KR20140088371A - Refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

The refrigerator of the present invention comprises: a door; A door handle installed on the door; And a light source assembly installed inside the door handle of the door handle.
Thereby, light is irradiated to the inside of the door handle, thereby suppressing the glare and obtaining a delicate beauty.

Description

Refrigerator {REFRIGERATOR}

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a refrigerator, and more particularly, to a refrigerator having a door handle provided with a light source to improve nighttime discrimination.

Generally, a refrigerator is a device that keeps the food in a fresh state for a predetermined period by reducing the temperature of the refrigerating chamber and the freezing chamber as the refrigerant repeats a refrigerating cycle in which the refrigerant compresses - condenses - expands - evaporates.

The refrigerator includes a main body defining a storage space separated by a refrigerating chamber and a freezing chamber, and a door mounted on one side of the main body to open and close the refrigerating chamber and the freezing chamber.

In recent years, as demand for a large-sized and advanced refrigerator has been gradually increased due to the improvement of living environment, the capacity of the storage compartment has been increased and the space inside the storage compartment has been partitioned into left and right (i.e., freezing and freezing compartments) side by side) The supply of refrigerator is increasing.

The door of the refrigerator is provided with a door handle that can be held by a user.

A representative example of such a door handle is disclosed in the following patent document (hereinafter referred to as " prior art ") and will be described with reference to Fig.

1, the prior art handle assembly includes a handle 2 for gripping by a user, a handle support 4 which supports both ends of the handle 2 and is fixed to the front surface of the refrigerator door, .

A light emitting casing 6 is interposed between the handle support portion 4 and the handle portion 2 and the light emitting casing 6 is formed in the same cross sectional shape as the handle portion 2, A light source such as a lamp is built in.

That is, according to the related art, since the light emitting casing 6 is installed in the handle assembly, the user can easily open and close the door of the refrigerator in a state where the user can easily recognize the position of the door handle even in the dark.

However, the conventional handle assembly has a problem in that the light source is irradiated to the front surface of the door handle to generate glare.

Moreover, the light source of the prior art is constantly turned on and the power consumption is increased.

Accordingly, there is a need to develop a refrigerator capable of solving the problems of the prior art described above.

Korean Patent Publication No. 2007-0069665 (Published on July 3, 2007)

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a refrigerator configured to irradiate light to the inside of a door handle.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a refrigerator which senses proximity of a user and selectively irradiates light to suppress unnecessary power consumption.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a refrigerator which can be separated from a door handle only and is easy to maintain.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a refrigerator including: a door; A door handle installed on the door; And a light source assembly installed inside the door handle of the door handle.

Further, the door handle may be formed with a receiving groove in the longitudinal direction thereof, and the light source assembly is inserted into the receiving groove.

In addition, the light source assembly includes a case inserted into the receiving groove, and a light source accommodated in the case.

The plurality of light sources are installed along a longitudinal direction of the case at regular intervals.

In addition, the receiving groove is formed with a latching protrusion, and the case has a guide groove corresponding to the latching protrusion.

Further, an inclined surface is formed on the latching jaw.

Further, the door may be formed of a reflective material or a reflective material may be coated on the front surface of the door.

Further, a proximity sensor is provided on the front surface of the door.

Further, the proximity sensor is characterized in that the power source of the light source assembly is turned on / off by the sensing value.

According to the refrigerator of the present invention, the light source assembly that irradiates light to the inside facing the door of the door handle is provided, and light is irradiated to the inside of the door handle, thereby suppressing the glare and obtaining a delicate feel.

In addition, since the light source assembly can be separated or assembled by the engagement protrusion formed on the door handle and the guide groove formed in the light source assembly, workability is improved.

That is, only the light source assembly can be detached at the time of occurrence of an abnormality of the light source, and the maintenance becomes easy.

Further, the proximity sensor installed on the front of the door senses that the user is approaching the refrigerator, and selectively turns on / off the power of the light source assembly to illuminate the light, thereby suppressing unnecessary power use.

Further, the front surface of the door is formed of a reflective material such as high-glossy and metallic material, so that the light emitted from the light source assembly is spread smoothly on the front surface of the door.

Further, the door is provided with an auxiliary power supply unit electrically connected to the light source.

1 is a front view showing a conventional home bar for a refrigerator showing a handle assembly.
2 is a front view showing a refrigerator according to the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the door of FIG. 2. FIG.
Fig. 4 is a plan sectional view showing the door of Fig. 3; Fig.
Fig. 5 is a plan sectional view showing an exploded view of the door handle of Fig. 4. Fig.
Fig. 6 is a side sectional view showing the door of Fig. 3; Fig.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

2 is a front view showing a refrigerator according to the present invention, Fig. 3 is a perspective view showing a door of Fig. 2, Fig. 4 is a plan view of a door of Fig. Fig. 6 is a side sectional view showing the door of Fig. 3. Fig.

