JP6912533B2 - refrigerator - Google Patents

Description

The embodiment relates to a refrigerator.

Some refrigerators have a touch panel on the door instead of the operation buttons, and many proposals have been made for refrigerators equipped with a touch panel. For example, in Patent Document 1, a door front plate made of a glass plate, a plurality of operation units located on the front surface of the door front plate, and capacitance arranged at a position corresponding to the operation unit on the rear surface of the door front plate. A refrigerator including a detection unit for detecting a capacitance, a display unit for displaying an operation result, a lighting means for irradiating the display unit with light from behind, and a control unit is disclosed.

In this conventional refrigerator, the longitudinal direction of the glass plate (long vertically) and the longitudinal direction of the substrate assembly (consisting of a detection unit, a display unit, a lighting means, a control unit, etc., long left and right) are orthogonal to each other. A substrate assembly is provided in the glass plate to reduce the bending of the glass plate when the operation unit is operated. Further, by arranging the substrate assembly at a position away from the lower end of the door, it is possible to prevent water from entering from the lower end of the glass plate and affecting the substrate and the like.

However, in the conventional capacitive touch panel having a plurality of operation units, a gap may be formed between the detection unit corresponding to each operation unit and the glass plate, which may reduce the detection accuracy, and all the detection units may be used. A structure that ensures close proximity to the glass plate was required.

Further, conventionally, by arranging the substrate assembly so that the longitudinal direction of the glass plate and the longitudinal direction of the substrate assembly are orthogonal to each other, the bending generated in the glass plate does not affect the detection accuracy of the detection unit. However, there has been a need for a touch panel structure that can improve detection accuracy regardless of the orientation of the board assembly.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2011-58787

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a refrigerator having a touch panel structure that has high operation detection accuracy and is easy for the user to use.

The refrigerator of the embodiment has a translucent door outer plate, a detection unit located behind the outer plate, which has translucency and detects a change in capacitance, and the detection unit on the rear side. The support member includes an operation board located behind the support member and provided with a light source for illuminating the detection unit, and the support member has an opening provided at a position corresponding to the light source. And a conical recess provided around the opening.

It is a front view of the refrigerator in an embodiment. It is a perspective view which shows the state which the door of the refrigerator is removed. It is sectional drawing of the line AA'in FIG. It is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a part of FIG. It is a front view in the state where the operation name plate, the flexible substrate and the pressing member of a touch panel unit are removed. It is a perspective view which shows the state which the operation name plate of a touch panel unit is removed. It is an exploded perspective view excluding the storage box and the pushing member of a touch panel unit. It is a front view of the operation name plate. It is a front view of a pressing member. It is a side view of a pressing member. It is a front view of a flexible substrate. It is a rear view of a flexible substrate. It is a front view of a support member. It is a partially enlarged perspective view of a support member. It is a partially enlarged perspective view of a support member. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line BB'of FIG. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line CC'of FIG. It is an exploded perspective view of the touch panel unit.

Hereinafter, embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the figures. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the refrigerator 1 in the present embodiment includes a heat insulating box body 3 and a plurality of openable and closable doors 21 to 26 that cover the front of the heat insulating box body 3.

The heat insulating box body 3 is configured by sandwiching a heat insulating material such as urethane foam between the inner box and the outer box. The heat insulating box 3 is divided into five rooms, that is, a refrigerating room 11, a vegetable room 12, a side-by-side ice making room 13, a switching room 14, and a freezing room 15 in this order from the top. A double door type refrigerating room first door 21 and a refrigerating room second door 22 are attached to the opening on the front side of the refrigerating room 11. Further, a drawer-type vegetable room door 23, an ice making room door 24, a switching room door 25, and a freezing room door 26 are attached to the openings on the front side of the vegetable room 12, the ice making room 13, the switching room 14, and the freezing room 15, respectively. Has been done.

As shown in FIG. 3, each door 21 to 26 is arranged in parallel with the outer plate 31 of the colored transparent plate having a surface pattern of an arbitrary color and pattern like a colored transparent glass plate and the outer plate 31. The heat insulating material 33 is foamed and filled by pouring liquid urethane between the outer plate 31 and the inner plate 32 and foaming and curing, and the outer plate 31 and the inner plate 32 are fixed at the outer peripheral portion (not shown). It is equipped with a side plate. That is, the outer plate 31 and the inner plate 32 of each of the doors 21 to 26 are fixed by the side plate, and the heat insulating material 33 is sealed between the outer plate 31 and the inner plate 32. Although the outer plate 31 is translucent, it is treated so that the heat insulating material 33 and the like inside cannot be seen from the outside. A capacitance type touch panel is installed on the first door 21 of the refrigerator compartment.

