WO2006068629A1

WO2006068629A1 - Freezer door lock

Info

Publication number: WO2006068629A1
Application number: PCT/TR2004/000053
Authority: WO
Inventors: Halil Turan
Original assignee: Vestel Beyaz Esya Sanayi Ve Ticaret A.S.
Priority date: 2004-12-20
Filing date: 2004-12-20
Publication date: 2006-06-29
Also published as: ES2314490T3; ATE408740T1; EP1828510B1; DE602004016698D1; EP1828510A1

Abstract

Freezer door lock (A) of the invention comprises an opening arm (6), an opening arm extension (7), a pivot (8), a ward socket (9) and a ward (10) and it is attached to the freezer door (11). The opening arm (6) is in a "L" shaped structure and has the opening arm extension (7) on it and is attached to freezer door (11) to turn on a pivot (8) thereon. The ward (10) is on free movable edge of the freezer door (11) and is seated to be able to move toward the inside of the freezer door (11) and vertically to the pivot (8) axis. The ward (10) receives the opening movement from the opening arm extension (7) and the closing movement from the lock springs (12) thereupon.

Description

DESCRIPTION

FREEZER DOOR LOCK

Technical Field

This invention relates to opening mechanisms for a freezer door of a refrigerator as well as an indicator system indicating whether the freezer door is opened or closed state.

Background Art

In the prior art's patent publication No's GB344180, GB422681 , US2843409, GB596030, US1905037, systems that can be used as lock mechanisms in refrigerator and/or freezer doors are disclosed. The common point of recited applications is that the separation of ward from the opposing fixed ward is provided by an opening arm. There is a spring at the rear portion of the ward to return back the latter to the previous position. Also, there is a cylindrical member at the each end portion of the parts being used as ward. The essential disadvantage of such systems is that they are comprised of too many parts and the structure of these parts is also complex. In the published patent application No GB442310, a similar mechanism is disclosed except that the opposite of the ward has a movable cylindrical end. In the published patent application No US1940640, a ward which is opened by an opening arm and able to make a closing movement by a separate spring thereon is shown. The ward is pulled away from the opposite of the ward upon the movement of the opening arm and the door is also closed without using the opening arm while it is closed. The parts disclosed in the published patent application No US1940640 are rather designed for to be used by large refrigerator doors and are not suitable for the freezing chamber doors in the refrigerators. None of the applications whose publication numbers were given above has a warning system which indicates that the freezer door is left open. However the warning system indicating that the door is left open is shown in the published patent application No DE9017146, such warning system in said application is composed of too many parts and functions via another mechanism which operates depending on the movement of the ward mechanism. This makes the system complex; it takes long time to assemble and/or manufacture and costs increase accordingly.

In the prior art, since the ward (3) serving as a spring in the door locks of refrigerator freezer (see, Figure 1) makes a stretching movement, opening arm (1) force is dependent to the spring force. Consequently, the ward (3) must be harder to prevent ward (3) from opening by involuntary movements. In this case, the required force exposed to opening arm (1) to open the ward (3) increases inevitably as the opening and the closing forces increase. Disadvantages of this system are that there is too much load for handle, closing the door is getting harder and that it is possible to open the door by pulling away from else where than the handle when the door is closed.

In the system of the invention, in contrast to prior art which was aforementioned and illustrated in Figure 1 , the door can not be opened by the uncontrolled, involuntary forces. Since the ward is operated vertically to the opposite of the ward, in contrary to the prior art, spring force is small enough just to overcome the frictional forces of ward to turn to its closed position. Therefore, opening arm can operates with a much smaller force compared to the prior art. Also, since the colored mark placed on the ward is sufficient to warn that the freezer door is left open, there is no need for an extra warning mechanism and other parts as in the systems of prior art. In the prior art while the ward must be biased during the assembly to prevent from being unloaded, there is no need for this in the system of the invention. In addition, since the system of the invention is composed of lesser parts according to the claims, it is easy and fast to assemble therefore manufacturing time is shortened.

