal of the second hall sensor 167 is generated at the operating position of the transmission member 171 instead of the initial position. Therefore, in the initial step (S10) it can be said that the generation of the ON signal of the second hall sensor 167 is an abnormality in the entire electric drawer system including the Hall sensors.

In addition, when the motor operates for a predetermined time or more, as described above, it may be said that an abnormality occurs in the entire electric drawer system. This is because a load by the drawer is not applied to the motor 162 to return to the initial position of the transmission member.

Meanwhile, if an error occurs, the notification step S100 may be performed as shown in FIG. 21. In the notification step (S100) it is determined whether the error again (S110), at which time it can be determined in which drawer the error occurred. That is, when the electric drawers are installed in both freezer compartments, it is determined whether the error is the error of the left drawer or the error of the right drawer. In the case of an error of the electric drawer, an operation (S120) of displaying an error may be performed. In this case, an error code may be displayed through the display.

After the error is displayed or after it is determined not to be an error, the process is switched to the standby state S200. The standby state S200 may be a state in which driving of the motor is stopped.

As illustrated in FIG. 22, determination steps S210 and S220 may be performed to determine a condition for automatically withdrawing the drawer in the standby state S200. The condition for the automatic withdrawal of the drawer may be referred to as opening detection of the door through the sensor 40. Specifically, when the reed switch 41 detects the opening of the door (S210) it can be seen that the condition is satisfied.

Therefore, the motor 162 always maintains the standby state S200 until the opening of the door is detected through the sensor 40.

On the other hand, as described above, the opening detection of the door through the sensor 40 presupposes the door opening detection through the door switch 50. Therefore, when the door opening is detected through the door switch 50 (S200), the withdrawal step S300 may be performed.

In addition, when the opening of the door through the sensor 40 is detected and the opening of the door through the door switch 50 is not detected, it may be determined whether the sensor 40 has an error (S230) and the corresponding error may be displayed on the display. have. Thereafter, it may be switched to the standby state (S200).

In the withdrawal step S300, the motor 162 should operate to push the drawer 30 forward. Therefore, the motor 162 is subjected to a relatively large load in the drawing step. In particular, when there is much storage in the drawer 30, a greater load is applied. Therefore, in the drawing step S300, it is preferable that a large output is controlled to be generated in the motor according to the load. That is, it is preferable to control the duty ratio to increase as the load increases.

Specifically, the drawing step (S300) may include the step (S310) of calculating a signal (FG, frequency generator) generated when the motor rotates. The FG may be calculated every predetermined time, for example, 100 ms (milliseconds).

In addition, the withdrawal step S300 may include a motor withdrawal driving step S320 for driving the motor clockwise by varying the duty ratio according to the calculated FG. That is, after dividing into a plurality of load conditions according to the calculated FG, it is possible to drive the motor at a predetermined duty ratio under each load condition.

For example, when the calculated FG is 0 to 50, the motor can be driven with a duty ratio of 180. When the calculated FG is 51 to 100, the motor can be driven with a duty ratio of 200. As the calculated FG is increased, the duty ratio is increased. For example, the duty ratio may be controlled to 250 when the calculated FG is 251 or more.

In other words, the larger the calculated FG, the greater the load is determined to increase the output of the motor.

The take-out driving step S320 of the motor may be performed until an on signal is generated from the second hall sensor 167. In addition, the take-out driving step S320 of the motor may be performed until a predetermined time is reached. For example, the preset time may be 3 seconds.

On the other hand, during the take-out driving step S320 of the motor, a disturbance may be generated that prevents the drawing of the drawer. That is, a very heavy object is drawn to block the front, or foreign matter may enter the rail 120 and the moving rail 121 may not move. Therefore, in this case, if the motor is continuously driven in the clockwise direction, a large load may be generated in the motor. That is, the motor may be damaged. Therefore, when a failure occurs, it is preferable that the motor driving step is no longer continued and the return step S500 is performed.

Of course, before performing the return step (S500), it is preferable that the step (S350) of determining whether there is an obstacle is performed.

The obstacle determination step S350 may be performed during the driving step of the motor, and the obstacle determination step S350 may be performed when the FG calculation cycle reaches a predetermined number of times. For example, the obstacle determination step S350 may be performed from the fourth FG calculation. That is, the initial FG calculation up to the third time may be excluded from the obstacle determination. This is because a relatively large load can be generated in the motor by the initial static frictional force at the initial stage of the drawing out of the motor. Therefore, the obstacle determination step S350 is performed from a predetermined number of times, and this may be performed until the pull-out driving step S320 of the motor is completed.

When the FG calculated in the determination step S350 is larger than the predetermined obstacle FG, it is determined that there is no obstacle and the motor drawing driving step may be continued. However, when the calculated FG is equal to or smaller than the preset obstacle FG, it may be determined that the obstacle exists. That is, it may be determined that the motor cannot be driven normally due to an overload of the motor due to an obstacle. Therefore, when it is determined that an obstacle exists, the driving of the motor is terminated and the return step S500 is performed.

