Refrigerator Sub-Door Hinge Structure for Cold Air Sealing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Refrigerators with sub-doors smaller than the main door suffer from gaps that degrade appearance and allow cold air leakage, along with complex latch device structures that can also leak cold air, due to insufficient pivot angles and embedded sub-door designs.
Innovation Solution
A sub-door design with a hinge having a bent structure at the intermediate portion to increase the opening angle without interfering with the main door, and a latch device mounted outside the sub-door to simplify the structure and prevent cold air leakage, featuring a magnetic gasket for enhanced sealing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a sub-door is made smaller than the main door to provide auxiliary storage access, then the ease of operation is improved, but a gap is formed that degrades appearance and allows cold air leakage
Solution Approach 1:
The sub-door is designed to protrude forward from the main door surface, creating a three-dimensional stepped structure. This dimensional change allows the sub-door to cover the gap area while maintaining its smaller size for auxiliary storage access, preventing cold air leakage without compromising operation ease
Solution Approach 2:
The door system is segmented into a main door and a separate sub-door mounted on its front surface. The sub-door can be independently opened to access auxiliary storage, providing ease of operation for frequent items while the main door remains closed to prevent cold air leakage
2Ease of operation
If a sub-door is made smaller than the main door, then the ease of operation is improved, but appearance beauty is degraded due to visible gaps
Solution Approach 1:
The sub-door protrudes forward from the main door surface, creating a stepped three-dimensional structure. This dimensional arrangement allows the sub-door to visually cover the gap area between the main door and sub-door edges, maintaining appearance beauty while preserving the ease of operation for accessing auxiliary storage
3Device complexity
If the sub-door is embedded in the opening, then the structure is compact, but the pivot angle is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The sub-door is positioned to protrude forward from the main door surface rather than being embedded. This dimensional change provides additional space for the hinge mechanism and allows the sub-door to pivot through a larger angle, improving ease of operation while maintaining a compact overall structure
4Reliability
If the latch device is mounted by passing through the sub-door, then the coupling is secure, but cold air may leak through the mounting portion
Solution Approach 1:
The latch device mounting is extracted from the sub-door and relocated to the main door. The latch device is mounted on the main door surface and engages with the sub-door from the outside, eliminating the need to pass through the sub-door and preventing cold air leakage through the mounting portion while maintaining secure coupling
Solution Approach 2:
The latch device acts as an intermediary mechanism mounted on the main door that secures the sub-door without penetrating it. The latch device includes a latch member that engages with a corresponding structure on the sub-door, providing secure coupling while the magnetic gasket seals the interface between the main door and sub-door to prevent cold air leakage
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The design minimizes cold air leakage and maintains appearance beauty by hiding the gap between the main door and sub-door, allowing a larger opening angle for the sub-door and simplifying the latch device operation while preventing unintentional unlocking.
Implementation Method 1
a magnetic gasket for enhanced sealing
Data Source
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AI summary
A refrigerator includes a cabinet (10) having a storage chamber, a main door (100) pivotably mounted to the cabinet (10) while including an opening (170) provided at an inside of the main door (100), and a stepped portion (172) provided around the opening (170), a sub-storage chamber (50) mounted at the inside of the main door (100), a sub-door (200) mounted to the main door (100), to allow a user to have access to the sub-storage chamber (50), the sub-door (200) having opposite side surfaces with front portions protruding forwards of a front surface of the main door (100) while having a greater width than the opening (170) and stepped portion (172) between the front portions of the side surfaces, to cover the stepped portion (172) by the side surfaces, and a hinge (260, 270) pivotably mounted to the main door (100) and coupled to the sub-door (200) while being bent at an intermediate portion thereof, to pivotably support the sub-door (200) with respect to the main door (100).