Supplementary storage device for refrigerator and refrigerator therewith

[0001] This application claims the benefit of the Korean Application No. P2003-0014912, filed on Mar. 10, 2003, which is hereby incorporated by reference.

[0002] 1. Field of the Invention

[0003] The present invention relates to refrigerators, and more particularly, a supplementary storage device for a refrigerator.

[0004] 2. Background of the Related Art

[0005] The refrigerator is used for long time fresh storage of food. In general, the refrigerator produces cold air by using a refrigerating system provided therein, and supplies the cold air to a refrigerating chamber and a freezing chamber. Recently, besides a basic storage function, the refrigerator is developed to perform additional functions following various demands from users. For an example, current refrigerator is designed to have a supplementary independent storage device exposed to an outside of the refrigerator additionally, so that the user puts in/takes out food directly without opening a refrigerator door, conveniently.

[0006] FIG. 1 illustrates a related art supplementary storage device, referring to which the supplementary storage device will be described, briefly.

[0007] As shown, a refrigerator door has an opening 1, such that a refrigerating chamber (or a freezing chamber) is in communication with an outside of the refrigerator through the opening 1, directly. The opening 1 is closed with a supplementary door 2 provided to the refrigerator door. In more detail, the supplementary door 2 is rotatably fastened to a bottom edge of the opening 1 with one pair of hinges. Moreover, the supplementary door 2 is provided with one pair of links 4 at opposite sides, each having one end rotatably fastened to a side surface of the supplementary door 2, and the other end movably fastened to a slot 4a formed in an inside side surface of the opening 1a guided by the slot 4a. In opening or closing the supplementary door 2, the other end of the link 4 fastened to the slot 4a supports the opening/closing supplementary door 2, while moving up/down along the slot 4a. According to this, the user can open the supplementary door 2, and put food to an inside of the refrigerator, or takes out food from the inside of refrigerator, conveniently.

[0008] However, in the supplementary storage device, the supplementary door 2 is opened at a substantially high speed by gravity, such that the supplementary door 2 gives a great impact, and vibration to the refrigerator door and components related thereto when the supplementary door 2 is opened fully, to cause damage to the supplementary door and components related thereto. Moreover, the supplementary door 2 causes much noise in opening/closing of the supplementary door 2 because the supplementary door 2 only has the link without any damping means.

[0009] Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a supplementary storage device for a refrigerator, and a refrigerator therewith that substantially obviates one or more of the problems due to limitations and disadvantages of the related art.

[0010] An object of the present invention is to provide a supplementary storage device for a refrigerator, which can minimizes noise and impact in opening/closing the supplementary door, and a refrigerator therewith.

[0011] Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned from practice of the invention. The objectives and other advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out in the written description and claims hereof as well as the appended drawings.

[0012] To achieve these objects and other advantages and in accordance with the purpose of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, the supplementary storage device for a refrigerator includes an opening in a refrigerator door for making an inside of the refrigerator in communication with an outside of the refrigerator to put food into an inside of the refrigerator directly, a supplementary door on the refrigerator door for opening or closing the opening, and at least one damper for rotatably coupling the supplementary door to the refrigerator door, to damp a rotation force generated in opening or closing the supplementary door.

[0013] Preferably, the supplementary door is opened in a horizontal position for placing food thereon, and includes at least one hinge shaft projected from a side surface for joining with the damper.

[0014] The damper rotatably couples a bottom edge of the supplementary door to the refrigerator door, and provided to opposite side parts of the bottom edge of the supplementary door. Preferably, the damper provides a relatively greater damping force to the supplementary door which is opening, and uses oil for providing the damping force.

[0015] The damper includes a sealed case for storage of a predetermined amount of oil, and a rotation shaft rotatably mounted in the case so as to be projected outside of the case partly, for generating a friction force, or a hydraulic pressure, together with the oil.

[0016] The rotation shaft includes at least one projection configured to make contact with the oil in the case directly, and the projection is a gear or a screw. Actually, the case is fixed to the door, and the rotation shaft is fixed to the supplementary door.

[0017] More preferably, the supplementary storage device further includes a supplementary shelf provided on a rear surface of the refrigerator door close to bottom of the opening.