The configuration of the touch panel will be described in detail below.

As shown in FIGS. 3 to 7, the touch panel unit 40 is installed in the refrigerating chamber first door 21 so that the longitudinal direction is parallel to the longitudinal direction of the refrigerating chamber first door 21.

The touch panel unit 40 is formed by stacking an operation name plate 41, a flexible substrate 42, a pressing member 43, a support member 44, and an operation substrate 45 in this order from the front, and each of them is stored in the storage box 47 in a laminated state. There is.

The storage box 47 is temporarily adhered to the outer plate 31 at the edge 86, and is pressed against the outer plate 31 at a predetermined position by the heat insulating material 33 when the heat insulating material 33 is filled and foamed. It is fixed in position.

The side surface of the refrigerating room first door 21 on the free-rotating end face side, that is, a part of the side surface that abuts the free-rotating end face of the refrigerating room second door 22 when the refrigerating room is closed, that is, the touch panel installation portion is opened. The side opening 49 of the storage box 47 is fixed in the storage box 47 in a fitted state. This makes it possible to insert the pushing member 48, which will be described later, from the opening 49.

The operating name plate 41, the flexible substrate 42, the pressing member 43, the supporting member 44, and the operating substrate 45 are urged in the outer plate 31 direction (door front direction) by the pushing member 48 in a state of being stored in the storage box 47. There is.

Hereinafter, for the sake of explanation, the upper part in FIG. 5 is referred to as an upper part, the lower part is referred to as a lower part, the right side is referred to as a right side, and the left side is referred to as a left side. The operation name plate 41 is made of a sheet material having a light-shielding property, and by making a part displaying characters, patterns, etc. transparent (having translucency), it is drawn on that part when light is applied from the back surface. It is formed so that characters, patterns, etc. emerge. That is, as shown in FIG. 8, the operation name plate 41 is provided with a transparent portion 54 for displaying characters, patterns, and the like. The operation name plate 41 includes operation menus 51 such as "refrigerator", "freeze", "freeze function", "ice making", "power saving", and "key lock" (51a to 51f in order), and "quick freezing". , "Frozen hot food", "Refrigerate vegetables", "Dry", "Ice making", "Ice making off", "Power saving", "Outing", "Peak shift", etc. 52 is provided as a transmission portion 54.

Further, the operation name plate 41 has a transparent portion 54 for displaying characters, patterns, and the like, and the other portion is composed of an opaque portion that is made opaque by coloring the front surface or the back surface. A reflecting means for reflecting the light of the LED 91 is provided on the back surface and the opaque portion of the operation name plate 41, and this reflecting means can be carried out by a method such as silver printing, mirror finishing, plating or vapor deposition.

Further, the light of the LED 91 passes through the tubular reflector (optical path portion) that surrounds the light of the recesses 71a to 71e within a predetermined range and guides the light, passes through the transmission portion 54 of the operation name plate 41, and passes the light of the LED forward. Is transparent. On the other hand, the light of the LED that hits the reflecting means of the opaque portion is reflected and returned to the recess 71a, and the light reflected again on the wall surface of the recess 71a is guided forward, and the reflected light is transmitted to the transmitting portion 54. Pass forward from. As a result, more light passes through the transmitting portion 54, and characters, patterns, and the like can be displayed brightly and with good contrast.

Further, since the concave portion 71a has an inverted conical surface shape, it is easy to collect the reflected light in the center, and it is easy for light to be collected in the transmitting portion 54 described in the center of the portion corresponding to the concave portion 71a of the operation name plate 41. , More light will pass through the transmitting portion 54, and characters, patterns, etc. can be displayed brightly and with good contrast. In this case, a reflecting means may be provided on the wall surface of the recess 71a, or the inverted conical wall surface may be a curved surface to further improve the light collection efficiency.

As shown in FIGS. 9A and 9B, the pressing members 43 are arranged side by side in a number corresponding to the number of detection sensors 57 (here, 6 reflectors) and each reflector 61 (61a to 61f). A connecting member 62 for connecting the 61 is provided. The reflector 61 has a function of reflecting light emitted from the front and an optical function of uniformly diffusing the light emitted from the LED 91, which will be described later, emitted from the rear and then emitting the light forward. Of the six reflectors 61, five (61a to 61e) in order from the top have a disk shape of the same size, and are arranged in a row at equal intervals so that the centers are located on the same straight line. There is. The remaining one reflector 61f is a substantially hexagonal plate-like body smaller than the disk-shaped reflectors 61a to 61e.

