WO2009125922A2

WO2009125922A2 - Refrigerator having drawer cover

Info

Publication number: WO2009125922A2
Application number: PCT/KR2009/000565
Authority: WO
Inventors: Jong-Wook An; Byeong-Gyu Kang; Jae-Youl Lee
Original assignee: Lg Electronics Inc.
Priority date: 2008-04-07
Filing date: 2009-02-05
Publication date: 2009-10-15
Also published as: KR20090106935A; WO2009125922A3; US20110023530A1

Abstract

Disclosed is a refrigerator having a drawer cover, in which a drawer cover is disposed above a drawer accommodated inside a cooling chamber so as to be slidable in front and rear directions, and a pressurizing unit is disposed for pressurizing the drawer and the drawer cover so as to closely contact each other when the drawer is accommodated, thereby preventing moisture evaporation from food stored in the drawer, thus to keep food inside the drawer in a fresh condition for a longer period of time.

Description

REFRIGERATOR HAVING DRAWER COVER

The present invention relates to a refrigerator having a drawing cover, and more particularly, to a refrigerator having a drawer cover which can maintain freshness of foods by preventing moisture evaporation when a drawer is accommodated.

In general, a refrigerator stores foods in a fresh condition.

A refrigerator includes a refrigerator main body having cooling chambers, doors for opening and closing the cooling chambers, and a refrigeration cycle device for supplying cooling air to the cooling chambers.

The refrigeration cycle device is generally implemented as a vapor compression refrigeration cycle which is comprised of a compressor for compressing a refrigerant, a condenser for radiating the compressed refrigerant, an expansion unit for expanding the refrigerant, and an evaporator in which the refrigerant absorbs latent heat and thus to be evaporated.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a conventional refrigerator, and Figure 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of main parts in Fig. 1. Referring to Fig. 1, the refrigerator may include a refrigerator main body 10 having a freezing chamber 20 and a refrigerating chamber 30 therein, and a freezing chamber door 27 and a refrigerating chamber door 37 for respectively opening and closing the freezing chamber 20 and the refrigerating chamber 30.

A plurality of shelves 22, 32 are upwardly and downwardly disposed in the freezing chamber 20 and the refrigerating chamber 30 with intervals therebetween, and divide an inner space as well as place foods thereon.

An ice making chamber 23 may be disposed at an upper region of the freezing chamber 20 for making ice (ice pieces, ice cubes, or the like). A dispenser 28 may be provided at the freezing chamber door 27 to enable a user to draw out water or ice pieces without opening the freezing chamber 20. A home bar 38 may be installed at the refrigerating chamber door 37 to enable the user to place or draw out foods without opening the refrigerating chamber 30.

Meanwhile, a plurality of

drawers

25, 35 upwardly opened and formed in a cylindrical shape are provided inside the freezing chamber 20 and the refrigerating chamber 30 for being slidable in front and rear directions.

However, in this conventional refrigerator, as shown in Fig. 2, when each of the

drawers

25, 35 is accommodated, upper openings of each

drawer

25, 35 are not completely blocked (closed). If food placed inside the drawer 25 in the freezing chamber 20 is to be quick-frozen, moisture in the food placed inside the drawer 25 is evaporated before the food is frozen, thereby deteriorating the freshness of the food inside the drawer 25.

In addition, if vegetables and/or fruits and the like are stored in the drawer 35 in the refrigerating chamber 30, moisture in the drawer 35 is evaporated, thus to rapidly wither the vegetables and/or fruits.

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a refrigerator having a drawer cover capable of preventing moisture evaporation from food placed in the drawer.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a refrigerator having a drawer cover capable of tightly blocking (closing) an upper opening of a drawer, thus to prevent a deterioration of food freshness.

To achieve these objects, there is provided a refrigerator having a drawing cover, including: a refrigerator main body having a cooling chamber; a drawer accommodated inside the cooling chamber so as to be slidable in front and rear directions; a drawer cover for closing an upper opening of the drawer when the drawer is accommodated; and a pressurizing unit for pressurizing the drawer and the drawer cover so as to closely contact each other.

Here, the pressurizing unit comprises a protrusion protruding from one of the drawer and the drawer cover, and a guiding inclination surface disposed at the other with an inclination to a moving direction of the protrusion so as to contact the protrusion.

