Refrigerator Door Compartment Flap with Depth-Guided Retraction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional door storage compartments in refrigerators, such as butter compartments, face issues where the flap can break when closing the door due to lack of stability, requiring users to manually hold it open for access.
Innovation Solution
A door storage compartment design with a pivotable flap that deviates in the depth direction, guided by dual pivot axes and grooves, allowing it to deflect and retract safely, preventing damage and enabling easy handling.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the flap is made stable in a raised position, then the user can easily access the compartment, but the flap will hit the refrigerator body and break when the door is closed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a dynamic positioning system where the flap can be held in a stable raised position during access, then automatically returns to a retracted position before door closure. This is achieved through a pivot mechanism with guide grooves that enable controlled movement between positions, resolving the contradiction between ease of access and durability by making the flap position dynamic rather than static
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs a return mechanism that automatically moves the flap to a safe retracted position before the door closure action occurs. This preliminary action prevents the flap from being in a vulnerable position when the door closes, eliminating the damage risk while maintaining easy access during use
2Reliability
If the flap automatically returns to closed position, then the flap is protected from damage, but the user must manually hold it open for access
Solution Approach 1:
The system transitions from a purely automatic return mechanism to a dynamic system that allows temporary stabilization in the open position. The pivot mechanism with guide grooves enables the flap to be held open during access while still providing automatic return capability, resolving the contradiction by making the return behavior conditional rather than absolute
3Device complexity
If the flap is guided by a single pivot axis, then the structure is simple, but the flap cannot deflect to avoid damage during door closure
Solution Approach 1:
The patent adds a second degree of freedom to the pivot mechanism by introducing guide grooves that constrain movement in a specific path. This transforms the simple single-axis rotation into a guided two-dimensional movement, enabling the flap to deflect along a safe path during closure while maintaining reasonable structural simplicity
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2~4
Figure 5~7
AI summary
The compartment has a cube-shaped cabinet (1), and a cover (2) placeable before an opened front side of the cabinet. Pivots (17, 18) of the cabinet are movably guided at the cabinet in a depth direction, using upper and lower guide rails (9, 10). The cover is movable into a closed position based on the guided movement of the pivots, and is movable into an open position. The guide rails run in a clearance (11) between upper and lower base plates (6, 7) or between an upper cover plate (5) and a lower cover plate of the cabinet, and run below the base plate (6) or above the lower cover plate.