Object of the Invention

The object of this invention is to provide a freezing chamber door being opened only by using the opening arm, i.e. to prevent freezing chamber door from being opened involuntarily. Also, to provide opened or closed state of the freezing chamber door being indicated by an indicator without using any extra mechanism.

Description of the Drawings

The system of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying figures, in which: Figure 1 , is a top cross section view of opening-closing mechanism for freezing chamber door of the prior art.

Figure 2, is a top cross section view of the door lock mechanism of the freezer. Figure 3, is a front view of the ward in the door lock of the freezer from the side with an indicator.

Figure 4, is a top cross section view of the door lock of the freezer while it is opened. Figure 5, is a front view of the door lock of the freezer while it is opened. Figure 6, is a top cross section view of the door lock of the freezer when it is opened. Figure 7, is a front view of the door lock of the freezer when it is opened. Figure 8, is a front perspective view of the door lock of the freezer when it is closed. Figure 9, is a front perspective view of the door lock of the freezer while it is opened. Figure 10, is a front perspective view of the door lock of the freezer when it is opened.

All parts are numbered individually and reference numerals are given below:

Opening arm of the prior art (1)

Pivot of the prior art (2)

Ward of the prior art (3) Opposite of the ward of the prior art (4)

Ward body of the prior art (5)

Opening arm (6)

Opening arm extension (7)

Pivot (8) Ward socket (9)

Ward (10)

Freezer door (11)

Lock spring (12)

Indicator (13) End portion of the ward (21 )

Flat region of the ward (22)

The surface of the ward with convex radius (23)

Inclined plane surface of the ward socket (24)

The space of the ward socket (25) The inner space of the ward (26) Freezer door lock (A)

Disclosure of Invention

In the prior art system shown in Figure 1 , freezing chamber door is opened by the movement of the opening arm (1) on the pivot (2) axis and by stretching the ward, which also operates on the same axis in the form of a spring, on the same pivot axis and pulling away the ward (3) from the opposite of the ward (4). In the case of closing, the ward (3) springs by the movement from the pivot (2) axis, contacts to the inclined surface of the opposite of the ward (4) and then it comes to a closed position by stretching.

In Figures 2-10, different views of the freezer door lock of the invention (A) are given.

Freezer door lock (A) shown in Figure 2 comprises an opening arm (6), an opening arm extension (7), a pivot (8), a ward socket (9) fixed on the refrigerator body and a ward (10) and it is attached to the freezer door (11). The opening arm (6) is in a "L" shaped structure and has the opening arm extension (7) on it and is attached to freezer door (11) to turn on a pivot (8) thereon. The linear axis of the pivot (8) also extends in parallel to the turning axis of the freezer door (11) (not shown in the figures). The ward (10) is also on the freezer door (11) and extends in free movable edge of this door (11) and is seated to be able to move toward the inside of the freezer door (11) and vertically to the pivot (8) axis. The ward (10) receives the opening movement from the opening arm extension (7) and the closing movement from the lock springs (12) on it. In the assembled state of the freezer door lock (A), opening arm extension (7) is freely inserted in the ward inner space (26) on the surface of the ward (10). Ward end portion (21) belonging to the ward (10) extends also towards the ward socket space (25) in the ward socket (9). As shown in Figure 2, when the freezer door (11) is closed, ward end portion (21) and ward socket flat region (22) are in contact with each other.

