Patent Publication Number: US-11391509-B2

Title: Refrigerator, refrigerator door and rotatable storage rack

Description:
The present application is a 35 U.S.C. § 371 National Phase conversion of International (PCT) Patent Application No. PCT/CN2018/123086, filed on Dec. 24, 2018, which claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 201810055375.6, filed on Jan. 19, 2018 and tiled “REFRIGERATOR, REFRIGERATOR DOOR AND ROTATABLE STORAGE RACK”, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. The PCT International Patent Application was filed and published in Chinese. 
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present invention relates to a refrigerator, a refrigerator door and a rotatable storage rack, and belongs to the field of refrigeration equipment. 
     BACKGROUND 
     In recent years, more and more refrigerators provide independent dry-zone space to facilitate a user to store foods such as multigrain and dried food. It is a sensible act to provide the dry zones on a refrigeration door of the refrigerator because the dry zones are easily accessible and improve the user&#39;s convenience in accessing the articles. Furthermore, multi-layer dry zones on the door facilitate classification, so the user may finely partition the zones according to his own needs and avoid transfer of odor of different food. 
     However, a conventional storage rack disposed on the door of the refrigerator has an undesirable sealing performance. Even though the storage rack has a cover that can provide full covering, a serious problem such as air leakage is caused due to a large assembling gap, so that humidity in the interior of the storage rack is made uncontrollable and dried food cannot be stored in the storage rack as a dry zone. In addition, if the dry zones on the door are disposed in a middle-upper portion of the refrigeration door or refrigeration compartment, users with ordinary height cannot access articles conveniently. 
     In view of this, it is necessary to provide a novel dry-zone structure which provides high sealing performance and facilitates the user to access articles, to solve the above problems. 
     SUMMARY 
     An object of the present invention is to provide a novel dry zone structure, which can improve the sealing performance, ensure dryness of food materials, improve the user&#39;s convenience in accessing articles, and avoid reduction of consumption satisfaction due to insufficient height of the user. 
     To implement the above object, the present invention employs the following technical solution: a rotatable storage rack, comprising a drawer, a storage rack body for slidingly receiving the drawer, and a sliding assembly disposed between the drawer and the storage rack body; wherein the sliding assembly comprises a curved slide rail and a first pulley moving along the curved slide rail, the curved slide rail comprises a horizontal section and a bent section, and the bent section is tangent to the horizontal section and arranged at an angle; when the first pulley moves along the horizontal section, the drawer is pulled out; when the first pulley moves along the bent section, the drawer rotates downward. 
     As a further improved technical solution of the present invention, the curved slide rail is disposed near a top of the drawer, the sliding assembly further comprises a second slide rail disposed away from the top of the drawer and a second pulley moving along the second slide rail, the second slide rail extends from a start point to an end point in a horizontal direction, and the bent section is configured as a circular arc with the end point of the second slide rail as a center of a circle and with a vertical distance from the horizontal section to the second slide rail as a radius. 
     As a further improved technical solution of the present invention, the rotatable storage rack comprises a latch structure comprising a male portion and a female portion, the male portion is provided on one of the drawer and the storage rack body, the female portion is disposed on the other of the drawer and the storage rack body, and the male portion and the female portion cooperate with each other unlockably. 
     As a further improved technical solution of the present invention, the sliding assembly comprises a support plate connected to the storage rack body, the curved slide rail is provided on one of the drawer and the support plate, and the first pulley is disposed on the other of the drawer and the support plate. 
     As a further improved technical solution of the present invention, the sliding assembly further comprises a sub-sliding mechanism, and the support plate is slidably connected to the storage rack body through the sub-sliding mechanism to increase a distance that the drawer may be drawn out. 
     As a further improved technical solution of the present invention, the sub-sliding mechanism comprises a third pulley provided on one of the support plate and the storage rack body, and a third slide rail disposed on the other of the support plate and the storage rack body, and the third pulley is received in the third slide rail and movable along the third slide rail. 
     As a further improved technical solution of the present invention, the sub-sliding mechanism further comprises a limiting member, the limiting member is provided on the support plate, the storage rack body is provided with a stop surface cooperating with the limiting member, and the limiting member cooperates with the stop surface to limit further displacement of the support plate relative to the storage rack body. 
