Door guide assembly and refrigerator having the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10168093-B2
Application number	US-201815958479-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 20, 2018
Priority date	Dec 3, 2015
Publication date	Jan 1, 2019
Grant date	Jan 1, 2019

Abstract

An integral door guide assembly is removably coupled in an opening of a door of a refrigerator and has an adjustable height. The refrigerator includes a first door rotatably connected to a front surface of a main body, and having an opening in which a plurality of door guide assemblies can be arranged, and a second door rotatably connected to a front surface of the first door. The door guide assembly includes a door guide, a guide removably fixed on both side walls of the opening, a moving unit removably coupled with both side walls of the door guide, guided by the guide to move in an up-down direction, a stopper coupled with the guide, and caught by or released from the catching projections to adjust a position of the moving unit and a latch configured to fix the stopper released from the catching projections.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A refrigerator, comprising:
a main body having a storage chamber;
a first door rotatably connected to a front surface of the main body, configured to open or close the storage chamber, and having an opening in which at least one door guide assembly is arranged; and
a second door rotatably connected to a front surface of the first door, and configured to open or close the opening,
wherein the door guide assembly includes:
a guide removably fixed on side walls of the opening, and including a catching portion having catching projections arranged in an up-down direction,
a door guide including an accommodating groove to accommodate the guide at side walls of the accommodating groove, and guided by the guide to move in the up-down direction,
a stopper disposed in an inside of the accommodating groove, and caught by or released from the catching projections to adjust a position of the door guide, and
a fixing rib disposed in the guide, and configured to fix the stopper released from the catching projections, if the door guide moves up to a top of the guide.

2. The refrigerator according to claim 1 , wherein the guide includes a guide rail configured to guide the door guide to move in the up-down direction, and
a fixing portion removably fixed at a protrusion disposed on the side walls of the opening.

3. The refrigerator according to claim 2 , wherein a guide portion guided along the guide rail, and stopper coupling portions with which the stopper is rotatably coupled are disposed in an inside of the accommodating groove.

4. The refrigerator according to claim 3 , wherein
the stopper includes a first stopper and a second stopper, and the stopper coupling portions include a first stopper coupling portion and a second stopper coupling portion,
the first stopper includes a first coupling hole rotatably coupled with the first stopper coupling portion and a first catching protrusion caught by or released from at least one of the catching projections, and
the second stopper includes a second coupling hole rotatably coupled with the second stopper coupling portion and a second catching protrusion caught by or released from at least one of the catching projections.

5. The refrigerator according to claim 4 , wherein
on an outer surface of the first coupling hole a first gear portion is provided,
on an outer surface of the second coupling hole a second gear portion is provided such that the first gear portion and the second gear portion are interlocked with each other, and
when the first stopper rotates on the first coupling hole, the second stopper rotates on the second coupling hole in a direction opposite of a direction in which the first stopper rotates.

6. The refrigerator according to claim 5 , wherein a stopper protrusion is disposed at least one of the first stopper and the second stopper adjacent to at least one of the first catching protrusion and the second catching protrusion in such a way as to protrude toward the guide.

7. The refrigerator according to claim 6 , wherein
the catching portion includes a pair of catching portions, and
wherein a rotation guide portion disposed above the plurality of catching projections and configured to guide the first stopper and the second stopper to rotate about the first coupling hole and the second coupling hole in the opposite direction of the direction toward the catching projections.

8. The refrigerator according to claim 7 ,
wherein the fixing rib includes a pair of fixing ribs provided between the first coupling hole and the catching portion adjacent to the first coupling hole and between the second coupling hole and the catching portion adjacent to the second coupling hole, and
wherein the stopper protrusion of the stopper guided by the rotation guide and escaped from the catching projection is fixed by the pair of the fixing ribs fixes.

9. The refrigerator according to claim 8 , if the door guide moves upward, the guide portion moves upward along the guide rail, and the door guide moved upward is caught by or released from the catching projections so that a position of the door guide is adjusted by the stopper.

10. The refrigerator according to claim 9 , wherein if the door guide is moved upward and released from a position adjusted by the plurality of catching projections, the first stopper and the second stopper are rotated in the direction opposite to the direction of the catching projection toward the catching projection about the first coupling hole and the second coupling hole by the rotation guide portion, and the first stopper and the second stopper are prevented from rotating in the direction toward the catching projection about the first coupling hole and the second coupling hole, respectively.

11. The refrigerator according to claim 10 , wherein if the door guide is moved downward in a state in which the first stopper and the second stopper are fixed to prevent rotation, the stopper protrusion maintains a fixed state on the fixing rib, and the guide portion moves downward along the guide rail.

12. The refrigerator according to claim 11 , wherein if the door guide is moved downward and the stopper protrusion is released from the fixing rib, the first stopper and the second stopper are rotated about the first coupling hole and the second coupling hole in the direction toward the catching projection, respectively and the catching projection is caught in the catching projection.

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Eom Tae-In
• Park Nam Soo
• Ham Hyung Kwen
• Lee Seon Ju
• Lee Young Seok
• Jang Bok Hyun
• Ireland Simon
• Choi June Hyuck

Classifications

• F25D2400/06

  Refrigerators with a vertical mullion · CPC title

• F25D23/04 Primary

  with special compartments, e.g. butter conditioners · CPC title

• F25D23/025 Primary

  Secondary closures · CPC title

• F25D25/04

  by conveyors (in general B65G) · CPC title

• F25D25/02

  by shelves · CPC title