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KR-20260067834-A - Refrigerator

KR20260067834AKR 20260067834 AKR20260067834 AKR 20260067834AKR-20260067834-A

Abstract

A refrigerator is disclosed. The refrigerator includes a door opening device for automatically opening a second door, which is an outer door. The door opening device may include a first magnetic unit provided on a first door, which is an inner door; a second magnetic unit provided on a second door so as to face the first magnetic unit; and a shielding member rotatably provided on the second door to selectively block the space between the first magnetic unit and the second magnetic unit. Through this, the second door can be opened manually and/or automatically as needed, thereby increasing convenience. Furthermore, since the magnetic unit that automatically opens the second door is fixed to the second door, the door opening device can be simplified while increasing reliability and minimizing operating noise.

Inventors

  • 권성원
  • 장진호

Assignees

  • 엘지전자 주식회사

Dates

Publication Date
20260513
Application Date
20241106

Claims (13)

  1. Cabinet equipped with a storage room; A first door for opening and closing the above storage room; A second door provided on the outer side of the first door and rotatably provided with respect to the first door; and It includes a door opening device that rotates the second door relative to the first door, and The above door opening device is, A first magnetic unit provided in the first door above; A second magnetic unit provided on the second door so as to face the first magnetic unit, thereby causing the second door to automatically open through interaction with the first magnetic unit; and It includes a shielding member that selectively blocks the space between the first magnet unit and the second magnet unit, and The above shielding member is, A refrigerator rotatably provided on the second door.
  2. In paragraph 1, The above door opening device is, It includes a movable member that is provided to slide between any first position and a second position with respect to the second door inside the second door, and has a cam portion protruding by a preset height on the surface facing the shielding member. The above shielding member is, A shielding part that blocks the space between the first magnet unit and the second magnet unit; A hinge portion rotatably coupled to the second door; and A refrigerator comprising a cam guide that slides in contact with the cam portion and guides the shield portion to rotate around the hinge portion when the movable member moves from the first position to the second position.
  3. In paragraph 2, The above hinge part is, A refrigerator formed on the side facing away from the above-mentioned movable member.
  4. In paragraph 3, The above hinge part is, A refrigerator formed at a position overlapping with the moving member in the axial direction of the hinge portion.
  5. In paragraph 2, The hinge portion is formed at a position spaced apart from the shield portion by a predetermined distance in a direction intersecting the direction of movement of the movable member, and The shielding part and the hinge part are A refrigerator connected by the above cam guide.
  6. In paragraph 5, The above hinge part is, A refrigerator formed to be located on the opposite side of the shielding part with the second magnetic unit in between when the second door is closed.
  7. In paragraph 5, The above cam guide is, A refrigerator extending in a direction intersecting the axial direction of the hinge portion from one end of the shielding portion facing the movable member.
  8. In Paragraph 7, The above cam guide is, A refrigerator in which the surface in contact with the above-mentioned cam is formed as a curved or beveled surface.
  9. In paragraph 2, An elastic member is provided on one side of the shielding member, and The above elastic member is, A refrigerator that elastically supports the shielding member so that when the moving member moves from the second position to the first position, the shielding member returns to the space between the first magnet unit and the second magnet unit.
  10. In Paragraph 9, The above shielding member is, A hinge connecting portion extending from at least one of the shielding portion, the hinge portion, and the cam guide portion is formed, and The above elastic member is, A refrigerator comprising a torsion spring, wherein the first stage is supported by the second door and the second stage is supported by the hinge connection part.
  11. In any one of paragraphs 1 through 10, The first magnet unit is fixed to the first door, and the second magnet unit is fixed to the second door, and The first magnet unit and the second magnet unit are, A refrigerator arranged such that at least a portion of the first door and the second door overlap in the arrangement direction of the first door and the second door when the first door and the second door are in a locked state.
  12. In Paragraph 11, The cross-sectional area of the above shielding part is, A refrigerator formed such that the cross-sectional area of the first magnet unit and the second magnet unit facing each other is greater than or equal to the cross-sectional area of the two faces.
  13. In Paragraph 11, It further includes a door locking device that causes the first door and the second door to be locked or unlocked when the second door is closed, The above door locking device is, A first member linked to the above door opening device; and A refrigerator comprising a second member that rotates in conjunction with the first member and selectively engages or disengages from the first door.