[0018] Thus, the present invention suppresses noise and impact at the supplementary storage device, as well as damage thereto.

[0019] It is to be understood that both the foregoing description and the following detailed description of the present invention are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention claimed.

[0020] The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this application, illustrate embodiment(s) of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the principle of the invention.

[0021] In the drawings;

[0022] FIG. 1 illustrates a partial perspective view of a related art supplementary storage device for a refrigerator;

[0023] FIG. 2 illustrates a perspective view of a refrigerator in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

[0024] FIG. 3 illustrates a partial perspective view of FIG. 2 showing a supplementary storage device for a refrigerator in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

[0025] FIG. 4 illustrates a perspective view of a damper applicable to a supplementary storage device of the present invention; and

[0026] FIG. 5 illustrates a section of one embodiment of the damper in FIG. 4.

[0027] Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. In describing the embodiments, same parts will be given the same names and reference symbols, and repetitive description of which will be omitted.

[0028] FIG. 2 illustrates a perspective view of a refrigerator in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 illustrates a partial perspective view of FIG. 2 showing a supplementary storage device for a refrigerator in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

[0029] As shown, basically, the refrigerator of the present invention includes a body 10, a refrigerating chamber, and a freezing chamber (not shown) inside of the body, and doors 20a, and 20b for opening/closing the refrigerating chamber and the freezing chamber. The body 10 is configured to accommodate different devices of a refrigerating system for producing cold air, such as heat exchangers, a compressor, a condenser, and the like. The body 10 includes flow passages for supplying the cold air to the refrigerating chamber, and the freezing chamber. The refrigerating chamber is a space for placing food therein for low temperature storage by the cold air, and has shelves (not shown) between opposite side surfaces thereof across the space for placing food thereon. The freezing chamber holds frozen food, and separated from the refrigerating chamber with a barrier (not shown). The refrigerating chamber and the freezing chamber may be positioned in upper and lower parts of the body 10, respectively. Alternatively, as shown, the refrigerating chamber and the freezing chamber may be positioned in left and right parts of the body 10, respectively. The refrigerating chamber and the freezing chamber arranged side by side thus can be lager than the refrigerating chamber and the freezing chamber arranged in upper and lower parts. Consequently, according to the user's requirement for large refrigerating, and freezing chambers, currently, many refrigerators have such refrigerating, and freezing chambers standing side by side. In more detail, as shown in FIG. 1, the refrigerating chamber is arranged in a right part of the body 10, and the freezing chamber is arranged in left part of the body 10. The body 10 has a freezing chamber door, and refrigerating chamber door 20a, and 20b for opening/closing such freezing chamber, and refrigerating chamber, respectively. For convenience of the user, hand grips are provided to the doors 20a, and 20b.

[0030] Moreover, the refrigerator of the present invention includes a dispenser 30, and a supplementary storage device 100 for providing additional convenience to the user. The dispenser 30, connected to an icemaker (not shown) and a water supply source inside of the freezing chamber, supplies ice and cold water to the user without opening the freezing chamber door 20a, directly. The supplementary storage device 100 enables the user directly to put a predetermined amount of food therein, or to take out a predetermined amount of food therefrom, without opening the refrigerating chamber door 20b, conveniently. The supplementary storage device 100 is often called as a refrigerator home bar. Since the dispenser 30 is identical to a general refrigerator dispenser, detailed description of which will be omitted, while the supplementary storage device 100 is described in more detail.

[0031] Referring to FIG. 3, the supplementary storage device 100 includes an opening 110 in the door 20b, a supplementary door 120 on the opening 110, and a damper 130 between the door 120 and the opening 110.

