Refrigerator

Abstract

A refrigerator (1) according to the present invention comprises: a storage chamber (2r) that has an opening (1H0) in a front part thereof and stores food; storage chamber doors (2a, 2b) that make it possible to open and close the opening (1H0); and an inner chamber (2r1) that is provided in the storage chamber (2r) and has a box (11), the front side of which can be opened and closed by an inner chamber door (13). The inner chamber door (13) has a translucent recycled resin

Description

refrigerator

[0001] The present invention relates to a refrigerator.

[0002] In recent years, recycled plastics have been used as plastic materials. Refrigerators, which are one type of home appliance, use many plastic materials for the insulated box that forms the storage compartment, the door, etc. Patent Document 1 discloses a technology for applying recycled plastics to refrigerators.

[0003] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-78060

[0004] Although Patent Document 1 describes the technology for applying recycled plastics, it does not describe much about how to apply recycled plastics to refrigerators. The present invention has been devised in view of the above situation, and aims to provide a refrigerator that effectively uses recycled resins.

[0005] In order to solve the above problem, the refrigerator of the present invention comprises a storage compartment having an opening at the front for storing food, a storage compartment door that can freely open and close the opening, and an inner compartment provided in the storage compartment and having a box at the front that can be opened and closed with an inner compartment door, and the inner compartment door is made of translucent recycled resin.

[0006] 5A ; 6B ; 7A ; 7B ; 8A ; 8B ; 9A ; 9B ; 10A ; 10B ; 11A ; 11C ; 12A ; 13A ; 14A ; 15A ; 16A ; 17A ; 18A ; 19A ; 20A ; 21A ; 22A ; 23A ; 24A ; 25A ; 26A ; 27A ; 28A ; 29A ; 30A ; 31A ; 32A ; 33A ; 34A ; 35A ; 36A ; 37A ; 38A ; 40A ; 41A ; 42A ; 43A ; 44A ; 45A ; 46A ; 47A ; 48A ; 49A ; 50A ; 51A ; 52A ; 53A ; 54A ; 55A ; 56A ; 57A ; 58A ; 59A ; 60A ; 61A ; 62A ; 63A ; 64A ; 65A ; 66A ; 67A ; 68A ; 69A ; 70A ; 71A ; 72A ; 73A ; 74A ; 75A ; 76A ; 77A ; 78A ; 79A ; 80A ; 81A ; 82A ; 83A ; 84A ; 85A ; 86A ; 87

[0007] DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Fig. 1 shows a front view of a refrigerator 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0008] 2 shows a perspective view of the refrigerator 1 of the embodiment as seen obliquely from the front, with the ice-making compartment door 3, the upper freezer compartment door 4, and the lower freezer compartment door 5 open.

[0009] The refrigerator 1 of the embodiment is arranged, from top to bottom, with a refrigeration compartment 2r, an ice-making compartment 3r, an upper freezer compartment 4r, a lower freezer compartment 5r, and a vegetable compartment 6r.

[0010] The refrigerator 1 shown in FIG. 1 includes a box body 1H and doors (2a, 2b, 3, 4, 5, 6). The box body 1H has an opening 1H0 (see FIG. 2). The opening 1H0 of the box body 1H is opened and closed by the doors (2a, 2b, 3, 4, 5, 6). A left refrigerator door 2a and a right refrigerator door 2b are provided in front of the top refrigerator compartment 2r. The second ice-making compartment 3r and the upper freezer compartment 4r are provided with an ice-making compartment door 3 and an upper freezer compartment door 4, respectively. A lower freezer compartment door 5 is provided in front of the third lower freezer compartment 5r. A vegetable compartment door 6 is provided in front of the bottom vegetable compartment 6r.

[0011] The left and right refrigerator compartment doors 2a and 2b are hinged like doors to the box body 1H. The left refrigerator compartment door 2a can be rotated toward the front by an upper hinge 7a and a lower hinge 8a. Similarly, the right refrigerator compartment door 2b can be rotated toward the front by an upper hinge 7b and a lower hinge 8b.

