KR100687920B1 - Dispenser for refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a refrigerator dispenser having an ice discharge port formed in a door and an opening and closing cover member for opening and closing the ice discharge port, wherein the opening and closing cover member includes an airtight cover for contacting the ice discharge port; A support bracket for supporting the airtight cover; It is provided on the hermetic cover and the support bracket, characterized in that it comprises a rotating portion for rotatably supporting the hermetic cover with respect to the support bracket. As a result, it is possible to provide a refrigerator dispenser capable of preventing the leakage of cold air and saving energy and maintaining the freshness of food.

Description

Dispenser for refrigerators {DISPENSER FOR REFRIGERATOR}

1 is a front perspective view illustrating a refrigerator equipped with a refrigerator dispenser according to the present invention;

2 is a cross-sectional view showing the freezer compartment of FIG. 1,

3 is a front perspective view showing a dispenser for a refrigerator according to the present invention;

Figure 4 is a perspective view showing the opening and closing cover member of Figure 3,

5 is an enlarged side view illustrating the rotating part of the opening and closing cover member of FIG. 4;

Figure 6 is a side cross-sectional view showing a state in which the refrigerator dispenser according to the present invention is mounted on the door.

* Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings

1: refrigerator 12: freezer door

12c: foam material 30: dispenser

31: dispenser casing 32: opening and closing cover member

33: lever member 34: ice discharge port

36: airtight cover 37: support bracket

40: rotating part 41: rotating shaft

42: shaft support 43: elastic support

44: seating portion A: contact surface

The present invention relates to a refrigerator dispenser, and more particularly, to a refrigerator dispenser having an improved structure of an opening and closing cover member for opening and closing an ice discharge port.

Recently, refrigerators having dispensers for providing water or ice according to a user's selection have been released.

Korean Utility Model Application No. 1997-0031786 discloses a conventional refrigerator comprising a body cabinet in which a freezer compartment and a refrigerating compartment are formed and an evaporator is installed; It is made of foam and rotatably installed on the front of the main cabinet, and a dispenser provided on the front of the door to supply the ice generated from the ice maker of the freezer compartment.

The dispenser is composed of a discharge tube communicating with the outside so that the ice generated in the ice maker falls, and a lever hinged to the lower end of the discharge tube. The dispenser includes a blocking cover with a sealing material for sealing the discharge pipe so that internal cold air does not leak to the outside when the lever is not operated. Here, the sealing member is formed with a bent portion so as to conform to the shape of the portion in close contact with the discharge tube.

By such a configuration, the gap between the blocking cover and the discharge tube is shielded by the bent portion formed in the sealing material, thereby preventing the leakage of cold air and preventing the sealing material from being damaged.

By the way, in such a conventional refrigerator, when the foam of the door is uneven in the temperature difference or the foaming process, there is a problem that the contact surface between the discharge tube and the blocking cover is not sealed and a gap is generated between the cold air and the cold air flows out. .

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a refrigerator dispenser capable of preventing the outflow of cold air, saving energy and maintaining food freshness.

According to the present invention, a refrigerator dispenser having an ice discharge port formed in the door and the opening and closing cover member for opening and closing the ice discharge port, the opening and closing cover member is an airtight cover for contacting the ice discharge port; A support bracket for supporting the airtight cover; It is provided by the airtight cover and the support bracket, it is achieved by a rotating portion for rotatably supporting the airtight cover to the support bracket.

Here, it is preferable that the rotating part includes a rotating shaft provided on any one of the hermetic cover and the support bracket, and a shaft support part provided on the other of the hermetic holding cover and the support bracket to support the rotating shaft.

The shaft support portion has an shaft insertion portion into which the rotation shaft is inserted, and an elastic support portion having an opening portion to elastically insert the rotation shaft into the shaft insertion portion; It is preferable to include a seating portion protruding toward the shaft insertion portion, the mounting shaft is seated on the rotating shaft inserted into the shaft insertion portion.

