US20210348827A1

US20210348827A1 - Refrigerator and beam for refrigerator

Info

Publication number: US20210348827A1
Application number: US17/224,295
Authority: US
Inventors: Jinghui Chen; Chun Hu; Qidong Li
Original assignee: BSH Hausgeraete GmbH
Current assignee: BSH Hausgeraete GmbH
Priority date: 2020-05-08
Filing date: 2021-04-07
Publication date: 2021-11-11
Also published as: DE102021204272A1; CN113623910A

Abstract

A refrigerator contains a storage compartment, the storage compartment has an inner wall. A first door and a second door close off the storage compartment and a beam being rotatably disposed on the first door. The beam has an accommodating space for accommodating heat-insulation material. An end portion of the beam has an air blocking member, and when the first door is closed, the air blocking member is located between the end portion and the inner wall. The air blocking member is capable of effectively preventing excessive leakage of cold air and generation of condensation.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the priority, under 35 U.S.C. § 119, of Chinese Patent Application CN 202010384556.0, filed May 8, 2020; the prior application is herewith incorporated by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

Embodiments of the present invention relate to the field of the refrigerating appliance, and in particular, to a refrigerator and a beam for the refrigerator.
Multi-door refrigerators are generally provided with a rotatable beam for sealing on a door body to prevent leakage of cold air from a gap between two door bodies. However, if relatively big manufacturing tolerance or assembly tolerance occur, after two door bodies are closed, a relatively big gap can be formed between an end portion of the beam and an inner wall of a refrigerator liner. The thermal insulation property can be influenced, and condensation can be easily generated at a door seal in the gap, when the refrigerator is in use.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

