Refrigerator

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10627156-B2
Application number	US-201816230521-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 21, 2018
Priority date	Dec 29, 2017
Publication date	Apr 21, 2020
Grant date	Apr 21, 2020

Abstract

A refrigerator includes: a cabinet; a front panel door part; a drawer part configured to be connected to the front panel door part and to insert into and withdraw from the cabinet based on movement of the front panel door part relative to the cabinet; a support member located in the drawer part and configured to seat an object stored in the drawer part; and an elevation device that is located at each of a first side surface of the drawer part and a second side surface of the drawer part, that is configured to be coupled to each of a first side of the support member and a second side of the support member, and that is configured to elevate the support member relative to the drawer part in a state in which the drawer part is withdrawn from a lower storage space defined in the cabinet.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A refrigerator comprising:
a cabinet that defines an upper storage space and a lower storage space;
a front panel door part that is configured to open and close the lower storage space and that is configured to move toward and away from the lower storage space;
a drawer part that is configured to be connected to the front panel door part, that is configured to insert into the lower storage space based on the front panel door part moving toward the lower storage space, and that is configured to withdraw from the lower storage space based on the front panel door part moving away from the lower storage space;
a support member located in the drawer part and configured to seat an object stored in the drawer part; and
an elevation device that is located at each of a first side surface of the drawer part and a second side surface of the drawer part, that is configured to be coupled to each of a first side of the support member and a second side of the support member, and that is configured to elevate the support member relative to the drawer part in a state in which the drawer part is withdrawn from the lower storage space,
wherein the drawer part is configured to partition an inside of the drawer part into (i) a front space that is configured to be exposed outside of the lower storage space based on the drawer part being withdrawn and (ii) a rear space that is located rearward of the front space,
wherein the support member has a size corresponding to a size of the front space,
wherein the first side surface and the second side surface of the drawer part comprise side surfaces of the front space, respectively, and
wherein the elevation device is located at each of the side surfaces of the front space.

2. The refrigerator according to claim 1 , wherein the drawer part comprises a bottom surface, and
wherein the first side surface and the second side surface of the drawer part vertically extend from a first side end portion of the bottom surface and a second side end portion of the bottom surface, respectively.

3. The refrigerator according to claim 1 , wherein the drawer part comprises a mounting part recessed from an inner surface of the drawer part and configured to accommodate the elevation device.

4. The refrigerator according to claim 1 , wherein the drawer part comprises a drawer cover located in the drawer part, the drawer cover comprising:
a cover front surface part that is configured to partition the inside of the drawer part into the front space and the rear space; and
a cover top surface part that extends from an upper end of the cover front surface part to a rear end of the drawer part and that is configured to cover a top surface of the rear space.

5. The refrigerator according to claim 1 , further comprising a motor assembly that is located in the front panel door part, that is configured to generate power to provide a rotational force to the elevation device,
wherein the elevation device is configured to be elevated by the rotational force transmitted from the motor assembly.

6. The refrigerator according to claim 5 , further comprising:
a door-side shaft that is located at the front panel door part, that is connected to the motor assembly, and that extends from the motor assembly to a first lateral side of the front panel door part and to a second lateral side of the front panel door part; and
at least one drawer-side shaft that connects the door-side shaft to the elevation device and that comprises (i) a first drawer-side shaft located at a first side of the drawer part, and (ii) a second drawer-side shaft located at a second side of the drawer part,
wherein the at least one drawer-side shaft is configured to simultaneously transmit (i) a first rotational force of the motor assembly from the door-side shaft to the elevation device at the first side surface of the drawer part, and (ii) a second rotational force from the door-side shaft to the elevation device at the second side surface of the drawer part, and
wherein a magnitude of the first rotational force is equal to a magnitude of the second rotational force.

7. The refrigerator according to claim 6 , wherein each of the at least one drawer-side shaft comprises:
a first end portion that is configured to engage with the door-side shaft by angled gear-coupling to receive rotational power from a rotation of the door-side shaft; and
a second end portion that is configured to engage with the elevation device by angled gear-coupling to transmit the rotational power received from the door-side shaft to the elevation device.

8. The refrigerator according to claim 6 , further comprising:
at least one door-side connection member that is arranged at a rear surface of the front panel door part and that is configured to be connected to the door-side shaft; and
at least one drawer-side connection member that is arranged at a front surface of the drawer part and that is configured to be connected to the at least one drawer-side shaft,
wherein the at least one door-side connection member and the at least one drawer-side connection member are configured to:
couple to each other based on the front panel door part and the drawer part being coupled to each other; and
decouple from each other based on the front panel door part and the drawer part being decoupled from each other.

9. The refrigerator according to claim 1 , wherein the elevation device comprises:
a pair of elevation shafts rotatably mounted on the first side surface of the drawer part and the second side surface of the drawer part, respectively, each elevation shaft extending along a vertical direction and defining a screw thread on an outer surface thereof;
at least one elevation shaft holder that is penetrated by the pair of elevation shafts and that is configured to move in the vertical direction along a length of each of the pair of elevation shafts based on rotations of the pair of elevation shafts;
at least one elevation rail disposed in parallel to the pair of elevation shafts at an inner surface of the drawer part, each of the at least one elevation rail comprising multistage sliding rails that are configured to expand and contract based on the at least one elevation shaft holder moving along the length of the pair of elevation shafts; and
at least one connecting bracket to which the at least one elevation shaft holder and the at least one elevation rail are configured to couple, the at least one connecting bracket configured to be fixed to each of the first side of the support member and the second side of the support member,
wherein the at least one elevation shaft holder is configured to elevate the at least one connecting bracket to cause the support member to elevate, and
wherein the at least one elevation rail is configured to guide a movement of the at least one connecting bracket in the vertical direction.

10. The refrigerator according to claim 9 , further comprising at least one side cover that is located at each of the first side and the second side of the support member, that is configured to cover the pair of elevation shafts and the at least one elevation rail, and that is configured to be elevated based on elevation of the support member.

11. The refrigerator according to claim 1 , wherein the elevation device comprises:
a housing configured to couple to an inner surface of the drawer part;
an elevation shaft that is located inside of the housing, that is configured to be rotated by power transmitted from a motor assembly, and that defines a screw thread at an outer circumferential surface thereof;
a shaft holder that is located inside of the housing, that is configured to be penetrated by the elevation sh

Assignees

• Lg Electronics Inc

Inventors

• Kang Daekil

Classifications

• A47B2088/901

  Drawers having a lifting mechanism · CPC title

• F25D25/025 Primary

  Drawers · CPC title

• F25D25/005

  using containers · CPC title

• F25D23/028

  Details · CPC title

• F25D25/022 Primary

  Baskets · CPC title