JP2008196752A - Refrigerator and refrigerator door opening and closing device - Google Patents

Abstract

【Task】
The drawer door in the freezer compartment or vegetable compartment is opened electrically, and it is automatically closed when it is detected that it is in a half-door state.
[Solution]
When the freezer compartment 5 starts to be opened from the closed state, the motor is rotated at a high speed, and the first drive pin 20a disposed closest to the drive shaft 18 pushes and drives the connecting plate 16 to drive at a low speed. However, a large force is exerted to peel off the magnet packing, and then the second drive pin 20b provided farther than the first drive pin 20a pushes the connecting plate 16 to produce a medium force at a medium speed. By driving out and driving, the freezing chamber 5 is accelerated against the pulling force of the closer 13 to accelerate the freezer compartment 5, and subsequently the third drive pin 20 b is provided farther from the drive shaft 18. The drive pin 20c pushes the connecting plate 16 and the freezer compartment 5 is further accelerated by driving at a high speed although the force is small.
[Selection] Figure 2

Description

  The present invention relates to a door opening and closing device that automatically opens and closes a door of a refrigerator electrically.

  Conventionally, as a device that automatically opens the refrigerator door, it has a short-distance operation section with a high gear ratio and a long-distance operation section with a low gear ratio, and generates a large force when peeling the packing, After that, it opens at high speed. The structure which provided the overload prevention clutch in the low gear part is disclosed (for example, refer patent document 1).

  Alternatively, a configuration is disclosed in which the pressing member is linearly moved by the worm gear and the rack, the drawer door is pushed out automatically by the pressing member to automatically open, and when the door has been opened, the return spring returns to the retracted position (for example, Patent Document 2).

  Alternatively, a timing belt is provided in a support frame that supports the drawer door, an automatic opening unit that slides on the timing belt is provided, and the automatic opening unit includes a slide pin that pushes the drawer case, and a roller that operates on the timing belt, The structure comprised by the drive means for driving a slide pin and a roller is disclosed (for example, refer patent document 3).

  Alternatively, it is provided at the output stage of the reduction gear using a worm gear, and the contact portion to the open / close door opens in an arc shape by projecting from the main body to the door side by rotating operation by energizing the drive motor for a certain time. A cam device having a flat plate shape is disclosed (for example, see Patent Document 4).

  Alternatively, the drive device is a cam device that includes a rotatable cam and opens the door by projecting the long diameter end face of the cam forward by rotating the cam via a drive device in response to a signal from a door opening switch. A cam device is disclosed in which the cam has a combined shape of an ellipse or an ellipse (see, for example, Patent Document 5).

  Alternatively, an electric motor having a cam on the output shaft is provided behind the drawer door, and the frame is pushed out by rotating the cam. Furthermore, the structure provided with the micro switch for Kimi detection is disclosed (for example, refer patent document 6).

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 02-157581 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-280827 JP 2000-220957 A JP 2002-257466 A JP 2001-317864 A Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 1-167590

  In recent years, dietary habits have changed, and daily foods are often purchased at nearby food stores and cooked. For example, food can be purchased for a week at large supermarkets in the suburbs and stored in the refrigerator. It has become common to cook food stored in this refrigerator every day. In response to the increase in the use of frozen foods, large refrigerators with a capacity exceeding 400 liters are generally spreading at home.

  However, as the size of the refrigerator increases, the amount of food stored increases, and for example, 20 kg or more of food is stored in the freezer compartment or vegetable compartment, so the force to open the doors of the vegetable compartment or freezer compartment increases. There is. In particular, at the beginning of the door opening, in addition to the sliding resistance of the drawer rail, the force to peel off the magnet packing adsorbed to the refrigerator body is added, so the opening force becomes particularly heavy. Opening the refrigerator is becoming a burden for weak people.

  In addition, in the refrigerator, when the door is closed in an inadequate manner, the so-called half-door state is reached, the cold air is released to the outside, the refrigeration function is lost, and the electricity bill is extra, saving energy. In addition to the reduction, the quality of the stored food is deteriorated, and the outside air outside the refrigerator enters into the refrigerator to cause dew condensation, and water droplets adhere to the inside of the refrigerator.

  Therefore, in the present invention, it is possible to open the door lightly by reducing the opening force of the drawer door of the refrigerator, and to detect the half door state and automatically close the door from the half door state to save energy. There is a need for a refrigerator that can improve the quality of the product.

  An object of this invention is to improve the operativity of the refrigerator which has a drawer door.

