CN203629187U

CN203629187U - Side by side combination refrigerator

Info

Publication number: CN203629187U
Application number: CN201320411178.6U
Authority: CN
Inventors: 鲁松涛; 梁礼珠; 郝井鹏
Original assignee: BSH Electrical Appliances Jiangsu Co Ltd
Current assignee: BSH Electrical Appliances Jiangsu Co Ltd
Priority date: 2013-07-11
Filing date: 2013-07-11
Publication date: 2014-06-04
Anticipated expiration: 2023-07-11
Also published as: EP2824406A2; EP2824406A3; EP2824406B1

Abstract

The utility model relates to a refrigerator (1), which comprises a pair of oppositely opened doors (3a, 3b). One door (3b) is provided with a magnetic induction unit (4), while the other door (3a) is provided with a magnet (5) matched with the magnetic induction unit (4). Each of the doors (3a, 3b) is composed of an end cover (7) respectively. Each end cover (7) is composed of a main part (71) used for forming one lateral sidewall of the doors (3a, 3b). According to the technical scheme of the utility model, each end cover (7) is also composed of a lateral cover part (72) configured to extend along the longitudinal direction, wherein one end of the lateral cover part (72) is connected with the corresponding main part (71). When the pair of doors (3a, 3b) is closed up, the two lateral cover parts (72) are right face to face. Meanwhile, the magnetic induction unit (4) and the magnet (5) are respectively connected with corresponding lateral cover parts (72).

Description

Refrigerator with side-by-side combination door

[ technical field ]

The utility model relates to a refrigerator, in particular to refrigerator with side by side combination door.

[ background art ]

JP2007-024462 discloses a refrigerator with french side-by-side doors, a magnetic sensor and a magnet being provided on respective side walls of the respective doors, respectively, to detect whether at least one of the doors is in an open state. Mounting a magnetic sensor or magnet on the longitudinal side walls of a refrigerator door significantly increases the difficulty and complexity of manufacturing the refrigerator door when these parts are formed by extruding side clips or bending back with a metal sheet forming the front wall of the refrigerator door.

[ summary of the invention ]

An object of the utility model is to provide a change in refrigerator of making.

The above object is achieved by the features of the independent claims. Preferred embodiments of the invention are the subject of the figures, the description and the dependent claims.

One aspect of the utility model relates to a refrigerator, which comprises a pair of oppositely-opened doors, wherein one door is provided with a magnetic induction unit, and the other door is provided with a magnet matched with the magnetic induction unit; each door includes an end cap, wherein the end cap includes a body portion forming one lateral sidewall of the door; wherein each end cap includes a side cap portion connected to one end of the main body portion and extending in a longitudinal direction, the pair of side cap portions face each other when the pair of doors are closed, and the magnetic induction unit and the magnet are connected to the corresponding side cap portions, respectively.

The side cover part which extends in the longitudinal direction by a certain length is additionally arranged on one side of the end cover, and the magnetic induction unit and the magnet are respectively connected to the corresponding side cover parts, so that the structure for fixing the magnetic induction unit or the magnet is not required to be designed on the side plate which forms the main part of the side wall of the door, the manufacturing complexity of the side plate is facilitated to be simplified, and the cost efficiency of the refrigerator is facilitated to be improved.

It will be appreciated that the lateral side walls defined by the body portion may be substantially horizontal, or may have a plurality (e.g. two) walls at different heights (e.g. horizontal) with steps.

The end cover can be an upper end cover positioned at the upper end of the door, and can also be a lower end cover positioned at the bottom of the door.

The magnetic induction unit may sense the presence of a magnet or the strength of a magnet (within an effective range), and may include, for example, a Magneto-resistive Sensor (Magneto), a Hall Sensor (Hall Sensor), or a Reed Switch (Reed Switch).

In one possible embodiment, at least a portion of at least one of the magnetic induction unit and the magnet enters the corresponding door through a through hole located on the corresponding side cover portion. The magnetic induction unit and/or the magnet being connected to the respective side cover part in such a way may provide a possibility: that is, at least a portion of the magnetic induction unit and/or the magnet may be attached to the side cover portion after the foaming process of the door, so that it is possible to replace at least a portion of the magnetic induction unit and/or the magnet without breaking the door when the magnetic induction unit and/or the magnet is damaged.

