Refrigerator sub door opening limiter
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing refrigerators do not conveniently allow users to withdraw a tray from the main door when the sub door is open, limiting user convenience in accessing ice stored in the tray.
Innovation Solution
A refrigerator design featuring a sub door with a pivotally rotatable hinge assembly, a limiter to control the sub door's rotation angle, and a guide unit that facilitates the tray's movement, allowing the tray to be withdrawn from the storage chamber without a mechanical linkage to the sub door, ensuring easy access and preventing tilting or excessive withdrawal.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the sub door is opened to allow tray withdrawal, then user convenience is improved, but the sub door may tilt or open excessively causing spillage or insulation loss
Solution Approach 1:
The hinge connection portion is bent at specific positions to change its geometric parameters, creating a predetermined rotation angle limitation. This bent shape transforms the hinge from allowing full rotation to restricting rotation within a safe range, preventing door tilting while maintaining withdrawal convenience
Solution Approach 2:
The limiter acts as an intermediary component between the hinge shaft and coupling portion, physically blocking excessive rotation. The limiter contact surface interacts with the bent connection portion to enforce the rotation angle limit, serving as a mediator that prevents harmful motion while allowing necessary motion
2Reliability
If a mechanical linkage connects the sub door to the tray, then tray movement is controlled, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The complex mechanical linkage connecting the sub door to the tray is completely removed from the system. Instead, a simple hinge mechanism with a limiter is installed on the door itself, extracting the unnecessary complexity while maintaining the essential function of controlled access
Solution Approach 2:
The hinge connection portion with its bent shape inherently limits the sub door rotation without requiring external control mechanisms. The structure itself provides the limiting function through its geometry, making the system self-regulating and eliminating the need for additional control linkages
3Ease of operation
If the sub door rotation angle is not limited, then tray accessibility is improved, but excessive opening causes spillage and insulation loss
Solution Approach 1:
The bent connection portion is designed in advance to prevent harmful effects before they occur. By pre-setting the rotation angle limitation through the bent geometry, the system proactively prevents spillage and insulation loss that would result from excessive door opening, rather than reacting after the problem occurs
Data Source
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AI summary
Disclosed is a refrigerator. The refrigerator includes a main body having a storage compartment in which food is stored, a main door configured to open or close the storage compartment, the main door having a storage chamber separate from the storage compartment, a sub door configured to open or close an opening of the storage chamber, a tray configured to be introduced into or withdrawn from the storage chamber, a guide unit configured to guide movement of the tray by being compressed when the tray is introduced into the storage chamber and released from compression when the tray is withdrawn from the storage chamber, and a basket placed on the tray, the basket having a storage space therein. The guide unit may cause variation in a moving speed of the tray when the tray is introduced or withdrawn.