RU2653070C1 - Refrigerator door and refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: personal and household items.

SUBSTANCE: refrigerator door includes an internal panel and an external panel. External panel includes a front external sub-panel forming a portion of the door front surface, a rear external sub-panel positioned behind the front external sub-panel and forming a portion of the door front surface, and a connector connecting the front external sub-panel and the rear external sub-panel. Connector includes a front mounting groove into which the front external sub-panel is inserted and a rear mounting groove into which the rear external sub-panel is inserted. Handle is defined by a recess formed by a rear external sub-panel located in the rear mounting groove and a connector, wherein the recess is located between the rear mounting groove and the connector, when the front external sub-panel is located in the front mounting groove and the rear external sub-panel is located in the rear mounting groove.

EFFECT: use of this group of inventions allows to improve the refrigerator door production efficiency.

8 cl, 7 dwg

Description

Technical field

The present invention relates to a refrigerator, in particular a refrigerator door.

State of the art

A conventional refrigerator includes a cabinet having a refrigerator compartment and a freezer compartment. The refrigerator compartment is sealed with an openable door of the refrigerator compartment, and the freezer compartment is also sealed with an openable door of the freezer compartment. The refrigerator compartment door and the freezer compartment door must be held so that the doors can be opened and closed with the user's hand.

Patent Literature 1 discloses a handle or handle integrated in a recess located in an outer panel of a refrigerator door. The handle disclosed in Patent Literature 1 includes a body, a base, and a trim element. The handle and the outer and inner panels are fixed to the door by means of insulating foam filling the space between the outer and inner panels.

Patent Literature 2 discloses a handle located on the outer panel of a refrigerator door. Specifically, the outer panel of the refrigerator door disclosed in Patent Literature 2 includes an outer front subpanel that forms a larger portion of the front surface of the door, an outer rear subpanel that forms a smaller portion of the front surface, and a connector (latch) that connects the outer front subpanel and an external rear subpanel. An external rear subpanel is located behind the external front subpanel with the possibility of providing concave space between the external rear subpanel and the external front subpanel, in which the user's hand can be placed to open and close the door. One end of the outer front panel is curved in the form of a U-shaped profile in order to serve as a handle.

Citation List

Patent Literature 1: Publication of Unexamined Japanese Patent Application No. 6-159916 (figure 2).

Patent Literature 2: Publication of Unexamined Japanese Patent Application No. 2009-168302 (Figs. 4-6).

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Technical challenge

The manufacture of the handle described in Patent Literature 1 requires the excavation and bending of the outer door panel. In addition, the handle or handle includes a large number of components, which leads to an increase in workload due to the complex assembly process.

In the case of the door disclosed in Patent Literature 2, the manufacture of a handle requires bending the outer front sub-panel in the form of a U-shaped profile. Since the outer door panel is a decorative component, work must be carried out with utmost care to avoid damage. In addition, the small width (for example, 8.5 mm) of the handle, which is subject to bending, makes it difficult to work when bending. At the same time, the external rear subpanel and the external front subpanel are fastened together with a latch. This configuration needs to be placed in one straight external rear subpanel and an external front subpanel before bonding. The deviation of the panels in the vertical or horizontal direction after bonding requires a complex operation of re-placement in a straight line by detaching both the external rear subpanel and the external front subpanel from the latch.

Famous refrigerators require a large number of man-hours for the manufacture of pens and assembly of the refrigerator with a complex process. Such an assembly takes time and, as a result, leads to a low output.

The aim of the present invention, which is intended to resolve the disadvantages described above, is to reduce the manufacturing time and increase the yield by improving the manufacturing and assembly efficiency of the refrigerator door, and thus creating a high-quality refrigerator.