One of objectives of embodiments of the present invention is to provide an improved refrigerator and a beam for the refrigerator, and in particular, to effectively improve at least one of the above technical problems.
In one aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a refrigerator, including a storage compartment, the storage compartment having an inner wall; a first door and a second door for closing the storage compartment; and a beam rotatably disposed on the first door. The beam includes an accommodating space for accommodating heat-insulation material. The beam includes an air blocking member located at an end portion of the beam, and when the first door is closed, the air blocking member is located between the end portion and the inner wall.
The air blocking member is beneficial to reducing the flow of cold air of the storage compartment from between an end portion of the beam and the inner wall of the storage compartment opposite to the end portion of the beam toward a door, and is further beneficial to reducing an exchange of heat and cold between inside and outside of the storage compartment, and also helps to reduce possibility of condensation generation.
Optionally, the air blocking member may include an air blocking portion, and the air blocking portion may have at least a cavity located between the end portion and the inner wall. Thermal insulation property of the air blocking member is enhanced through a space of the cavity, thereby enhancing the performance of the refrigerator.
Optionally, the cavity and the accommodating space are independent of each other.
Optionally, the air blocking member may include a flexible cavity wall forming the cavities. The flexible cavity wall allows the air blocking member to deform, which helps to reduce the possibility of damage, for example, the refrigerator door or beam cannot be closed, caused by the air blocking member interfering with the refrigerator body of the refrigerator.
Optionally, the cavity walls are made of elastic materials. This not only helps increase a degree of deformability of the cavity walls, but also protect the cavity walls and the refrigerator body from being damaged, even if the air blocking portion interferes with the refrigerator body when the refrigerator is in use.
Optionally, when the first door is closed, the cavity may be non-open along a depth direction of the storage compartment.
Optionally, the cavity may be closed, the closed cavity has better heat-insulation effect, and may achieve better heat-insulation effect through gas (e.g., air) in the cavity body.
Optionally, when the cavity is a closed cavity, the cavity may be filled with inert gases. Optionally, the cavity may be disposed as a constant section that extends upward along a width direction of the beam. This helps improve a constancy of a property of the air blocking member along the width direction of the beam, and this also provides a possibility that the air blocking portion may be mass-produced by an integral molding process.
Optionally, when the first door is closed, ratio of width or a sum of the widths of the at least one cavity along the depth direction of the storage compartment to a thickness of the beam along the depth direction of the storage compartment is not less than 1:2. This helps significantly improve thermal insulation property of the air blocking member, and also helps reduce the possibility of condensation generation in the refrigerator.
Optionally, the air blocking portion may include at least two cavities. The at least two cavities are disposed front and back along the depth direction of the storage compartment when the first door is closed. A plurality of cavities along the depth direction of the storage compartment reduce a heat exchange rate, which helps improve the heat insulation effect of the air blocking portion.
Optionally, the air blocking portion include an end surface facing toward the inner wall when the first door is closed, where the end surface may be flat.
Optionally, the end surface of the air blocking member is parallel to a surface of the inner wall. In this way, it is beneficial to perform control to keep a relatively constant gap between the air blocking portion and the inner wall, and it is expected to improve the thermal insulation property of the air blocking portion when ensuring the gap between the air blocking portion and the inner wall.
Optionally, the air blocking member may include at least two cavities and a partition wall partitioning the adjacent cavities, and at least one end of the partition wall is connected to a cavity wall forming an outer surface of the air blocking member. The partition wall is beneficial to stabilizing a shape of the cavity, and is beneficial to a mass production of an air blocking member including a plurality of cavities.
Optionally, a thickness of the partition wall may be set to be less than a thickness of the cavity wall forming the outer surface of the air blocking member.
Optionally, the thickness of the partition wall is not greater than two-thirds of the thickness of the cavity wall forming the outer surface of the air blocking member. Such a thickness design is beneficial to improving a flatness of the cavity wall of the air blocking member, and is relatively conducive to the deformability of the air blocking portion.
Optionally, the air blocking member may include at least two partition walls, and the partition walls are disposed front and back along the depth direction of the storage compartment and parallel to each other when the first door is closed. A plurality of cavities disposed front and back along the depth direction of the storage compartment and parallel to each other are formed through the partition walls, and it is beneficial to reducing a heat exchange rate between the cold air in the storage compartment and the outside, improving the heat insulation effect of the air blocking portion.
Optionally, the air blocking member may include a rigid fixing portion coupled to the end portion of the beam.
Optionally, the fixing portion may be formed as a part of the cavity wall of the cavity.
Optionally, the fixing portion may be plate-shaped, and/or the air blocking portion may be flat. In this way, it helps to make it possible to still ensure the thermal insulation property of the air blocking member in the depth direction of the storage compartment when reducing a size of the air blocking member along a length direction of the beam.