In Figure 3 front view of the ward (10) is shown. There is a colored indicator (13) on the front surface of the ward end portion (21). Moreover, there is a flexible lock spring (12) at the other side on the ward (10) serving as a spring. Lock spring (12) may be integrated with the ward (10) or may be manufactured from the springs in various geometries to be fitted on the ward (10). The essential function of the lock spring (12) is to operate as a compression spring. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, spring lock (12) is on the ward (10) and takes place as a part of this ward (10). Lock spring (12) has a geometrical structure capable of being stretched as a string and is fixed to the ward (10) from one end. The other end is free and when the ward (10) is pushed inside the freezer door (11) this free end contacts with the fixed point on the freezer door (11) and compresses by stretching. As in the preferred embodiment of the invention in Figure 3, at least two lock springs (12) are used such that one is at the bottom and the other is at the top. The ward inner space (26) on the front face is constructed for inserting the opening arm extension (7) in the assembled state of the freezer door lock (A).

In Figures 4-7 and Figures 8-10, the states of the freezer door (11) changing from a closed state to an opened state are shown. As shown in Figures 4 and 5, when the opening arm (6) is pulled away, the opening arm (6) and the opening arm extension (7) connected to former turn on the pivot (8) axis and opening arm extension (7) unfixes the ward (10) from the ward socket (9) by pushing it inside to the freezer door (11). At this moment, lock spring (12) compresses. As shown in Figure 6 and 7, after the freezer door (11) is opened by pulling from the opening arm (6), the opening arm (6) is released and the ward (10), the opening arm extension (7) and the opening arm is returned to their former positions by the compressed lock spring (12). The operation mode shown in Figures 4-7 is also shown in Figures 8-10. In Figure 7 and Figure 10, the freezer door (11) is shown in an opened position. In this position of the freezer door (11), colored indicator (13) on the ward (10) indicates that the door is opened. When the freezer door (11) is closed, since the indicator (13) remains in the ward socket (9) it can not be seen and this shows that the freezer door (11) is closed.

During the freezer door (11) is closing, while the ward socket inclined plane surface (24) on the ward socket (9) and the surface of the ward with convex radius (23) behind the ward (10) contact each other, the ward (10) slides into the freezer door (11) and the lock spring (12) compresses. When the freezer door (11) is closed, the lock spring (12) provides locking by pushing the ward (10) into the ward socket (9). Preferred freezer door lock (A) above is not intended to limit the protection scope of the invention. In view of the described knowledge by the invention, all modifications on this preferred freezer door lock (A) should be interpreted in the protection scope of the invention.

Claims

1. A ward (10) of a freezer door lock (A) on a freezer door (1 1), attached to a pivot (8) whose linear axis is parallel to a turning axis of a freezer door (1 1 ) to be able to make a turning movement around said pivot (8) comprising an opening arm (6) with an opening arm extension (7) thereupon in the form of "L", a ward socket (9) fixed on a refrigerator body and a ward (10) on a free movable edge of a freezer door (11) characterized in that a colored indicator (13) is provided on a front face of a ward end portion (21 ) which can be seen when a freezer door (1 1 ) is in an opened state and indicates that said door

(1 1 ) is opened.

2. A ward (10) according to claim 1 characterized by an integrated structure with a flexible lock spring (12) serving as a spring thereupon.

3. A lock spring (12) according to claim 2 characterized in that a geometric structure as a flexible string is provided, said lock spring (12) is fixed from one end to a ward (10) and is free at the other end, when a ward (10) is pushed inside a freezer door (1 1 ) said free end contacts with a fixed point on a freezer door (11 ) and compresses by stretching.

4. A lock spring (12) according to claim 3 characterized in that at least two lock springs are used such that one is at the bottom and the other is at the top.

5. A ward (10) according to claim 1 characterized in that an inner space of the ward (26) is provided on the front face for inserting an opening arm extension (7).

6. A ward (10) according to claim 1 characterized by its seated structure to be able to move toward the inside of the freezer door (11 ) and vertically to the pivot axis (8).

7. A ward (10) according to claim 1 characterized in that in the assembled state of a freezer door lock (A), an opening arm extension (7) is at a freely inserted position in an inner space of a ward (26) on a front face of a ward (10). A ward (10) according to claim 1 characterized in that an opening movement is received from an opening arm extension (7) and a closing movement is received from lock springs (12) thereupon.