Solution

The refrigerator door according to the present invention includes an inner panel and an outer panel, wherein the outer panel comprises a front outer subpanel forming a portion of the front surface of the door, a rear outer subpanel located behind the front outer subpanel and forming a portion of the front surface of the door, and a connector connecting the front an external subpanel and a rear external subpanel, the connector comprising a front mounting groove into which a front external subpanel and a rear one are inserted a groove into which the rear external subpanel is inserted, the handle being defined by a recess formed by the rear external subpanel located in the rear installation groove and the connector, wherein the recess is between the rear installation groove and the connector when the front external subpanel is in the front mounting groove and the rear outer subpanel is located in the rear mounting groove.

Advantageous Effects of the Invention

The refrigerator door according to the present invention can be easily manufactured and assembled, thereby reducing operating time and increasing output. As a result, a high-quality refrigerator can be created.

Brief Description of the Drawings

1 is an external perspective view of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a front view of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 3 is a top view of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a side sectional view of a refrigerator freezer compartment door according to an embodiment of the present invention.

5 is an exploded view of a door of a freezer compartment according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a partially enlarged side view of a freezer compartment door shown in FIG. 4.

Fig.7 is a partially enlarged side view of the door of the freezer compartment shown in Fig.6.

Description of Embodiments

Next, a refrigerator and a refrigerator door according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 is an external perspective view of a refrigerator 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention; figure 2 is a front view of the refrigerator 1; and FIG. 3 is a top view of the refrigerator 1. With reference to FIGS. 1-3, the refrigerator 1 includes a cabinet 2, a freezer compartment door 3 and a refrigerator compartment door 4 covering a hole in the front surface of the cabinet 2. The cabinet 2 consists of steel outer box and plastic inner box. The space defined between the outer and inner boxes is filled with insulating foam. The storage space inside the cabinet 2 is divided into a freezer compartment and a refrigerator compartment using an insulating partition. The door 3 of the freezer compartment and the door 4 of the refrigerator compartment, which can be opened and closed, seal the freezer compartment and the refrigerator compartment, respectively, inside the housing 2. The door 3 of the freezer compartment is rotatable relative to a hinge 6 supporting the pivot axis 6a of the door. The hinge 6 is located on the upper portion of the refrigerator 1 on the right front edge and is closed by a hinge cover 5. The handle A, continuing in the vertical direction, is located on the left portion of the front surfaces of the door 3 of the freezer compartment and the door 4 of the refrigerator compartment.

Next, the configuration of the handle A according to the embodiment in the door 3 of the freezer compartment will be described with reference to FIGS. 4-7. The refrigerator compartment door 4 has the same configuration as the refrigerator compartment door 3 described below. FIG. 4 is a side sectional view taken along the Z-Z line of FIG. 2, depicting the freezer compartment door 3 according to this embodiment. 5 is an exploded view of a door 3 of a freezer compartment according to this embodiment. With reference to FIGS. 4-5, the freezer compartment door 3 includes an outer panel 10 defining a front surface of the freezer compartment door 3 and an inner panel 15 defining a rear surface. With reference to FIG. 5, the upper door cover 13 is fixed to the upper surface of the outer panel 10 and the lower door cover 14 is fixed to the lower surface. The space on the inside of the outer panel 10 is filled with insulating foam 40, such as polyurethane resin. The door 3 of the freezer compartment is assembled by installing the inner panel 15 before the insulation foam 40 has cured on the inner side of the outer panel 10.

With reference to FIG. 4, the outer panel 10 includes a front outer subpanel 11, a rear outer subpanel 12, and a connector 30 (hereinafter referred to as a “door trim fixing member”) connecting the front outer subpanel 11 and the rear outer subpanel 12 The front outer subpanel 11 and the rear outer subpanel 12 are formed by folding one thin steel plate. The front outer subpanel 11 includes a flat portion 11a forming a main portion of the front surface of the freezing compartment door 3, a side portion 11b bent backward relative to the flat portion 11a and forming a side surface of the freezing compartment door 3, and a connecting portion 11c connected to the inner panel 15 .

