This application claims the priority, under 35 U.S.C. ยง 119, of Chinese Patent Application CN 202010384556.0, filed May 8, 2020; the prior application is herewith incorporated by reference in its entirety.
Embodiments of the present invention relate to the field of the refrigerating appliance, and in particular, to a refrigerator and a beam for the refrigerator.
Multi-door refrigerators are generally provided with a rotatable beam for sealing on a door body to prevent leakage of cold air from a gap between two door bodies. However, if relatively big manufacturing tolerance or assembly tolerance occur, after two door bodies are closed, a relatively big gap can be formed between an end portion of the beam and an inner wall of a refrigerator liner. The thermal insulation property can be influenced, and condensation can be easily generated at a door seal in the gap, when the refrigerator is in use.
One of objectives of embodiments of the present invention is to provide an improved refrigerator and a beam for the refrigerator, and in particular, to effectively improve at least one of the above technical problems.
In one aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a refrigerator, including a storage compartment, the storage compartment having an inner wall; a first door and a second door for closing the storage compartment; and a beam rotatably disposed on the first door. The beam includes an accommodating space for accommodating heat-insulation material. The beam includes an air blocking member located at an end portion of the beam, and when the first door is closed, the air blocking member is located between the end portion and the inner wall.
The air blocking member is beneficial to reducing the flow of cold air of the storage compartment from between an end portion of the beam and the inner wall of the storage compartment opposite to the end portion of the beam toward a door, and is further beneficial to reducing an exchange of heat and cold between inside and outside of the storage compartment, and also helps to reduce possibility of condensation generation.
Optionally, the air blocking member may include an air blocking portion, and the air blocking portion may have at least a cavity located between the end portion and the inner wall. Thermal insulation property of the air blocking member is enhanced through a space of the cavity, thereby enhancing the performance of the refrigerator.
Optionally, the cavity and the accommodating space are independent of each other.
Optionally, the air blocking member may include a flexible cavity wall forming the cavities. The flexible cavity wall allows the air blocking member to deform, which helps to reduce the possibility of damage, for example, the refrigerator door or beam cannot be closed, caused by the air blocking member interfering with the refrigerator body of the refrigerator.
Optionally, the cavity walls are made of elastic materials. This not only helps increase a degree of deformability of the cavity walls, but also protect the cavity walls and the refrigerator body from being damaged, even if the air blocking portion interferes with the refrigerator body when the refrigerator is in use.
Optionally, when the first door is closed, the cavity may be non-open along a depth direction of the storage compartment.
Optionally, the cavity may be closed, the closed cavity has better heat-insulation effect, and may achieve better heat-insulation effect through gas (e.g., air) in the cavity body.
Optionally, when the cavity is a closed cavity, the cavity may be filled with inert gases. Optionally, the cavity may be disposed as a constant section that extends upward along a width direction of the beam. This helps improve a constancy of a property of the air blocking member along the width direction of the beam, and this also provides a possibility that the air blocking portion may be mass-produced by an integral molding process.
Optionally, when the first door is closed, ratio of width or a sum of the widths of the at least one cavity along the depth direction of the storage compartment to a thickness of the beam along the depth direction of the storage compartment is not less than 1:2. This helps significantly improve thermal insulation property of the air blocking member, and also helps reduce the possibility of condensation generation in the refrigerator.
Optionally, the air blocking portion may include at least two cavities. The at least two cavities are disposed front and back along the depth direction of the storage compartment when the first door is closed. A plurality of cavities along the depth direction of the storage compartment reduce a heat exchange rate, which helps improve the heat insulation effect of the air blocking portion.
Optionally, the air blocking portion include an end surface facing toward the inner wall when the first door is closed, where the end surface may be flat.
Optionally, the end surface of the air blocking member is parallel to a surface of the inner wall. In this way, it is beneficial to perform control to keep a relatively constant gap between the air blocking portion and the inner wall, and it is expected to improve the thermal insulation property of the air blocking portion when ensuring the gap between the air blocking portion and the inner wall.
