The subject matter of the present disclosure relates generally to appliances having a cabinet and a door. For example, such appliances may include refrigerator appliances.
Refrigerator appliances generally include a cabinet that defines one or more chilled chambers for receipt of food items for storage. One or more insulated, sealing doors are provided for selectively enclosing the chilled food storage chamber(s). Generally, the door(s) are movable between a closed position and an open position for accessing food items stored therein by pulling on the door(s), such as by pulling on a handle on the door.
In some instances, for example, when a user's hands are full of groceries to load into the refrigerator or are covered in raw food ingredients from cooking, etc., a user may prefer to open the door without having to grasp the door, or a part of the door such as the handle, in the user's hand. In particular, a user may prefer to nudge or push on the door to open the door.
Accordingly, a refrigerator having an improved means for opening a door thereof would be useful. In particular, a refrigerator appliance having a means for automatically opening a door thereof would be desirable.
Aspects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the following description, or may be apparent from the description, or may be learned through practice of the invention.
In a first exemplary embodiment, a refrigerator appliance is provided. The refrigerator appliance defines a vertical direction, a lateral direction, and a transverse direction. The vertical, lateral, and transverse directions are mutually perpendicular. The refrigerator appliance includes a cabinet defining a food storage chamber. The food storage chamber extends between a front portion and a back portion along the transverse direction. The front portion of the food storage chamber defines an opening for receipt of food items. A door is positioned at the front portion of the food storage chamber and is movable between a closed position and an open position. The door thus selectively sealingly encloses the food storage chamber in the closed position and provides access to the food storage chamber in the open position. A door opener is attached to the cabinet. The door opener includes a casing, a push screw extending through the casing towards the door and a motor in operative communication with the push screw. The motor is configured to move the push screw when the motor is activated. The motor rotates a drive gear when the motor is activated and the push screw reciprocates generally along the transverse direction when the motor is activated. The motor rotates the drive gear in a single direction while the push screw reciprocates generally along the transverse direction.
In a second exemplary embodiment, a refrigerator appliance is provided. The refrigerator appliance defines a vertical direction, a lateral direction, and a transverse direction. The vertical, lateral, and transverse directions are mutually perpendicular. The refrigerator appliance includes a cabinet defining a food storage chamber. The food storage chamber extends between a front portion and a back portion along the transverse direction. The front portion of the food storage chamber defines an opening for receipt of food items. A door is positioned at the front portion of the food storage chamber and is movable between a closed position and an open position. The door thus selectively sealingly encloses the food storage chamber in the closed position and provides access to the food storage chamber in the open position. A door opener is attached to the cabinet. The door opener includes a casing, a push screw extending through the casing towards the door and a motor in operative communication with the push screw. The motor is configured to move the push screw when the motor is activated. The motor rotates a drive gear when the motor is activated and the push screw reciprocates generally along the transverse direction when the motor is activated. The motor rotates the drive gear continuously while the push screw reciprocates generally along the transverse direction.
These and other features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the following description and appended claims. The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.
A full and enabling disclosure of the present invention, including the best mode thereof, directed to one of ordinary skill in the art, is set forth in the specification, which makes reference to the appended figures.
Repeat use of reference characters in the present specification and drawings is intended to represent the same or analogous features or elements of the present invention.
Reference now will be made in detail to embodiments of the invention, one or more examples of which are illustrated in the drawings. The detailed description uses numerical and letter designations to refer to features in the drawings. Like or similar designations in the drawings and description have been used to refer to like or similar parts of the disclosure. Each example is provided by way of explanation of the invention, not limitation of the invention. In fact, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. For instance, features illustrated or described as part of one embodiment can be used with another embodiment to yield a still further embodiment. Thus, it is intended that the present invention covers such modifications and variations as come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.
As used herein, the terms “first,” “second,” and “third” may be used interchangeably to distinguish one component from another and are not intended to signify location or importance of the individual components. Terms such as “left,” “right,” “front,” “back,” “top,” or “bottom” are used with reference to the perspective of a user accessing the refrigerator appliance. For example, a user stands in front of the refrigerator to open the door(s) and reaches into the food storage chamber(s) to access items therein.