Optionally, the air blocking portion may include a neck portion extending from one side surface of the fixing portion, and a main body portion forming the cavity extending from the neck portion to a front wall and/or a back wall of the beam. In this way, it helps increase a size of the air blocking member in the depth direction of the storage compartment, thereby improving the thermal insulation property of the air blocking member.
Optionally, an end wall of the end portion may have a groove located outside the accommodating space, the groove is open toward the inner wall, and the air blocking member includes a fixing portion accommodated in the groove.
Optionally, the air blocking portion may be affixed to a bottom wall of the groove.
Optionally, the fixing portion may be inserted and/or affixed to an end portion of the beam. Optionally, the groove may be formed as a T-shaped cross section.
Optionally, the air blocking member may include the neck portion passing through the groove. Maximizing the air blocking portion helps to improve the thermal insulation property of the air blocking member when a distance between the beam and the inner wall is limited.
Optionally, the beam may include a first housing portion and a second housing portion, the first housing portion and the second housing portion are connected to define the accommodating space, and at least a part of the groove is located between the first housing portion and the second housing portion.
Optionally, the bottom wall of the groove may be formed by only one of the first housing portion and the second housing portion.
Optionally, the first housing portion includes a first receiving portion and the second housing portion includes a second receiving portion. When the first housing portion is connected to the second housing portion, at least parts of the first receiving portion and the second receiving portion are overlapped to form the groove. A first gap exists between the overlapped parts in a length direction of the beam, and at least a part of the fixing portions is disposed in the first gap.
Optionally, there may be a second gap between the air blocking member and the inner wall. This helps to prevent or reduce the interference of the beam with the refrigerator body when the refrigerator is in use.
Optionally, the second gap is not less than 1 mm. In addition, it is conducive to safeguard the heat-insulation effect of the air blocking member, and the second gap is preferably not greater than 5 mm. For example, the second gap is between 2 mm and 3 mm.
Optionally, a side of the fixing portion away from the air blocking portion may be affixed to a part of the beam.
Optionally, the fixing portion may be provided with a plugging portion with an inclined outer surface, the plugging portion is inserted to the groove, and the inner wall of the groove is provided with an inner wall surface that is fit to the outer surface in an inclining manner. This facilitates an installation of the fixing portion.
Optionally, the fixing portion and the air blocking portion may be made of different materials.
Optionally, the fixing portion and the air blocking portion may be integrally formed, for example, a soft and rigid co-extrusion integral molding process.
Optionally, the refrigerator further includes a guiding member, the guiding member guiding the beam to flip over when the first door is opened or closed.
Optionally, the beam may further include a front panel, the air blocking member and the front panel being coupled to the beam in a non-contacting manner. This helps to reduce the air blocking member to exchange heat with the front panel or heating components in the front panel.
Optionally, one end of the air blocking portion near the front wall of the beam does not extend beyond the front wall to prevent the beam from interfering with a side surface of the door body when the beam rotates.
Another aspect of the embodiments of the present invention relates to a beam for a refrigerator. The beam may be rotatably coupled to a door of the refrigerator, and is characterized in that the beam includes: a housing, the housing including an accommodating space for accommodating heat-insulation material, and an air blocking member attached to an end portion of the housing.
In this way, the flow of the cold air in the storage compartment from between the beam and an inner wall of the storage compartment toward a refrigerator door and a heat-exchange with the outside may be reduced, thereby reducing the possibility of condensation generation in the refrigerator.
Optionally, the air blocking member includes an air blocking portion, the air blocking portion has at least a cavity located between an end portion and the inner wall, and the cavity and the accommodating space are independent of each other.
Optionally, the air blocking member may include a fixing portion attached to the housing and a flexible air blocking portion located outside the housing.
Optionally, the end portion of the housing may have a groove located outside the accommodating space, the groove being open toward the inner wall of the refrigerator, and the air blocking member including a fixing portion accommodated in the groove.
Other features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in the appended claims.
Although the invention is illustrated and described herein as embodied in a refrigerator and a beam for the refrigerator, it is nevertheless not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention and within the scope and range of equivalents of the claims.
The construction and method of operation of the invention, however, together with additional objects and advantages thereof will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic partial cross-sectional view of an embodiment along the line II-II shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view of an air blocking member according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the air blocking member according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a partial three-dimensional view of a beam according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is an exploded, perspective view of the beam shown in FIG. 5; and