On the other hand, when it is determined that there is no obstacle and the drawing out of the motor is terminated, an operation (S340) of determining whether an error may be performed. It may be determined whether the predetermined time, for example, 3 seconds or more is required until the end of the drawing drive of the motor. The predetermined time may also be referred to as a maximum allowable time, and it may be determined that an error takes 3 seconds or more. In addition, it may be determined that an error occurs even when the on-signal of the first hall sensor 166 is generated. When the end of the motor drawing drive step S340, that is, the drawing step S300 ends, the stop step S400 may be performed.

As shown in FIG. 24, the stopping step S400 is not a step of stopping driving of the motor. In other words, it may be said that the drawing of the drawer is stopped. In other words, the withdrawal driving step of the motor is a step of moving the transfer member forward, and it is determined that the transfer member moves to the operation position through the second hall sensor 167, and the forward movement of the transfer member stops. do. That is, the step of stopping the forward movement of the transfer member may be referred to as the stop step (S400).

As described above, the motor is driven clockwise in the withdrawal step (S300). Likewise, the clockwise driving of the motor may be maintained in the stop step S400. However, since the drawer is not pushed in the stop step S400, the driving of the motor may be maintained at the minimum output.

In the stop step (S400) it may be controlled to drive the motor (S420) with a minimum duty ratio that can be applied to the motor. That is, in driving the motor associated with the automatic withdrawal of the drawer, the motor may be controlled to operate at the smallest duty ratio among the duty ratios applied to the motor. This is to prevent the drawer from being automatically drawn in even before the user operates the drawer by the elastic force of the drawer holder in the stop step (S400).

On the other hand, the stop step (S400) may be performed for a predetermined time. For example, it may be performed for 3 seconds (S430). In addition, when the predetermined time elapses, a return step S500 may be performed.

In the stop step (S400) the user can push in the direction to draw the drawer (30). In this case, it is preferable that the return step S500 is performed even during the stop step. To this end, the step S410 of calculating the FG may also be performed in the stop step S400. In operation S440, it may be determined whether the user pushes the drawer in the direction of drawing the drawer through the calculated FG. For example, when the calculated FG is smaller than the predetermined FG, it may be determined that the user pushes the drawer.

Also in this case, it is preferable that the determination step S440 is performed after a predetermined number of FG calculations have elapsed.

As described above, the stop step S400 may be normally performed, for example, 3 seconds. Thereafter, the motor may be driven such that the transfer member 171 returns to the initial position. This may be referred to as a return step (S500). In the return step, the force pushing the drawer is removed. Therefore, in the returning step, the drawer is automatically returned by the above-described elastic restoring force of the drawer holder.

As shown in FIG. 25, the returning step S500 includes a step S510 of stopping driving of the motor. That is, a step of temporarily stopping the driving of the motor may be performed to change the driving direction of the motor. The motor may be a BLDC (Blushless DC) motor, and a brake input may be applied to stop the driving of the motor. The step S510 may be performed, for example, for 10 ms. Through this step (S510) it is possible to prevent the shock is applied to the motor itself due to the rapid change of the rotation direction of the motor.

Meanwhile, the return step S500 may be performed similarly to the initial step S50 described above.

That is, when the signal generated from the first hall sensor 166 is generated or the motor is operated in a counterclockwise direction until a predetermined time (S530), the driving of the motor may be stopped (S540). Here, the predetermined time means the maximum allowable time and may be, for example, 5 seconds. The driving of the motor for 5 seconds may be determined as an error (S550). Of course, when the signal from the second hall sensor 167 is generated, it may be determined as an error (S550). In case of an error, the notification step S100 may be performed.

In addition, when the driving of the motor is stopped (S540), the standby state (S200) is performed.

Here, the duty ratio in the return step (S500) is preferably larger than the duty ratio in the initial step (S10). However, when the FG detected in the withdrawal step, that is, the total FG is smaller than the predetermined FG, the motor may be driven at the same duty ratio as in the initial step S10. That is, in this case, the obstacle is substantially excluded from the forward drive and the reverse drive of the motor. Therefore, even when a relatively small duty ratio is applied, the transfer member can be smoothly returned.

On the other hand, when the door closes abruptly, the drawer in the operating position may collide with the basket of the door. Therefore, it is preferable that the step of emergency return of the drawer is performed. For example, if the door is suddenly closed while the drawer is withdrawn, the drawer is withdrawn but the door is closed, and the drawer and the door may collide.

Therefore, in this case, it is highly desirable that control logic is urgently executed to return the drawer.

That is, it is preferable that the step S700 for causing the drawer to return urgently during the above-described withdrawal step S300 and the stop step S400 is performed. Of course, this emergency return step does not necessarily need to be performed when the drawer is positioned at the initial position.

Therefore, first, the step S600 of determining the emergency return condition may be performed, and if the emergency return condition is satisfied, the emergency return step S700 may be performed.

As described above, the emergency return condition satisfies the middle of the withdrawal step or the stop step, and the sensor 40 may sense that the door is closed. That is, the reed switch 41 may be said to sense the closing of the door.

