JP7531465B2 - Refrigerator and manufacturing method thereof - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a refrigerator and a manufacturing method thereof.

When a double door is used for the refrigerator compartment, a rotating partition is provided on either the left or right door to prevent a gap from being created in the center when the left and right doors are closed. This rotating partition has a groove on its upper end, and the groove engages with a rotating partition regulating part (guiding protrusion) provided on the top surface of the refrigerator compartment, causing it to rotate in accordance with the opening and closing of the door. Regarding this rotating partition regulating part, for example, Patent Document 1 states that "a mounting plate having an elliptical guiding protrusion on its underside is fixed with screws to the top wall located in the center of the front opening of the refrigerator compartment" (paragraph 0018).

JP 2012-137221 A

In conventional refrigerators, such as the refrigerator described in Patent Document 1, the rotating partition regulating part is fixed to the top surface of the refrigerator compartment before the refrigerator compartment door is attached. However, because the rotating partition regulating part is fixed to the inner box made of resin, while the refrigerator compartment door is fixed to the outer box made of steel plate, there is a possibility that misalignment may occur between the rotating partition regulating part and the rotating partition. If misalignment is confirmed after the refrigerator compartment door is attached, a separate adjustment process is required. If adjustment is not performed, the rotating partition may not rotate even when the refrigerator compartment door is closed, and a gap may be created between the refrigerator compartment doors.

In view of the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a refrigerator including a box having an inner box and an outer box, left and right pivotable storage compartment doors attached to the outer box, a rotating partition attached to the side of one of the storage compartment doors and rotating between when the door is closed and when the door is open, and a rotating partition regulating part fixed to the inner box forming the top surface of the storage compartment and regulating the rotational movement of the rotating partition, the rotating partition regulating part being fixed to the inner box by a first fixing part and a second fixing part, the first fixing part being a temporary fixation that allows the rotating partition to move horizontally, and the second fixing part being a permanent fixation that also suppresses the horizontal movement of the rotating partition.

FIG. 1 is a front view of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the front center of the top surface of the refrigerator compartment viewed from below with the left refrigerator compartment door closed and the right refrigerator compartment door open. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the front center of the top surface of the refrigerator compartment viewed from below with the left and right refrigerator compartment doors open. A cross-sectional view of the center of the top surface of the refrigerator compartment viewed from the front. 5 is a perspective view of the state shown in FIG. 4 with a rotating partition regulating portion removed. FIG.

A refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that in this specification, left and right directions refer to the left and right directions when a user views the refrigerator from the front.

First, the overall configuration of the refrigerator 1 according to this embodiment will be described. FIG. 1 is a front view of the refrigerator 1 according to this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the refrigerator 1 has storage compartments, which are, from the top, a refrigerator compartment 2, an ice-making compartment 3, an upper freezer compartment 4, a lower freezer compartment 5, and a vegetable compartment 6, in that order. The refrigerator compartment doors 2a and 2b that open and close the refrigerator compartment 2 are of the rotating type that rotate around a hinge (not shown), but the ice-making compartment door 3a that opens and closes the ice-making compartment 3, the upper freezer compartment door 4a that opens and closes the upper freezer compartment 4, the lower freezer compartment door 5a that opens and closes the lower freezer compartment 5, and the vegetable compartment door 6a that opens and closes the vegetable compartment 6 are of the drawer type. Note that the arrangement and number of the drawer-type storage compartments and their doors are not limited to the example shown in FIG. 1.

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the front center of the top surface of the refrigerator compartment 2, viewed from below, with the left refrigerator compartment door 2a closed and the right refrigerator compartment door 2b open. The insulated box body of the refrigerator 1 comprises an outer box 7 made of steel plate and an inner box 8 made of resin, and although not shown, foam insulation material or vacuum insulation material is provided in the space formed by the outer box 7 and the inner box 8, insulating each storage compartment inside the insulated box body from the outside.

The refrigerator compartment doors 2a and 2b that open and close the refrigerator compartment 2 are double doors (French doors), and a rotating partition body 9 is provided on the right side of the left refrigerator compartment door 2a of the two refrigerator compartment doors. When the refrigerator compartment doors 2a and 2b are closed, the rotating partition body 9 closes the gap between the refrigerator compartment doors 2a and 2b, preventing the cold air in the refrigerator compartment 2 from leaking out.

One end of the rotating partition 9 is attached to the right side of the refrigerator compartment door 2a via a vertical axis, and the other end can rotate around the axis. The rotation of the rotating partition 9 is achieved by a groove (not shown) on the upper end of the rotating partition 9 sliding against a guide member 10a provided at the front center of the top surface of the refrigerator compartment 2.