In one possible embodiment, at least one of the magnetic induction unit and the magnet is stuck to an inner side of the corresponding side cover part. The magnetic induction unit and/or the magnets being connected to the side cover portion in this way is advantageous for maintaining the integrity of the appearance of the side cover portion, which is particularly advantageous for magnets that are not normally susceptible to damage without having to be replaced.

In one possible embodiment, each of the end caps has a receiving cavity therein for receiving a corresponding one of the magnetic induction unit and the magnet, at least a portion of the boundary of the receiving cavity being defined by a corresponding side cover portion. Therefore, the magnetic induction unit and the magnet can be simplified to be arranged on the end cover, the reliability and the accuracy of the magnetic induction unit and the magnet connected to the end cover can be improved, and the accuracy of the magnetic induction unit can be improved.

In one possible embodiment, a protruding wall connected to the inner side of the side cover portion below the main body portion is included, and the protruding wall defines at least a part of a boundary of a receiving cavity for receiving a magnetic induction unit or a magnet.

In a possible embodiment, the magnetic induction unit and the magnet do not extend beyond a horizontal edge of the respective side cover part at least in the longitudinal direction. The horizontal edge may be a lower edge of the side cover portion when the end cover is positioned at an upper portion of the door, and an upper edge of the side cover portion when the end cover is positioned at a lower portion of the door.

In a possible embodiment, each of said doors comprises a side panel forming a substantial part of one longitudinal side wall of the door, said side cover portion abutting against the outside of said side panel.

In one possible embodiment, each of said doors comprises a side panel forming one longitudinal side wall of said door, said side panel being flanked at one end by said projecting wall.

In one possible embodiment, the upper end edge of the side plate has a recess to accommodate the protruding wall.

In one possible embodiment, the upper end edge of the side plate includes a front end edge that overlaps the underside of the body portion and a rear end edge that is lower than the front end edge that overlaps the outside of the projecting wall.

In a possible embodiment, the door comprises a front panel forming at least a major part of the front wall of the door, the front panel being integrally formed with the side panels, the front end edge being flush with the upper end of the front panel.

In one possible embodiment, the end cap is an upper end cap of the door.

In a possible embodiment, the magnetic induction unit comprises a hall sensor, a magneto-resistive sensor or a reed switch.

The structure of the present invention and other objects and advantages thereof will be more apparent from the description of the preferred embodiments taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[ description of the drawings ]

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the invention. Wherein,

fig. 1 is a schematic partial perspective view of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a portion A shown in FIG. 1;

fig. 3 is a schematic partially exploded view of a left door of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic partial perspective view of the left door upper end cap;

fig. 5 is a schematic partially exploded view of a right door of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic partially exploded view of the right door top end cap.

[ detailed description of the invention ]

Referring to fig. 1 and 2, the refrigerator 1 includes a main body 2 having at least one storage chamber 20, and a pair of half-

open doors

3a, 3b hinged to respective sides of the main body 2 to close or open the storage chamber 20. Such split Doors are also known in the industry as "French split Doors" (French Doors).

One of the

doors

3a, 3b is provided with magnetic induction means 4, and the other is provided with a magnet 5 (fig. 5) cooperating with the magnetic induction means 4 to detect whether the storage compartment 20 is opened, i.e. whether any one of the

doors

3a, 3b is in an open state. When the

doors

3a, 3b are in the closed state, the magnetic induction unit 4 and the magnet 5 face each other.

For the sake of easy understanding, the door 3a hinged to the left side of the body 2 will be referred to as the left door and the door 3b hinged to the right side of the body 2 will be referred to as the right door hereinafter.

In this embodiment, the magnet 5 is provided on the right side wall 33 of the left door 3a, and the magnetic induction unit 4 is provided on the left side wall 32 of the right door 3b, and when the left door 3a and the right door 3b are closed, the magnetic induction unit 4 and the magnet 5 face each other to induce a magnetic field or a change in the magnetic field, thereby judging that the storage compartment 20 is closed.

It should be understood that in an alternative embodiment, the magnetic induction unit 4 may be disposed on the left door 3a and the magnet 5 on the right door 3 b.