Here, the elastic support portion preferably includes a support body having the shaft insertion portion and the opening portion formed therein, and a guide portion extending from the opening portion of the support body to guide the rotation shaft when the rotation shaft is inserted into the shaft insertion portion. Do.
It is preferable to further include a lever member which rotates the opening and closing cover member between the open position and the closed position, and is rotatably coupled to the support bracket.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a front perspective view showing a refrigerator equipped with a refrigerator dispenser according to the present invention. As shown in the drawing, the refrigerator 1 is mounted on the front side of the main body cabinet 10 and the main body cabinet 10 in which the freezing compartment 11 and the refrigerating compartment (not shown) are divided left and right by a partition wall, and the freezing compartment 11 is provided. And a freezing compartment door 12 and a refrigerating compartment door 13 which rotate and open and close the refrigerating compartment.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the freezer compartment of FIG. 1. As shown in the figure, in the rear region of the main cabinet 10, a compressor 23 and a condenser (not shown), an evaporator 21 for generating cold air, and cold air generated from the evaporator 21 are forced into the cooling chamber. The cold air supply part 20 provided with the blowing fan 22 which blows is provided.

The freezing chamber 11 includes a water supply hose 14 penetrated through the foam member of the main body cabinet 10 from the outside; Ice making unit 16 to make the water supplied from the water supply hose 14 to the ice by the cold air, and ice dispensed from the ice making unit 16 in the lower region of the ice making unit 16 to be described later dispenser 30 An ice making device 15 having an ice supply unit 17 for supplying ice to the furnace is provided. Here, the ice outlet hole 18 is formed on the lower surface of the ice supply unit 17 so that the ice flows out to the dispenser 30.

The freezing chamber door 12 includes a door outer plate 12a and a door inner plate 12b coupled to the door outer plate 12a at intervals of filling the foam material 12c. The front surface of the freezing chamber door 12 is equipped with a dispenser 30 which communicates with the ice making device 15 of the freezing chamber 11 and extracts ice from the outside. Thus, the user can easily use water or ice from the outside.

As shown in FIG. 3, the dispenser 30 includes a dispenser casing 31 having an ice discharge port 34 in communication with an ice outlet hole 18 of the ice supply unit 17, and an ice of the dispenser casing 31. It is attached to the front and rear of the dispenser casing 31 and the opening and closing cover member 32 for opening and closing the discharge port 34, the lever member 33 for rotating the opening and closing cover member 32 between the open position and the closed position. It includes a front plate (not shown) to form. The dispenser 30 having such a configuration is mounted in a dispenser accommodation portion (not shown) formed in the freezer compartment door 12.

The upper surface of the dispenser casing 31 is equipped with a discharge tube 35 for guiding the ice so that the ice is discharged from the ice discharge hole 18 to the ice discharge port 34.

The lever member 33 is rotatably coupled to the dispenser casing 31 and rotates the opening and closing cover member 32 between the open position and the closed position. That is, when the user presses the lever member 33, the opening and closing cover member 32 rotates forward to open the ice discharge port 34, and if the force is removed from the lever member 33, the opening and closing cover member 32 is iced. It rotates backward to close the discharge port 34.

As shown in Figure 4, the opening and closing cover member 32 and the airtight holding cover 36 in contact with the ice discharge port 34; A support bracket (37) rotatably coupled to the lever member (33) to support the airtight holding cover (36); It is provided on the airtight cover 36 and the support bracket 37, and includes a rotating part 40 to rotatably support the airtight cover 36 against the support bracket (37).

The airtight cover 36 includes a gasket 38 which holds the ice discharge port 34 airtight, and a rotation cover 39 which is integrally coupled to the gasket 38 and rotates with respect to the support bracket 37.

The gasket 38 has a sealing portion 38a inserted into the ice discharge opening 34 to seal the ice discharge opening 34, and is formed larger than the sealing portion 38a to contact the circumferential region of the ice discharge opening 34. A circumferential contact portion 38b is included.

The rotary cover 39 is coupled to the circumferential contact portion 38b of the gasket 38, and the plate surface is formed with a shaft support portion 42 to be described later.

The support bracket 37 is rotatably coupled with the operation of the lever member 33. The through surface 37a, 37b is formed in the plate surface of the support bracket 37 so that the axial support part 42 and the rotating shaft 41 which are mentioned later can be combined.

As shown in FIG. 5, the rotating part 40 includes a rotating shaft 41 formed on the support bracket 37 and an airtight holding cover 36 to support the rotating shaft 41 so as to be rotatable. It includes. Here, the rotation part 40 is provided in a pair, but is not limited to the number of course.

The rotating shaft 41 is formed between the through holes 37a and 37b of the support bracket 37 so that the airtight cover 36 can be rotated forward and backward with respect to the support bracket 37.

