Refrigerator Shelf Guide Slot Structure for Stable Sliding Access
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional refrigerator shelf mounting structures cause shelves to tilt and detach, leading to food instability and hindered cold air flow, as they rely solely on supporting steps without adequate stabilization or air flow considerations.
Innovation Solution
The proposed shelf assembly mounting structure incorporates stoppers and guide slots to restrict shelf movement, ensuring stability and preventing detachment, while guide ribs and supporting ribs facilitate smooth air flow by maintaining a distance between the shelf and rear storage space.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the shelf is moved in the fore and aft direction with both side ends supported on supporting steps, then food accessibility is improved, but the shelf becomes unstable and may tilt or detach
Solution Approach 1:
The support structure is segmented into multiple supporting ribs (first and second supporting ribs) positioned at different locations along the shelf sides. This segmentation provides distributed support points that prevent tilting while allowing fore-aft movement, resolving the contradiction between accessibility and stability.
Solution Approach 2:
Guide slots are introduced as intermediary structures on the supporting ribs that constrain the movement of stoppers attached to the shelf. These guide slots mediate between the shelf and the refrigerator body, allowing controlled fore-aft movement while preventing lateral displacement and detachment, thus maintaining both accessibility and stability.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the shelf is moved excessively to the rear, then rear storage space utilization is improved, but cold air circulation is hindered
Solution Approach 1:
The guide slots on the supporting ribs are designed with predetermined lengths that limit the rearward movement of the shelf before it can obstruct the cold air circulation path. This preliminary constraint prevents the harmful effect of air flow obstruction while still allowing adequate utilization of rear storage space.
3Ease of operation
If the shelf is allowed to move freely in the fore and aft direction, then food accessibility is improved, but the shelf may be inadvertently detached from the storage space
Solution Approach 1:
Stoppers attached to the shelf engage with guide slots on the supporting ribs as intermediary constraint mechanisms. These guide slots allow fore-aft movement for accessibility while the stoppers prevent lateral displacement and inadvertent detachment, simultaneously satisfying both accessibility and attachment security requirements.
Data Source
AI summary
A shelf assembly mounting structure for a refrigerator includes stoppers respectively provided on both sides of a shelf assembly, a plurality of supporting ribs respectively provided on both side surfaces of a storage space, the supporting ribs being formed to extend in a fore and aft direction of the storage space to support a bottom surface of the shelf assembly; and a plurality of guide slots respectively provided in upper surfaces of the supporting ribs, the stopper sliding in the guide slot in a state where the stopper is positioned therein when the shelf assembly is moved in the fore and aft direction of the storage space. The stopper is moved in the fore and aft direction along the guide slot and brought into contact with front and rear ends of the guide slot, whereby a moving distance of the shelf assembly is restricted.