FIG. 7 is a schematic partial cross-sectional view of another embodiment along the line II shown in FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

To make the above objects, features and advantages of the present invention easier to understood, specific embodiments of the present invention will be explained in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings, but not used to limit the scope of the present invention.
Referring now to the figures of the drawings in detail and first, particularly to FIGS. 1 and 2 thereof, there is shown in a first embodiment, a refrigerator 100 includes a refrigerator body 101 having a storage compartment 102. The storage compartment 102 has an inner wall 103.
The refrigerator 100 includes a first door 107 and a second door 108 for closing the storage compartment 102.
A rotable beam 105 is disposed between the first door 107 and the second door 108 that are used for closing the storage compartment 102. When the first door 107 and the second door 108 are closed, the beam 105 is concatenated to sealing strips 112 of the first door 107 and the second door 108, and a gap between the first door 107 and the second door 108 is sealed.
The beam 105 may be rotatably attached to the first door 107. When the first door 107 is opened from a closed position or closed from an open position, the beam 105 rotates relative to the first door 107 by a guiding mechanism 106 between the beam 105 and the refrigerator body 101.
Optionally, the guiding mechanism 106 may include a guiding member located at one end of the beam 105 and a matching guiding portion located in the refrigerator body 101. The matching guiding portion may be located on an inner wall opposite to the other end of the beam.
The beam 105 may include a housing 300, the housing 300 including an accommodating space 109 for accommodating heat-insulation material 110.
The beam 105 may include an air blocking member 201 a located on an end portion 111. When the first door is closed, the air blocking member 201 a is located between the end portion 111 and the inner wall 103 of the beam 105.
In a state of use, the air blocking member 201 a may reduce a flow of cold air in the storage compartment 102 from between the end portion 111 of the beam 105 and the inner wall 103 opposite the end portion 111 toward the doors 107, 108 of the refrigerator 100, thereby reducing the heat exchange of cold air with outside. This also helps to reduce the possibility of condensation generation.
FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view of an air blocking member according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, the air blocking member 201 a includes an air blocking portion 206 a, and the air blocking portion 206 a may include a cavity 202 a. When the first door 107 is closed, the cavity 202 a is located between the end portion 111 and the inner wall 103 of the beam 105. In this way, it is conducive to improve the thermal insulation property of the air blocking member 201 a, and further reduce the heat exchange between the storage compartment 102 and the outside.
The air blocking portion 206 a includes a cavity wall 203 a that forms the cavity. In an embodiment of the present invention, the cavity wall 203 a can be flexible. In this way, when a door body sinks beyond a design value, it is conducive for the flexible cavity wall 203 a to be capable of deforming under an action of a very small force, thereby reducing the possibility of the air blocking portion 206 a interfering with the refrigerator body and damaging. Preferably, the cavity wall 203 a is made of an elastic material.
When the first door 107 is closed, a second gap n may exist between the air blocking member 201 a and the inner wall 103. Therefore, the air blocking member 201 a does not interfere with the refrigerator body 101, and the air blocking member 201 a may have a greater design space for improving the thermal insulation property of the air blocking member 201 a.
An end surface 205 a of the air blocking portion 206 a may be a plane.
At least a part of the cavity 202 a is located outside the accommodating space 109. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the cavity 202 a is completely located outside the accommodating space 109.
The cavity 202 a and the accommodating space 109 may be independent of each other and do not communicate with each other. In this way, no impact is caused.
At least a part of the air blocking member 201 a may adhere to the end portion 111 of the beam 105. A width of the cavity wall at the adhesion part may be greater than widths of the cavity wall of other parts. Certainly, the method that the air blocking member 201 a and the beam 105 are fixed is not limited to adhesion.
FIG. 4 is a structural cross-sectional view of an air blocking member according to another embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 4, the air blocking member 201 b includes an air blocking portion 206 b and a fixing portion 207 b. The air blocking member is fixedly connected to the end portion 111 of the beam 105 through the fixing portion 207 b.
The air blocking portion 206 b includes a cavity 202 b. The cavity 202 b is formed by a cavity wall 203 b extending from a side surface of the fixing portion 207 b. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, the cross-section of the cavity 202 b is bowl-shaped, and the fixing portion 207 b is plate-shaped.
When the first door 107 is closed, ratio of width or a sum of the widths of the cavity 202 b of the air blocking member 201 b along a depth direction D of the storage compartment 102 to a thickness of the beam along the depth direction D of the storage compartment 102 is greater than 1:2. This helps significantly improve thermal insulation property of the air blocking member 201 b, and also helps reduce the possibility of condensation generation in the refrigerator 100.