[0012] 1, the second-stage ice-making compartment door 3, the upper-stage freezer compartment door 4, the third-stage lower-stage freezer compartment door 5, and the lowest-stage vegetable compartment door 6 can be pulled out toward the front of the page. Ice-making compartment door 3, the upper-stage freezer compartment door 4, the lower-stage freezer compartment door 5, and the vegetable compartment door 6 are integrally provided at the rear with ice-making compartment container 3u, upper-stage freezer compartment container 4u, lower-stage freezer compartment container 5u, and vegetable compartment container 6u, respectively.

[0013] The vegetable compartment 6r on the lowest level is a storage compartment for storing vegetables, fruits, bottled drinks, etc.

[0014] The interior and exterior of the refrigerator 1 are separated by a box 1H, an insulated box filled with foam insulation (not shown), and doors (2a, 2b, 3, 4, 5, 6). The foam insulation may be, for example, polyurethane foam.

[0015] <Box 1H> The box 1H constituting the insulating box is made up of an outer box 1s, an inner box 1u (see FIG. 5A), a vacuum insulating material, etc., as shown in FIG. 2. The outer box 1s is a metal plate such as a steel plate that covers the box 1H. The outer box 1s is made of a thin iron plate, for example, with a thickness of 0.5 mm to 0.4 mm.

[0016] The inner box 1u is made by vacuum molding synthetic resin, typically acrylonitrile butadiene styrene resin (ABS resin), but may also be made of other synthetic resins such as polyethylene (PE), polypropylene resin (PP), polyethylene terephthalate resin (PET resin), etc.

[0017] <Lower Freezer Door 5> FIG. 3A shows a front view of the lower freezer door 5, and FIG. 3B shows a rear view of the lower freezer door 5.

[0018] Fig. 4A shows a perspective view of the lower freezer door 5 as seen from the upper right front, and Fig. 4B shows a perspective view of the lower freezer door 5 as seen from the lower right front. As shown in Fig. 4A, the lower freezer door 5 has a front door panel 5a and a guide rail 5b. A lower freezer container 5u (see Fig. 2) is placed on the guide rail 5b. As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the guide rail 5b can be freely inserted and removed from the box body 1H. For this reason, the guide rail 5b is provided with rollers 5b1 that roll on rail portions (not shown) provided on the box body 1H.

[0019] The front door panel 5a shown in Figures 4A and 4B has a front panel 5a1, an upper frame panel 5a2, a lower frame panel 5a3, a right frame panel 5a4, a left frame panel 5a5, and a rear panel 5a6 (see Figure 3B). The front door panel 5a is filled with foam resin.

[0020] As shown in Figures 2 and 4A, the upper frame plate 5a2 is formed with a grip portion 5at. The user grips the grip portion 5at when inserting or removing the lower freezer container 5u into or from the refrigerator 1. When the front plate 5a1 of the lower freezer door 5 is made of a steel plate, the front plate 5a1, right frame plate 5a4, and left frame plate 5a5 are formed by bending a single steel plate. The upper frame plate 5a2 is formed using virgin plastic. Since the upper frame plate 5a2 is easily visible to the user, virgin plastic, which has an excellent appearance, is used.

[0021] The lower frame plate 5a3 is made of recycled plastic. Recycled plastic is used for the lower frame plate 5a3 because it is less visible to the user. This is because recycled plastic has an inferior appearance compared to virgin plastic. On the other hand, when the front plate 5a1 of the lower freezer compartment door 5 is made of a glass plate, only the front plate 5a1 is made of a glass plate. The upper frame plate 5a2 is made of virgin plastic. The lower frame plate 5a3 is made of recycled plastic.

[0022] The right and left frame plates 5a4, 5a5 are made of virgin plastic, but recycled plastic may also be used. In this case, the right and left frame plates 5a4, 5a5 may be decorated by coloring or other means. The rear plate 5a6 is made of ABS resin or polypropylene (PP) resin, and may be made of recycled plastic because it is difficult for the user to see.