Optionally, the air blocking member may include at least two cavities and a partition wall partitioning the adjacent cavities, and at least one end of the partition wall is connected to a cavity wall forming an outer surface of the air blocking member. The partition wall is beneficial to stabilizing a shape of the cavity, and is beneficial to a mass production of an air blocking member including a plurality of cavities.
Optionally, a thickness of the partition wall may be set to be less than a thickness of the cavity wall forming the outer surface of the air blocking member.
Optionally, the thickness of the partition wall is not greater than two-thirds of the thickness of the cavity wall forming the outer surface of the air blocking member. Such a thickness design is beneficial to improving a flatness of the cavity wall of the air blocking member, and is relatively conducive to the deformability of the air blocking portion.
Optionally, the air blocking member may include at least two partition walls, and the partition walls are disposed front and back along the depth direction of the storage compartment and parallel to each other when the first door is closed. A plurality of cavities disposed front and back along the depth direction of the storage compartment and parallel to each other are formed through the partition walls, and it is beneficial to reducing a heat exchange rate between the cold air in the storage compartment and the outside, improving the heat insulation effect of the air blocking portion.
Optionally, the air blocking member may include a rigid fixing portion coupled to the end portion of the beam.
Optionally, the fixing portion may be formed as a part of the cavity wall of the cavity.
Optionally, the fixing portion may be plate-shaped, and/or the air blocking portion may be flat. In this way, it helps to make it possible to still ensure the thermal insulation property of the air blocking member in the depth direction of the storage compartment when reducing a size of the air blocking member along a length direction of the beam.
Optionally, the air blocking portion may include a neck portion extending from one side surface of the fixing portion, and a main body portion forming the cavity extending from the neck portion to a front wall and/or a back wall of the beam. In this way, it helps increase a size of the air blocking member in the depth direction of the storage compartment, thereby improving the thermal insulation property of the air blocking member.
Optionally, an end wall of the end portion may have a groove located outside the accommodating space, the groove is open toward the inner wall, and the air blocking member includes a fixing portion accommodated in the groove.
Optionally, the air blocking portion may be affixed to a bottom wall of the groove.
Optionally, the fixing portion may be inserted and/or affixed to an end portion of the beam. Optionally, the groove may be formed as a T-shaped cross section.
Optionally, the air blocking member may include the neck portion passing through the groove. Maximizing the air blocking portion helps to improve the thermal insulation property of the air blocking member when a distance between the beam and the inner wall is limited.
Optionally, the beam may include a first housing portion and a second housing portion, the first housing portion and the second housing portion are connected to define the accommodating space, and at least a part of the groove is located between the first housing portion and the second housing portion.
Optionally, the bottom wall of the groove may be formed by only one of the first housing portion and the second housing portion.
Optionally, the first housing portion includes a first receiving portion and the second housing portion includes a second receiving portion. When the first housing portion is connected to the second housing portion, at least parts of the first receiving portion and the second receiving portion are overlapped to form the groove. A first gap exists between the overlapped parts in a length direction of the beam, and at least a part of the fixing portions is disposed in the first gap.
Optionally, there may be a second gap between the air blocking member and the inner wall. This helps to prevent or reduce the interference of the beam with the refrigerator body when the refrigerator is in use.
Optionally, the second gap is not less than 1 mm. In addition, it is conducive to safeguard the heat-insulation effect of the air blocking member, and the second gap is preferably not greater than 5 mm. For example, the second gap is between 2 mm and 3 mm.
Optionally, a side of the fixing portion away from the air blocking portion may be affixed to a part of the beam.
Optionally, the fixing portion may be provided with a plugging portion with an inclined outer surface, the plugging portion is inserted to the groove, and the inner wall of the groove is provided with an inner wall surface that is fit to the outer surface in an inclining manner. This facilitates an installation of the fixing portion.
Optionally, the fixing portion and the air blocking portion may be made of different materials.
Optionally, the fixing portion and the air blocking portion may be integrally formed, for example, a soft and rigid co-extrusion integral molding process.
Optionally, the refrigerator further includes a guiding member, the guiding member guiding the beam to flip over when the first door is opened or closed.
Optionally, the beam may further include a front panel, the air blocking member and the front panel being coupled to the beam in a non-contacting manner. This helps to reduce the air blocking member to exchange heat with the front panel or heating components in the front panel.