The drawer cover comprises a blocking portion for blocking the upper opening of the drawer, and side wall portions downwardly bent from both sides of the blocking portion.

The guiding inclination surface is formed at the side wall portion.

The drawer cover is fixed to the cooling chamber.

The refrigerator further includes a gasket disposed at an area where the drawer and the drawer cover contact each other.

A plurality of protrusions are spaced from each other in front and rear directions.

A horizontal support surface which extends horizontally is further disposed at one side of the guiding inclination surface.

A receiving hole is further disposed at one side of the guiding inclination surface so as to receive the protrusion therein.

The drawer cover is formed to rotate in up and down directions, and the pressurizing unit includes a pressuring portion such that the drawer cover is pressurized to rotate toward the drawer when the pressurizing unit is contacted by the drawer cover.

The pressurizing unit further includes a protruding portion for upwardly moving the drawer when the drawer is accommodated.

The drawer cover includes a contact pressurizing surface for contacting the pressurizing portion so as to rotate the drawer cover toward the drawer, and a contact maintaining surface for maintaining a state that the drawer cover and the drawer closely contact each other.

The contact maintaining surface is disposed at an area higher than a minimum height of the contact pressurizing surface.

The pressuring portion includes a protrusion, and the contact maintaining surface is formed to correspond to a shape of the protrusion.

The refrigerator further includes an elastic support portion for elastically supporting the drawer cover.

The elastic support portion is formed such that a lower portion of the drawer cover is spaced from the upper end of the drawer.

As so far described, the present invention is configured such that the drawer cover is disposed to block the upper opening of the drawer, and the pressurizing unit is disposed to pressurize the drawer and the drawer cover for closely contacting each other when the drawer is accommodated, thereby preventing the leakage of moisture inside the drawer to the outside through the upper opening of the drawer. Therefore, the freshness of food stored in the drawer may be maintained for a longer period of time.

In addition, the gasket is further included in the contact area of the drawer and the drawer cover. Accordingly, when the drawer and the drawer cover are closely contacted by the pressurizing unit, a degree of blocking the upper opening of the drawer may be highly enhanced. Therefore, the leakage of moisture inside the drawer may be more effectively prevented.

In addition, the drawer cover is rotatably installed and the pressurizing unit is disposed to rotate the drawer cover toward the drawer when the drawer is accommodated, thereby preventing the leakage of moisture through the upper opening of the drawer as well as facilitating a manufacturing process with a simple structure.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a perspective view showing a conventional refrigerator;

Figure 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of main parts in Fig. 1;

Figure 3 is a perspective view showing a refrigerator having a drawer cover according to one exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 4 is an enlarged perspective view showing the drawer and the drawer cover in Fig. 3;

Figures 5 and 6 are respective perspective views showing a pressurizing unit according to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 7 is a perspective view showing a coupled state of the drawer and the drawer cover in Fig. 4;

Figure 8 is a side sectional view showing the drawer and the drawer cover in Fig. 4;

Figures 9 and 10 are respective views showing a modified example of a protrusion in Fig. 4;

Figure 11 is an enlarged cross-sectional view showing main parts of a refrigerator having a drawer cover according to still another exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 12 is a plane view of the drawer in Fig. 11;

Figure 13 is a cross-sectional view showing the drawer cover taken along line ⅩⅢ - ⅩⅢ in Fig. 11;

Figure 14 is a cross-sectional view showing an operation of the pressurizing unit in Fig. 11; and

Figure 15 is an enlarged cross-sectional view showing main parts of a refrigerator having a drawer cover according to still another exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Reference will now be given in detail to a refrigerator having a drawer cover according to the preferred embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