The connecting member 62 is an arm-shaped member that connects between the six reflectors 61, and each of the reflectors 61 is connected by two arm-shaped bodies. Further, as shown in detail in FIG. 9B, the connecting member 62 is connected to the rear surface side of each reflector 61, and the reflector 61 and the connecting member 62 are flush with each other on the rear end surface. When the flexible substrate 42 and the pressing member 43 are overlapped with each other, the reflectors 61a to 61f are located directly below the detection sensors 57a to 57f of the flexible substrate 42.

The flexible substrate 42 is a printed circuit board having translucency and flexibility. As shown in FIGS. 10A and 10B, the flexible substrate 42 has a lower right portion extending downward and a lower end protruding to the left to form a terminal portion 55. A reinforcing plate 56 is attached to the front surface side of the terminal portion 55.

Further, as shown in FIG. 10B, the flexible substrate 42 is provided with six detection sensors 57 (57a to 57f) that detect changes in capacitance at positions corresponding to the operation menu 51 of the operation name plate 41. There is. The six detection sensors 57 are formed at positions corresponding to the operation menu 51 when the operation name plate 41 and the flexible substrate 42 are overlapped with each other. That is, when the operation name plate 41 and the flexible substrate 42 are overlapped, the detection sensor 57a is located directly under the characters "refrigerated" (51a) (rear surface side), and the detection sensor 57b is directly under the characters "freezing" (51b). Is located, the detection sensor 57c is located directly under the letters "freezing function" (51c), the detection sensor 57d is located directly under the letters "ice making" (51d), and the letters "power saving" (57e) are located. The detection sensor 57e is located directly below, and the detection sensor 57f is located directly below the characters "key lock" (57f). The number of detection sensors 57 is not limited to 6, and the required number is determined according to the number of operation menus.

As shown in FIG. 11, the support member 44 is made of a material having a light-shielding property, and is a substantially rectangular plate-like body. A plurality of recesses 71 are formed in the support member 44 at locations located directly below (rear surface side) of the transmission portion 54 when the operation name plates 41 are stacked, and an operation board described later is formed on the bottom portion of each recess 71. An LED opening 75 in which the LED 91 of 45 is located is formed. Further, the recesses 71a to 71e located in the portion of the pressing member 43 where the disc-shaped reflectors 61a to 61e are arranged are formed in an inverted conical shape. The reason why the recesses 71a to 71e have an inverted conical surface shape in this way is to have a function as a reflector of the LED 91. The recesses 71a to 71e and the recesses 71f of the portion where the substantially hexagonal reflector 61f of the pressing member 43 are arranged are continuous by the grooves 72.

The groove 72 is formed at a position directly below the connecting member 62 when the pressing members 43 are stacked. A protrusion 73 is formed in the groove 72. The protruding portion 73 is a portion that comes into contact with the bent portion end portion of the connecting member 62 of the pressing member 43. That is, when the pressing member 43 is superposed on the support member 44, only the bent end portion of the connecting member 62 abuts on the protruding portion 73, and the other portions are separated from the bottom surface of the groove 72. The recess 71f is not provided with the LED opening 75. Further, the LED opening 75 may be provided without the recess 71.

Further, as shown in FIGS. 12 and 13, the support member 44 is provided with a notch 76 by notching the vicinity of the lower right corner (near the recess 71f), and the upper part of the notch 76 is rearward. It is said that the inclined portion 76a is inclined toward the direction. The regulation plate 77 is rotatably arranged so as to close the notch 76. The cutout portion 76 is a path through which the flexible substrate 42 passes when the terminal portion 55 of the flexible substrate 42 is connected to the operation substrate 45. The regulation plate 77 is a plate for suppressing the flexible substrate 42 that enters the rear surface side of the support member 44 from the notch 76.

Further, as shown in FIGS. 11 and 14A, the support member 44 includes first pushing mechanism portions 78 at both ends (upper and lower ends) in the longitudinal direction. The first pushing mechanism unit 78 is a mechanism that is pushed toward the outer plate 31 side by the pushing rod 98 of the pushing member 48, which will be described later. At the upper and lower ends of the support member 44, the first pushing mechanism portion 78 has an insertion hole 79 into which the pushing rod 98 of the pushing member 48 formed between the support member 44 and the storage box 47 is inserted, and the outer plate 31 side by the pushing rod 98. It consists of a push piece 80 that is pushed into. The push-in piece 80 has entered the insertion hole 79, and when the push-in rod 98 enters the insertion hole 79, it is pushed out toward the outer plate 31 by the push-in rod 98, and as a result, the support member 44 together with the member on the front surface side thereof. It will be pressed against the back surface side of the outer plate 31.