[0023] <Ice-making compartment door 3, upper freezer compartment door 4, vegetable compartment door 6> The other drawer-type doors, ice-making compartment door 3, upper freezer compartment door 4, and vegetable compartment door 6, are constructed in the same manner as the above-mentioned lower freezer compartment door 5. That is, as shown in Figure 1, the upper frame plate 3a2 of ice-making compartment door 3 is made of virgin plastic, and the lower frame plate 3a3 is made of recycled plastic. The upper frame plate 4a2 of upper freezer compartment door 4 is made of virgin plastic, and the lower frame plate 4a3 is made of recycled plastic. The upper frame plate 6a2 of vegetable compartment door 6 is made of virgin plastic, and the lower frame plate 6a3 is made of recycled plastic.

[0024] <Left refrigerator compartment door 2a, right refrigerator compartment door 2b> The upper frame plate 2a2 and lower frame plate 2a1 of the left refrigerator compartment door 2a, and the upper frame plate 2b2 and lower frame plate 2b1 of the right refrigerator compartment door 2b, are made of recycled plastic because they are difficult for users to see.

[0025] <Refrigerator compartment 2r> Figure 5A shows a front view of the topmost refrigerator compartment 2r. Figure 5B shows a cross-sectional view taken along line II of Figure 5A. The refrigerator compartment 2r is divided into a chilled compartment 2r1 at the bottom right, an ice-making compartment 2r2 at the bottom left, and a refrigerated shelf compartment 2r3 above the chilled compartment 2r1 and ice-making compartment 2r2. The refrigerated shelf compartment 2r3 is vertically divided by the chilled compartment upper shelf t1 and the refrigerated shelves t2, t3, and t4.

[0026] <Chilled compartment 2r1> Fig. 6A shows a perspective view of chilled container 10 in chilled compartment 2r1, and Fig. 6B shows a front view of chilled container 10 in chilled compartment 2r1.

[0027] 7A shows a perspective view of the state in which the chilled inner case 12 has been pulled out from the chilled box 11, and FIG. 7B shows a cross-sectional view of FIG. 6B taken along line II-II of FIG. 6B of the state in which the chilled inner case 12 has been pulled out from the chilled box 11. FIG.

[0028] The chilled compartment 2r1 shown in Figure 5A is provided with a chilled container 10. As shown in Figure 7A, the chilled container 10 includes a chilled box 11 and a chilled inner case 12 that is inserted into and removed from the chilled box 11. The chilled box 11 has a box shape with an opening 11a at the front. The chilled box 11 is located deep inside the refrigerator 1 and is difficult for users of the refrigerator 1 to see. In addition, the chilled box 11 may be made of recycled plastic and formed in a dark color such as black or dark gray mixed with black.

[0029] Therefore, the chilled box 11 is difficult to see by the user because it is dark in color and located at the back of the refrigerator compartment 2r as shown in Figure 5B. Furthermore, foreign matter contained in the recycled plastic of the chilled box 11 is difficult to see by the user.

[0030] As shown in Figure 7A, the chilled inner case 12 has a box-shaped case 12c that is open at the front and top for placing stored items, and a chilled door 13. The chilled door 13 is a door that opens and closes the opening 11a of the chilled box 11. The box-shaped case 12c is made of recycled plastic.

[0031] The chilled door 13 shown in Figures 7A and 7B is rotatably attached around a shaft 12c1 at the front of the box-shaped case 12c. By rotating the chilled door 13, the chilled door 13 transitions between the closed state shown in Figures 6A and 6B and the open state shown in Figures 7A and 7B.

[0032] The chilled door 13 shown in FIG. 6A includes a frame 13a forming the door body, a transparent or translucent flat front panel 13b, and a rod-shaped handle 13c. The rod-shaped handle 13c spans the left and right sides of the frame 13a. The user grasps the handle 13c when inserting or removing the box-shaped case 12c from the chilled box 11. The frame 13a is made of virgin plastic. A decorative member 14 made of a metal such as stainless steel or aluminum is provided from the top surface of the handle 13c to the front surface. The transparent or translucent front panel 13b is made of recycled plastic. In other words, the front panel 13b is made of translucent recycled plastic (recycled resin).