Referring to Fig. 3, the refrigerator having a drawer cover includes a refrigerator main body 110 having

cooling chambers

120, 130;

drawers

125, 135 accommodated inside the

respective cooling chambers

120, 130 so as to be slidable in front and rear directions; drawer covers 155 for closing upper openings of each

drawer

125, 135 when the

drawers

125, 135 are accommodated; and pressurizing units 165 for pressurizing the

drawers

125, 135 and the drawer covers 155 so as to closely contact each other. Here, the cooling chamber generally refers to the freezing chamber and the refrigerating chamber, but it may be comprised of any one of the freezing chamber and the refrigerating chamber depending on the configuration of a product. In this example, a so called side-by-side type refrigerator is implemented in which the refrigerator main body 110 is comprised of the freezing chamber 120 and the refrigerating chamber 130 side by side. The refrigerator main body may be implemented as a top mount type refrigerator or a bottom freezer type refrigerator in which a freezing chamber is disposed above a refrigerating chamber and vice versa. The

drawers

125, 135 may be installed at both the freezing chamber 120 and the refrigerating chamber 130, or at only one of them. In addition, the number of the drawers may be adjusted.

The refrigerator main body 110 may include a partition wall 112 vertically disposed between the freezing chamber 120 and the refrigerating chamber 130. A freezing chamber door 127 and a refrigerating chamber door 137 may be disposed at respective front surfaces of the freezing chamber 120 and the refrigerating chamber 130 so as to open and close the freezing chamber 120 and the refrigerating chamber 130. The freezing chamber door 127 and the refrigerating chamber door 137 may be rotatably or slidably mounted at the refrigerator main body 110.

A plurality of

shelves

122, 132 may be disposed in the freezing chamber 120 and the refrigerating chamber 130 with intervals therebetween in up and down directions. Accordingly, the inner spaces of the freezing chamber 120 and the refrigerating chamber 130 are divided, thus to utilize the inner spaces and place more foods thereon.

Meanwhile, a plurality of

drawers

125, 135 are disposed at lower portions of the freezing chamber 120 and the refrigerating chamber 130 so as to be slidably drawn out in front and rear directions. The

drawers

125, 135 each installed at the freezing chamber 120 and the refrigerating chamber 130 may have a very similar configuration; thusly, the drawers 135 installed inside the refrigerating chamber 130 will be explained.

As shown in Fig. 4, the drawer 135 may include an accommodating portion 137 upwardly opened and formed in a cylindrical shape, and a front surface portion 138 disposed at a front surface of the accommodating portion 137. The front surface portion 138 may include a flush drawer pull 139 to enable the user to easily accommodate and draw out the drawer 135. Rails 142 may be formed at side portions of the accommodating portion 137 to enable a sliding motion in front and rear directions. The rails 142 may be formed to outwardly protrude and extend in front and rear directions.

Sliding support units (not shown) may be formed in the freezing chamber 120 or the refrigerating chamber 130 so as to slidably support the rails 142. Here, the rails 142 and the sliding support units may be implemented as a 2-fold rail or 3-fold rail for elasticity in a lengthwise direction.

A gasket 144 may be disposed at an upper portion of the drawer 135, more specifically, an upper end of the accommodating portion 137. The gasket 144 may be formed of an elastic member (e.g., a rubber material) for an elastic deformation. The gasket 144 may be disposed over the upper end of the accommodating portion 137 and a rear surface of the front surface portion 138. The gasket 144 may have a loop shape.

Drawer covers 155 are disposed above the respective drawers 135 such that an upper opening of a corresponding drawer 135 is closed when the drawer 135 is accommodated. The drawer covers 155 may be fixed at the cooling chamber, i.e., the freezing chamber 120 or the refrigerating chamber 130.

The drawer cover 155 may include a plate-shaped blocking portion 157 disposed above the drawer 135, and side wall portions 158 downwardly bent from both sides of the blocking portion 157. The blocking portion 157 may be formed as a rectangular shape.

Here, the side wall portions 158 of the drawer cover 155 may horizontally be coupled to respective side walls of the accommodating portion 137 of the drawer 135 with a gap therebetween. By this, the side wall portions 158 may guide the front-and-rear sliding of the drawer 135.

If the drawer 135 is accommodated, front end portions of each of the side wall portions 158 of the drawer cover 155 come in contact with the rear surface of the front surface portion 138 of the drawer 135. The blocking portion 157 may include a recess 159 upwardly recessed such that an upper end of the accommodating portion 137 of the drawer 135 is inserted thereinto. Therefore, the accommodating portion 137 and the blocking portion 157 have an increasing contact area, thereby preventing a leakage of moisture inside the drawer 135 to an outside.