The left door 3a and the right door 3b are substantially symmetrical in configuration. The structure of the left door 3a and the right door 3b will be described below by taking the left door 3a as an example. Unless otherwise specified, the reference numerals for the left door 3a may be equally applied to the right door 3 b.

The left door 3a includes a front wall 31, a rear wall (not shown) spaced a predetermined distance from the front wall 31, left and

right side walls

32 and 33 extending in the longitudinal direction, and an upper wall 34 extending in the horizontal direction and a lower wall (not shown) opposite to the upper wall 34.

Referring to fig. 3 and 4 in conjunction with fig. 2, the left door 3a includes a door panel 6 made of sheet metal, the door panel 6 includes a front panel 61 forming the front wall 31 and side panels 62 bent rearward from both sides of the front panel 61, and the side panels 62 form most of the left and

right side walls

32 and 33 of the left door 3 a. The rear end of the side plate 62 is connected to a liner (not shown) forming the rear wall of the left door 3 a.

The left door 3a comprises an upper end cover 7 connected with the upper ends of the door panel 6 and the inner container. The upper cover 7 includes a main body portion 71 forming the upper wall 34 extending in the lateral direction, and a side cover portion 72 extending downward from a right end of the main body portion 71 (i.e., an end remote from the rotational axis of the left door 3 a). The side cover part 72 extends downward by a predetermined length to be attachable to the magnet 5.

Accordingly, as shown in fig. 2 and 5, the side cover portion 72 of the right door 3b extends downward from the left end of the main body portion 71 (i.e., the end away from the rotational axis of the left door 3 a). The magnetic induction unit 4 is connected to the side cover portion 72 of the upper cover 71 of the right door 3 b.

When the left door 3a and the right door 3b are closed, the pair of side cover portions 72 face each other, and the magnetic induction unit 4 and the magnet 5 connected to the respective side cover portions 72 are correspondingly disposed to face each other.

As shown in fig. 1 and 2, each side cover portion 72 is attached to the outer side of the corresponding side panel 62 to form a part of the right side wall 33 of the left door 3 a/the left side wall 32 of the right door 3 b.

Referring to fig. 3 to 6, the end caps 7 of the left and

right doors

3a and 3b each have a receiving cavity 8 for receiving at least a part of the magnetic induction unit 4 or the magnet 5 inside the corresponding side cover portion 72. The upper cap 7 includes a protruding wall 81 connected to the inside of the side cover portion 72. The side cover portion 72, the protruding wall 81, and the body portion 71 together define the accommodation chamber 8, that is, each define a part of the boundary of the accommodation chamber 8.

As shown in fig. 2, 3, and 4, the magnet 5 is housed in the housing chamber 8, and one end thereof is attached to the inside of the side cover portion 72 of the left door 3a and connected to the side cover portion 72.

As shown in fig. 5 and 6, the side cover part 72 of the right door 3b has a through hole 82 for passing through the magnetic induction element 42.

The magnetic induction unit 4 may include an insert 41 having a magnetic induction element (not shown) and an adapter housing 42 that houses the insert 41. The magnetic induction element is in this embodiment a magneto-resistive sensor. The adapter housing 42 has a cavity (not shown) for receiving the card 41, and an electrical connector (not shown) connected to the card 41 may be provided in the cavity, and the other end of the electrical connector is connected to a cable (not shown).

The adapter housing 42 of the magnetic induction unit 4 is accommodated in the accommodation chamber 8, and the insert 41 containing the magnetic induction element is inserted into the adapter housing 42 through the through hole 82.

In the longitudinal direction, the magnetic induction unit 4 and the magnet 5 do not extend beyond the lower edge 72a of the corresponding side cover portion 72, respectively. In the front-rear direction, the magnetic induction units 4 and the magnets 5 do not extend beyond the front edges 72b of the respective side cover portions 72.

The upper end edges of the side panels 62 include front end edges 622 that are substantially flush with the upper end of the front panel 61 and rear end edges 623 that are lower than the upper end edges of the front panel 61 to form a recess. The rear end edge 623 abuts against the outside of the protruding wall 81, and the front end edge 622 abuts against the body portion 71. In this way, the arcuate connection between the front panel 61 and the side panel 62 can be kept uniform over the entire height of the door panel 6, which is advantageous not only for the aesthetic appearance of the

doors

3a, 3b but also for preventing the occurrence of foam leakage at this point of the

doors

3a, 3b during foaming.