Optionally, one end of the air blocking portion near the front wall of the beam does not extend beyond the front wall to prevent the beam from interfering with a side surface of the door body when the beam rotates.
Another aspect of the embodiments of the present invention relates to a beam for a refrigerator. The beam may be rotatably coupled to a door of the refrigerator, and is characterized in that the beam includes: a housing, the housing including an accommodating space for accommodating heat-insulation material, and an air blocking member attached to an end portion of the housing.
In this way, the flow of the cold air in the storage compartment from between the beam and an inner wall of the storage compartment toward a refrigerator door and a heat-exchange with the outside may be reduced, thereby reducing the possibility of condensation generation in the refrigerator.
Optionally, the air blocking member includes an air blocking portion, the air blocking portion has at least a cavity located between an end portion and the inner wall, and the cavity and the accommodating space are independent of each other.
Optionally, the air blocking member may include a fixing portion attached to the housing and a flexible air blocking portion located outside the housing.
Optionally, the end portion of the housing may have a groove located outside the accommodating space, the groove being open toward the inner wall of the refrigerator, and the air blocking member including a fixing portion accommodated in the groove.
Other features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in the appended claims.
Although the invention is illustrated and described herein as embodied in a refrigerator and a beam for the refrigerator, it is nevertheless not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention and within the scope and range of equivalents of the claims.
The construction and method of operation of the invention, however, together with additional objects and advantages thereof will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.
To make the above objects, features and advantages of the present invention easier to understood, specific embodiments of the present invention will be explained in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings, but not used to limit the scope of the present invention.
Referring now to the figures of the drawings in detail and first, particularly to
The refrigerator 100 includes a first door 107 and a second door 108 for closing the storage compartment 102.
A rotable beam 105 is disposed between the first door 107 and the second door 108 that are used for closing the storage compartment 102. When the first door 107 and the second door 108 are closed, the beam 105 is concatenated to sealing strips 112 of the first door 107 and the second door 108, and a gap between the first door 107 and the second door 108 is sealed.
The beam 105 may be rotatably attached to the first door 107. When the first door 107 is opened from a closed position or closed from an open position, the beam 105 rotates relative to the first door 107 by a guiding mechanism 106 between the beam 105 and the refrigerator body 101.
Optionally, the guiding mechanism 106 may include a guiding member located at one end of the beam 105 and a matching guiding portion located in the refrigerator body 101. The matching guiding portion may be located on an inner wall opposite to the other end of the beam.
The beam 105 may include a housing 300, the housing 300 including an accommodating space 109 for accommodating heat-insulation material 110.
The beam 105 may include an air blocking member 201a located on an end portion 111. When the first door is closed, the air blocking member 201a is located between the end portion 111 and the inner wall 103 of the beam 105.
In a state of use, the air blocking member 201a may reduce a flow of cold air in the storage compartment 102 from between the end portion 111 of the beam 105 and the inner wall 103 opposite the end portion 111 toward the doors 107, 108 of the refrigerator 100, thereby reducing the heat exchange of cold air with outside. This also helps to reduce the possibility of condensation generation.
The air blocking portion 206a includes a cavity wall 203a that forms the cavity. In an embodiment of the present invention, the cavity wall 203a can be flexible. In this way, when a door body sinks beyond a design value, it is conducive for the flexible cavity wall 203a to be capable of deforming under an action of a very small force, thereby reducing the possibility of the air blocking portion 206a interfering with the refrigerator body and damaging. Preferably, the cavity wall 203a is made of an elastic material.
When the first door 107 is closed, a second gap n may exist between the air blocking member 201a and the inner wall 103. Therefore, the air blocking member 201a does not interfere with the refrigerator body 101, and the air blocking member 201a may have a greater design space for improving the thermal insulation property of the air blocking member 201a.
An end surface 205a of the air blocking portion 206a may be a plane.
At least a part of the cavity 202a is located outside the accommodating space 109. In the embodiment shown in
The cavity 202a and the accommodating space 109 may be independent of each other and do not communicate with each other. In this way, no impact is caused.
