Refrigerator

A refrigerator having a cabinet with a pair of hinge holes, a door having a pair of hinge shafts and being rotatably coupled to the cabinet by engagement between the pair of hinge shafts and the pair of hinge holes, and a door-closing device to allow the door to be automatically closed toward the cabinet, the door-closing device including an auxiliary hinge shaft attached to a bottom of the door; a restoring unit in a bottom of the cabinet to bias the door toward the cabinet when the door is opened; a hinge lever connected between the auxiliary hinge shaft and the restoring unit and having a coupling hole in which the auxiliary hinge shaft fits; and a cap fitted on an end of the hinge lever where the coupling hole is formed.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of Korean Application No. 2003-53145, filed Jul. 31, 2003, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a refrigerator and, more particularly, to a door-closing device for a refrigerator, which enables a door of the refrigerator to be automatically closed when the door is opened to a predetermined angle or less.

2. Description of the Related Art

Generally, a refrigerator generates cool air by a refrigerating cycle, and supplies the cool air into storage compartments to maintain the freshness of food stored in the storage compartments for a desired period of time.

A typical refrigerator includes a cabinet opening at a front face thereof with a storage compartment therein, and a door hingedly coupled to the front face of the cabinet to open and close the storage compartment.

The door includes upper and lower hinge shafts joined to both ends of a side thereof, which serve as a rotating axis, and the cabinet includes upper and lower hinge holes at upper and lower panels thereof, corresponding to the upper and lower hinge shafts. Accordingly, the door is swingably coupled to the cabinet by the upper and lower hinge shafts fitted in the hinge holes, to open and close the storage compartment.

A conventional refrigerator has a door-closing device that allows a door to be automatically closed when the door is opened to a predetermined angle or less. The door-closing device allows the door to be automatically closed even when the door is not correctly closed due to a user's carelessness, thereby preventing cool air in the storage compartment of the refrigerator from leaking out.

The conventional door-closing device includes a hinge bracket attached to a lower end of the door, a hinge shaft, an auxiliary hinge shaft spaced apart from the hinge shaft, and an actuating lever attached to the cabinet and hingedly connected to the auxiliary hinge shaft at the front end of the actuating lever. A restoring unit is provided at a rear end of the actuating lever to retract the actuating lever into the cabinet when the door is opened. Accordingly, when the door is opened by a predetermined angle or less, the actuating lever is rearwardly moved to the stored potential energy of the restoring unit, thereby allowing the door, connected to the actuating lever via the auxiliary hinge shaft, to be automatically closed.

The actuating lever includes a coupling hole in which the auxiliary hinge shaft is fitted. A grommet, which is adapted to sheathe the auxiliary hinge shaft, is fitted into the coupling hole of the actuating lever to prevent abrasion of the auxiliary hinge shaft and the actuating lever during opening and closing operations of the door. The lower end of the auxiliary hinge shaft i has a coupling portion with an external diameter smaller than that of the remaining portion of the auxiliary hinge shaft to enable the coupling portion to be fitted into the grommet. Because the grommet includes a flange at an upper end thereof, which is supported on an upper surface of the actuating lever adjacent to the coupling hole, the grommet is stably retained in the coupling hole of the actuating lever without separating from the actuating lever.

In the conventional refrigerator, although grease is usually applied to the coupling hole of the actuating lever into which the grommet and the auxiliary hinge shaft are fitted to facilitate opening and closing operations of the door and to prevent abrasion of the components associated with the coupling hole, the grease applied to the coupling hole and the actuating lever may detract from the appearance of the cabinet because extraneous substances such as dust may adhere to the grease due to exposure to the external environment.

Furthermore, because the grommet is made of a plastic material produced by injection molding while the auxiliary hinge shaft and the actuating lever are made of metal, the flange of the grommet, which is interposed between the auxiliary hinge shaft and the actuating lever, may wear and thus generate undesired noise due to the repeated opening and closing operations of the door.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, it is an aspect of the present invention to provide a refrigerator with an improved door-closing device to reduce abrasion of components associated with the door-closing device due to opening and closing operations of a door and, thus, reduce noise due to the abrasion, as well as to achieve a more esthetically pleasing appearance.

To achieve the above and/or other aspects of the present invention, there is provided a refrigerator including a cabinet with a pair of hinge holes, a door having a pair of hinge shafts and being rotatably coupled to the cabinet by engagement between the pair of hinge shafts and the pair of hinge holes, and a door-closing device to allow the door to be automatically closed toward the cabinet, the door-closing device including an auxiliary hinge shaft attached to a bottom of the door; a restoring unit in a bottom of the cabinet to bias the door toward the cabinet when the door is opened; a hinge lever connected between the auxiliary hinge shaft and the restoring unit and having a coupling hole in which the auxiliary hinge shaft fits; and a cap fitted on an end of the hinge lever where the coupling hole is formed.