The various embodiments of the individual components described in connection with fig. 1 to 6 may be combined with each other in any given way to achieve the advantages of the invention. The present invention is not limited to the illustrated embodiments, and other means than those shown may be used as long as the same effects can be achieved by the means.

Claims

1. A refrigerator (1) comprising a pair of side-by-side doors (3 a, 3 b), one of the doors (3 b) being provided with a magnetic induction unit (4) and the other door (3 a) being provided with a magnet (5) for cooperating with the magnetic induction unit (4); each of said doors (3 a, 3 b) comprising an end cap (7), said end cap (7) comprising a body portion (71) forming one lateral side wall of said door (3 a, 3 b); characterized in that each of the end caps (7) includes a side cover portion (72) attached to one end of the main body portion (71) and extending in the longitudinal direction, the pair of side cover portions (72) face each other when the pair of doors (3 a, 3 b) are closed, and the magnetic induction unit (4) and the magnet (5) are attached to the respective side cover portions (72).

2. The refrigerator according to claim 1, characterized in that at least a portion of at least one of said magnetic induction unit (4) and said magnet (5) enters the corresponding door (3 b) through a through hole (82) located on the corresponding side cover portion (72).

3. A refrigerator according to claim 1, characterized in that at least one of the magnetic induction unit (4) and the magnet (5) is pressed against the inside of the respective side cover portion (72).

4. A refrigerator as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that each of said end caps (7) has a housing chamber (8) therein for housing a respective one of said magnetic induction unit (4) and said magnet (5), at least a portion of the boundary of said housing chamber (8) being defined by a respective side cover portion (72).

5. The refrigerator according to claim 1, comprising a protruding wall (81) connected to an inner side of the side cover portion (72) below the main body portion (71), the protruding wall (81) defining at least a part of a boundary of a receiving chamber (8) for receiving the magnetic induction unit (4) or the magnet (5).

6. A refrigerator according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that said magnetic induction units and said magnets do not extend beyond one horizontal edge (72 a) of the respective side cover portion (72) at least in the longitudinal direction.

7. A refrigerator according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that each of said doors (3 a, 3 b) comprises a side panel (62) forming a major part of one longitudinal side wall (32, 33) of said door (3 a, 3 b), said side cover portion (72) being in close contact with the outside of said side panel (62).

8. The refrigerator according to claim 5, wherein each of the doors (3 a, 3 b) includes a side plate (62) forming one longitudinal side wall (32, 33) of the door (3 a, 3 b), the side plate (62) being lapped at one end outside the protruding wall (81).

9. The refrigerator as claimed in claim 8, wherein the upper end edge of the side plate (62) has a recess to accommodate the protruding wall (81).

10. The refrigerator as claimed in claim 8, wherein the upper end edge of the side panel (62) includes a front end edge (622) and a rear end edge (623) lower than the front end edge, the front end edge (623) overlapping the lower side of the main body portion (71), the rear end edge (623) overlapping the outside of the protruding wall (81).

11. A refrigerator as claimed in claim 10, characterized in that each of said doors (3 a, 3 b) comprises a front panel (61) forming at least the greater part of the front wall (31) of the door, said front panel (61) being integral with said side panels (62), said front edge (622) being flush with the upper end of said front panel (61).

12. The refrigerator according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the end cap (72) is an upper end cap of the door.

13. The refrigerator according to any of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the magnetic induction unit (4) comprises a Hall sensor, a magneto-resistive sensor or a reed switch.

14. The refrigerator according to claim 6, characterized in that the magnetic induction unit (4) comprises a Hall sensor, a magneto-resistive sensor or a reed switch.

15. The refrigerator of claim 6 wherein said end cap (72) is an upper end cap of said door.

16. A refrigerator according to claim 6, characterized in that each of said doors (3 a, 3 b) comprises a side panel (62) forming the largest part of one longitudinal side wall (32, 33) of said door (3 a, 3 b), said side cover portion (72) abutting against the outside of said side panel (62).