Patent Description:
Currently, a refrigerator adopts a single-axis hinge. A door body conducts a circular motion around a fixed point of the hinge to be opened or closed. With reference to <FIG>, during opening of the door body, a corner portion formed by a vertical edge and a horizontal edge, close to the hinge, of the door body moves out of an extension line where a vertical edge of a refrigerator body of the refrigerator is located. In this case, owing to the design of the hinge, an opening angle of the door body of the refrigerator is limited when a gap between refrigerator housing and a wall is relatively smaller or the refrigerator is configured as an embedded refrigerator.

<CIT> discloses a storage door opening/closing device for a refrigerator having an upper opening door that opens/closes the upper surface opening of the main body, wherein the door has a gasket that abuts on the peripheral edge of the opening, and the hinge device has a sliding shaft that protrudes in parallel with the hinge shaft that is the center of rotation of the door. A sliding groove is provided in which the sliding shaft reciprocates as the door rotates, and the sliding groove is equal to or slightly equal to the outer diameter of the sliding shaft at the closed position and the fully open position of the door. The wall is large and elastically deforms between the two positions due to a strong acting force accompanying the reciprocating movement of the sliding shaft. The sliding shaft moves while expanding the sliding groove by opening and closing the door. When the door is stopped in the middle of opening and closing, the sliding shaft is held in a state of being elastically deformed at the abutting portion of the sliding groove, so that the door stops in place. When the door is further moved, the sliding shaft moves while elastically deforming the sliding groove.

<CIT> discloses a hinge device for a refrigerator which includes a first member interposed between a casing having an opening, and a door for opening/closing the opening and having a hinge pin provided in any one of the casing and the door, a second member provided in the other one of the casing and the door and having a long hole to turnably receive the hinge pin and sliding the door from an opening side toward the hinge pin when opening the door. An engagement portion is provided in a casing side member of the first and the second members, and an engaged body is provided in a door side member thereof to slide the door from the opening side toward the hinge pin by interfering in the engagement portion.

<CIT> discloses a hinge device for a door of a refrigerator, which comprises: a shaft member which is mounted on a refrigerator main body and comprises a hinge pin; a bearing member which is mounted on a door and comprises a long hole which is in contact with the hinge pin to be relatively movable or relatively rotatable with respect to the hinge pin; and a cam which is installed on the hinge pin and constitutes a cam unit by contacting a cam follower of the bearing member. The contact between the hinge pin and the long hole and the contact between the cam and the cam follower are constantly maintained without being interrupted by the opening/closing angle conditions of the door respectively, and the contact between the hinge pin and the long hole cooperates with the cam unit by interlocking with the opening/closing operations of the door, thereby guiding the opening/closing operations of the door.

One objective of the present invention is to provide a refrigerator for solving the above-mentioned problem.

To realize this objective, the present invention provides a refrigerator according to the appended set of claims.

The present invention has the following beneficial effects: as the first hinge shaft and the second hinge shaft are disposed on a hinge of the refrigerator, the first guide groove and the second guide groove which are respectively matched with the two hinge shafts are disposed on the door body of the refrigerator, and during opening of the door body, the first hinge shaft applies the acting force to the first guide groove to drive the end, away from the first guide groove, of the second guide groove to approach the second hinge shaft, the door body is displaced in the horizontal direction and does not interfere with a surrounding wall during opening.

The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings. However, these embodiments are not intended to limit the present invention, the scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims.

Besides, it should be understood that although such terms as first and second may be used herein to describe various elements or structures, and these described objects should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish these described objects from one another.

<FIG> illustrates a better embodiment of a refrigerator <NUM> provided by the present invention. The refrigerator <NUM> comprises a refrigerator body <NUM>, a door body <NUM> and a hinge assembly, the door body <NUM> pivotally connected to the refrigerator body <NUM> by the hinge assembly. The hinge assembly comprises a hinge body <NUM> fixed mounted on the refrigerator body <NUM>, as well as a first hinge shaft <NUM> and a second hinge shaft <NUM> which are disposed on the hinge body <NUM>. A radius of the first hinge shaft <NUM> is smaller than that of the second hinge shaft <NUM>. A connecting line of centers of the first hinge shaft <NUM> and the second hinge shaft <NUM> is in a horizontal direction.

A first guide groove <NUM> and a second guide groove <NUM> are formed in the positions, matched with the hinge assembly, on the door body <NUM>. After installation of the door body <NUM> and the refrigerator body <NUM>, the first hinge shaft <NUM> is located in the first guide groove <NUM>, and the second hinge shaft <NUM> is located in the second guide groove <NUM>. During opening of the door body <NUM>, the first guide groove <NUM> moves relative to the first hinge shaft <NUM>, and the second guide groove <NUM> moves relative to the second hinge shaft <NUM>.

