Patent Application
20170343276
This application is based on and claims priority from Korean Patent Application No. 10-2016-0067373, filed on May 31, 2016, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference for all purposes.
Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to refrigerators.
A refrigerator is an appliance used for storing food or other times at low temperature, e.g., in a frozen state or refrigerated. The inside of the refrigerator is cooled by circulating cold air that can be continuously generated through a heat exchange process by using a refrigerant. During operation, the refrigerant goes through repetitive cycles of compression, condensation, expansion and evaporation in a heat exchanger.
Typically the storage space in the refrigerator is divided into a refrigeration compartment and a freezer. A refrigeration compartment or a freezer may be divided into a plurality of rooms by a rack.
Conventionally, a rack in a refrigerator is inserted into guide rails protruding from the inner sidewalls of the refrigeration compartment or the freezer. In this configuration, the dimensions of the divided rooms are unfortunately limited by the predetermined height of the guide rails.
Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a rack structure operable to be mounted to a refrigerator in various positions and accordingly to divide a storage compartment of the refrigerator into various configurations. Thus, the rack structure enables easy adjustment of spatial division of a storage compartment.
The present disclosure provides the refrigerator comprising: a main body including a storage compartment; guide rails protruding toward each other from inner sidewalls of the storage compartment; and a rack seated on the guide rails and configured to partition the storage compartment into a plurality of regions, wherein the rack is provided with at least one support part for enabling the rack to sit on the guide rails at different heights.
Further, the rack includes a plate member configured to partition the storage compartment into a plurality of regions and support parts disposed at opposite lateral ends of the plate member and operable to be seated on the guide rails.
Further, each of the support parts includes a first seating portion coupled to the plate member and a second seating portion disposed on a lower surface of the first seating portion.
Further, the second seating portion includes an extension wall portion extending from a lower surface of the first seating portion and a bent portion bent outward from an end of the extension wall portion in a direction parallel to the first seating portion.
Further, each of the first seating portion and the second seating portion includes a seating projection, and each of the guide rails includes a recess formed on an upper surface of each of the guide rails and inwardly depressed in a shape that corresponds to a contour of the seating projection so that the seating projection can be inserted into and coupled to the recess.
Further, the seating projection includes a first seating projection protruding from a lower surface of the first seating portion, a second seating projection protruding from an upper surface of the bent portion of the second seating portion, and a third seating projection protruding from a lower surface of the second seating portion.
Further, the first seating projection, the second seating projection and the third seating projection are formed in the same or similar shape.
Further, one of the first seating projection, the second seating projection and the third seating projection is selectively inserted into the recess.
In the following detailed description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof. The illustrative embodiments described in the detailed description, drawings, and claims are not meant to be limiting. Other embodiments may be utilized, and other changes may be made, without departing from the spirit or scope of the subject matter presented here.
One or more exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which one or more exemplary embodiments of the disclosure can be easily determined by those skilled in the art. As those skilled in the art will realize, the described exemplary embodiments may be modified in various different ways, all without departing from the spirit or scope of the present disclosure, which is not limited to the exemplary embodiments described herein.
It is noted that the drawings are schematic and are not necessarily illustrated to scale. Relative sizes and proportions of parts in the drawings may be exaggerated or reduced in size, and a predetermined size is merely exemplary and not limiting. The same reference numerals designate the same structures, elements, or parts illustrated in two or more drawings in order to exhibit similar characteristics.
The exemplary drawings of the present disclosure illustrate ideal exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure in more detail. As a result, various modifications of the drawings are expected. Accordingly, the exemplary embodiments are not limited to a specific form of the illustrated region, and for example, may include modification of form due to manufacturing.
Preferred embodiments of the present disclosure are described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Referring to
In this regard, the refrigerator 1 according to one embodiment of the present disclosure may be of any type that is well known in the art, such as a top-mount-type refrigerator, a bottom-freeze-type refrigerator, and etc.
The storage compartment S may be disposed in the main body 110 of the refrigerator 1. The storage compartment S may be divided into a plurality of storage regions, e.g., by a rack 200.
The rack 200 may sit on guide rails 130 that protrude horizontally from the inner sidewalls of the storage compartment S. As shown, the rack 200 may divide the storage compartment S into a lower region and an upper region.
The rack 200 can be inserted along the guide rails 130 by a user. After installation, the rack is seated on the upper surfaces of the guide rails 130.
Hereinafter, the configuration of the exemplary rack in the refrigerator 1 according to one embodiment of the present disclosure is described with reference to
Referring further to
After being installed, the plate member 210 horizontally extends across the storage compartment S and generally divides the storage compartment S into an upper region and a lower region. The plate member 210 may be manufactured by, for example, injection-molding a resin material.
