Refrigerator
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing refrigerators face issues with wire harness and water hose damage due to excessive bending and exposure when the door is opened and closed, leading to potential deformation and water leakage.
Innovation Solution
A refrigerator design featuring a guide housing system with rotatable connections between the door and cabinet, minimizing bending and exposure of wires and hoses through a multi-housing structure that rotates and restricts horizontal movement, using flange guides and door fixing portions to secure the housings.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the wire harness is accommodated in a curved guide, then the wire harness can be routed through the door, but the wire harness undergoes large deformation when the door is opened and closed
Solution Approach 1:
The guide housing is designed to be rotatable relative to the door, allowing it to dynamically adjust its position and orientation as the door opens and closes. This dynamic movement reduces the bending deformation of the wire harness by changing the guidance path, thereby improving reliability while maintaining ease of operation.
2Ease of operation
If the wire harness is exposed to the outside, then the door can be opened freely, but the wire harness is vulnerable to damage from external obstacles
Solution Approach 1:
The guide housing serves as an intermediary protective structure that accommodates and protects the wire harness during door operation. It acts as a shield between the wire harness and external obstacles, reducing the risk of damage while allowing the door to open freely.
3Volume of moving object
If the water hose is bent significantly when the door is closed, then the door structure can be compact, but the water hose is stretched and excessively bent when the door is opened
Solution Approach 1:
The rotatable guide housing dynamically adjusts the water hose path during door operation. When the door is closed, the guide housing maintains a compact configuration. When the door opens, the guide housing rotates to provide adequate clearance, preventing excessive bending and stretching of the water hose, thereby maintaining reliability while preserving compactness.
4Reliability
If multiple separate housings are used to guide the extension member, then the bending of wires and pipes is minimized, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The guide housing is divided into multiple separate housings that are rotatably connected. Each housing segment can independently rotate and position itself to optimize the protection path for wires and pipes. This segmentation allows the system to provide enhanced protection through distributed guidance points while maintaining operational simplicity through the coordinated rotation of modular components.
Data Source
AI summary
A refrigerator having: a cabinet having a storage space; a refrigerator door that is rotatably connected to the cabinet by means of a hinge device and opens and closes the storage space; an extension member that is drawn out from the cabinet and connected to the inside of the refrigerator door through a door opening spaced apart from the rotation center of the refrigerator door and includes at least one of a wire and a tube through which a liquid flows; a guide housing that guides the extension member positioned on the outside of the cabinet and the refrigerator door and includes a plurality of individual housings rotatably connected to each other; and a door fixing unit that rotatably connects a first housing among the plurality of individual housings to the refrigerator door.