Description

Refrigerator The present invention relates to a refrigerator, and more particularly to an automatic opening device for a refrigerator door. Generally, a refrigerator may include a cabinet equipped with a storage compartment and a door for opening and closing the storage compartment. The storage room is surrounded by insulating walls so that the interior of the storage room maintains a lower temperature than the exterior, and the storage room can be divided into a refrigerator and/or a freezer depending on the temperature range of the storage room. The door is rotatably mounted on the cabinet, and a gasket may be provided between the door and the cabinet. Accordingly, when the door is closed, the gasket is tightly sealed between the door and the cabinet, preventing cold air from leaking from the storage compartment. The greater the sealing force of this gasket, the better the effect of preventing cold air leakage. Typically, to increase the sealing force of the gasket, it may be formed from a rubber magnet or equipped with a magnet inside the gasket. However, if the sealing force of the gasket is increased, a correspondingly greater force is required to open the door. Accordingly, refrigerators equipped with an automatic door opening function are being developed recently. Prior art Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2018-0119027 (Publication date: Nov. 01, 2018) discloses a refrigerator having a door opening device. The door of the refrigerator disclosed in the prior art consists of an inner door that is in close contact with the front of the cabinet and an outer door that is positioned in front of the inner door, and a door opening device is provided in the cabinet and configured to push the inner door open. However, the refrigerator disclosed in the prior art has a disadvantage in that it cannot automatically open the outer door because the outer door opens together with the inner door when the inner door is opened. Furthermore, in the refrigerator disclosed in the prior art, since the door opening device is provided in the cabinet, in order to open the outer door using the door opening device, it must be possible to open the outer door while avoiding interference with the inner door. This results in the disadvantage that not only is the length of the door opening device increased, but the structure of the door opening device also becomes complex. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the refrigerator door in a closed state in a refrigerator according to the present embodiment. FIG. 2 is a front view showing the second door of the refrigerator compartment door in an open state in a refrigerator according to the present embodiment. FIG. 3 is a front view showing the first door and the second door of the refrigerator compartment door in an open state in a refrigerator according to the present embodiment. FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the first door and the second door in a refrigerator according to the present embodiment when the door locking device is in the locked position. FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a lower part of the first door in a refrigerator according to the present embodiment. FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a door opening device built into the second door of a refrigerator according to the present embodiment. FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a part of the door opening device in FIG. 6 disassembled. FIGS. 8A and FIGS. 8B are schematic perspective views of a door opening device and a door locking device according to the present embodiment, where FIG. 8A is a view taken from the inside of the second door and FIG. 8B is a view taken from the outside of the second door. FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing a shielding member in a door opening device according to the present embodiment. FIGS. 10A and FIGS. 10B are the top and bottom views of FIG. 9. FIG. 11 is a control block diagram of a refrigerator according to the present embodiment. FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing the operation of a door opening device and a door locking device in stages according to the travel distance of a first moving member according to the present embodiment. FIGS. 13A to 13C are plan views showing the door opening process of the door opening device according to the present embodiment in steps. Hereinafter, a refrigerator according to the present invention will be described in detail based on an embodiment illustrated in the attached drawings. It should be noted that in assigning reference numerals to the components of each drawing, the same components are given the same reference numeral as much as possible, even if they are shown in different drawings. In addition, when describing embodiments of the present invention, if it is determined that a detailed description of related known configurations or functions would hinder understanding of the embodiments of the present invention, such detailed description is omitted. In this specification, the front of the second door is a surface that forms the fro