Refrigerator

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9562714-B2
Application number	US-201514818582-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 5, 2015
Priority date	Aug 11, 2006
Publication date	Feb 7, 2017
Grant date	Feb 7, 2017

Abstract

A refrigerator includes a storage chamber for storing food; an ice making compartment provided at an upper side corner of the storage chamber; and two shelves provided between a sidewall of the ice making compartment and a sidewall of the storage chamber opposite to the sidewall of the ice making compartment. The two shelves include a rotatable shelf and a horizontal shelf mounted between the sidewall of the storage chamber and the rotatable shelf and configured to be adjustable vertically upwards and downwards independently of the rotatable shelf. The rotatable shelf, while maintaining the vertical position, forms a vertical space for keeping food having a great height and stored on a shelf provided below the rotatable shelf. The rotatable shelf and the horizontal shelf form a horizontal space for keeping food having a great width when the horizontal shelf and the rotatable shelf in the horizontal position are horizontally aligned.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A refrigerator comprising:
a storage chamber for storing food, the storage chamber including sidewalls, a backwall, an upper wall and a lower wall;
an ice making compartment provided at an upper side corner of the storage chamber;
two shelves provided between a sidewall of the ice making compartment and a sidewall of the storage chamber opposite to the sidewall of the ice making compartment, the two shelves comprising
a rotatable shelf configured to be moveable between a horizontal position and a vertical position adjacent to the sidewall of the ice making compartment, and
a horizontal shelf mounted between the sidewall of the storage chamber and the rotatable shelf and configured to be adjustable vertically upwards and downwards independently of the rotatable shelf;
a first rotatable shelf supporting member configured to support one side of the rotatable shelf;
a second rotatable shelf supporting member configured to support another side of the rotatable shelf when the rotatable shelf is in the horizontal position; and
a connecting member provided between the first rotatable shelf supporting member and the rotatable shelf, the connecting member configured to allow the rotatable shelf to rotate between the vertical and horizontal positions,
wherein the rotatable shelf, while maintaining the vertical position, forms a vertical space for accommodating food having a length longer than a distance between the rotatable shelf in the horizontal position and a shelf provided below the rotatable shelf,
wherein the rotatable shelf and the horizontal shelf form a horizontal space for accommodating food having a length longer than a length of the horizontal shelf when the horizontal shelf and the rotatable shelf in the horizontal position are horizontally aligned.

2. The refrigerator according to claim 1 , further comprising a shelf fixing device to hold the rotatable shelf in the vertical position.

3. The refrigerator according to claim 1 , wherein an adhesive device is installed between the first rotatable shelf supporting member and the connecting member to restrict the connecting member from rotating.

4. The refrigerator according to claim 3 , wherein the adhesive device includes a pressing spring coupled to the connecting member and an adhesive member supported against the pressing spring.

5. The refrigerator according to claim 4 , wherein the first rotatable shelf supporting member includes:
a locking part positioned at a lower side of a front of the first rotatable shelf supporting member and configured to support the connecting member when the connecting member rotates to the horizontal position; and
a first locking groove and a second locking groove that are positioned at the front of the first rotatable shelf supporting member and configured to accommodate at least a portion of the adhesive member.

6. The refrigerator according to claim 5 , wherein the first locking groove accommodates the adhesive member when the rotatable shelf is opened to have the horizontal position, and the second locking groove accommodates the adhesive member when the rotatable shelf is folded to have the vertical position.

7. The refrigerator according to claim 1 , wherein the connecting member includes a first coupling cover coupled to an upper surface of the rotatable shelf and a second coupling cover coupled to a lower surface of the rotatable shelf.

8. The refrigerator according to claim 1 , wherein the first rotatable shelf supporting member includes a first temporary coupling member and a second temporary coupling member that are positioned at a rear of the first rotatable shelf supporting member and configured to temporarily assemble the first rotatable shelf supporting member to the ice making compartment.

9. A refrigerator comprising:
a storage chamber for storing goods to be refrigerated;
a storage shelf mounted in the storage chamber and providing a first storage surface extending horizontally;
a rotatable shelf rotatably coupled to a first shelf supporting member, the rotatable shelf providing a second storage surface and movable between an unfolded position in which the second storage surface is horizontally aligned with the first storage surface of the storage shelf to expand a space in a horizontal direction and a folded position in which the second storage surface is folded to expand a space in a vertical direction;
the first shelf supporting member fixed to one wall surface of the storage chamber and configured to support one side of the rotatable shelf; and
a second shelf supporting member comprising a hook connection part and an upholding part fixed to the hook connection part to support another side of the rotatable shelf,
wherein the storage shelf is configured to be adjustable vertically upwards and downwards independently of the rotatable shelf.

10. The refrigerator according to claim 9 , further comprising a connecting member positioned at a lower side of the rotatable shelf and configured to allow the rotatable shelf to be connected to the first shelf supporting member.

11. The refrigerator according to claim 10 , wherein an adhesive device is installed between the first rotatable shelf supporting member and the connecting member to restrict the connecting member from rotating.

12. The refrigerator according to claim 11 , wherein the adhesive device includes a pressing spring coupled to the connecting member and an adhesive member supported against the pressing spring.

13. The refrigerator according to claim 12 , wherein the first rotatable shelf supporting member includes:
a locking part positioned at a lower side of a front of the first rotatable shelf supporting member and configured to support the connecting member coupled to the rotatable shelf when the connecting member rotates to the horizontal position; and
a first locking groove and a second locking groove that are positioned at the front of the first rotatable shelf supporting member and configured to accommodate at least a portion of the adhesive member.

14. The refrigerator according to claim 13 , wherein the first locking groove accommodates the adhesive member when the rotatable shelf is opened to have the horizontal position, and the second locking groove accommodates the adhesive member when the rotatable shelf is folded to have the vertical position.

15. The refrigerator according to claim 11 , wherein the connecting member includes a first coupling cover coupled to an upper surface of the rotatable shelf and a second coupling cover coupled to a lower surface of the rotatable shelf.

16. The refrigerator according to claim 9 , further comprising a upholding member provided on a rear wall surface of the storage chamber to support the other side of the rotatable shelf when the rotatable shelf is in the horizontal position.

17. The refrigerator according to claim 16 , wherein the shelf upholding member includes the upholding part that supports a portion of the rotatable shelf, and the upholding part is directly fixed to the wall surface of the storage chamber.

18. The refrigerator according to claim 16 , wherein the shelf upholding member includes the hook connection part provided on the wall surface of the storage chamber and an upholding part that is fixedly installed at the hook connection part and configured to support a portion of the rotatable shelf.

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Lim Jae Hoon
• Lee Jong Dal
• Cho Myung Hoon
• Lim Seung Tae
• Ryu Dong Nyeol

Classifications

• E05D11/1064

  with a coil spring perpendicular to the pivot axis · CPC title

• F25D23/062

  defining a cabinet · CPC title

• F25D11/02

  with cooling compartments at different temperatures · CPC title

• E05Y2900/31

  for refrigerators · CPC title

• F25D25/02 Primary

  by shelves · CPC title