[0032] The opening 110, formed by making a hole in the door 20b actually, enables an inside space of the refrigerator, more specifically, the refrigerating chamber, to communicate with an outside of the refrigerator through the opening 110. Therefore, the user can put food in, or take out food from the refrigerating chamber through the opening 110, directly. In FIGS. 2 and 3, though the opening 110 is shown to be in communication with the refrigerating chamber, the opening 110 may be configured to be in communication with the freezing chamber for putting frozen food in or taking frozen food out of the freezing chamber. In this case, the opening 110 is formed in the freezing chamber door 20a. That is, the opening 110 can be selectively formed in the doors 20a, or 20b depending on a storage temperature at which the food is required to be stored by using the supplementary storage device. There may be a supplementary shelf 110a close to a bottom edge of the opening 110 on a rear surface of the door 20b opposite to the refrigerating chamber. By using, not the shelves in the refrigerating chamber, but the supplementary shelf 110a, the user can put food in the refrigerator through the opening 110, or can take out food from the refrigerator through the opening 110, more conveniently. Moreover, a fence 110b may be formed at an edge of the supplementary shelf 110a for preventing long drink containers or food on the supplementary shelf from dropping therefrom. More preferably, though not shown, an additional cover may be extended from the fence 110b to enclose the drink containers and food, entirely. At the end, as described before, owing to the opening 110 in communication with the refrigerating chamber (or the freezing chamber), at least a portion of the refrigerating chamber (or the freezing chamber) can be served as an independent storage chamber only for the supplementary storage device 100.

[0033] The supplementary door 120 is configured to open or close the opening 110. That is, the supplementary door 120 opens the opening 110 when the user takes food out of the refrigerator, or puts food into the refrigerator, then closes the opening 110 for preventing the cold air from escaping through the opening 110. The supplementary door 120 is fastened to the door 20b, such that the supplementary door 120 is rotatable about a bottom edge of the supplementary door 120. Therefore, the supplementary door 120 rotates to open the opening 110 by gravity easily, even if no additional force is applied to the supplementary door 120. Preferably, as shown in FIG. 3, the supplementary door 120 is opened in a horizontal position for placing food thereon. Therefore, after placing may pieces of food on the rear surface 120b of the supplementary door 120, the user may put food piece by piece inside of the refrigerating chamber, conveniently. On the other hand, the user may take out food through the opening 110, set on the rear surface 120 of the supplementary door 120, for eating.

[0034] Referring to FIG. 2, the supplementary door has a hand grip 120a on a front surface for rotating the supplementary door 120, easily. As shown in FIG. 3, the supplementary door 120 has a hook 121 on a top, and the opening 10 has a holder 111 on a top of the opening 10 in correspondence to the hook 121. Therefore, as the hook 121 is engaged with the holder 111, the supplementary door 120 is kept to close the opening 110. Also, the hook is linked with the hand grip 120a. Therefore, if the user pulls the hand grip 120a, the hook 121 is released from the holder 111, such that the supplementary door 120 is rotated, to open the opening 110.

[0035] Primarily, the damper 130 is joined with the refrigerator door 20b such that the supplementary door 120 is rotatable. That is, basically, the damper 130 serves as a hinge for rotatably joining the supplementary door 120 to the refrigerator door 20b. In more detail, as described before, for making the supplementary door 120 to rotate around the bottom edge thereof, the damper 130 couples the lower edge of the supplementary door 120 to the refrigerator door 20b. In the supplementary storage device 100, the damper 130 may be provided only to one of the opposite side surfaces of the supplementary door 120, while a general link mechanism, or hinge is provided to the other side surface. However, it is preferable that for more reliable damping, it is preferable that the dampers 130 are provided to the opposite side parts of the bottom edge of the supplementary door 120. As shown, the dampers 130 are arranged along an axis passing through the bottom edge of the supplementary door 120, so that at least a part of the damper 130 rotates together with the supplementary door 120. In the meantime, in a case the supplementary door 120 is coupled to the door 20b only with the damper 130, coupling between the supplementary door 120 and the door 20b may be weak. Therefore, the supplementary door 120 may further include a hinge shaft 122 projected from a side surface thereof, for firm joining of the supplementary door 120 with the damper 130. For firmer joining, the hinge shaft 122 may be rotatably inserted in the door 20b.