     As a further improved technical solution of the present invention, the limiting member is an elastic piece extending in a horizontal direction, the horizontal direction is opposite to a direction in which the support plate is drawn out relative to the storage rack body, a free end of the elastic piece is provided with an inverted snap, the inverted snap has a limiting surface perpendicular to the horizontal direction, and the limiting surface abuts against the stop surface when the support plate moves to a limiting position relative to the storage rack body. 
     To achieve the above object of the present invention, the present invention further provides a refrigerator door comprising the above-mentioned rotatable storage rack. 
     To achieve the above object of the present invention, the present invention further provides a refrigerator comprising the above-mentioned rotatable storage rack. 
     Advantageous effects of the present invention are as follows: as compared with the prior art, the rotatable storage rack according to the present invention has the thus arranged curved slide rail so that the drawer can rotate downward by a certain angle after being horizontally pulled to an extreme position, so that users not tall enough can conveniently access food, thereby enhancing the user&#39;s consumption experience. Furthermore, the gapless fitting of the drawer and the storage rack body facilitates the storage rack to be independently controlled as a dry zone in terms of dryness and humidity, and avoids the problems such as air leakage and undesirable sealing performance. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a refrigerator door in a preferred embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a perspective view of a rotatable storage rack in the refrigerator door shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3  is an exploded view of the rotatable storage rack shown in  FIG. 2 ; 
         FIG. 4  is a schematic structural diagram of a support plate of the rotatable storage rack shown in  FIG. 2 ; 
         FIG. 5  is a schematic view in which a drawer of the rotatable storage rack shown in  FIG. 2  is in an initial movement state; 
         FIG. 6  is a schematic view in which the drawer of the rotatable storage rack shown in  FIG. 2  is in an intermediate movement state. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The present invention will be described below in detail in combination with specific embodiments illustrated in drawings. However, these embodiments have no limitations on the present invention, and any transformations of structure, method, or function made by persons skilled in the art according to these embodiments fall within the protection scope of the present invention. 
     The terms expressive of spatial relative positions, such as “upper”, “above”, “lower”, “below”, or the like herein are used to describe the relationship of a unit or feature relative to another unit or feature in the drawings, for the purpose of illustration and description. Terms expressive of the spatial relative positions are intended to comprise different orientations of the device in use or operation other than the orientations shown in the drawings. For example, if the device in the drawings is turned over, the units which are described to be located “below” or “under” other units or features are “above” other units or features. Therefore, the exemplary term “below” may comprise both the “above” and “below” orientations. The device may be oriented (rotated by 90 degrees or other orientations) in other ways, correspondingly explaining the expressions related to the space herein. Also, it should be understood that although the terms of first, second, etc. may be used herein to describe various elements or structures, these described objects should not be limited by them. These terms are merely used to distinguish these described objects. 
     A preferred refrigerator of the present invention comprises a refrigerator door. The refrigerator door comprises a housing, an inner liner  100 , and a foaming material filled between the housing and the inner liner  100 . As shown in  FIG. 1 , in the present preferred embodiment, the inner liner  100  of the door is integrally formed, it comprises three layers of compartments, and each compartment may be used alone as an ordinary storage rack  1  to open to place bottle can-like articles such as beverage bottles and wine bottles, and may also be provided as an independent dry zone. Certainly, the designer may appropriately adjust the number of compartments in the inner liner  100  according to different refrigerator specifications and use needs. 
     For ease of description,  FIG. 1  shows only one storage rack  1  used as a dry zone, which is located on the top of the compartment. The storage rack  1  comprises a drawer  10 , a storage rack body  20  for slidingly receiving the drawer  10 , and a sliding assembly disposed between the drawer  10  and the storage rack body  20 . The storage rack body  20  is disposed in the inner liner  100  of the door. In the present embodiment, the storage rack body  20  is an inner liner  100  formed by a bottom wall, a top wall, left and right side walls, and a rear wall. The storage rack body  20  slideably receives the drawer  10 . When the drawer  10  completely enters the storage rack body  20 , the interior of the storage rack  1  is well sealed, and may serve as a dry zone of which temperature and humidity can be regulated and controlled independently, thereby ensuring dryness of food materials and avoiding undesirable sealing performance of a conventional storage rack  1  caused by an assembling gap of a cover body. 