In order to solve the above-described problems of the prior art, the refrigerator according to claim 1 of the present invention is a refrigerator including a drawer door that can be pulled out in the front-rear direction, and the rotation driving means fixed to the refrigerator body, A rotation member provided with a plurality of power transmission units at a position rotated by rotation of the rotation drive means and gradually changing the distance from the rotation center toward the rotation direction; and control means for controlling the rotation drive means; A connecting member that receives power from the power transmission unit and converts the rotational motion of the rotating member into a linear motion, and a rotational position of the rotating member that does not interfere with the rotating member and the connecting member when the drawer door is closed. First rotational position detecting means for detecting
After the power transmission unit transmits power to the stepped portion, a second rotational position detecting means for detecting the rotational position of the rotating member where the connecting member is separated from the power transmitting unit, and detecting the rotational position of the rotating member A first and second rotational position detecting means is provided.

  The invention described in claim 2 of the present invention includes a switch for opening the drawer door according to claim 1, and when the switch is operated, the control means is configured to output the first rotational position detecting means according to the output of the first rotational position detecting means. Rotation drive means is operated to transmit power to the connecting member at the power transmission portion that is closest to the rotation center of the rotation member, and the power transmission that is next to the rotation center of the rotation member. After the power is transmitted to the connecting member sequentially and the power transmitting portion is transmitted to the stepped portion, the rotational speed of the rotating member is reduced by the output of the second rotational position detecting means, and the connecting member Is a refrigerator characterized in that the drawer door is opened apart from the power transmission unit.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect, the first door position detecting means for detecting that the drawer door is closed and the power transmission when the drawer door is closed. And a second door position detecting means for detecting that the drawer door is positioned to a position where the power can be applied to the connecting member, and the drawer door is detected by the first door position detecting means. Is detected, the second door position detecting means detects that the drawer door is open, and the first rotational position detecting means detects the rotation member and the connecting member. When the rotational position of the rotating member that does not interfere is detected, an operation of closing the drawer door is performed.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the third aspect, when the drawer door is closed, the rotation direction of the rotation driving means is rotated in the direction opposite to that when the drawer door is opened, and the power transmission unit is The refrigerator is characterized in that power is applied to the connecting member.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the fourth aspect, when the drawer door is closed, the rotation direction of the rotation driving means is rotated in the opposite direction to that when the drawer door is opened, and the plurality of power transmissions are performed. A portion that is located farthest from the center of rotation and transmits power supplies the power to the connecting member.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in any one of the first and second aspects, the rotation driving means is composed of a motor and a half bridge circuit that applies a voltage to the motor, and the first and second The refrigerator is characterized in that the opening amount of the drawer door is adjusted by controlling a drive signal given to the half bridge circuit by a signal from the rotational position detecting means.

In order to solve the problems of the prior art described above, the refrigerator of the present invention is
A drawer door placed on a slide rail movable in the front-rear direction, and a door opening / closing means capable of opening and closing the drawer door electrically,
The door opening and closing device further moves together with a drive source such as a motor, a speed reduction means for slowing down the rotation of the motor, a rotary drive body supported to rotate with a rotation output shaft decelerated by the speed reduction means, and a drawer door. And a connecting member that comes in contact with the rotary drive body in the opening drive range,
The rotary drive body is provided with a plurality of drive transmission members, and the plurality of drive transmission members are arranged at different distances from the rotation center of the rotary drive body,
Further, the connecting member includes a plurality of receiving surfaces corresponding to the plurality of drive transmission members, and when the rotation drive body rotates in an opening direction that is a direction to open the drawer door, The closest first drive transmission member abuts on the first receiving surface of the coupling member, and is farther from the rotation center than the first drive transmission member as the rotary drive body rotates in the opening direction. After the second drive transmission member comes into contact with the second receiving surface of the connecting member and the drive transmission member farthest from the rotation center comes into contact with the corresponding receiving surface of the connecting member, Since it separates from the connecting member, it is an object to provide a door opening / closing device for a refrigerator that can open and close the drawer door reliably and electrically with a simple configuration and is practical, reliable and safe.

  Further, the door opening / closing device includes a rotation position detection means for detecting a rotation position of the rotation drive body, and the rotation position detection means includes the plurality of drive transmission members on the rotation drive body as the connection members. First rotational position detecting means for detecting a rotational position that does not interfere, and second rotational position detecting means for detecting the rotational position where the drive transmission member that is farthest from the rotational center contacts the receiving surface of the corresponding connecting member Based on the detection signals of the first and second rotational position detecting means, and adjusting the voltage application to the motor that is the drive source of the door opening and closing device and the voltage to be applied, Since the rotation speed is controlled, an object of the present invention is to provide a refrigerator door opening and closing device that can open and close the drawer door quietly and surely and has high reliability and safety.