[0036] The damper 130 is configured to damp a rotation force generated when the supplementary door 120 is opened or closed. Preferably, a damping force of the damper 130 at the time of opening of the supplementary door 130 is greater than a damping force of the damper 130 at the time of closing the supplementary door 120, because the supplementary door 120 is opened at a high speed by gravity. The damper 130 may be fabricated with an elastic member for generating the damping force. That is, if the supplementary door 120 rotates, the elastic member in the damper 130 deforms to absorb the rotation force of the supplementary door 120. However, such an elastic member causes permanent deformation due to repetitive deformation, failing to maintain a required damping force. Therefore, in the present invention, the damper 130 employs oil for generating the damping force. As known, since an oil damper 130 can keep supplying a uniform damping force, the oil damper 130 is effective for damping the supplementary door 110 that is opened/closed frequently. A preferred embodiment of the oil damper 130 will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. Besides the oil damper illustrated, different kinds of dampers known to this field of art can be applicable to the present invention.

[0037] shown, the damper 130 includes a case 131, and a rotation shaft 132 rotatably mounted in the case 131. The case 131 is filled with an amount of oil O, and sealed for preventing the oil O from leaking therefrom. The rotation shaft 132 is projected from the case 131, partly. The rotation shaft 132 is configured to generate a friction force or a hydraulic force together with the oil O.

[0038] In more detail, referring to FIG. 5, the rotation shaft 132 has projections 132a configured to contact with the oil O in the case directly. That is, the projections 132a are formed on a part of the rotation shaft 132 positioned inside of the case 131. The projections 132a may be a gear or a screw formed continuously on the rotation shaft 132. Since the oil O has a certain viscosity, if the rotation shaft 132 rotates, a predetermined friction force acts on the projections 132a in contact with the oil O. The friction force acts in a direction opposite to a rotation direction of the rotation shaft 132, to give a torque in a direction opposite to the rotation direction of the rotation shaft 132. Therefore, the rotation force of the rotation shaft 132 is dampened by the friction force and the torque. In the meantime, as shown in FIG. 5 in dashed lines, supplementary projections may be formed on an inside circumferential surface of the case 131 too extended between the projections 132a. A closed channel is formed between adjacent projection 132a and the supplementary projection, to dampen the rotation force of the rotation shaft by using a hydraulic pressure in the channel. Moreover, by forming different sizes of channels depending on the rotation direction of the rotation shaft 132, different damping forces are obtainable. Alikely, by changing friction surfaces of the projections 132 depending on the rotation direction of the rotation shaft 132, different damping forces are obtainable.

[0039] the oil damper 130, the case 131 is fixed to the door 20b, and the rotation shaft 132 is fixed to the supplementary door 120. If the supplementary door 120 had the hinge shaft 122, the rotation shaft 132 is joined with the hinge shaft 122. Accordingly, in opening and closing the supplementary door 120, the rotation shaft 132 rotates relative to the case 131 together with the supplementary door 120, while the rotation shaft 132 dampens the rotation force of the supplementary door 120.

[0040] The operation of the supplementary storage device for a refrigerator of the present invention will be described with reference to the attached drawings.

[0041] For using the supplementary storage device 100, at first, the user opens the door 120. In more detail, when the user pulls the hand grip 120a (see FIG. 2), the hook 121 is released from the holder 111, and, then, the door 120 rotates downwardly around the bottom edge thereof by gravity. During the rotation, the supplementary door 120 rotates slowly owing to the damping force of the damper 130, enough to give no impacts to the door 20b, the damper 130, and the supplementary door itself when the supplementary door 120 is rotated, fully. Once the opening 110 is opened fully by rotation of the door 120, the user puts food into the refrigerator, or takes out food from the refrigerator. Or, the user may take out, and set food on the rear surface 120b of the supplementary door 120 for eating.

[0042] Thereafter, alikely, if the user rotates the supplementary door upwardly, the supplementary door 120 rotates slowly by the damper 130. At the end, the hook 121 is engaged with the holder 111, such that the supplementary door 120 is closed fully to shut off the opening 110.

[0043] As has been described, the use of the damper 130 in the supplementary storage device 100 of the present invention permits damping of a rotation force of the supplementary door 120, to drop an opening speed of the supplementary door 120, significantly. The damping action minimizes impact, vibration, and noise caused by the supplementary storage device 100, and minimizes damage to different components of the supplementary storage device 100. According to this, lifetime and stability of the supplementary storage device 100 are increased, and reliability and satisfaction of the user for the supplementary storage device are increased.

[0044] It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Thus, it is intended that the present invention cover the modifications and variations of this invention provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.