The rotating partition body 9 also has a spring (not shown), and when the refrigerator door 2a is open, the spring force causes the rotating partition body 9 to be approximately perpendicular to the plane of the refrigerator door 2a (a plane parallel to the design surface). On the other hand, as the refrigerator door 2a closes and the groove of the rotating partition body 9 comes into contact with the guide member 10a of the refrigerator chamber 2, the rotating partition body 9 starts to rotate relative to the refrigerator door 2a against the spring force. The rotating partition body 9 then continues to rotate along the curved shape of the guide member 10a (see FIG. 3), and when the closing operation of the refrigerator door 2a is completed, the rotating partition body 9 becomes approximately parallel to the plane of the refrigerator door 2a (a plane parallel to the design surface) as shown in FIG. 2.

Next, the configuration of the center front side of the top surface of the refrigerator compartment 2 will be described in detail with reference to Figures 3 to 5. Figure 3 is a perspective view of the center front side of the top surface of the refrigerator compartment 2 seen from below with the left and right refrigerator compartment doors open, Figure 4 is a cross-sectional view of the center of the top surface of the refrigerator compartment 2 seen from the front, and Figure 5 is a perspective view of the state of Figure 4 with the rotating partition body regulating part 10 removed. As shown in Figure 5, a recess 8a is provided at the center front side of the top surface of the inner box 8 forming the refrigerator compartment 2, and the rotating partition body regulating part 10 that regulates the rotational movement of the rotating partition body 9 is fixed to this recess 8a. The rotating partition body regulating part 10 has the above-mentioned guide member 10a and a stopper 10b that engages the front side of the rotating partition body 9 when the door is closed, and each of them protrudes vertically downward. When the refrigerator compartment door 2a is closed (hereinafter referred to as the "closed state"), the stopper 10b is located to the right of the right end of the refrigerator compartment door 2a, as shown in FIG. 2.

The rotating partition regulating section 10 in this embodiment is fixed to the inner box 8 by a primary fixation (temporary fixation) that fixes it in a state that allows movement in the left-right direction, and a secondary fixation (full fixation) that fixes it in a state that also suppresses movement in the left-right direction.

As shown in FIG. 5, the rotating partition regulating portion 10 has a primary fixing hole 10c on the left side and a secondary fixing hole 10d on the right side. The primary fixing hole 10c is located within or near the projection of the rotating partition 9 projected vertically upward when the refrigerator compartment door 2a is closed. Meanwhile, the secondary fixing hole 10d is located outside the projection, preferably to the right of the stopper 10b. Additionally, the primary fixing hole 10c and the secondary fixing hole 10d are long holes that are long in the left-right direction.

As shown in FIG. 4, the primary fixing hole 10c and the secondary fixing hole 10d are both screwed from below in the vertical direction, and the upper end of the screw is fastened to the bush 11 provided on the upper side of the inner box 8. However, the primary fixing screw 12c (first fixing part) is a stepped screw, unlike the secondary fixing screw 12d (second fixing part). That is, the primary fixing screw 12c has an unthreaded cylindrical part between the lower end, which is the screw head, and the upper end, which is threaded. Furthermore, the axial length of the cylindrical part is greater than the thickness of the rotating partition regulating part 10. Therefore, even when the upper end of the primary fixing screw 12c is completely fastened to the bush 11, the upper end of the screw head is spaced from the lower surface of the rotating partition regulating part 10 (there is a gap X as shown in FIG. 4). In other words, the rotating partition regulating part 10 can be slid left and right through the primary fixing hole 10c, which is an elongated hole, relative to the cylindrical part of the primary fixing screw 12c.

On the other hand, the secondary fixing screw 12d has a screw head and a threaded portion, but does not have a cylindrical portion. Therefore, when the secondary fixing screw 12c is completely fastened to the bush 11, the upper end of the screw head is pressed against the underside of the rotating partition regulating part 10, and the rotating partition regulating part 10 cannot slide left or right.

The procedure for fixing the rotating partition regulating unit 10 to the inner box 8 will be described in detail below. First, the insulating box is assembled by filling the space between the outer box 7 and the inner box 8 with foam insulating material.

Next, the recess 8a at the front center of the top surface of the inner box 8 forming the refrigerator compartment 2 is covered from below with the rotating partition regulating part 10, and the rotating partition regulating part 10 is temporarily fixed to the inner box 8 by primary fixing using the shoulder screw (primary fixing screw 12c) described above. This temporary fixation prevents the rotating partition regulating part 10 from moving vertically and in the front-rear direction. In addition, since the position of the temporary fixation is within or near the vertical projection of the rotating partition 9 when the refrigerator compartment door 2a is closed, the strength of the rotating partition regulating part 10 against the force received from the refrigerator compartment door 2a when the refrigerator compartment door 2a is closed is increased. In addition, since the left-right dimension of the rotating partition regulating part 10 is larger than the left-right dimension of the recess 8a, the recess 8a is not exposed even if the rotating partition regulating part 10 slides left-right, and the design is ensured.