At least a part of the air blocking member 201a may adhere to the end portion 111 of the beam 105. A width of the cavity wall at the adhesion part may be greater than widths of the cavity wall of other parts. Certainly, the method that the air blocking member 201a and the beam 105 are fixed is not limited to adhesion.
The air blocking portion 206b includes a cavity 202b. The cavity 202b is formed by a cavity wall 203b extending from a side surface of the fixing portion 207b. In the embodiment shown in
When the first door 107 is closed, ratio of width or a sum of the widths of the cavity 202b of the air blocking member 201b along a depth direction D of the storage compartment 102 to a thickness of the beam along the depth direction D of the storage compartment 102 is greater than 1:2. This helps significantly improve thermal insulation property of the air blocking member 201b, and also helps reduce the possibility of condensation generation in the refrigerator 100.
The fixing portion 207b includes a plugging portion 210b. In the embodiment shown in
Certainly, a structure of the plugging portion 210b is not only limited to as shown in the embodiment of
The plugging portion 210b may be provided with an inclined surface 211b toward the air blocking portion. The inclined surface 211b facilitates the quick installation of the air blocking member 201b, and a combination of the plugging structure with limits (referring to
The air blocking member 201c may have the air blocking portion 206c, and the air blocking portion 206c may include a plurality of cavities 202c. The plurality of cavities 202c may be disposed front and back along a depth direction D of the storage compartment 102 when the first door 107 is closed. The plurality of cavities 202c disposed along the depth direction D of the storage compartment 102 reduces the rate of heat exchange between the cold air inside the storage compartment 102 and the outside, thereby improving the thermal insulation property of the air blocking portion 206c.
When the first door 107 is closed, ratio of widths or a sum of the widths of the cavity 202c of the air blocking member 201c along the depth direction D of the storage compartment 102 to a thickness of the beam 105 along the depth direction D of the storage compartment 102 may be greater than 1:2. This helps significantly improve thermal insulation property of the air blocking member 201c, and also helps reduce the possibility of condensation generation in the refrigerator 100.
The air blocking portion 206c includes a plurality of partition walls 204c partitioning the adjacent cavities 202c. At least an end of the partition wall 204c is connected to a cavity wall 203c forming the air blocking portion 206c. On the one hand, the air blocking portion 206c is separated into a plurality of cavities 202c that are not connected in the depth direction D of the storage compartment 102 by the partition wall 204c. On the other hand, the partition wall 204c facilitates maintaining a shape stability of the cavities 202c.
The plurality of partition walls 204c may extend along the width direction of the beam 105 and may have constant sections. This helps improve a constancy of a property of the air blocking member along the width direction of the beam, and this also provides a possibility that it is conducive for the partition walls 204c of the air blocking member 201c and the cavity walls 203c to be mass-produced by an integral molding process.
The plurality of partition walls 204c may be disposed front and back along the depth direction D of the storage compartment 102 when the first door 107 is closed. The plurality of partition walls 204c form the plurality of cavities 202c that are disposed front and back along the depth direction D of the storage compartment 102 and parallel to each other, which helps to reduce the rate of heat exchange and improve the heat-insulation effect of the air blocking portion 206c.
A thickness of the partition wall 204c may be less than a thickness of the cavity wall 203c forming an outer surface of the air blocking portion 206c. Preferably, ratio of the two is not greater than two thirds. Such a thickness design helps to improve a flatness of the cavity wall 203c of the air blocking member 201c, and is relatively conducive to the deformability of the air blocking portion 206c. The fixing portion 207c may form a part of the cavity wall of the cavity 202c. That the fixing portion 207c forms a part of the cavity wall 203c of the cavity 202c helps reduce an overall thickness of the air blocking member 201c.
In the embodiment shown in
The air blocking portion 206c may include a neck portion 208c extending from one side surface of the rigid fixing portion 207c, and a main body portion 209c forming the cavity 202c extending from the neck portion 208c toward a front wall 312 and a back wall 311 of the beam 105. This is conducive to maximize a height of the cavity 202c of the air blocking portion 206c, thereby improving the heat-insulation effect of the air blocking portion 206c.