As used herein, terms of approximation, such as “generally,” or “about” include values within ten percent greater or less than the stated value. When used in the context of an angle or direction, such terms include within ten degrees greater or less than the stated angle or direction. For example, “generally vertical” includes directions within ten degrees of vertical in any direction, e.g., clockwise or counter-clockwise.
As illustrated in
Refrigerator appliance 100 defines a vertical direction V, a lateral direction L, and a transverse direction T (
Refrigerator door 124 is rotatably mounted, e.g., hinged, to an edge of cabinet 120 for selectively accessing the fresh food storage chamber 122 within the cabinet 120. Refrigerator door 124 may be mounted to the cabinet 120 at or near the front portion 134 of the food storage chamber 122 such that the door 124 moves, e.g., rotates via hinges 126, between the closed position (
As shown for example in
As depicted, cabinet 120 defines a single chilled chamber 122 for receipt of food items for storage. In the present example, the single chilled chamber 122 is a fresh food chamber 122. In some embodiments, the chilled chamber may be a freezer chamber and/or the refrigerator appliance 100 may include one or more additional chilled chambers for receipt of various food items and storage of such items at various temperatures as desired. For example, the refrigerator appliance 100 may include one or more chilled chambers configured for deep freeze (e.g., at about 0° F. or less) storage, or configured for chilling, e.g., produce or wine, at relatively warmer temperatures such as about 60° F. or more (while still below room temperature, as noted above), as well as any suitable temperatures between the stated examples. In various exemplary embodiments, the chilled chamber 122 may be selectively operable at any number of various temperatures and/or temperature ranges as desired or required per application, and/or the refrigerator appliance 100 may include one or more additional chambers selectively operable at any suitable food storage temperature.
The illustrated exemplary refrigerator appliance 100 is generally referred to as a single-door or single-purpose refrigerator, sometimes also referred to as a column refrigerator. It is recognized, however, that the benefits of the present disclosure apply to other types and styles of refrigerators such as, for example, a bottom mount refrigerator, a top mount refrigerator, a side-by-side style refrigerator, or a freezer appliance. Consequently, the description set forth herein is for illustrative purposes only and is not intended to be limiting in any aspect to a particular refrigerator chamber configuration. Additionally, door openers as described herein may be useful in other types of appliances such as microwave oven appliances, clothes washer/dryer appliances, etc., and/or other contexts wherever the disclosed features may be desired.
As may be seen in
The casing 202 of the door opener 200 may be fixedly mounted to the cabinet 120, e.g., via mechanical fasteners. The casing 202 may be fixedly mounted to the cabinet 120 in that the casing 202 is not movable relative to the cabinet 120 during the ordinary and intended operation of the refrigerator appliance 100 (including the door opener 200 thereof). The door opener 200 also includes a push screw 206 which includes a front portion or rod portion 210 and a threaded middle portion 208. As will be described in more detail below, the push screw 206 is movable relative to the casing 202 of the door opener 200 and relative to the cabinet 120 of the refrigerator appliance 100.
The push screw 206 may also include a back portion 250 having guide elements defined thereon. For example, the guide elements may constrain the push screw 206 against rotation about the transverse direction T, whereby the push screw 206 may translate generally along the transverse direction T (described further below) with little or no twisting or rotation about the transverse direction T. In various embodiments, the guide elements may include one or more slots 252 (e.g.,
In some embodiments, the push screw 206 may include a tip 212 (see, e.g.,
The push screw 206 may be biased forwards (e.g., towards front 108) along the transverse direction T by a protective spring 232. For example, the protective spring 232 may provide resiliency in the event that the door 124 is closed while the door opener 200 is in the extended position, e.g., the protective spring 232 may permit the push screw 206 and slip yoke 240 to deflect backwards (e.g., towards rear 110) while the spring 232 absorbs the force from the door 124 when the door 124 is closed while the door opener 200 is in the extended position.