[0033] The upper surface of the front panel 13b is textured to make it difficult to see fine details, so as shown in Figure 7B, when the chilled door 13 is open and the user looks at the chilled door 13 from eye level p1, it is possible to prevent foreign objects from being seen in the recycled plastic of the transparent or translucent front panel 13b.

[0034] As shown in Figures 7A and 7B, when the chilled inner case 12 is pulled out of the chilled box 11, the chilled door 13 is tilted at an angle θ1 degrees (see Figure 7B) relative to the box-shaped case 12c so that the top is positioned forward. For example, the tilt angle θ1 is set to approximately 45 degrees plus or minus 5 degrees. This makes it difficult for a user p1 to see the front panel 13b, which is made of recycled plastic, as shown in Figures 7B and 7A.

[0035] <Ice compartment container 3u, upper freezer container 4u, lower freezer container 5u, and vegetable compartment container 6u> The vegetable compartment container 6u of the vegetable compartment 6 and the ice compartment container 3u of the ice compartment 3 shown in Figure 2 are molded from a single layer of virgin plastic. Because the vegetable compartment container 6u and the ice compartment container 3u may come into direct contact with food, recycled plastic material is not used. This ensures the safety of food stored in the vegetable compartment container 6u and the ice compartment container 3u.

[0036] The upper freezer container 4u and the lower freezer container 5u are made of recycled plastic because the food stored in the upper freezer container 4u and the lower freezer container 5u does not come into direct contact with the containers (5u, 4u).

[0037] <Cooling Panel 15> Figure 8 shows a front view of the cooling panel 15 that constitutes the refrigerator compartment 2r. As shown in Figure 5B, the cooling panel 15 is provided at the rear side of the refrigerator compartment 2r. The cooling panel 15 forms the rear wall of the refrigerator compartment 2r and has an air passage 15f formed therein. Cooling air that cools the refrigerator compartment 2r flows through the air passage 15f. The cooling panel 15 is formed with a plurality of cold air outlets 15i for the cooling air from the air passage 15f and cold air return ports 15o1, 15o2, and 15o3 for the cooling air.

[0038] A deodorizer is installed in the cool air return port 15o2 at the lower right of the cooling panel 15 (details will be described later). Figure 9 shows an exploded view of the cooling panel 15. The cooling panel 15 is composed of an upper cooling panel 15U and a lower cooling panel 15S. The upper cooling panel 15U is made of virgin plastic because it is visible to the user.

[0039] The lower cooling panel 15S is located behind the chilled box 11 of the chilled compartment 2r1 shown in Fig. 5A, and the rear end of the chilled compartment shelf t1 located above the chilled box 11 is located close to the cooling panel 15 and hidden (see Fig. 5B), making it difficult for users to see, so it is made of recycled plastic, allowing for the creation of an environmentally friendly cooling panel 15.

[0040] Figure 10 shows a cross-sectional view taken along line III-III in Figure 8. Figure 11 shows a cross-sectional view taken along line IV-IV in Figure 8. The upper cooling panel 15U and the lower cooling panel 15S are joined together by tab fittings 16 (see Figure 10) and screw fixings 17 (see Figure 11). The tab fittings 16 (see Figure 10) utilize the elasticity of plastic. The screw fixings 17 (see Figure 11) are fastened by screws.

[0041] As mentioned above, recycled plastic tends to be harder and more brittle than virgin material (new plastic). Therefore, in the case of the tab fitting 16 shown in Figure 10, the tab 16a is provided on the upper cooling panel 15U made of virgin material (new plastic), and the tab receiving portion 16b is provided on the lower cooling panel 15S made of recycled plastic. This is because the tab 16a has a large amount of deformation, while the tab receiving portion 16b has a small amount of deformation. Therefore, the tab fitting 16 is highly reliable.