The beam 105 may include a first housing portion 303 and a second housing portion 301, and the first housing portion 303 is connected to the second housing portion 301 to form an accommodating space 109 for accommodating heat-insulation material 110.
An end wall of the end portion 111 of the beam 105 may be provided with a groove 302 located outside the accommodating space 109, the groove 302 is open toward the inner wall 103, and at least a part of the fixing portion 207c may be accommodated in the groove 302. In the embodiment shown in
The first housing portion 303 may include a first receiving portion 305, and the second housing portion 301 includes a second receiving portion 304. When the first housing portion 303 is connected to the second housing portion 301, the first receiving portion 305 and the second receiving portion 304 are overlapped to form the groove 302, a first gap a exists between the overlapped parts in a length direction of the beam, and a plugging portion 210c of the fixing portions 207c is disposed in the first gap a. Such a groove limiting structure helps to simplify an installation process of the air blocking member.
In the embodiment shown in
The groove 302 may have a T-shaped cross-section, and the neck portion 208c passes through an opening of the groove 302. The neck portion 208c is adapted to a shape of the opening of the groove 302, thereby helping reduce an overall thickness of the air blocking member 201c.
An end of the air blocking portion 206c near the front wall 312 of the beam preferably does not extend beyond the front wall 312 to prevent the beam 105 from interfering with a side surface of the door body when the beam 105 rotates.
In the embodiment shown in
At the same time, the cavity 202c of the air blocking portion 206c is open in the width direction along the beam 105. In this way, it makes a molding process of the air blocking member 201c relatively simple and a cost relatively low.
However, in other embodiments of the present invention, the cavity 202a of the air blocking member 201a may be closed, and the closed cavity 202a is beneficial for improving the thermal insulation property of the air blocking member 201a. Furthermore, the closed cavity 201a may be filled with inert gases. In this way, the thermal insulation property of the air blocking member 202a is further improved.
In the embodiment in
Preferably, the second gap is not less than 1 mm. In addition, it is conducive to safeguard the heat-insulation effect of the air blocking member, and the second gap is preferably not greater than 5 mm.
A front panel 306 is disposed at the front wall 312 of the beam 105. An inner side of the front panel 306 may be provided with a heating member 307 to prevent condensation. The air blocking member 201c and the front panel 306 are coupled to the beam 105 in a non-contact manner, thereby facilitating a prevention of heat exchange between the air blocking member 201c and the front panel 306 or the heating member 307 in the front panel 306.
The air blocking member 201a, 201b, or 201c may be mass-produced by an integral molding process. The fixing portions 207b and 207c of the air blocking member 201b or 201c may be of different materials than the air blocking portion 206b or 206c. For example, the fixing portion 207 or 207c is made of ABS plastic and the air blocking portion 206b or 206c is made of rubber. In this case, soft and rigid co-extrusion molding process may be applied to mass produce.
According to the embodiment shown in
connecting the air blocking member 201c to the first housing portion 303; and
connecting the first housing portion 303 to the second housing portion 301.
In step 1, the connecting the air blocking member 201c to the first housing portion 303 may include adhering the air blocking member 201c to the first housing portion 303.
In step 1, the connecting the air blocking member 201c to the first housing portion 303 may include inserting a part (e.g., the plugging portion 210c) of the fixing portion 207c of the air blocking member 201c to the first receiving portion 305 located in the first housing portion.
In step 2, the connecting the first housing portion 303 to the second housing portion 301 may include covering another part of the fixing portion 207c of the air blocking member 201c by using a part of the first housing portion 303.
In an embodiment, the air blocking member 201c is connected to the first housing portion 303 to form a pre-assembled member to participate in assembling the beam. In other words, the step of connecting the air blocking member 201c to the first housing portion 303 precedes the step of matching an insulation material with the first housing portion 303.
At this point, it should be recognized by those skilled in the art that, although a plurality of exemplary embodiments of the present invention have been exhaustively shown and described herein, many other variations or modifications consistent with the principles of the present invention can still be directly determined or deduced from the disclosure of the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of the present invention should be understood and held to cover all such other variations or modifications.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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202010384556.0 | May 2020 | CN | national |