Then, the refrigerator compartment doors 2a and 2b are attached to the outer box 7 of the insulated box body.

Here, the refrigerator compartment doors 2a and 2b are attached to the outer box 7, while the rotating partition regulating part 10 is fixed to the inner box 8, so there is a possibility that the relative positional relationship between the rotating partition 9 provided on the refrigerator compartment door 2a and the rotating partition regulating part 10, particularly the relative positional relationship in the left-right direction, may be misaligned. However, at this stage, the rotating partition regulating part 10 is allowed to move left-right relative to the inner box 8. Therefore, with the refrigerator compartment door 2a in the closed state, the rotating partition regulating part 10 is slid left-right to adjust its position while checking the positional relationship between the rotating partition 9 and the rotating partition regulating part 10.

Once the position adjustment is complete, the rotating partition regulating part 10 is permanently fixed to the inner box 8 by secondary fixation. This permanent fixation also prevents the rotating partition regulating part 10 from moving left and right. The permanent fixation position is outside the vertical projection of the rotating partition 9 when the refrigerator door 2a is closed, making it easy to tighten the screws even when the refrigerator door 2a is closed.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications are possible. For example, the refrigerator 1 according to the above-described embodiment has the rotating partition 9 provided on the left refrigerator compartment door 2a, but the rotating partition 9 may be provided on the right refrigerator compartment door 2b. In this case, the rotating partition regulating part 10 is temporarily fixed on the right side, and is permanently fixed on the left side. Furthermore, the refrigerator 1 according to the above-described embodiment allows the rotating partition regulating part 10 to move left and right relative to the inner box 8 during the temporary fixing stage, but it may also allow movement in the front and rear directions.

Furthermore, in the refrigerator according to the embodiment described above, shoulder screws are used for the primary fixation, but the primary fixation may be provisionally fixed by other methods, such as by using claws. One example of provisional fixation using claws is to engage the claws on the rotating partition regulating unit 10 with left-right grooves on the inner box 8. In this case as well, the rotating partition regulating unit 10 can be provisionally fixed to the inner box 8 in a state that restricts movement in the vertical direction and the front-to-rear direction, while allowing movement in the left-to-right direction.

1...refrigerator, 2...refrigerator compartment, 2a...(left side) refrigerator compartment door, 2b...(right side) refrigerator compartment door, 3...ice maker compartment, 3a...ice maker compartment door, 4...upper freezer compartment, 4a...upper freezer compartment door, 5...lower freezer compartment, 5a...lower freezer compartment door, 6...vegetable compartment, 6a...vegetable compartment door, 7...outer box, 8...inner box, 9...rotating partition, 10...rotating partition regulating part, 10a...guide member, 10b...stopper, 10c...primary fixing hole, 10d...secondary fixing hole, 11...bush, 12c...primary fixing screw, 12d...secondary fixing screw

Claims (5)

A box body having an inner box and an outer box;
A storage compartment door that can be rotated left and right and is attached to the outer box;
a rotating partition body attached to a side surface of one of the storage compartment doors and rotating between a door closed state and a door open state;
a rotating partition body regulating portion that is fixed to the inner box that forms a top surface of the storage chamber and that regulates the rotational movement of the rotating partition body;
A refrigerator comprising:
the rotating partition regulating portion is fixed to the inner box by a first fixing portion and a second fixing portion,
the first fixing portion is a temporary fixing portion that allows the rotary partition regulating portion to move in a horizontal direction,
the second fixing portion is a main fixing portion that also suppresses horizontal movement of the rotating partition regulating portion ,
The first fixing portion is a screw inserted into a long hole that is long in the left-right direction and formed in the rotating partition regulating portion, and the diameter of the screw head is longer than the left-right dimension of the long hole . In the refrigerator according to claim 1,
The second fixing portion is located at a position that is out of the vertical upward projection of the rotating partition when one of the storage compartment doors is in a closed state. In the refrigerator according to claim 2,
A refrigerator in which the first fixing portion is within a vertical upward projection of the rotating partition when one of the storage compartment doors is in a closed state. In the refrigerator according to claim 1,
The screw is a shoulder screw . A box body having an inner box and an outer box;
A storage compartment door that can be rotated left and right and is attached to the outer box;
a rotating partition body attached to a side surface of one of the storage compartment doors and rotating between a door closed state and a door open state;
a rotating partition body regulating portion that is fixed to the inner box that forms a top surface of the storage chamber and that regulates the rotational movement of the rotating partition body;
A manufacturing method of a refrigerator comprising:
a step of provisionally fixing the rotating partition regulating portion to the inner box while allowing the rotating partition regulating portion to move in a horizontal direction;
a step of bringing the rotating partition into contact with the rotating partition regulating portion to close one of the storage compartment doors;
and finally fixing the rotating partition regulating portion to the inner box while allowing movement in a horizontal direction.

Images