Further, as shown in FIGS. 11 and 14B, the support member 44 includes a second pushing mechanism portion 82 extending laterally on one end surface in the lateral direction (direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction). The second pushing mechanism portion 82 is composed of three projecting members 83 projecting to the left side. The projecting member 83 includes a frame 84 having a substantially U-shape in front view, and a pushing piece 85 located inside the frame 84 and projecting rearward. Then, the second pushing mechanism portion 82 inserts the pushing member 48 from the side of the support member 44 and pushes the support member 44 sideways, and the pushing piece 85 of the protruding member 83 reaches the step 87 of the storage box 47 described later. It is a mechanism that is urged to the outer plate 31 side by riding on it.

As shown in FIG. 7, the operation board 45 includes a plurality of LEDs 91 at positions corresponding to the LED openings 75 of the support member 44. Further, a terminal receiving portion 93 for connecting the terminal portion 55 of the flexible substrate 42 is provided in the vicinity of the lower right corner portion of the operation board 45. As shown in FIG. 14B, the operation board 45 is held by the support member 44 behind the support member 44.

As shown in FIG. 15, the storage box 47 is provided with a side opening 49 on the right side, and the front is also an opening. A step 87 is formed in the vicinity of the left end of the storage box 47 toward the front. Further, an edge portion 86 is provided at the front end portion of the storage box 47. The edge 86 of the storage box 47 is pressure-welded and fixed to the back surface of the outer plate 31 so that the right end side coincides with the right end side of the outer plate 31 of the refrigerating chamber first door 21.

The pushing member 48 includes a side plate 97, a pushing rod 98 extending perpendicularly to the side plate 97 from the vicinity of the end portion in the longitudinal direction of the side plate 97, and a plurality of pushing members formed perpendicular to the side plate 97. A locking piece 99 is provided. The pushing member 48 is inserted from the side opening 49 of the storage box 47, so that the support member 44 stored in the storage box 47 is pushed forward (outer plate 31) by the locking piece 99. It is fixed at 47.

Then, as described above, the touch panel unit 40 is laminated in the order of the operation name plate 41, the flexible substrate 42, the pressing member 43, the support member 44, and the operation substrate 45 from the front. In the laminated body, the operation menu 51 of the operation name plate 41, the detection sensor 57 of the flexible substrate 42, the pressing member 43, and the recesses 71a to 71f of the support member 44 are in an overlapping state. The pressing member 43 is overlapped with the supporting member 44 in a state where the connecting member 62 is in contact with the protruding portion 73 formed in the groove 72 of the supporting member 44. That is, the pressing member 43 and the supporting member 44 are in a state where only the protruding portion 73 and the connecting member 62 are in contact with each other, and a slight gap is provided in the other portions.

Further, the terminal portion 55 of the flexible substrate 42 reaches the operation board 45 behind from the notch portion 76 via the inclined portion 76a of the support member 44, and is connected to the terminal receiving portion 93. The movement of the flexible substrate 42 is restricted by the regulation plate 77 of the support member 44 in a state where the terminal portion 55 and the terminal receiving portion 93 are connected to each other.

Further, the laminated body is stored in the storage box 47, and the edge portion 86 of the storage box 47 is temporarily fixed to the outer plate 31 with tape or the like, and further, due to the volume expansion force at the time of foaming of the heat insulating material 33. It is pressed down on the outer plate 31 side. Then, when the pushing member 48 is inserted from the opening portion (side surface) of the storage box 47, the pushing rod 98 enters the insertion hole 95 of the supporting member 44 and pushes the pushing piece 80 forward (see FIG. 14A). ). Further, since the pushing member 48 is pushed from the side of the storage box 47, the laminated body is pushed sideways and the protruding member 83 of the support member 44 rides on the step 87 of the storage box 47 and moves forward (FIG. 14B). reference). As a result, the laminated body is in a state of being pressed against the back surface side of the outer plate 31, so that the operation name plate 41 and the flexible substrate 42 are in close contact with each other on the back surface of the outer plate 31 without any gap. Therefore, in the touch panel of the present embodiment, the touch operation from the front of the outer plate 31 can be reliably detected by the detection sensor 57 on the flexible substrate 42.