The support parts 220 may be affixed to the plate member 210. The support parts 220 can sit on the guide rails 130 protruding from the inner sidewalls of the storage compartment S. The support parts 220 may be disposed at the opposite lateral ends of the plate member 210.
Each of the support parts 220 may include a first seating portion 221 and a second seating portion 222 of different height positions. The first seating portion 221 and the second seating portion 222 may have seating projections 223.
The first seating portion 221 may be coupled to each of the opposite lateral ends of the plate member 210. A first seating projection 223a may be disposed on the lower surface of the first seating portion 221 and protrude downward in a thickness direction (vertically). A recess 131 may be disposed on the upper surface of each of the guide rails 130. The recess 131 is depressed inward and has a shape conformal to the shape of the first seating projection 223a. Thus, during installation, the first seating portion 221 may slide along each of the guide rails 130 and eventually sit on the upper surface of each of the guide rails 130.
When the first seating portion 221 sits on the upper surface of each of the guide rails 130, the first seating projection 223a may be in a state of being inserted into the recess 131. The term “thickness direction” used herein may refer to an up-down (vertical) direction in
The second seating portion 222 may be disposed on the lower surface of the first seating portion 221. The second seating portion 222 may protrude downward along the thickness direction from the lower surface of the first seating portion 221. The second seating portion 222 may be integrally manufactured with the first seating portion 221, e.g., may be simultaneously injection-molded with the first seating portion 221. Alternatively, the second seating portion 222 may be manufactured as a separate component from the first seating portion 221. The second seating portion 222 may be affixed to the first seating portion 221 in any suitable manner that is well known in the art, such as bonding, mechanical coupling and the like.
The second seating portion 222 may extend from the lower surface of the first seating portion 221. For example, the second seating portion 222 may include an extension wall portion 222a extending downward along the thickness direction from the lower surface of the first seating portion 221. The second seating portion 222 may also include a bent portion 222b bent outward from a lower end of the extension wall portion 222a in parallel with the first seating portion 221.
The extension wall portion 222a may serve as a spacer between the first seating portion 221 and the bent portion 222b of the second seating portion 222 in the thickness direction. The bent portion 222b may be formed by bending the end portion of the extension wall portion 222a. The end of the bent portion 222b and the end of the first seating portion 221 may be aligned along the thickness direction. In other words, the longitudinal distance from the end of the first seating portion 221 at one side of the plate member 210 to the first seating portion 221 provided at the other end of the plate member 210 may equal the longitudinal distance from the end of the bent portion 222b disposed at one side of the plate member 210 to the bent portion 222b disposed at the other side of the plate member 210. The term “longitudinal” used herein may refer to the left-right direction in
Seating projections 223 may be disposed in the bent portion 222b. For example, a second seating projection 223b may be disposed on the upper surface of the bent portion 222b and a third seating projection 223c may be disposed on the lower surface of the bent portion 222b. In this case, the second seating projection 223b and the third seating projection 223c may have substantially the same shape. The first seating projection 223a, the second seating projection 223b and the third seating projection 223c may be aligned along the thickness direction.
The second seating portion 222 may sit on each of the guide rails 130. For example, the bent portion 222b of the second seating portion 222 may sit on the upper surface of each of the guide rails 130. In this case, the recess 131 may be disposed in each of the guide rails 130. When the bent portion 222b sits on each of the guide rails 130, the second seating projection 223b or the third seating projection 223c may fit in the recess 131.
As described above, the rack 200 according to one embodiment of the present disclosure includes the first seating portion 221 and the second seating portion 222. It can advantageously partition the storage compartment S into a plurality of regions in various partition configurations using one rack 200. Hereinafter, different examples in which the rack 200 is coupled to the refrigerator 1 according to one embodiment of the present disclosure are described with reference to
Referring first to
Referring to
Referring to
As described above, in the refrigerator 1, one of the first to third seating projections 223a, 223b and 223c may be selected for coupling to the recess 131 of each of the guide rails 130. The storage compartment S may be partitioned into a plurality of spaces with different sizes depending on which of the seating projections 223 is coupled.
In the refrigerator 1, the rack 200 includes the support parts 220 that each includes the first seating portion 221 and the second seating portion 222 with different heights. The storage compartment S can be divided into different spatial configurations according to various needs of users.
From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that various embodiments of the present disclosure have been described herein for purposes of illustration, and that various modifications may be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the present disclosure. The exemplary embodiments disclosed in the specification of the present disclosure do not limit the present disclosure. The scope of the present disclosure will be interpreted by the claims below, and it will be construed that all techniques within the scope equivalent thereto belong to the scope of the present disclosure.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10-2016-0067373 | May 2016 | KR | national |