Further, the first guide groove <NUM> is configured as substantially L-shaped and comprises a sliding groove A and a sliding groove B. The sliding groove A is longer than the sliding groove B. The second guide groove <NUM> is oblong and is disposed opposite to the first guide groove <NUM>. The end, close to the sliding groove A of the first guide groove <NUM>, of the second guide groove <NUM> is defined as an end C. The end, away from the sliding groove A of the first guide groove <NUM>, of the second guide groove <NUM> is defined as an end D. It should be noted herein that the oblong shape of the second guide groove <NUM> means that the end C and the end D take the shapes of symmetrical circular arcs and are connected by two parallel lines between which the distance is greater than or equal to a diameter of the second hinge shaft <NUM>. In the embodiment, the distance between the two parallel lines is roughly equal to the diameter of the second hinge shaft, so that the door body is prevented from an excessive shaking amplitude during opening.

Continuously referring to <FIG>, when the door body <NUM> is in a closed state, the first hinge shaft <NUM> is located at the end, away from the sliding groove B, of the sliding groove A of the first guide groove <NUM>. The second hinge shaft <NUM> is at a distance away from the end C and the end D of the second guide groove <NUM>. In the embodiment, the second hinge shaft <NUM> is roughly located in the middle of the second guide groove <NUM>.

As shown in <FIG>, when an opening angle of the door body <NUM> of the refrigerator is smaller than <NUM>° during opening, the first guide groove <NUM> moves relative to the first hinge shaft <NUM>, but the first hinge shaft <NUM> is always located in the sliding groove A of the first guide groove <NUM> and gradually approaches the sliding groove B. During movement, the first hinge shaft <NUM> applies an acting force to the first guide groove <NUM> to drive the end D of the second guide groove <NUM> to gradually approach the second hinge shaft <NUM>, so that the door body <NUM> is displaced in a horizontal direction. In the embodiment, the end D of the second guide groove <NUM> gradually approaches the second hinge shaft <NUM>, so that the door body <NUM> is subjected to a horizontal displacement in a direction away from the hinge component. Further, during movement of the door body <NUM>, a corner <NUM>, close to the second guide groove <NUM>, of the door body never exceeds a plane where a side wall <NUM>, close to the hinge component, of the refrigerator body <NUM> is located.

As shown in <FIG>, when the opening angle of the door body <NUM> of the refrigerator is <NUM>°, the first hinge shaft <NUM> is located at a joint of the sliding groove A and the sliding groove B of the first guide groove <NUM>, and the second hinge shaft <NUM> is located at the end C of the second guide groove <NUM>. The door body <NUM> is provided with a rear wall <NUM> and a front wall <NUM> back to the rear wall <NUM>. The front wall <NUM> is farther from the refrigerator body <NUM> than the rear wall <NUM>. A plane where the front wall <NUM> is located is superimposed with the plane where the side wall <NUM>, close to the hinge component, of the refrigerator body <NUM> is located. The rear wall <NUM> and the front wall <NUM> of the door body <NUM> are connected by a left wall <NUM> and a right wall <NUM> of the door body <NUM> respectively. The right wall <NUM> is closer to the hinge component than the left wall <NUM>.

As shown in <FIG>, when the opening angle of the door body <NUM> of the refrigerator is greater than <NUM>°, the first hinge shaft <NUM> is located in the sliding groove B of the first guide groove <NUM>, and the second hinge shaft <NUM> is located at the end C of the second guide groove <NUM>. At this time, the end corner <NUM>, close to the second guide groove <NUM>, of the door body continuously moves toward the refrigerator body <NUM>.

Moreover, as shown in <FIG>, the two hinge shafts and the two guide grooves work in cooperation to ensure that during opening at angles of <NUM>-<NUM>°, the door body <NUM> rotates around a traceable variable point of which the track is (X=(X1+X2)/<NUM>,Y=(Y1+Y2)/<NUM>). X represents a distance between the variable point and the right wall <NUM> of the door body. Y represents a distance between the variable point and a second wall <NUM> of the door body. The motion track of the variable point may be calculated out by the following formula.

When the door body <NUM> of the refrigerator is in the closed state, a distance between a central point of the second hinge shaft <NUM> and the front wall <NUM> of the door body is a, a distance between the central point of the second hinge shaft <NUM> and the right wall <NUM> of the door body is b, and a distance between the central point of the second hinge shaft <NUM> and the end corner <NUM> of the door body is c.