2 to 6, the refrigerator (A) of the present invention includes a main body 100 having a storage space formed by dividing a refrigerating chamber and a freezing chamber into left and right or upper and lower portions of the refrigerator, And a door 200 mounted on one side or both sides of the main body 100 to open and close the refrigerating and freezing chambers. The machine room formed at the lower portion of the main body 100 has a cooling cycle composed of a compressor, a condenser, (Not shown) is provided.

In addition, the door 200 is provided with a water dispenser 300 for directly discharging cold water to drink.

In addition, the door 200 is provided with a home bar 400 to draw drinks stored in the pockets inside the freezer compartment, thereby minimizing the cooling loss in the refrigerating compartment, thereby greatly reducing power consumption.

The water dispenser 300 and the home bar 400 are not essential components of the present invention and thus can be omitted.

Meanwhile, the door 200 is provided with a door handle 500 which can be opened and closed by a user.

Further, a light source assembly 600 is installed inside the door handle 500 facing the door 200.

Accordingly, the light source assembly 600 that irradiates light to the inside facing the door 200 of the door handle 500 is installed to illuminate the inside of the door handle 500 to suppress glare and obtain a delicate feel .

A receiving groove 510 is formed in the door handle 500 in the longitudinal direction, and the light source assembly 600 is inserted into the receiving groove 510.

The light source assembly 600 includes a hollow case 610 inserted into the receiving groove 510 and a light source 620 such as an LED or a lamp accommodated in the case 610.

A plurality of light sources 620 are installed along the longitudinal direction of the case 610 at predetermined intervals to irradiate the light along the longitudinal direction of the door handle 500 so that the identification of the door handle 500 in a dark place . This is a technical configuration differentiating from the door handle of the related art provided with the light emitting casing 6 provided at the limited position in Fig.

A guide groove 511 is formed in the receiving groove 510 and a guide groove 611 is formed in the case 610 to correspond to the engaging jaw 511.

The locking protrusion 511 is formed with an inclined surface 512.

In this case, the case 610 is slidably inserted into or detached from the receiving groove 510 by the fastening structure of the latching jaw 511 and the guide groove 611, or the inclined surface 511 formed on the latching jaw 511 The case 610 can be inserted into the receiving groove 510 with interference.

Accordingly, the light source assembly 600 can be separated or assembled from the door handle 500 by the engagement protrusion 511, the guide groove 611, and the inclined surface 512, thereby improving workability.

That is, only the light source assembly 600 can be separated and assembled when the light source 620 is abnormally generated, so that the maintenance becomes easy.

Meanwhile, the proximity sensor 700 is provided on the front surface of the door 200, and the proximity sensor 700 turns on / off the light source assembly 600 according to whether the user senses the proximity sensor.

The proximity sensor 700 may be a known ultrasonic sensor, an infrared sensor, a temperature sensor, or the like.

Accordingly, the proximity sensor 700 installed on the front surface of the door 200 senses that the user is close to the refrigerator A and selectively turns on / off the light source assembly 600 to illuminate the light Thereby suppressing unnecessary power use.

The door 200 may be formed of a reflective material such as metal or synthetic resin, or may be coated with a reflective material such as high-gloss on the front surface of the door 200.

Accordingly, the light emitted from the light source assembly 600 spreads to the front surface of the door 200.

As shown in FIG. 6, the door 200 is provided with an auxiliary power supply device 800 electrically connected to the light source 620, and is capable of exhibiting the effect of light emission even when it is separated from the main power source desirable.

Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail, the technical scope of the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, but should be construed according to the claims. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that many modifications and variations are possible without departing from the scope of the present invention.

A - Refrigerator
100 - Body
200 - Door
300 - Dispenser
400 - Homebars for refrigerators
500 - Door Handle
510 - Receiving groove
511 - hanging chin
512 - slope
600 - light source assembly
610 - K ™
611 - Guide groove
620 - Light source
700 - Proximity Sensors
800 - Auxiliary power supply

Claims (9)

door;
A door handle installed on the door; And
And a light source assembly installed inside the door handle, facing the door of the door handle.
The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the door handle is formed with a receiving groove in a longitudinal direction thereof, and the light source assembly is inserted into the receiving groove.
3. The method according to claim 1 or 2,
The light source assembly includes:
A case inserted into the receiving groove, and a light source accommodated in the case.
The method of claim 3,
Wherein a plurality of the light sources are installed along the longitudinal direction of the case at predetermined intervals.
The method of claim 3,
Wherein the receiving groove is formed with a latching protrusion, and the case has a guide groove corresponding to the latching protrusion.
The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the door is formed of a reflective material or a reflective material is coated on the front surface of the door.
The method according to claim 1,
And a proximity sensor is provided on a front surface of the door.
8. The method of claim 7,
Wherein the proximity sensor turns on / off the power of the light source assembly according to the sensed value.
The method of claim 3,
Wherein the door is provided with an auxiliary power supply unit electrically connected to the light source.

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