The fixing portion 207 b includes a plugging portion 210 b. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, the plugging portion 210 b may protrude toward a front wall 312 or/and a back wall 311 of the beam relative to the air blocking portion 206 b.
Certainly, a structure of the plugging portion 210 b is not only limited to as shown in the embodiment of FIG. 4, and may also be formed by protruding from a side of the fixing portion 207 b away from the air blocking portion 206 b.
The plugging portion 210 b may be provided with an inclined surface 211 b toward the air blocking portion. The inclined surface 211 b facilitates the quick installation of the air blocking member 201 b, and a combination of the plugging structure with limits (referring to FIG. 7) allows the air blocking member 201 b to be attached to the end portion 111 of the beam 105 in a more reliable manner.
FIG. 5 is a schematic partial three-dimensional diagram of a beam for a refrigerator according to another embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIGS. 5 to 7, the end portion of the beam 105 is provided with an air blocking member 201 c, and the air blocking member 201 c includes an air blocking portion 206 c and a rigid fixing portion 207 c.
The air blocking member 201 c may have the air blocking portion 206 c, and the air blocking portion 206 c may include a plurality of cavities 202 c. The plurality of cavities 202 c may be disposed front and back along a depth direction D of the storage compartment 102 when the first door 107 is closed. The plurality of cavities 202 c disposed along the depth direction D of the storage compartment 102 reduces the rate of heat exchange between the cold air inside the storage compartment 102 and the outside, thereby improving the thermal insulation property of the air blocking portion 206 c.
When the first door 107 is closed, ratio of widths or a sum of the widths of the cavity 202 c of the air blocking member 201 c along the depth direction D of the storage compartment 102 to a thickness of the beam 105 along the depth direction D of the storage compartment 102 may be greater than 1:2. This helps significantly improve thermal insulation property of the air blocking member 201 c, and also helps reduce the possibility of condensation generation in the refrigerator 100.
The air blocking portion 206 c includes a plurality of partition walls 204 c partitioning the adjacent cavities 202 c. At least an end of the partition wall 204 c is connected to a cavity wall 203 c forming the air blocking portion 206 c. On the one hand, the air blocking portion 206 c is separated into a plurality of cavities 202 c that are not connected in the depth direction D of the storage compartment 102 by the partition wall 204 c. On the other hand, the partition wall 204 c facilitates maintaining a shape stability of the cavities 202 c.
The plurality of partition walls 204 c may extend along the width direction of the beam 105 and may have constant sections. This helps improve a constancy of a property of the air blocking member along the width direction of the beam, and this also provides a possibility that it is conducive for the partition walls 204 c of the air blocking member 201 c and the cavity walls 203 c to be mass-produced by an integral molding process.
The plurality of partition walls 204 c may be disposed front and back along the depth direction D of the storage compartment 102 when the first door 107 is closed. The plurality of partition walls 204 c form the plurality of cavities 202 c that are disposed front and back along the depth direction D of the storage compartment 102 and parallel to each other, which helps to reduce the rate of heat exchange and improve the heat-insulation effect of the air blocking portion 206 c.
A thickness of the partition wall 204 c may be less than a thickness of the cavity wall 203 c forming an outer surface of the air blocking portion 206 c. Preferably, ratio of the two is not greater than two thirds. Such a thickness design helps to improve a flatness of the cavity wall 203 c of the air blocking member 201 c, and is relatively conducive to the deformability of the air blocking portion 206 c. The fixing portion 207 c may form a part of the cavity wall of the cavity 202 c. That the fixing portion 207 c forms a part of the cavity wall 203 c of the cavity 202 c helps reduce an overall thickness of the air blocking member 201 c.
In the embodiment shown in FIG. 7, the fixing portion 207 c is plate-shaped, and the air blocking portion 206 c is flat. A plate-shaped structure of the fixing portion 207 c and a flat structure of the air blocking portion 206 c help make it possible to still ensure the thermal insulation property of the air blocking member 201 c in the depth direction D of the storage compartment 102 while reducing the overall thickness of the air blocking member 201 c.
The air blocking portion 206 c may include a neck portion 208 c extending from one side surface of the rigid fixing portion 207 c, and a main body portion 209 c forming the cavity 202 c extending from the neck portion 208 c toward a front wall 312 and a back wall 311 of the beam 105. This is conducive to maximize a height of the cavity 202 c of the air blocking portion 206 c, thereby improving the heat-insulation effect of the air blocking portion 206 c.
The beam 105 may include a first housing portion 303 and a second housing portion 301, and the first housing portion 303 is connected to the second housing portion 301 to form an accommodating space 109 for accommodating heat-insulation material 110.
An end wall of the end portion 111 of the beam 105 may be provided with a groove 302 located outside the accommodating space 109, the groove 302 is open toward the inner wall 103, and at least a part of the fixing portion 207 c may be accommodated in the groove 302. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 7, the fixing portion 207 c is completely accommodated in the groove 302.