The emergency return step may also be performed in the same manner as the return step. That is, the method may include driving the motor counterclockwise (S720), stopping the motor (S740), and determining an error (S750). Of course, if it is determined that the error notification step (S100) may be performed.

On the other hand, when starting the emergency return step, the motor may be driven in a clockwise direction. Therefore, likewise, it is preferable to drive the motor counterclockwise after stopping the motor for 10 ms as a predetermined time.

Through the above-described control method, it is possible to minimize the load on the motor. In addition, when a large load is applied to the motor due to an obstacle, the motor may perform a return step or an emergency return step to prevent a large load from being continuously applied to the motor.

10 cabinet 20 door
30: drawer 31: basket
32: drawer frame 40: sensor
41: reed switch 42: magnet
100: moving assembly 110: support frame
120: rail 150: electric drive unit
160: motor assembly 170: moving frame
180: drawer holder

Claims (20)

A cabinet having a storage compartment;
A door rotatably provided in the cabinet to open and close the storage compartment;
A sensor for detecting the opening of the door,
A drawer provided in the storage compartment and provided to move from an initial position to an operation position spaced forward by a predetermined distance from the initial position;
A drawer holder which is elastically deformed when the drawer is moved from the initial position to the manipulation position and provides an elastic restoring force so that the drawer moves from the manipulation position to the initial position;
An electric drive unit which moves the drawer from the initial position to the operation position and elastically deforms the drawer holder; And
The drawer includes a rail provided to move back and forth with respect to the storage compartment,
The electric drive unit includes a moving frame having a motor assembly and a transmission member for transmitting a force to the drawer,
And the motor assembly is driven such that the transfer member pushes the drawer to return after the drawer is moved from the initial position to the operation position. The method of claim 1,
The drawer holder,
A hook member selectively connected to the drawer; And
And a spring elastically deformed or elastically restored according to the moving direction and the distance of the hook member. The method of claim 2,
The drawer is a refrigerator, characterized in that provided with a locking member selectively connected to the drawer holder. The method of claim 3, wherein
The drawer holder,
And a housing formed with a slot for accommodating the spring and guiding the movement of the hook member. The method of claim 4, wherein
And the hook member protrudes in a horizontal direction with respect to the housing and is selectively connected to the drawer. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
And the moving frame is movable between the initial position and the operation position to move back and forth by driving the motor assembly. delete The method according to any one of claims 3 to 5,
The transfer member is a refrigerator, characterized in that provided to move the locking member of the drawer forward through the hook member. The method of claim 8,
The hook member is provided to protrude from the housing of the drawer holder and to be connected to the catching member of the drawer,
The transfer member is a refrigerator, characterized in that to push the hook member in a direction perpendicular to the protruding direction of the hook member. The method of claim 9,
One side of the hook member is a refrigerator, characterized in that the seating portion is formed in contact with the transmission member is formed. The method of claim 10,
As the transfer member is seated on the seating portion and moves forward, the movement of the transfer member is transmitted to the hook member, and when the transfer member is separated from the seating portion and moves backward, the transfer member and the hook member Refrigerator, characterized in that disconnected. A cabinet having a storage compartment;
A door rotatably provided in the cabinet to open and close the storage compartment;
A sensor for detecting opening of the door;
A drawer provided in the storage compartment to move to an operation position spaced forward by a predetermined distance from an initial position when the opening of the door is detected and including a locking member;
A drawer holder including a hook member selectively connected to the locking member and a spring elastically deformed or elastically restored by the movement of the hook member by the movement of the locking member;
An electric drive unit including a transmission member for pushing the locking member to move the drawer from the initial position to the operation position, and a motor assembly for moving the transmission member electrically; And
The drawer includes a rail provided to move back and forth with respect to the storage compartment,
The electric drive unit includes a motor assembly and a transmission member for transmitting a force to the drawer,
And the motor assembly is driven such that the transfer member pushes the drawer to return after the drawer is moved from the initial position to the operation position. The method of claim 12,
The refrigerator, characterized in that the connection between the locking member and the hook member is maintained in the section between the operation position from the initial position. The method of claim 13,
The drawer is characterized in that the connection between the engaging member and the hook member is released as the drawer is further drawn out in the operation position, so that the drawer is drawn out manually. The method of claim 13,
And the electric drive unit is driven to move the transfer member backward to move the drawer from the operation position to the initial position. The method of claim 15,
And the hook member moves the locking member backwards as the spring is elastically restored, so that the drawer returns from the operation position to the initial position. The method according to any one of claims 12 to 16,
The drawer holder, the refrigerator for receiving the spring, characterized in that the housing is formed with a slot for guiding the movement of the hook member. The method of claim 17,
And the hook member protrudes toward the drawer with respect to the housing and is selectively connected to the drawer. The method of claim 18,
The transfer member is located between the housing and the engaging member, the refrigerator characterized in that it is provided to push the hook member forward from the rear of the hook member. The method of claim 12,
The drawer is provided with a plurality of up and down, the transfer member is provided for each of the plurality of drawers,
And the electric drive unit comprises a moving frame provided to integrally move the plurality of transmission members by driving the motor assembly.

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