Refrigerator Sub-Door Hinge Wiring for Thin Door Designs
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Solution Overview
Problem
Refrigerators face challenges in guiding multiple electric wires through the hinge shaft due to thickness restrictions, leading to wire exposure, interference, and damage when the door is open, especially with thinner doors and increased wire diameters.
Innovation Solution
The design incorporates a sub-door with a sub-hinge cover that shields both the sub-hinge and main hinge shafts, using a cover connection part to guide wires through the sub-hinge shaft and main hinge shaft internally, preventing exposure and interference, and includes a wire entrance part for additional wires, ensuring secure routing without length change during door rotation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Volume of moving object
If the door thickness is reduced to achieve a thinner door design, then the aesthetic appearance and space efficiency are improved, but the inner diameter of the hinge shaft is restricted, preventing multiple electric wires from being guided through it
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the wire routing path into multiple segments: wires first pass through the sub-hinge shaft, then through the main hinge shaft, and finally through the hinge cover. This segmentation allows wires to be guided through a distributed path rather than requiring a single large opening, enabling thin door design while maintaining wire routing capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces the sub-hinge shaft as an intermediary component between the door and the main hinge shaft. This sub-hinge shaft acts as a mediator that receives wires from the door interior and transfers them to the main hinge shaft, enabling wire routing through a distributed path that accommodates thin door design.
2Reliability
If multiple electric wires are guided through the hinge shaft, then wire exposure and damage are prevented, but the hinge shaft inner diameter must be increased, requiring thicker door design
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the wire protection path across multiple components (sub-hinge shaft, main hinge shaft, hinge cover) rather than relying on a single large-diameter shaft. This allows wires to be protected throughout their entire path from the door interior to the exterior without requiring any single component to have a large diameter, maintaining both wire protection and thin door design.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extends the wire routing from a single-dimension path through one shaft to a multi-dimensional path involving multiple shafts and covers. Wires traverse through the sub-hinge shaft first, then the main hinge shaft, and finally the hinge cover, creating a distributed three-dimensional routing path that protects wires without requiring increased door thickness.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the hinge shaft inner diameter is increased to accommodate more wires, then wire routing flexibility is improved, but the door structure becomes more complex and thicker
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the wire routing function across multiple components (sub-hinge shaft, main hinge shaft, hinge cover with wire entrance part) rather than concentrating it in a single large-diameter shaft. This segmentation provides wire routing flexibility through multiple path options while keeping each individual component simple and maintaining thin door design.
Data Source
AI summary
A refrigerator includes a cabinet, a control unit provided in the cabinet and controlling an operation of the refrigerator, a main door that opens or closes the cabinet and has an opening formed therein, a main hinge that couples the cabinet to the main door and allows the main door to be pivotably mounted, a sub-door that is formed on a front surface of the refrigerator and opens or closes the opening, a sub-hinge that couples the main door to the sub-door and allows the sub-door to be pivotably mounted, a sub-hinge cover that simultaneously shield a main hinge shaft of the main hinge and a sub-hinge shaft of the sub-hinge, and a wire disposed to extend from an inside of the sub-door, to be connected with the control unit, and to sequentially pass through the sub-hinge shaft and the main hinge shaft along an inside of the sub-hinge cover.