The pressurizing unit 165 may include a protrusion 166 protruding from one of the drawer 135 and the drawer cover 155 toward the other, and a guiding inclination surface 168 disposed at the other with an inclination to a moving direction of the protrusion 166 so as to contact and guide the protrusion 166. With this configuration, when the drawer 135 is accommodated, the drawer 135 and the drawer cover 155 perform a relative motion in a direction in which they closely contact each other, thereby preventing the occurrence of a gap between the drawer 135 and the drawer cover 155.

The protrusions 166 may outwardly protrude from front side wall portions of the accommodating portion 137. The guiding inclination surface 168 may be disposed at the front side wall portions of the drawer cover 155 so as to be upwardly inclined with respect to the moving direction of the protrusion 166 when the drawer 135 is accommodated.

Here, the guiding inclination surface 168 contacts the protrusion 166 before the drawer 135 is positioned at an accommodation position, and thereby upwardly move the drawer 135 in a certain width H (e.g., several ㎜), thus to have a length and inclination angle enough to press the gasket 144 not so as to generate a gap between the drawer 135 and the drawer cover 155. Front lower regions of the side wall portions 158 of the drawer cover 155 may be cut for the relative motion of the protrusion 166.

Referring to Fig. 5, a horizontal support surface 169 may be provided at one side of the guiding inclination surface 168 for horizontally extending from the end of the guiding inclination surface 168 toward the rear thereof. By this, when the drawer 135 is accommodated, a state that the drawer 153 is closely contacted by the drawer cover 155 may stably be maintained.

Referring to Fig. 6, a receiving hole 170 may be provided at one side of the guiding inclination surface 168 so as to mount the protrusion 166 at a rear area of the guiding inclination surface 168. By this, when the drawer 135 is accommodated, a state that the drawer 153 is closely contacted by the drawer cover 155 may stably be maintained.

Referring to Fig. 9, a pressurizing unit 175 may be configured such that plural pairs of

protrusions

176, 177 are spaced from each other at the drawer 135 in front and rear directions, and plural pairs of guiding inclination surfaces 178, 179 are spaced from each other at the drawer cover 155 in front and rear directions so as to correspond to the

respective protrusions

176, 177.

Referring to Fig. 10, a pressurizing unit 185 may be configured such that one or more protrusions 186 having upper and lower

flat surfaces

187a, 187b with a certain width therebetween are formed, and two guiding inclination surfaces 188, 189 are formed to respectively contact the upper and lower

flat surfaces

187a, 187b of the protrusion 186. Accordingly, it may prevent the drawer 135 from being dropped by gravity, thus to stably maintain the state that the drawer 135 and the drawer cover 155 closely contact each other. Here, a plurality of protrusions 186 may be spaced from each other in front and rear directions of the drawer 135.

With such configurations, if a user holds the flush drawer pull 139 of the drawer 135 and pushes the drawer 135 to a rear direction to accommodate it, the drawer 135 is slid back by the rail 142. Before the drawer 135 reaches the accommodation position, the protrusion 166 comes in contact with the guiding inclination surface 168, and is upwardly moved along the guiding inclination surface 168, thus to be upwardly moved toward the drawer cover 155. Here, by such upward movement of the drawer 135, the gasket 144 is more closely contacted by the drawer cover 155, thereby preventing an occurrence of any leakage. By this, the leakage of moisture inside the drawer 135 may be effectively prevented.

Hereinafter, descriptions of another exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be given with reference to Figs. 11 to 15.

In addition, the same reference numerals will be given to the same or similar components having the same or similar functions, and for the sake of convenience in explanations, detailed explanations therefor are omitted.

The refrigerator having a drawer cover may include a refrigerator main body 110 having a freezing chamber 120 and a refrigerating chamber 130; a drawer 135 accommodated inside the freezing chamber 120 or the refrigerating chamber 130 so as to be slidable in front and rear directions; a drawer cover 155 for closing (blocking) an upper opening of the drawer 135 when the drawer 135 is accommodated; and a pressurizing unit 235 for pressurizing the drawer 135 and the drawer cover 155 so as to closely contact each other. Here, the drawer and the drawer cover installed in the freezing chamber and the refrigerating chamber may have a similar configuration; thus, detailed explanations for the drawer 135 and the drawer cover 155 in the refrigerating chamber will be given.