The refrigerator may further include a grommet fitted in the coupling hole of the hinge lever and receiving the auxiliary hinge shaft, an upper end of the grommet having a flange that radially extends from the grommet and that is supported on the hinge lever, with the cap being interposed between the flange and the hinge lever.

The refrigerator may further include a grease container, attached to a lower surface of the cap and having an opening in a top thereof, to hold grease therein.

An internal diameter of the grease container may be larger than a diameter of the coupling hole.

The cap may include a slot at a side thereof to receive the hinge lever, and has upper and lower through-holes formed at upper and lower walls of the cap to allow the auxiliary hinge shaft to pass therethrough.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Reference will now be made in detail to the embodiment of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elements throughout. The embodiment is described below to explain the present invention by referring to the figures.

As shown inFIG. 1, a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a cabinet10opening at a front face thereof, a storage compartment11therein, and a door20hingedly coupled to the front face of the cabinet10to open and close the storage compartment11.

The door20includes a pair of hinge shaft brackets30at upper and lower ends of a side thereof. Each of the hinge shaft brackets30includes a main hinge shaft31serving as the rotating axis of the door20. The cabinet10has a pair of hinge hole brackets40at locations corresponding to the pair of hinge shaft brackets30. The hinge hole brackets40have hinge holes41respectively corresponding to the main hinge shafts31to allow the main hinge shafts31of the hinge shaft brackets30to be rotatably fitted in the hinge holes41of the hinge hole brackets40. Washers42are respectively interposed between the main hinge shafts31and the hinge hole brackets40. The door20rotates about the main hinge shafts31respectively fitted in the hinge holes41, thus opening and closing the storage compartment11.

The refrigerator according to the embodiment of the present invention further includes a door-closing device, which allows the door20to automatically close toward the cabinet10when the door is opened about the main hinge shafts31to a predetermined angle or less.

The door-closing device includes an auxiliary hinge shaft32provided on the lower hinge shaft bracket30that is spaced apart from the main hinge shaft31, a hinge lever50provided at a lower portion of the cabinet10and hingedly connected at a front end thereof to the auxiliary hinge shaft32, and a restoring unit60hingedly connected to a rear end of the hinge lever50to restore the hinge lever50to a resting position when the hinge lever50is moved forward by opening the door50.

The restoring unit60includes a movable rod61connected at a front end thereof to the rear end of the hinge lever50and having a piston part (not shown) provided at a rear end thereof, and a housing62to receive the piston part (not shown) of the movable rod61therein. The housing62is swingably connected to a mount plate65fixed to a lower end of the cabinet10. The movable rod61has an elastic member63fitted on an outer surface of the movable rod61. The elastic member63is secured at a front end thereof to the front end of the movable rod61, and secured at a rear end thereof to the housing62. The elastic member63biases the movable rod61rearward, thereby causing the door20to close. The hinge lever50is bent at a middle portion51thereof, so that the door20automatically closes when the door20is opened to a predetermined angle or less, but remains in the opened position when the door20is opened more than the predetermined angle. Accordingly, when the door20is opened by a predetermined angle or less, the hinge lever50is retracted into the cabinet10by the restoring unit60, thereby allowing the door20, connected to the hinge lever50via the auxiliary shaft32, to automatically close.

The front end of the hinge lever50is formed with a coupling hole52that rotatably receives the auxiliary hinge shaft32. A cylindrical grommet70fits in the coupling hole52of the hinge lever50to prevent abrasion of contacting surfaces between the auxiliary hinge shaft32and the edge of the coupling hole52.

A lower end of the auxiliary hinge shaft32has a coupling portion32ahaving a reduced external diameter to allow the lower end of the auxiliary hinge shaft32to fit in the grommet70. The grommet70includes an upper flange71to prevent the grommet70fitted in the coupling hole52of the hinge lever50from being downwardly separated from the coupling hole52. Therefore, it is possible to avoid direct contact between the auxiliary hinge shaft32and the edge of the coupling hole52of the hinge lever50by the interposition of the grommet70.