The first housing portion 303 may include a first receiving portion 305, and the second housing portion 301 includes a second receiving portion 304. When the first housing portion 303 is connected to the second housing portion 301, the first receiving portion 305 and the second receiving portion 304 are overlapped to form the groove 302, a first gap a exists between the overlapped parts in a length direction of the beam, and a plugging portion 210 c of the fixing portions 207 c is disposed in the first gap a. Such a groove limiting structure helps to simplify an installation process of the air blocking member.
In the embodiment shown in FIG. 7, the first receiving portion 305 may be used as a forming part of the accommodating space 109. In this way, when the first receiving portion 305 is capable of supporting the heat-insulation material 110, it is conducive that the cavity 202 c of the air blocking member 201 c and the accommodating space 109 may be independent of each other and do not communicate with each other, thereby not interfering with each other.
The groove 302 may have a T-shaped cross-section, and the neck portion 208 c passes through an opening of the groove 302. The neck portion 208 c is adapted to a shape of the opening of the groove 302, thereby helping reduce an overall thickness of the air blocking member 201 c.
An end of the air blocking portion 206 c near the front wall 312 of the beam preferably does not extend beyond the front wall 312 to prevent the beam 105 from interfering with a side surface of the door body when the beam 105 rotates.
In the embodiment shown in FIG. 6, when the first door 107 is closed, the cavity 202 c of the air blocking portion 206 c is non-open along the depth direction D of the storage compartment 102, which helps reduce the heat exchange rate on the depth direction D of the storage compartment 102.
At the same time, the cavity 202 c of the air blocking portion 206 c is open in the width direction along the beam 105. In this way, it makes a molding process of the air blocking member 201 c relatively simple and a cost relatively low.
However, in other embodiments of the present invention, the cavity 202 a of the air blocking member 201 a may be closed, and the closed cavity 202 a is beneficial for improving the thermal insulation property of the air blocking member 201 a. Furthermore, the closed cavity 201 a may be filled with inert gases. In this way, the thermal insulation property of the air blocking member 202 a is further improved.
In the embodiment in FIG. 7, when the first door 107 is closed, a second gap n exists between an end surface 205 c of the air blocking member 201 c facing the inner wall 103 of the storage compartment 102 and the inner wall 103 of the storage compartment 102. This helps to prevent or reduce the interference of the beam with the refrigerator body when the refrigerator is in use.
Preferably, the second gap is not less than 1 mm. In addition, it is conducive to safeguard the heat-insulation effect of the air blocking member, and the second gap is preferably not greater than 5 mm.
A front panel 306 is disposed at the front wall 312 of the beam 105. An inner side of the front panel 306 may be provided with a heating member 307 to prevent condensation. The air blocking member 201 c and the front panel 306 are coupled to the beam 105 in a non-contact manner, thereby facilitating a prevention of heat exchange between the air blocking member 201 c and the front panel 306 or the heating member 307 in the front panel 306.
The air blocking member 201 a, 201 b, or 201 c may be mass-produced by an integral molding process. The fixing portions 207 b and 207 c of the air blocking member 201 b or 201 c may be of different materials than the air blocking portion 206 b or 206 c. For example, the fixing portion 207 or 207 c is made of ABS plastic and the air blocking portion 206 b or 206 c is made of rubber. In this case, soft and rigid co-extrusion molding process may be applied to mass produce.
According to the embodiment shown in FIG. 7, installation steps of the air blocking member 201 c may include:
connecting the air blocking member 201 c to the first housing portion 303; and
connecting the first housing portion 303 to the second housing portion 301.
In step 1, the connecting the air blocking member 201 c to the first housing portion 303 may include adhering the air blocking member 201 c to the first housing portion 303.
In step 1, the connecting the air blocking member 201 c to the first housing portion 303 may include inserting a part (e.g., the plugging portion 210 c) of the fixing portion 207 c of the air blocking member 201 c to the first receiving portion 305 located in the first housing portion.
In step 2, the connecting the first housing portion 303 to the second housing portion 301 may include covering another part of the fixing portion 207 c of the air blocking member 201 c by using a part of the first housing portion 303.
In an embodiment, the air blocking member 201 c is connected to the first housing portion 303 to form a pre-assembled member to participate in assembling the beam. In other words, the step of connecting the air blocking member 201 c to the first housing portion 303 precedes the step of matching an insulation material with the first housing portion 303.
At this point, it should be recognized by those skilled in the art that, although a plurality of exemplary embodiments of the present invention have been exhaustively shown and described herein, many other variations or modifications consistent with the principles of the present invention can still be directly determined or deduced from the disclosure of the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of the present invention should be understood and held to cover all such other variations or modifications.

