Refrigerator
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Solution Overview
Problem
Users face inconvenience and potential injury when accessing heavy baskets or food stored in lower drawer-type doors of refrigerators, as they need to bend, which can lead to strain and risk of injury.
Innovation Solution
A refrigerator design incorporating a drawer door with a driving device and an elevation device featuring a scissors lift assembly, allowing the food or container to be elevated, reducing the need for bending and improving accessibility.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a drawer-type door is disposed in the lower region of the refrigerator, then the storage chamber can be effectively opened and closed, but the user has to bend his/her back to take out baskets or foods, causing inconvenience and potential injury
Solution Approach 1:
The elevation device is activated before the user retrieves items from the drawer, preliminarily raising the basket and its contents to an ergonomically suitable height. This preliminary action prevents the user from needing to bend down, thereby eliminating the strain and injury risk associated with accessing lower drawer storage.
Solution Approach 2:
The elevation device acts as an intermediary mechanism between the user and the stored items. Instead of the user directly reaching into the lower drawer, the elevation device mediates by lifting the basket to a higher position, making the items accessible without user bending or straining.
2Ease of operation
If an elevation device with scissors lift assembly is added to the drawer door, then accessibility to stored items is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The scissors lift assembly employs a dynamic parallel linkage mechanism that transforms rotational motion from the motor into vertical linear motion. This dynamic structure allows the basket to be elevated smoothly and controllably, achieving the desired accessibility improvement while maintaining a relatively compact and manageable mechanical design.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces a potentially complex mechanical lifting system with an electric motor-driven scissors lift mechanism. This substitution simplifies the control system (using electric motor control rather than complex mechanical linkages) while achieving the same lifting function, thereby managing device complexity effectively.
Data Source
AI summary
A refrigerator includes a cabinet defining a storage chamber, a drawer door configured to be inserted into and withdrawn out of the storage chamber, a driving device provided at the door part, an elevation device provided at the drawer part and having a scissors lift assembly, and a connecting assembly that couples the driving device to the scissors lift assembly to transfer driving force from the driving device to the scissors lift assembly. The elevation device is configured, based on being uncoupled from the connecting assembly, to be separable from the drawer part, and the elevation device includes a restricting unit configured to restrict the scissors lift assembly from unfolding when the elevation device is separated from the drawer part. The drawer door includes a drawer part and a door part that is configured to, based on the drawer door being inserted into the storage chamber, close the storage chamber.