To diminish noise due to opening and closing operations of the door20, as well as to prevent abrasion of the edge of the coupling hole52of the hinge lever50, the grommet70fitted in the coupling hole52, and the auxiliary hinge shaft32, grease is applied to the coupling hole52of the hinge lever50and the grommet70. The front end of the hinge lever50, where the coupling hole52is formed, is sheathed with a cap80to prevent the grease applied to the components from being exposed outside the refrigerator.

The cap80fits on the front end of the hinge lever50. The cap80is formed, at a rear side thereof, with a slot81, and is formed at upper and lower surfaces thereof with through-holes82.

Because the cap80prevents the grease, applied to the components associated with the coupling hole52, from being exposed, the refrigerator has a neater appearance. Furthermore, because the cap80fits on the hinge lever50prior to the auxiliary hinge shaft32and the grommet70being inserted into the coupling hole52of the hinge lever50, and because the grommet70fits in the coupling hole52of the hinge lever50such that the flange71of the grommet70is supported on an upper wall of the cap80, it is possible to prevent abrasion of the flange71of the grommet70during opening and closing operations of the door20.

In a conventional hinge arrangement, because the grommet is made of a plastic material produced by an injection molding process, and the flange of the grommet is in direct contact with an upper surface of the hinge lever, the plastic flange may wear.

In contrast, in the embodiment of the present invention, because the upper wall of the cap80is interposed between the flange71and the hinge lever50, as shown inFIG. 2, the flange71of the grommet70is prevented from directly contacting the hinge lever50. Accordingly, even though the door20is repeatedly opened and closed over a long period of time, abrasion of the flange71of the grommet70due to contact with the hinge lever50is prevented, and, thus, abnormal noise due to abrasion is diminished.

A grease container90is attached to a lower surface of the cap80to contain grease therein. The grease held in the grease container90permeates into a gap between the auxiliary hinge shaft32and the grommet70and into a gap between the grommet70and the hinge lever50, thereby diminishing abrasion of the components and, thus, noise due to the abrasion.

A washer91is provided on a lower surface of the grease container90. The washer91and the grease container90are attached to the lower surface of the cap80by a screw92, which passes through the washer91and the grease container90and is fixed to the auxiliary hinge shaft32. An internal diameter of the grease container90is larger than a diameter of the coupling hole52to allow the grease to drop into the grease container90, thus preventing the grease from dropping onto the floor if the grease drips.

Assembly operation of the door-closing device of the refrigerator according to the embodiment of the present invention will now be described.

First, a certain amount of grease is applied to an inner surface of the cap80, and the front end of the hinge lever50, having the coupling hole52, is inserted into the cap80through the slot81. As a result, the through-holes82formed at the upper and lower walls of the cap80are aligned with the coupling hole52of the hinge lever50. The rear end of the hinge lever50is connected to the front end of the movable rod61of the restoring unit60.

Grease is applied to the outer surface of the grommet70, and then the grommet70is fitted into the coupling hole52of the hinge lever50through the through-hole82of the cap80. The flange71of the grommet70is supported on the upper surface of the cap80adjacent to the through-hole82.

The door20is mounted on the cabinet10such that the main hinge shaft31of the hinge shaft bracket30attached to the door20i fits into the hinge hole41of the hinge hole bracket40attached to the cabinet10, while the coupling portion32aof the auxiliary hinge shaft32, with the grommet70sheathed thereon, fits into the coupling hole52of the hinge lever50.

The grease container90, filled with a certain amount of grease, is disposed under the cap80, and the washer91is disposed under the grease container90. Finally, the grease container90is firmly attached to the lower surface of the cap80by tightening the screw92into the auxiliary hinge shaft32through the washer91and the grease container90.

Thus, when the door20is opened to a predetermined angle or less, the hinge lever50is rearwardly retracted into the cabinet10by the restoring unit60, causing the door20, which is connected to the hinge lever50via the auxiliary hinge shaft32, to automatically close due to the retraction of the hinge lever50.

As is apparent from the above description, the present invention provides a door-closing device for a refrigerator, in which a hinge lever50is sheathed with a cap80, an upper wall of which is interposed between a flange71of a grommet70and the hinge lever50. Accordingly, because grease applied to a coupling hole52of the hinge lever50is not exposed to the external environment, an external appearance of the refrigerator becomes neater. Furthermore, because the flange71of the grommet70does not directly contact the hinge lever50due to the cap80being interposed therebetween, abrasion of the flange71of the plastic grommet70, due to direct contact with the hinge lever50during opening and closing operations of the door, is prevented, thereby reducing undesired noise.

In addition, because the hinge arrangement is provided with a grease container90containing grease therein, the abrasion of the associated components and the noise due to the abrasion are more efficiently reduced or prevented.