Referring to Figs. 11 and 12, the drawer 135 includes an accommodating portion 137 upwardly opened and formed in a cylindrical shape, and a front surface portion 138 formed at a front surface of the accommodating portion 137. Rails 142 outwardly protruding and extending in front and rear directions may be disposed at both sides of the accommodating portion 137. A gasket 144 may be provided at an upper end of the accommodating portion 137 of the drawer 135 so as to contact the drawer cover 155.

Meanwhile, the drawer cover 155 may be disposed above the drawer 135 such that the upper opening of the drawer 135 is blocked when it is accommodated. The drawer cover 155 includes a blocking portion 157 disposed to block the upper opening of the drawer 135, and side wall portions 158 downwardly bent from each side of the blocking portion 157 and for guiding the front-and-rear sliding of the side wall portions of the drawer 135. Here, the blocking portion 157 may have a rectangular shape so as to correspond to the shape of the drawer 135.

Rotation shafts 211 may be disposed at rear both sides of the drawer cover 155. Support protrusions 221 may be formed at front both sides of the drawer cover 155. The rotation shaft 211 may be rotatably supported by a shaft support portion 213 in the refrigerating chamber 130. The support protrusions 221 may respectively be received in slots 223 vertically formed in the refrigerating chamber 130. By this, the support protrusions 221 may move in up and down directions (vertically). Each slot 223 may have an elastic support portion 225 so as to elastically support the support protrusion 221.

The elastic support portion 225 may include a support piece (flange) 227 movable along the slot 223 in up and down directions, and a spring 228 upwardly pressing the support piece 227. Here, the rotation shafts 211 and the support protrusions 221 may respectively be disposed at the freezing chamber 120 or the refrigerating chamber 130, and the shaft support portions 213 and the slots 223 may be formed at the drawer cover 155.

In addition, the spring 228 may have a length enough for a bottom of the drawer cover 155 to be spaced from the upper surface of the drawer 135. More specifically, the spring 228 may have a length enough to be contacted by the bottom of the drawer cover 155 without pressing the gasket 144.

Meanwhile, the pressurizing unit 235 may include a pressurizing portion 237 protruding from the rear of the drawer 135 so as to contact the drawer cover 155.

As shown in Fig. 12, the pressurizing portion 237 may include a pair of protrusions 238 each protruding from rear corners of the drawer 135, and protrusion support portions 239 for supporting the protrusions 238. Each of the protrusions 238 may be formed such that its upper area has an arc shaped cross section. Each of the protrusions 238 may be formed to have a circular cross section. With such configuration, each protrusion 238 and the drawer cover 155 may have a smooth sliding contact. Here, the protrusion 238 may be implemented as a roller (not shown) for a rolling contact.

As shown in Fig. 13, a contact pressurizing surface 242 may be formed at rear corners of the drawer cover 155 so as to contact the protrusions 238 of the pressurizing portion 237. The contact pressurizing surfaces 242 are downwardly inclined to the rear direction. With such configuration, when the drawer 135 is accommodated, the contact pressurizing surfaces 242 are contacted and pressurized by each of the protrusions 238. Accordingly, the front area of the drawer cover 155 is downwardly rotated centering around the rotation shaft 211, thereby closely contacting the upper opening of the drawer 135, thus to prevent the occurrence of the gap of the drawer 135 as well as the leakage of moisture inside the drawer to the outside.

A contact maintaining surface 244 may be upwardly recessed at one side of the contact pressurizing surface 242 so as to receive an upper region of the protrusion when the drawer 135 is accommodated. By this, the drawer cover 155 may be rotated while being closely contacted by the drawer 135. Here, the contact maintaining surface 244 may be disposed at an area higher than a minimum height of the contact pressurizing surface 242.

A protruding portion 140 may further be provided such that the drawer 135 is upwardly moved when it is accommodated. The protruding portion 140 may downwardly protrude from the lower end of the front surface portion of the drawer 135. In addition, the protruding portion 140 may protrude from a bottom surface of the refrigerating chamber 130.

With such described configuration, if the drawer 135 is pressured to be positioned to the accommodation position, the drawer 135 is backwardly slid by the rails 142, and as shown in Fig. 14, a pressurizing portion 237 is contacted by a contact pressurizing surface 242 at a certain distance from the accommodation position.

