Refrigerator

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10876333-B2
Application number	US-201816627040-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 29, 2018
Priority date	Aug 5, 2016
Publication date	Dec 29, 2020
Grant date	Dec 29, 2020

Abstract

The present invention provides a refrigerator, comprising a cabinet, a door and a hinge body. A guide block is provided on the door, a rotation shaft is provided on the hinge body, and rotation shaft grooves are provided on the guide block. With the structure of the hinge body, the gravity of the door and the friction force may be shared onto the first and second plate bodies of the hinge body, thereby reducing abrasion and prolonging the service life of the door of the refrigerator.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A refrigerator, comprising a cabinet and a door for opening and closing the cabinet, wherein the refrigerator further comprises a hinge body fixedly provided on the cabinet, and a guide block fixedly provided on the door, wherein a positioning shaft and a guiding shaft are provided on the hinge body, and a positioning groove fitting with the positioning shaft and a guiding groove fitting with the guiding shaft are provided on the guiding block;
one of left and right sides of the refrigerator which is provided with the hinge body is a pivoting side, the door is in a first state when being closed, the door has a side wall close to the pivoting side in the first state and a front wall away from the cabinet in the first state, the positioning groove has a first position close to the side wall and the front wall and a second position away from the side wall and the front wall compared with the first position, the guiding groove has a third position and a fourth position, and when the door is in the first state, the positioning shaft is located at the second position, and the guiding shaft is located at the fourth position;
the guiding shaft and the guiding groove are provided such that when the door is opened from the first state, the door is rotated with the positioning shaft as a center of rotation, the positioning shaft is moved from the second position to the first position and the guiding shaft is moved from the fourth position to the third position with limitation of the guiding shaft and the guiding groove, at this point, the door is opened at a certain angle to be in a second state, and the door is moved by a distance towards a side away from the pivoting side;
the refrigerator further comprises a limiting boss provided between the guide block and the hinge body to space apart the guide block from the hinge body, and the limiting boss has a front end close to the front wall and a rear end away from the front wall, so that when the door is opened, the limiting boss abuts against the hinge body all the time.

2. The refrigerator according to claim 1 , wherein a lateral ridge is formed by the side wall intersecting with the front wall, and a distance between a center axis of the positioning shaft when located at the first position and the lateral ridge is less than or equal to a distance between the center axis of the positioning shaft when located at the second position and the side wall.

3. The refrigerator according to claim 2 , wherein the distance between the center axis of the positioning shaft when located at the first position and the lateral ridge is equal to the distance between the center axis of the positioning shaft when located at the second position and the side wall.

4. The refrigerator according to claim 1 , wherein the guiding shaft is provided at a side away from the side wall compared with the positioning shaft, and the third position is provided away from the front wall and close to the front wall compared with the fourth position.

5. The refrigerator according to claim 4 , wherein the positioning groove further has a fifth position away from the side wall and the front wall compared with the second position, the guiding groove further has a sixth position, and the sixth position is provided away from the front wall and close to the side wall compared with the third position; when the door is further opened from the second state, the positioning shaft is moved to the fifth position from the first position, and the guiding shaft is moved to the sixth position from the third position, so that the door is opened through 90 degrees to be in a third state, and the door is moved by a distance towards the pivoting side.

6. The refrigerator according to claim 5 , wherein a distance between the center axis of the positioning shaft when located at the fifth position and the front wall is equal to the distance between the center axis of the positioning shaft when located at the second position and the side wall.

7. The refrigerator according to claim 5 , wherein the guiding groove further has a seventh position close to the side wall compared with the sixth position, and has an arc shape between the seventh position and the sixth position, a center line of the arc is the center axis of the positioning shaft when located at the fifth position, and when the door is further opened from the third state, the door is rotated with the positioning shaft located at the fifth position as a rotating axis.

8. The refrigerator according to claim 5 , wherein centers of the first, second and fifth positions are located on a same straight line.

9. The refrigerator according to claim 8 , wherein the guiding groove further has an eighth position close to the side wall compared with the sixth position and a ninth position located between the eighth and sixth positions, the positioning groove further has a tenth position, an extension line of a connecting line between a center of the tenth position and the center of the fifth position intersects with a connecting line between centers of the eighth and ninth positions, the guiding groove between the ninth and sixth positions and the positioning groove between the tenth and fifth positions are provided in parallel, the guiding groove is of an arc shape between the eighth and ninth positions, and a center line of the arc is a center axis of the positioning shaft when located at the tenth position; when the door is further opened from the third state, the positioning shaft is moved from the fifth position to the tenth position, the guiding shaft is moved from the sixth position to the ninth position, the door is rotated with the positioning shaft located at the tenth position as a rotating axis, and the guiding shaft is moved towards the eighth position from the ninth position.

10. The refrigerator according to claim 1 , wherein the limiting boss is integrally formed on the guide block.

11. The refrigerator according to claim 1 , wherein the number of the limiting boss is two, and the limiting bosses are provided around the guiding groove and the positioning groove respectively.

12. A refrigerator, comprising a cabinet and a door for opening and closing the cabinet, wherein the refrigerator further comprises a hinge assembly connecting the cabinet and the door, and the cabinet comprises an accommodation compartment and a pivoting side connected with the hinge assembly; during a process of opening the door, the hinge assembly drives the door to move from the pivoting side toward the accommodation compartment;
wherein the hinge assembly comprises a positioning shaft and a positioning groove engaged with each other as well as a guiding shaft and a guiding groove engaged with each other, wherein the positioning shaft is located at one of the cabinet and the door, the positioning groove is located at the other of the cabinet and the door, the guiding shaft is located at one of the cabinet and the door, and the guiding groove is located at the other of the cabinet and the door; when the door is opened to the second state from the closed state, the guiding shaft is moved in the guiding groove to drive the positioning shaft to move in the positioning groove, thereby driving the door to move from the pivoting side toward the accommodation compartment;
wherein the door comprises a front wall apart from the accommodation compartment and a side wall always sandwiched between the front wall and the accommodation compartment, the positioning groove comprises a first position, a second position, and a fifth position from a portion close to the side wall to a portion apart from the side wall, the guiding groove comprises a fourth position, a third position,

Assignees

• Qingdao Haier Joint Stock Co Ltd

Inventors

• Zhang Hao
• Xia Enpin
• Wang Yingxing
• Zhu Xiaobing

Classifications

• F25D11/00 Primary

  Self-contained movable devices, e.g. domestic refrigerators · CPC title

• E05F1/00

  Closers or openers for wings, not otherwise provided for in this subclass · CPC title

• F25D11/02

  with cooling compartments at different temperatures · CPC title

• E05Y2900/31

  for refrigerators · CPC title

• F25D2323/024

  Door hinges · CPC title