Patent ID: 8668289

Claim:
An automatic door opening/closing apparatus to automatically open or close a sliding door that is mounted, in a drawer manner, to a refrigerator body, comprising: the sliding door; a drive device coupled to the sliding door to automatically open or close the sliding door with respect to the refrigerator body; an input part to receive a user input and to operate the drive device based on the user input; a sensing part to sense an open or closed state of the sliding door; and a controller to operate the drive device based on signals from the input part and signals from the sensing part, wherein the sensing part includes a first sensor and a second sensor provided at the refrigerator body to sense the closed state of the sliding door and to sense the maximally open state of the sliding door, respectively, and a first sensor operator and a second sensor operator provided at the sliding door to operate the first and second sensors, respectively, wherein the drive device includes a drive motor and a gear unit to transmit rotating power of the drive motor to the sliding door, wherein the sliding door includes a rack gear corresponding to the gear unit so as to be moved forward or rearward by rotation of the gear unit, and a connecting rod unit to connect a pair of sliding devices provided at the sliding door to prevent unbalanced opening/closing operation of the sliding door, and wherein the controller is configured to operate the drive device if an input signal is applied from the input part, and is configured to terminate the operation of the drive device if a signal informing of the open or closed state of the sliding door is applied from the sensing part.