[0042] In the case of the screw fixing 17 shown in Figure 11, the screw boss 17a into which the screw is cut is provided in the upper cooling panel 15U, which is made of virgin material (new plastic). The hole 17b through which the screw is inserted is provided in the lower cooling panel 15S, which is made of recycled plastic. This makes the screw fixing 17 highly reliable. The cooling panel 15, which is made by combining the upper cooling panel 15U and the lower cooling panel 15S, is fixed to the inner box 1u (see Figure 5A) by the upper cooling panel 15U, which is made of virgin material. As a result, the cooling panel 15 is fixed to the inner box 1u by the upper cooling panel 15U, which is made of soft and tough virgin material, allowing for highly reliable fixing.

[0043] The chilled compartment upper shelf t1 and cold air return cover 19 shown in Figure 5A are fixed to the flexible and tough new plastic upper cooling panel 15U of the cooling panel 15. All parts fixed to or supported on the inner box 1u of the refrigerator compartment 2r are made of virgin new plastic.

[0044] <Deodorizer> Figure 12 is a cross-sectional view taken along line I-I in Figure 1, showing the flow of cold air. A cold storage evaporator (not shown) is disposed on cooling panel 15 (see Figure 5A) on the back surface of refrigerator compartment 2r. Cold air generated by the cold storage evaporator is blown into refrigerator compartment 2r from cold air outlet 15i (see Figure 5A) of cooling panel 15 (arrow α11 in Figure 12). The cold air is then exhausted from cold air return ports 15o1, 15o2, and 15o3 shown in Figure 8 to air passage 20f1 (see Figure 12) on the back surface of refrigerator compartment 2r.

[0045] A freezing evaporator (not shown) is disposed at the rear of the freezing compartment Fr, which includes ice-making compartment 3r, upper freezing compartment 4r, and lower freezing compartment 5r shown in Fig. 12. The cold air generated by the freezing evaporator is blown into the freezing compartment Fr from an outlet fr1 at the upper rear of the freezing compartment Fr shown in Fig. 12 (arrow α12 in Fig. 12). The cold air is then exhausted from a cold air return vent fr2 at the lower rear of the freezing compartment Fr shown in Fig. 12 to an air duct 20f2 at the rear of the freezing compartment Fr (see Fig. 12).

[0046] The cold air from air duct 20f2 (see FIG. 12) is then discharged into vegetable compartment 6r, circulates within vegetable compartment 6r (arrow α13 in FIG. 12), and returns to air duct 20f2 on the back of freezer compartment Fr. Incidentally, recycled plastics can be a concern due to their odor. For example, if odorous materials are placed near cold air outlet (inlet) 15i (see FIG. 5A) in refrigerator compartment 2r, the odor may be carried by the wind and transfer to other foods in refrigerator compartment 2r. Therefore, odorous materials are stored near cold air return port 15o2 (see FIG. 8). A deodorizer 21 is then placed near cold air return port 15o2.

[0047] For this reason, as shown in FIG. 8, the refrigerator 1 is configured such that a lattice-shaped deodorizer case 21c is formed in front of the cold air return port 15o2. The deodorizer 21 is placed in the deodorizer case 21c. This configuration prevents odors from accumulating in the refrigerator compartment 2r. Note that while the above example shows the case where the deodorizer 21 is placed in the cold air return port 15o2 (see FIG. 8) of the refrigerator compartment 2r, the deodorizer case and deodorizer may also be provided in the cold air return port fr2 (see FIG. 12) at the lower rear of the freezer compartment Fr or the cold air return port fr3 (see FIG. 12) of the vegetable compartment 6r.

[0048] <How to Use Recycled Plastic (Recycled Resin)> In the refrigerator 1 shown in Figures 1 and 2, recycled plastic (recycled resin) is provided in a location that is difficult to see from the eye level of a user standing in front of the refrigerator 1. As shown in Figures 8 and 9, the cooling panel 15 is composed of an upper cooling panel 15U and a lower cooling panel 15S. The upper cooling panel 15U is made of virgin plastic because it is visible to the user. On the other hand, the lower cooling panel 15S is made of recycled plastic because it is hidden and located behind the chilled box 11 of the chilled compartment 2r1 and the chilled compartment upper shelf t1 when the refrigerator compartment door 2 is open (see Figure 5A), making it difficult for the user to see. This prevents foreign matter contained in the recycled plastic (recycled resin) from being seen by the eye.