In the touch panel unit 40 having such a configuration, since the flexible substrate 42 can be pressed against the outer plate 31 by the pressing member 43, the user's touch operation on the outer plate 31 can be reliably detected. Therefore, it is possible to realize a user-friendly refrigerator that is easy for the user to use.

Further, since the support member 44 includes the inverted conical recesses 71a to 71e, the recesses 71a to 71e can serve as a reflector and reliably irradiate the operation menu 51 of the operation name plate 41 with light.

Further, since the flexible substrate 42 is made of a material having translucency, the light from the LED 91 can be transmitted, and the transmitting portion 54 of the operation name plate 41 can be irradiated with the light. Therefore, the user can clearly read the characters on the operation name plate 41 from the front of the outer plate 31.

Further, since the pressing member 43 includes a plurality of reflecting plates 61 and each reflecting plate 61 is continuously formed by the connecting member 62, the plurality of detection sensors 57 can be reliably pressed against the outer plate 31. .. Further, since the connecting member 62 has elasticity, the detection sensor 57 can be reliably pressed against the outer plate 31 even when the outer plate 31 is bent due to a temperature change or a pressing force during operation. , The detection accuracy of touch operation can always be maintained.

In the conventional refrigerator, if the detection sensor 57 is arranged along the longitudinal direction of the outer plate 31, there is a problem that the detection accuracy is lowered because the outer plate 31 is easily bent. However, in the present embodiment, the pressing is performed. By providing the member 43, the detection accuracy can be maintained high even if the detection sensor 57 is arranged along the longitudinal direction of the outer plate 31.

Then, since the pressing member 43 is in contact with the supporting member 44 only at a part (protruding portion 73) and the other parts are separated from each other, the outer plate 31 is bent inward due to a temperature change or a pressing force during operation. Even in this case, the deflection can be absorbed at the separated portion, and the touch panel can be prevented from being damaged.

Although embodiments of the present invention have been described, these embodiments are presented as examples and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. This novel embodiment can be implemented in various other embodiments, and various omissions, replacements, and changes can be made without departing from the gist of the invention. These embodiments and modifications thereof are included in the scope and gist of the invention, and are also included in the scope of the invention described in the claims and the equivalent scope thereof.

1 Refrigerator 3 Insulated box 11 Refrigerator room 12 Vegetable room 13 Ice making room 14 Switching room 15 Freezing room 21 Refrigerator room 1st door 22 Refrigerating room 2nd door 23 Vegetable room door 24 Ice making room door 25 Switching room door 26 Freezer room door 31 Outer plate 32 Inner plate 33 Insulation material 40 Touch panel unit 41 Operation name plate 42 Flexible board 43 Pressing member 44 Support member 45 Operation board 47 Storage box 48 Pushing member 49 Opening 51 Operation menu 52 Notification menu 54 Transmissive part 55 Terminal part 56 Reinforcement Plate 57 Detection sensor 61 Reflector plate 62 Connecting member 71 Recessed 72 Groove 73 Protruding part 75 LED opening 76 Notch part 76a Inclined part 77 Restricting plate 78 First pushing mechanism part 79 Insertion hole 80 Pushing piece 82 Second pushing mechanism part 83 Projection Member 84 Frame 85 Push-in piece 86 Edge 87 Step 91 LED
93 Terminal receiving part 95 Insertion hole 97 Side plate 98 Push rod

Claims (5)

Insulated box and
An openable door that covers the front of the heat insulating box and
An outer plate that encloses a heat insulating material between the door and the inner plate at the rear, and has a translucent door outer plate.
A detector located behind the outer panel, which has translucency and detects changes in capacitance,
A support member that supports the detection unit from the rear side,
An operation board located behind the support member and provided with a light source for illuminating the detection unit is provided.
The support member includes an opening provided at a position corresponding to the light source and a conical recess provided around the opening.
Said outer plate, Ri colored transparent der,
A lid is attached to the opening of the storage portion for accommodating the detection unit, the support member, and the operation board, and the detection is performed by inserting the lid into the opening of the storage unit. Refrigerator, characterized in Rukoto projecting part for pressing part and the said operating board to said outer plate provided. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the detection unit is provided on a flexible substrate having flexibility. The detection unit includes a terminal unit formed on a part of the flexible substrate.
The refrigerator according to claim 2, wherein the terminal portion is inclined to the rear of the support member and connected to the operation board. The refrigerator according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein a transparent portion for displaying characters or patterns is provided in front of the outer plate at the position of the opening of the support member. The refrigerator according to claim 4, wherein the transparent portion is provided with an opaque portion so that characters or patterns can be displayed in front of the outer plate.

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