Patent ID: 8182055

Claim:
A refrigerator comprising: a body; a refrigerator door for opening and closing a front surface of the body, the refrigerator door having an opening; an auxiliary door for opening and closing the opening of the refrigerator door; and a damping unit coupled to a hinge shaft of the auxiliary door to control an opening and closing speed of the auxiliary door, wherein the damping unit includes a case with a hollow structure and an open upper portion, a case cover to cover the open upper portion of the case, a rotating member rotatably installed in the case, oil filled in the case to apply resistance against rotation of the rotating member, a fixing member coupled to an end portion of a rotating shaft, protruding out of the case cover, of the rotating member, to rotate together with the rotating member, and an elastic member provided between the case and the fixing member to apply elastic force to the fixing member in a direction opposite to an opening direction of the auxiliary door, wherein the elastic member includes a first lever section provided at a first end of the elastic member and directly fixed to the case or the case cover, and a second lever section provided at a second end of the elastic member and directly fixed to the fixing member.