[0049] According to the above configuration, an environmentally friendly refrigerator 1 can be realized because recycled plastic members are used for the refrigerator 1. Furthermore, the use of recycled plastic members for the refrigerator 1 enables cost reduction.

[0050] <<Other Embodiments>> 1. The present invention is not limited to the configurations of the above-described embodiments and modifications, and various modifications and specific forms are possible within the scope of the appended claims.

[0051] 1 Refrigerator 1H0 Opening 2 Refrigerator compartment door (storage compartment door) 2a2 Upper left frame plate (upper frame member of the upper storage compartment door) 2b2 Upper right frame plate (upper frame member of the upper storage compartment door) 2r Refrigerator compartment (storage compartment) 2r1 Chilled compartment (inner compartment) 3 Ice making compartment door (storage compartment door) 3a3 Lower frame plate (lower frame member of the storage compartment door) 3r Ice making compartment (storage compartment) 3u Ice making compartment container (freezer compartment container) 4 Upper freezer compartment door (storage compartment door) 4a3 Lower frame plate (lower frame member of the storage compartment door) 4r Upper freezer compartment (storage compartment) 4u Upper freezer compartment container (freezer compartment container) 5 Lower freezer compartment door (storage compartment door) 5a3 Lower frame plate (lower frame member of the storage compartment door) 5r Lower freezer compartment (storage compartment) 5u Lower freezer compartment container (freezer compartment container) 6 Vegetable compartment door (storage compartment door) 6a3 Lower frame plate (lower frame member of storage compartment door) 6r Vegetable compartment (storage compartment) 6u Vegetable compartment container 11 Chilled box (box, chilled compartment container) 12c Case (chilled compartment container) 13 Chilled door (inner compartment door) 15 Cooling panel 15o2 Cold air return port 15S Lower cooling panel 15U Upper cooling panel 16 Claw engagement 16a Claw 16b Claw receiver (claw receiver) 17 Screw fixing 17a Screw boss (female threaded portion) 20f1 Air duct (cooled air duct) 21 Deodorizer

Claims

1. A refrigerator comprising: a storage compartment having an opening at the front for storing food; a storage compartment door which opens and closes said opening; and an inner compartment provided in said storage compartment and having a box at its front which can be opened and closed by an inner compartment door, said inner compartment door being made of translucent recycled resin.

2. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein a portion of the interior door where the recycled resin is used is textured.

3. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the box is a dark color such as a mixture of black and dark gray.

4. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the container of the vegetable compartment and the container of the ice-making compartment are made of virgin resin.

5. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the containers of the freezer and chilled compartments are made of recycled resin.

6. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the lower frame member of the storage compartment door is made of recycled resin.

7. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the upper frame member of the top storage compartment door is made of recycled resin.

8. The refrigerator according to claim 1, characterized in that in the case of a claw fitting in which a component is fixed by a claw and a claw receiver, the claw is provided on a portion of new resin, and the claw receiver is provided on a portion of recycled resin.

9. The refrigerator according to claim 1, characterized in that in the case of screw fixing, the female thread portion is provided in the part of the new resin.

10. The refrigerator according to claim 1, characterized in that a deodorizer is disposed at the cool air return port in the storage compartment.

11. A refrigerator comprising: a refrigerator compartment having an opening at the front for storing food; a refrigerator compartment door which can freely open and close said opening; and a cooling panel which forms the rear wall of said refrigerator compartment and forms a cooling air passage for said refrigerator compartment, said cooling panel being formed by combining an upper cooling panel and a lower cooling panel, said upper cooling panel being formed from new resin and said lower cooling panel being formed from recycled resin.

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