     As shown in  FIG. 3 , the storage rack  1  comprises a latch structure comprising a male portion and a female portion, the male portion is provided on one of the drawer  10  and the storage rack body  20 , the female portion is disposed on the other of the drawer  10  and the storage rack body  20 , and the male portion and the female portion cooperate with each other unlockably. As shown in  FIG. 3 , the male portion is configured as a snap  14  connected to one end of the drawer  10 , the female portion is provided on the storage rack body  20  and configured as a catch groove  24  which receives the snap  24  and able to release the snap  24 , a spring is disposed in the catch groove  24  to facilitate elastically releasing the snap  14  when needs to unlock the snap  14 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 2 , a sliding assembly is provided between the storage rack body  20  and the drawer  10 . In the present embodiment, the sliding assembly is symmetrically disposed between two side walls of the drawer  10  and left and right side walls of the storage rack body  20 . For the convenience of description, only the sliding assembly on the right side of the figure (at a bottom right side of the figure) is taken as an example for description. 
     As shown in  FIG. 2  and  FIG. 3 , the sliding assembly comprises a curved slide rail  31  and a first pulley  11  moving along the curved slide rail  31 . the curved slide rail  31  comprises a horizontal section  310  and a bent section  312 , and the bent section  312  is tangent to the horizontal section  310  and arranged at an angle. When the first pulley  11  moves along the horizontal section  310 , the drawer  10  is pulled out. When the first pulley  11  moves along the bent section  312 , the drawer  10  rotates downward. The storage rack  1  provided in the present embodiment has the above-mentioned curved slide rail  31 , so that the drawer  10  can rotate downward by a certain angle after being pulled to an extreme position, so that users not tall enough can conveniently access food. 
     Further referring to  FIG. 3 , the curved slide rail  31  is disposed near a top of the drawer  10 , the sliding assembly further comprises a second slide rail  33  disposed away from the top of the drawer  10  and a second pulley  13  moving along the second slide rail  33 , the second slide rail  33  extends from a start point to an end point in a horizontal direction, and the bent section  312  is configured as a circular arc with the end point of the second slide rail  33  as a center of a circle and with a vertical distance from the horizontal section  310  to the second slide rail  33  as a radius. The provision of the second slide rail  33  makes the connection of the drawer  10  and the storage rack body  20  firmer and avoids the damage of a single slide rail as bearing a larger weight; meanwhile, the second slide rail  33  and the curved slide rail  31  are disposed at the top and bottom of the side wall of the drawer  10 , respectively so that the user can save labor upon turning the drawer  10  with the end point of the second slide rail  33  as a pivot. 
     Further referring to  FIG. 2  and  FIG. 3 , the second slide rail  33  and the horizontal section  310  of the curved slide rail  31  are parallel and equal in length. In other words, when the user pulls the drawer  10 , the first pulley  11  moves relative to the curved slide rail  31  in the horizontal direction, and at the same time, the second pulley  13  moves relative to the second slide rail  33  in the horizontal direction until the second pulley  13  reaches the end point position of the second slide rail  33 . When the second pulley  13  moves to the end point position of the second slide rail  33 , the second pulley  13  is limited. At this time, the user rotates the drawer  10  downward, and the first pulley  11  continues to move along the bent section  312 , so that the drawer  10  rotates downward by an angle of a central angle corresponding to the circular arc-shaped bent section  312 . 
     In the present embodiment, the sliding assembly comprises a support plate  30  connected to the storage rack body  20 , the curved slide rail  31  is provided on one of the drawer  10  and the support plate  30 , and the first pulley  11  is disposed on the other of the drawer  10  and the support plate  30 . In the present embodiment, the curved slide rail  31  is provided on the support plate  30 , and the first pulley  11  is connected to the top of the side wall of the drawer  10  by screws. In addition, the second slide rail  33  is also disposed on the support plate  30 . Correspondingly, the second pulley  13  is connected to the bottom of the side wall of the drawer  10  by screws. Certainly, in a variant embodiment, the relative movement of the pulley and the slide rail may also be achieved by reversing the positions of the first pulley  11  and the curved slide rail  31 , and by reversing the positions of the second pulley  13  and the second slide rail  33  simultaneously or non-simultaneously. 