Claims

1. A refrigerator, comprising:

a storage compartment having an inner wall;

a first door and a second door for closing said storage compartment;

heat-insulation material; and

a beam rotatably disposed on said first door and having an end portion, said beam containing an accommodating space accommodating said heat-insulation material, said beam having an air blocking member disposed at said end portion of said beam, and when said first door is closed, said air blocking member is disposed between said end portion and said inner wall.

2. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein said air blocking member has an air blocking portion, said air blocking portion having at least one cavity disposed between said end portion and said inner wall.

3. The refrigerator according to claim 2, wherein said air blocking member has a flexible cavity wall forming said at least one cavity.

4. The refrigerator according to claim 2, wherein when said first door is closed, a ratio of a width or a sum of widths of said at least one cavity along a depth direction of said storage compartment to a thickness of said beam along the depth direction of said storage compartment is not less than 1:2.

5. The refrigerator according to claim 2, wherein said air blocking member has at least two cavities, said at least two cavities being disposed front and back along a depth direction of said storage compartment when said first door is closed.

6. The refrigerator according to claim 2, wherein:

said air blocking member has a cavity wall forming an outer surface of said air blocking member; and

said air blocking member has at least two cavities and a partition wall partitioning said at least two cavities being adjacent cavities, at least one end of said partition wall being connected to said cavity wall forming said outer surface of said air blocking member.

7. The refrigerator according to claim 2, wherein said air blocking member further comprises a rigid fixing portion coupled to said end portion of said beam.

8. The refrigerator according to claim 7, wherein said rigid fixing portion is plate-shaped, and/or said air blocking portion is flat.

9. The refrigerator according to claim 7, wherein said air blocking portion has a neck portion extending from one side surface of said rigid fixing portion, and a main body portion forming said at least one cavity and extending from said neck portion to a front wall and/or a back wall of said beam.

10. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein said end portion has an end wall with a groove formed therein and disposed outside said accommodating space, said groove being open toward said inner wall, and said air blocking member having a fixing portion accommodated in said groove.

11. The refrigerator according to claim 10, wherein said groove has a T-shaped cross-section, and said air blocking member has a neck portion passing through an opening of said groove.

12. The refrigerator according to claim 10, wherein said beam has a first housing portion and a second housing portion, said first housing portion and said second housing portion being connected to define said accommodating space, and at least a part of said groove being disposed between said first housing portion and said second housing portion.

13. The refrigerator according to claim 12, wherein:

said first housing portion has a first receiving portion; and

said second housing portion has a second receiving portion; and

when said first housing portion is connected to said second housing portion, at least parts of said first receiving portion and said second receiving portion are overlapped to define said groove, and a first gap exists between overlapped parts in a length direction of said beam, and at least a part of said fixing portion is disposed in said first gap.

14. The refrigerator according to claim 13, wherein there is a second gap between said air blocking member and said inner wall.

15. The refrigerator according to claim 14, wherein said second gap is not less than 1 mm and not greater than 5 mm.

16. A beam for a refrigerator, the beam being rotatably coupled to a door of the refrigerator, the beam comprising:

heat insulation material;

a housing having an end portion and an accommodating space for accommodating said heat-insulation material; and

an air blocking member attached to said end portion of said housing.

17. The beam according to claim 16, wherein said air blocking member has an air blocking portion, said air blocking portion having at least one cavity disposed outside said accommodating space.

18. The beam according to claim 16, wherein said air blocking member has fixing portions attached to said housing and a flexible air blocking portion disposed outside said housing.

19. The beam according to claim 18, wherein said end portion of said housing has a groove formed therein and disposed outside said accommodating space, and said air blocking member has at least one of said fixing portions accommodated in said groove.