The door opener 200 may be self-reversing or automatically reversing. For example, the push screw 206 may reciprocate, e.g., move back and forth between and including the zero position and the extended position, generally along transverse direction T. In at least some embodiments, such reciprocal motion may be driven by a motor 214, e.g., the motor 214 may rotate a drive gear 216 and such rotation may be transferred to the push screw 206 in a manner that causes the push screw 206 to translate linearly, e.g., back and forth between and including the zero position and the extended position, as will be described in more detail below. Such reciprocation may include, for example, the push screw 206 moving in a first direction, e.g., forwards, such as towards front 108, along the transverse direction T from the zero position to the extended position followed by moving in a second direction generally opposite the first direction (such as generally 180° away from the first direction), e.g., backwards, such as towards rear 110, along the transverse direction T from the extended position to the zero position. For example, in some embodiments the motor 214 may rotate the drive gear 216 in a single direction while the push screw 206 reciprocates generally along the transverse direction T. As another example, in at least some embodiments the motor 214 may rotate the drive gear 216 continuously while the push screw 206 reciprocates generally along the transverse direction T. Further, in some embodiments, the drive gear 216 may rotate both continuously and in a single direction (e.g., clockwise or counterclockwise). Such continuous rotation of the drive gear 216 by the motor 214 is not necessarily at a single speed, e.g., the rotation may speed up or slow down, but may still be considered continuous as the rotation speed is greater than zero throughout the linear range of motion of the push screw 206, e.g., generally along the transverse direction T, such as from the zero position to the extended position and back to the zero position again. Thus, such continuous and/or unidirectional rotation of the drive gear 216 (which may be transferred to the push screw 206 via one or more intervening elements, e.g., gears and a guide blade, as described in more detail below) causes the push screw 206 to move back and forth, e.g., in the first direction and the opposing second direction as described above. Thus, for example, the push screw 206 may be self-reversing at least in that the push screw 206 moves in two opposing directions without the motor 214 stopping and/or without the motor 214 changing a direction of rotation of the motor 214 and/or drive gear 216.
As may be seen throughout
Referring still to
Referring now specifically to
As may be seen in
As mentioned above, the slip yoke 240 rotates around the push screw 206 when the motor 214 is activated, e.g., when the slip yoke 240 rotates along the circumferential direction. Also as mentioned above, the guide blade 262 is captured within the slip yoke 240, e.g., such that the guide blade 262 is inhibited from linearly translating along the radial direction towards or away from the longitudinal axis 300 of the push screw 206, and the guide blade 262 also rotates with the slip yoke 240 about the push screw 206 along the circumferential direction when the motor 214 is activated. The guide blade 262 may also be pivotal within the slip yoke 204, e.g., within the recess 264 thereof, such as the guide blade 262 may pivot generally about the radial direction. Thus, the guide blade 262 may contact and engage with the helical thread, such as at least the crest 268 thereof, of the push screw 206 while the slip yoke 240 rotates around the push screw 206, and the guide blade 262 may, as a result of such engagement, urge the push screw 206 to reciprocate, e.g., forward and backwards, along the transverse direction T. Further, the rate of travel of the push screw 206 may be proportional to the pitch 304 of the thread. For example, the push screw 206 may travel faster when the guide blade 262 traverses the steeper pitched middle portion of the helical thread and slower when the guide blade travels through one of the shallower pitched end portions of the helical thread. Thus, the door opener 200 may thereby have a brief dwell time at one or both of the zero position and the fully extended position. For example, dwelling in the fully extended position may provide a user an opportunity to grasp the door 124 and pull the door 124 the rest of the way open, e.g., from a partially open position to a fully open position. Such dwell time or times at one or both extremes of the transverse range of movement of the push screw 206 may also or instead be provided by altering, e.g., slowing to a non-zero value and/or stopping, the speed of the motor 214.
An exemplary guide blade 262 is illustrated in a perspective view in
The guide blade 262 may be constructed of any suitable low-friction material. For example, the guide blade 262 may comprise a low-friction polymeric (e.g., plastic) material, such as acetal plastic or nylon material.
This written description uses examples to disclose the invention, including the best mode, and also to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the invention, including making and using any devices or systems and performing any incorporated methods. The patentable scope of the invention is defined by the claims, and may include other examples that occur to those skilled in the art. Such other examples are intended to be within the scope of the claims if they include structural elements that do not differ from the literal language of the claims, or if they include equivalent structural elements with insubstantial differences from the literal languages of the claims.
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Number | Date | Country |
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Entry |
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English translation for DE-102019128526-B3 (Year: 2021). |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20230258037 A1 | Aug 2023 | US |