If the drawer 135 continues to backwardly move, the pressurizing portion 237 is moved along the contact pressurizing surface 242. Here, since a rear region of the drawer cover 155 is upwardly pressurized, a front region thereof is downwardly rotated centering around the rotation shaft 211. By this, the gasket 144 is compressed by the drawer cover 155, thereby preventing the occurrence of a gap as well as the leakage of the moisture inside the drawer through such gap.

Meanwhile, if the drawer 135 is moved to the accommodation position, the upper region of the pressurizing portion 237 is received in the contact maintaining surface 244. This is to prevent the drawer 135 from being abruptly moved in front and rear directions, thus to stably maintain a state that the gasket 144 is closely contacted by the drawer cover 155.

The above described examples have described the pressurizing unit in which the protrusion is formed at the drawer and the guiding inclination surface is formed at the drawer cover; however, the guiding inclination surface may be formed at the drawer and the protrusion may be formed at the drawer cover.

In addition, in the above described example, the same number of the protrusions is equally formed at both sides, but such described configuration is not meant to be limiting. For instance, the protrusions may be formed at one side of the drawer and the drawer cover so as to be spaced from each other, and only one protrusion may be formed at a center of the other.

In addition, in the above described example, the gasket is installed at the upper end of the accommodating portion. However, the gasket may be installed at the drawer cover, or at the both the drawer and the drawer cover.

It will also be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Thus, it is intended that the present invention cover modifications and variations of this invention provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

A refrigerator having a drawer cover, comprising:

a refrigerator main body having a cooling chamber;

a drawer accommodated inside the cooling chamber so as to be slidable in front and rear directions;

a drawer cover for closing an upper opening of the drawer when the drawer is accommodated; and

a pressurizing unit for pressurizing the drawer and the drawer cover so as to closely contact each other.
The refrigerator of claim 1, wherein the pressurizing unit comprises a protrusion protruding from one of the drawer and the drawer cover, and a guiding inclination surface disposed at the other with an inclination to a moving direction of the protrusion so as to contact the protrusion.
The refrigerator of claim 2, wherein the drawer cover comprises a blocking portion for blocking the upper opening of the drawer, and side wall portions downwardly bent from both sides of the blocking portion.
The refrigerator of claim 3, wherein the guiding inclination surface is formed at the side wall portion.
The refrigerator of claim 3, wherein the drawer cover is fixed to the cooling chamber.
The refrigerator of claim 5, further comprising:

a gasket disposed at an area where the drawer and the drawer cover contact each other.
The refrigerator of claim 2, wherein a plurality of protrusions are spaced from each other in front and rear directions.
The refrigerator of claim 4, wherein a horizontal support surface which extends horizontally is further disposed at one side of the guiding inclination surface.
The refrigerator of claim 4, wherein a receiving hole is further disposed at one side of the guiding inclination surface so as to receive the protrusion therein.
The refrigerator of claim 1, wherein the drawer cover is formed to rotate in up and down directions, and the pressurizing unit includes a pressuring portion such that the drawer cover is pressurized to rotate toward the drawer when the pressurizing unit is contacted by the drawer cover.
The refrigerator of claim 10, wherein the pressurizing unit further includes a protruding portion for upwardly moving the drawer when the drawer is accommodated.
The refrigerator of claim 10, wherein the drawer cover includes a contact pressurizing surface for contacting the pressurizing portion so as to rotate the drawer cover toward the drawer, and a contact maintaining surface for maintaining a state that the drawer cover and the drawer closely contact each other.
The refrigerator of claim 12, wherein the contact maintaining surface is disposed at an area higher than a minimum height of the contact pressurizing surface.
The refrigerator of claim 12, wherein the pressuring portion includes a protrusion, and the contact maintaining surface is formed to correspond to a shape of the protrusion.
The refrigerator of claim 10, further comprising:

an elastic support portion for elastically supporting the drawer cover.
The refrigerator of claim 15, wherein the elastic support portion is formed such that a lower portion of the drawer cover is spaced from the upper end of the drawer.
The refrigerator of claim 10, further comprising:

a gasket disposed at an area where the drawer and the drawer cover contact each other.