The relation is that a2+b2=c2 and tany=a/b. γ is an included angle formed by a plane where an axis of the second guide groove <NUM> is located and the second wall <NUM> of the door body <NUM>.

When the door body <NUM> rotates at an angle of m, <NUM>°≤m≤γ, COS(y-m)=b/C1. That is, C1=C1=b/COS(y-m).

When the distance between the central point of the second hinge shaft <NUM> and the right wall <NUM> of the door body <NUM> is X, X1=C1*COSγ.

When the distance between the central point of the second hinge shaft <NUM> and the front wall <NUM> of the door body <NUM> is Y1, Y1=C1*SINγ.

When a distance between the central point of the first hinge shaft <NUM> and the right wall <NUM> of the door body <NUM> is X2, X2=C1*COSγ+L*COSm.

When a distance between the central point of the first hinge shaft <NUM> and the front wall <NUM> of the door body <NUM> is Y2, Y2=C1*SINγ+L*SINm.

When the door body <NUM> rotates at the angle of m, γ≤m≤<NUM>°, COS(m-γ)=b/C1. That is, C1=b/COS(m-y).

When the distance between the central point of the second hinge shaft <NUM> and the right wall <NUM> of the door body <NUM> is X1, X1=C1*COSγ.

When the distance between the central point of the first hinge shaft <NUM> and the right wall <NUM> of the door body <NUM> is X2, X2=C1*COSγ+L*COSm.

When the distance between the central point of the first hinge shaft <NUM> and the front wall <NUM> of the door body <NUM> is Y2, Y2=C1*SINγ+L*SINm.

When the door body <NUM> rotates at the angle of m, m≥ <NUM>°, the door body <NUM> will rotate around a fixed point which is the center of the second hinge shaft <NUM>.

When the distance between the central point of the second hinge shaft <NUM> and the right wall <NUM> of the door body <NUM> is X1, X1=C1*COSγ=b*COSγ/COS(<NUM>°-γ).

When the distance between the central point of the second hinge shaft <NUM> and the front wall <NUM> of the door body <NUM> is Y1, Y1=C1*SINγ=b*SINγ/COS(<NUM>°-γ).

The central point of the first hinge shaft <NUM> rotates on a circular arc, which takes the central point of the second hinge shaft <NUM> as the center of a circle and a fixed length L as the radius.

In the forgoing computational formula, L is the distance between the central point of the first hinge shaft <NUM> and the central point of the second hinge shaft <NUM>.

The variable point is traceable and has the track of (X=(X1+X2)/<NUM>,Y=(Y1+Y2)/<NUM>). X represents a distance between the variable point and the right end of the door body. Y represents a distance between the variable point and a front end of the door body.

Claim 1:
A refrigerator (<NUM>), comprising:
a refrigerator body (<NUM>) with a hinge body (<NUM>) disposed thereon, a first hinge shaft (<NUM>) and a second hinge shaft (<NUM>) being disposed on the hinge body (<NUM>); and
a door body (<NUM>) with a first guide groove (<NUM>) and a second guide groove (<NUM>) formed therein, after installation of the door body (<NUM>) and the refrigerator body (<NUM>), the first hinge shaft (<NUM>) being located in the first guide groove (<NUM>) and the second hinge shaft (<NUM>) being located in the second guide groove (<NUM>), wherein
during opening of the door body (<NUM>), the first guide groove (<NUM>) moves relative to the first hinge shaft (<NUM>), and the second guide groove (<NUM>) moves relative to the second hinge shaft (<NUM>); and during movement, the first hinge shaft (<NUM>) applies an acting force to the first guide groove (<NUM>) to drive the end, away from the first guide groove (<NUM>), of the second guide groove (<NUM>) to gradually approach the second hinge shaft (<NUM>), so that the door body (<NUM>) is displaced in a horizontal direction; wherein the first guide groove (<NUM>) is configured as substantially L-shaped and comprises a sliding groove A and a sliding groove B, the second guide groove (<NUM>) is oblong, the end, close to the sliding groove A of the first guide groove (<NUM>), of the second guide groove (<NUM>) is defined as an end C, and the end, away from the sliding groove A of the first guide groove (<NUM>), of the second guide groove (<NUM>) is defined as an end D,
characterized in that
when an opening angle of the door body (<NUM>) is <NUM>°, the first hinge shaft (<NUM>) is located at a joint of the sliding groove A and the sliding groove B of the first guide groove (<NUM>), and the second hinge shaft (<NUM>) is located at the end C of the second guide groove (<NUM>).