refrigerator
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing refrigerator designs with drawer-type doors often expose elevation mechanisms, leading to safety concerns, poor appearance, and difficulty in separating and installing elevation structures, while also causing instability and potential damage due to eccentric loads and excessive withdrawal distances.
Innovation Solution
A refrigerator design where the drawer-type door is elevatable, with the elevation mechanism concealed and separated from the door part, allowing for stable and safe operation, and featuring a connection device that separates and couples the driving device and elevation device without a separate mechanism, ensuring the drawer part is elevated without tilting and maintaining safety and durability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Volume of moving object
If the drawer-type door is disposed in the lower region of the refrigerator, then the storage space utilization is improved, but the user convenience deteriorates due to the need to turn back to take out heavy items
Solution Approach 1:
The drawer-type door is designed to be elevatable from a lower position to a higher position, transforming a static door configuration into a dynamic one. This allows the door to change its position based on usage requirements, enabling users to access items more conveniently without bending or turning back, while still maintaining efficient storage space utilization when in the lower position
2Ease of operation
If the elevation mechanism is exposed on the door, then the elevation function is achieved, but the safety and appearance deteriorate due to exposed electrical components and structures
Solution Approach 1:
The elevation mechanism is nested within the drawer-type door structure itself, with the support member being an integral part of the door assembly. The motor and other components are concealed within the door's internal structure, allowing the elevation function to be achieved while keeping all mechanical and electrical components hidden from external view, thus maintaining both safety and aesthetic appearance
3Ease of operation
If the entire basket is elevated during operation, then the accessibility is improved, but the stability deteriorates due to eccentric load
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of elevating the entire basket, only the necessary portion of the drawer-type door containing the required items is elevated. This selective elevation approach extracts only the needed function from the full door assembly, reducing the load on the elevation mechanism and minimizing eccentric forces, thereby maintaining stability while still improving accessibility to stored items
4Ease of operation
If the drawer-type door is completely withdrawn, then the accessibility to items is improved, but the durability deteriorates due to deformation and breakage of the door and constituents
Solution Approach 1:
The drawer-type door is designed with an elevatable feature that allows it to be raised to a higher position during withdrawal, changing its trajectory and reducing the stress on the door and its constituents. This dynamic adjustment prevents the door from being pulled completely outward, maintaining structural integrity while still providing adequate access to stored items
Data Source
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AI summary
Provided is a refrigerator. The refrigerator includes a cabinet in which an upper storage space and a lower storage space are defined, a door part opening and closing the lower storage space, a drawer part provided behind the door part and inserted and withdrawn together with the door part, a drawer-side device provided in the drawer part to elevate a food or a container within the drawer part, a door-side device provided in the door part to provide power for an operation of the drawer-side device, and a connection device provided in the door part to connect the door-side device to the drawer-side device so that the power of the door-side device is transmitted to the drawer-side device. At least a portion of the connection device is exposed to a rear surface of the door part so that a user manipulates the connection device, and when the user manipulates the connection device, the connection device operates to separate the drawer-side device from the door-side device.