Fig.6 is a partially enlarged side view of the door 3 of the freezer compartment shown in Fig.4. In more detail, FIG. 6 is an enlarged view of a rear outer subpanel 12 and its surroundings. With reference to FIG. 6, the rear outer subpanel 12 includes a flat portion 12a defining a portion of a front surface of the freezing compartment door 3, a side portion 12b bent backward at one end of the flat portion 12a and forming a side portion of the freezing compartment door 3, a curved portion 12c, bent forward at the other end of the flat portion 12a and extending forward, the insert portion 12d, bent relative to the bent portion 12c and extending in parallel to the flat portion 12a, and the connecting portion 12e, connected connected to the inner panel 15. With reference to FIGS. 4 and 6, the rear outer subpanel 12 is arranged behind the front outer subpanel 11, and the flat portion 12a and the curved portion 12c of the rear outer subpanel 12 are arranged in an L-shape with the possibility of determining a recess, forming a handle A on the front surface of the door 3 of the freezer compartment.

Fig.7 is a partially enlarged side view of a door 3 of the freezer compartment shown in Fig.6. In detail, FIG. 7 is an enlarged view of a locking element 30 of the door trim and its surroundings. The door trim fixing member 30 according to this embodiment is made by extrusion or injection molding of a plastic material. The door trim locking element 30 has a vertical length substantially identical to the vertical length of the outer panel 10. The door trim locking element 30 includes a front mounting groove 30a into which a front external subpanel 11 is inserted, a rear mounting groove 30b into which a rear external subpanel is inserted 12, a guiding rib 30c that guides the rear outer subpanel 12, the handle surface 30d and the protrusion 30e on which the user's hand should be placed to open the door 3 of the freezer section Ia and toothed surface 30f, preventing separation of the insulating foam 40.

The front mounting groove 30a is located near the left edge on the front surface of the door trim fixing element 30. The rear installation groove 30b is located near the right edge on the rear surface of the door trim fixing member 30 and parallel to the front installation groove 30a. The front alignment groove 30a and the rear alignment groove 30b are concave in horizontally opposite directions. During the assembly of the outer panel 10, the edge of the flat portion 11a of the front outer subpanel 11 is inserted into the front mounting groove 30a to the right, while the edge of the insertion portion 12d of the rear outer subpanel 12 is inserted into the rear mounting groove 30b to the left. Thus, the front outer subpanel 11 and the rear outer subpanel 12 are arranged in parallel with the front installation groove 30a and the rear installation groove 30b of the door trim fixing member 30, preventing horizontal deviation from the outer panel 10. The front external subpanel 11 and the rear outer subpanel 12 independently attached to the locking element 30 of the door trim. Therefore, if the front outer subpanel 11 and the rear outer subpanel 12 are deflected in the vertical direction, the subpanels can be re-aligned separately and thus the deviation can be immediately corrected.

The guide rib 30c extends diagonally backward from the opening edge of the rear installation groove 30b. During the assembly of the outer panel 10, the insertion portion 12d of the rear outer subpanel 12 is guided into the rear mounting groove 30b by the guide rib 30c, and thus the assembly can be facilitated.

The handle surface 30d is the flat rear surface of the door trim fixing member 30 (surface opposite to the flat portion 12a of the rear outer sub-panel 12). The handle surface 30d, the flat portion 12a, and the curved portion 12c of the rear outer subpanel 12 form the handle A. Since the portion of the handle A is formed of the door trim fixing member 30, the front outer subpanel 11 may have a simple shape (substantially L-shaped in this embodiment ), leading to a decrease in manufacturing time.

The protrusion 30e protrudes 5-10 mm forward, for example, from the front outer subpanel 11 on the side far from the handle surface 30d. The handle surface 30d and the protrusion 30e may be held by the user to enable the freezing compartment door 3 to be opened. This increases the sense of grip and allows easy opening and closing of the door 3 of the freezer compartment. In addition, the protrusion 30e prevents direct contact with the external panel 10 by the hand and fingers of the user, thereby preventing contamination of the external panel 10. In addition, the protrusion 30e located in front of the front mounting groove 30a facilitates the insertion of the front external subpanel 11 and increases strength front installation groove 30a.