     The sliding assembly further comprises a sub-sliding mechanism, and the support plate  30  is slidably connected to the storage rack body  20  through the sub-sliding mechanism to increase a distance that the drawer  10  may be drawn out. Furthermore, the sub-sliding mechanism comprises a third pulley  35  provided on one of the support plate  30  and the storage rack body  20 , and a third slide rail  25  disposed on the other of the support plate  30  and the storage rack body  20 , and the third pulley  35  is received in the third slide rail  25  and movable along the third slide rail  25 . The sub-sliding mechanism enables relative movement between the support plate  30  and the storage rack body  20 , thereby increasing the distance that the drawer  10  may be pulled out relative to the storage rack body  20 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 4 , the third pulley  35  is connected to the support plate  30 , the third slide rail  25  is provided with a mounting hole  250 , and a fastener passes through the mounting hole  250  to fix the third slide rail  25  on the storage rack body  20 . The sub-sliding mechanism of the present embodiment comprises two pairs of third pulleys  35  and third slide rails  25 . Certainly, in other embodiments, only one pair of such sub-sliding mechanisms may be provided. 
     As shown in  FIG. 4 , the sub-sliding mechanism further comprises a limiting member  37 , the limiting member  37  is provided on the support plate  30 , the storage rack body  20  is provided with a stop surface cooperating with the limiting member  37 , and the limiting member  37  cooperates with the stop surface to limit further displacement of the support plate  30  relative to the storage rack body  20 , to prevent the support plate  30  from being totally pulled out and further preventing the drawer  10  from falling off. 
     With reference to  FIG. 3  and  FIG. 4 , the present embodiment provides two limiting members  37  which are elastic pieces extending in a horizontal direction, an extending direction of the elastic pieces is opposite to a direction in which the support plate  30  is drawn out relative to the storage rack body  20 , a free end of the elastic piece is provided with an inverted snap  370 , the inverted snap  370  has a limiting surface perpendicular to the horizontal direction, and, the limiting surface abuts against the stop surface when the support plate  30  moves to a limiting position relative to the storage rack body  20 . Such an arrangement enables the limiting member  37  to allow a proper amount of elastic deformation when the support plate  30  enters the storage rack body  20  inward, thereby preventing inner wall of the storage rack body  20  from being scratched and damaged by the inverted snap  370 . Furthermore, the inner wall of the storage rack body  20  is provided with a stop groove  27  provided along the moving direction of the limiting member  37 , the stop groove  27  receives the inverted snap  370  and allows the inverted snap  370  to move therein, and the stop surface is formed as an end face of the stop groove  27 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 5 , when the user needs to pull out the drawer  10 , the support plate  30  first moves relative to the storage rack body  20 , i.e., the support plate  30  drives the third pulley  35  to slide relative to the third slide rail  25  until the limiting surface of the limiting member  37  abuts against the stop surface of the storage rack body  20 , and the support plate  30  is limited. The drawer  10  is further pulled, the drawer  10  starts to move relative to the support plate  30 , the first pulley  11  moves from a start point to an end point along the horizontal section  310  of the curved slide rail  31 , and the second pulley  13  moves from the start point to the end point of the second slide rail  33 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 6 , the first pulley  11  moves to the end point of the horizontal section  310  and the second pulley  13  moves to the end point of the second slide rail  33 , whereupon the second pulley  13  is limited. If the drawer  10  is further pulled, the first pulley  11  enters the bent section  312  and slides along the bent section  312  until it reaches the end point of the bent section  312  (as shown in  FIG. 2 ). At this time, the drawer  10  rotates downward by a certain angle, thereby improving the convenience for the user in picking and placing articles. 
     In summary, the storage rack  1  provided in the present embodiment avoids the problem of air leakage due to the assembling gap because the temperature and humidity of the storage rack  1  is adapted to be controlled independently due to the excellent sealing performance formed between the drawer  10  and the storage rack body  20 ; in addition, the curved slide rail  31  having the bent section  312  is provided between the drawer  10  and the storage rack body  20 , so that the drawer  10  can rotate down relative to the storage rack body  20 , thereby reducing the height of the drawer  10  and meeting the need of users not tall enough to access articles. In the above embodiment, the storage rack  1  is provided on the door of the refrigerator. Certainly, in a variant embodiment, the storage rack  1  may also be provided in the cabinet of the refrigerator. 
     It should be understood that although the present specification is described based on embodiments, not every embodiment contains only one independent technical solution. Such a narration way of the present specification is only for the sake of clarity. Those skilled in the art should take the present specification as an entirety. The technical solutions in the respective embodiments may be combined properly to form other embodiments which may be understood by those skilled in the art. 
     A series of the detailed descriptions set forth above is merely specific description of feasible embodiments of the present invention, and is not intended to limit the protection scope of the present invention. Equivalent embodiments or modifications made within the spirit of the present invention shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.