The shaft support portion 42 is formed of an shaft insertion portion 45a into which the rotation shaft 41 is inserted, and an elastic support portion having an opening portion 45b formed so that the rotation shaft 41 is elastically inserted into the shaft insertion portion 45a. 43); It protrudes toward the shaft insertion part 45a, and includes the mounting part 44 in which the rotating shaft 41 inserted in the shaft insertion part 45a is seated.

The elastic support part 43 extends from the support body 45 in which the shaft insertion part 45a and the opening part 45b were formed, and the opening part 45b of the support body 45, and a rotating shaft is attached to the shaft insertion part 45a. It includes a guide portion 46 for guiding the rotation axis when inserted. Here, the elastic support 43 is preferably injection molded integrally with the rotary cover 39 of the airtight cover 36, but is not limited to this may be provided in various forms within a known range.

An opening 45b is formed at one end of the support main body 45 so that the rotating shaft 41 can be held or disengaged from the shaft insertion portion 45a, and the other end thereof is connected to the rotating cover 39. Here, it is preferable that the opening part 45b is provided so that the rotating shaft 41 may not be separated from the shaft insertion part 45a.

The guide portion 46 extends to be inclined from the opening portion 45b of the support body 45. Thus, when the rotary shaft 41 is inserted into the shaft insertion portion 45a, the rotary shaft 41 may be moved along the inclined surface of the guide portion 46.

The seating part 44 includes a seating groove 44a corresponding to the shape of the rotational shaft 41 and on which the rotational shaft 41 is seated, and an inclined surface 44b for guiding the rotational shaft 41 to the seating groove 44a. Is done.

By this configuration, the principle of the opening and closing cover member 32 of the refrigerator dispenser 30 according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

The opening and closing cover member 32 pivotally opens and closes the ice discharge port 34 in accordance with the operation of the lever member 33. Accordingly, when the user presses the lever member 33, the opening / closing cover member 32 opens the ice discharge port 34 to supply the ice from the ice making device 15 to the outside, and when the force is removed from the lever member 33, the opening / closing cover member 32 opens and closes. The cover member 32 closes the ice discharge port 34 to prevent the cold air of the freezing chamber 11 from flowing out.

However, when the foam member 12c of the freezer compartment 12 is deformed by the foaming process or the temperature difference, the contact surface between the ice discharge port 34 and the opening / closing cover member 32 due to the deformation of the foam member 12c ( A gap of about 1 mm is generated in A). In this case, since the airtight cover 36 and the support bracket 37 may be rotated about the rotating part 40 in response to the gap, the gap due to the deformation of the foam material 12c may be corrected. Can be. Therefore, even if a gap occurs in the contact surface A between the ice discharge port 34 and the opening / closing cover member 32, energy of the freezer compartment 11 can be prevented from leaking to the outside, thereby saving energy and freezing compartment. The food of (11) can be kept fresh.

In the above-described embodiment, the rotating shaft is provided on the support bracket and the shaft support is provided on the airtight cover, but the rotating shaft is provided on the airtight cover and the shaft support may be provided on the support bracket.

As described above, according to the present invention, there is provided a refrigerator dispenser capable of preventing the leakage of cold air to save energy and maintain the freshness of food.

Claims (5)

In the dispenser for refrigerator having an ice discharge port formed in the door and an opening and closing cover member for opening and closing the ice discharge port, The opening and closing cover member, An airtight holding cover in contact with the ice discharge port, A support bracket for supporting the airtight cover; A rotary part provided on the airtight cover and the support bracket, the rotatably supporting the airtight cover to the support bracket; The rotating part, A rotation shaft provided in any one of the airtight holding cover and the support bracket; And a shaft support portion provided on the other one of the hermetic holding cover and the support bracket, the shaft insert portion having the rotary shaft inserted therein, and an elastic support portion having an open portion formed so that the rotary shaft is inserted into the shaft insert portion. Refrigerator dispenser. delete The method of claim 1, The shaft support portion is formed to protrude toward the shaft insertion portion, the refrigerator dispenser, characterized in that further comprising a seating portion on which the rotating shaft inserted into the shaft insertion portion is seated. The method of claim 3, The elastic support unit further comprises a guide unit extending from the opening to guide the rotating shaft when the rotating shaft is inserted into the shaft inserting portion. The method according to any one of claims 1, 3 or 4, And a lever member pivoting the opening / closing cover member between an open position and a closed position, the lever member being rotatably coupled to the support bracket.

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