The toothed surface 30f is opposite to the front outer subpanel 11. The protrusion located behind the front mounting groove 30a defines the space between the toothed surface 30f and the front outer subpanel 11 to be filled with insulating foam 40. The toothed surface 30f comes into contact with the insulating foam 40 to prevent detachment of the insulating foam 40 filling the space. Thus, the door trim fixing member 30 reliably connects the front outer subpanel 11 and the rear outer subpanel 12.

As described above, the door trim fixing member 30 according to this embodiment connects the front outer subpanel 11 and the rear outer subpanel 12 to form an outer panel 10. Thus, the outer panel 10 includes a reduced number of components and can be easily manufactured and assembled. This reduces the assembly time of the refrigerator 1 and increases the volume of output, thereby reducing the cost and improving the quality of the refrigerator 1.

The embodiments of the present invention described above should not be construed as limiting the present invention, and various modifications and combinations may be made within the scope of the present invention. For example, as an alternative to door 3 of the freezer compartment, which has one door, the present invention can be applied to double doors, and handle A may be provided on double doors. Handle A can be provided not only on a pivot door, but also on front side of the refrigerator drawer. With the exception of the door 3 of the freezer compartment and the door 4 of the refrigerator compartment, the handle A can be placed on the doors of a plurality of different storage compartments of the refrigerator 1, such as a vegetable compartment and an ice compartment.

In the embodiments described above, the front surface of the freezing compartment door 3 (flat portion 11a and flat portion 12a of outer panel 10) is flat. Alternatively, the front surface (outer panel 10) of the door 3 of the freezer compartment may be curved. In such a case, the door trim fixing element 30 should have a shape corresponding to the shape of the outer panel 10. The handle surface 30d of the door trim locking element 30 is also not limited to a flat surface. Alternatively, recesses and protrusions may be provided to facilitate a gripping sensation. The door trim fixing element 30 may be formed by two-color molding, the handle surface 30d of one color and the protrusion 30e of a different color. This can improve the design of the refrigerator 1.

List of Reference Items

1 fridge

2 building

3 freezer door

4 door refrigeration compartment

5 hinge cover

6 hinge

6a rotary axis of the door

10 external panel

11 front external subpanel

12 rear external subpanel

11a, 12a flat section

11b, 12b side section

11c, 12e connector

12c curved section

12d plug-in section

13 top door cover

14 bottom door cover

15 inner panel

30 locking element trim door

30a front mounting groove

30b rear alignment groove

30s guide rib

30d handle surface

30th ledge

30f notched surface

40 insulating foam

A pen.

Claims (16)

1. The refrigerator door, containing: inner panel; and an external panel containing: front external subpanel forming a portion of the front surface of the door, a rear outer subpanel located behind the front outer subpanel and forming a portion of the front surface of the door, and a connector connecting the front external subpanel and the rear external subpanel and containing the front mounting groove into which the front external subpanel is inserted, and a rear mounting groove into which a rear external subpanel is inserted, wherein the front external subpanel is located in the front installation groove, the rear external subpanel is located in the rear installation groove, and a handle is formed with a recess formed by the rear external subpanel, the recess being located between the rear installation groove and the connector. 2. The refrigerator door according to claim 1, in which the front installation groove and the rear installation groove are parallel to each other and are recessed in opposite directions to each other. 3. The refrigerator door according to claim 1 or 2, in which the connector further comprises a guide rib for guiding the end of the rear outer subpanel into the rear installation groove. 4. The refrigerator door according to claim 1 or 2, in which the connector further comprises a handle surface forming a portion of the handle. 5. The refrigerator door according to claim 4, in which the connector further comprises a protrusion protruding forward from the front external subpanel on the side opposite to the surface of the handle. 6. The refrigerator door according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising an insulating foam filling the space between the inner panel and the outer panel, in which the connector further comprises a toothed surface placed in contact with the insulating foam. 7. The refrigerator door according to claim 1 or 2, in which the connector is made by extrusion molding or injection molding. 8. A refrigerator comprising a refrigerator door according to any one of claims 1 to 7 and a cabinet having a storage compartment that can be opened with a refrigerator door.

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