  The door opening and closing device further includes a door position detecting means for detecting a position of a connecting member fixed to the drawer door by detecting a position of a magnet fixed to the drawer door, and the door position detecting means includes: The first and second door position detecting means for detecting the closed state of the door and the second door position detecting means for detecting the position where the door is opened by a predetermined distance from the closed state. Based on the detection signal of the door position detecting means, the voltage application direction to the motor that is the drive source of the door opening and closing device and the voltage to be applied are adjusted to control the rotation direction and speed of the rotary drive body. An object of the present invention is to provide a door opening and closing device for a refrigerator that can open and close the door quietly and surely and has high reliability and safety.

  According to the present invention, in a refrigerator having a drawer door, the door opening force of the drawer door is reduced to improve the operability by allowing the door to be opened electrically, quietly, reliably and safely, and from the so-called half-door state. It is possible to provide a refrigerator that automatically closes the door electrically and improves the energy saving effect.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

(Overall configuration of refrigerator)
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a refrigerator according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view. The refrigerator body 1 is divided into a plurality of storage rooms. The uppermost part is the refrigerator compartment 2, and the door is a so-called French door that opens to the left and right sides. The lower side of the refrigerator compartment 2 is a storage room divided into left and right, one of which is a function switching chamber 3, and the other is an ice making unit that accumulates and takes out ice produced by an automatic ice making device (not shown). It is chamber 4. Furthermore, the lower part is a freezer compartment 5 provided with a drawer door that can be pulled out and opened to the front, and the lowermost stage is a vegetable compartment 6 provided with a drawer door.

  An operation display unit 7 is provided on the door of the refrigerator compartment, and an open switch 8a for the freezer compartment and an open switch 8b for the vegetable compartment are provided. The user presses the switch to instruct the opening operation of the drawer. It is a configuration that can. Here, if the freezer compartment 5 is provided above the vegetable compartment 6, the open switch 8a for the freezer compartment is provided above the open switch 8b for the vegetable compartment and provided in the same manner as the positional relationship of the doors. It is preferable because it is easy to understand which open switch 8 should be operated when the user operates.

Hereinafter, the door opening and closing apparatus will be described by taking the freezer compartment 5 as an example. The same applies to the vegetable compartment 6. The drawer door is constituted by the door 5a of the freezer compartment 5, the slide rail 11, and the like, and a container 12 for storing food is placed on the drawer door and supported so as to be freely drawn out to the front. On the back side of the slide rail 11, a closer 13 is provided as a closing biasing means for pulling the freezer compartment 5 in the closing direction. When the freezer compartment 5 is opened once, the opening amount of the door 5a is, for example, When it becomes 50 mm or less, the closer 13 gives a force for pulling it inward by a spring force (not shown), assisting the operation of closing the freezer compartment 5, and the magnet packing 14 provided on the entire circumference of the freezer compartment 5 is a refrigerator main body. Close the door until 1 is absorbed.

  A door opening / closing device 10 is provided inside the freezer compartment 5. The door opening / closing device 10 is fixed to the refrigerator main body 1 side, and is provided with a rotation drive means (hereinafter referred to as “drive mechanism 15”) provided with a motor as a drive source and a speed reduction mechanism that decelerates the rotation of the motor. A rotation member 19 provided on the rotation output shaft side of the mechanism 15 and rotating, and a rotation member 19 provided with a plurality of power transmission portions at positions where the distance from the rotation center is gradually changed toward the rotation direction; It is a connecting member that is opened and closed together with the door 5a and is provided on the back side lower surface of the container 12 (the lower surface of the member connecting the rear of the slide rail 11) or the back side lower surface of the container 12 placed on the drawer door in this embodiment. A connecting plate 16 is provided. The freezing chamber is configured such that the rotational force of the rotating member 19 provided on the output shaft of the drive mechanism 15 is applied to the connecting plate 16 so as to convert the moving direction of the slide rail 11, that is, the rotational motion into a linear motion. 5 is configured to open and close.

  The drive mechanism 15 is provided with a door position detecting means 17 to indicate that the refrigerator compartment 5 is closed, or that the opening amount of the freezer compartment 5 is, for example, a predetermined amount of about 30 mm (a closing drive amount described later). It is detected whether or not the opening amount is within 35), and the signal is sent to a control circuit described later.

  Next, the structure of the door opening / closing apparatus 10 provided with the drive mechanism 15 and the connecting plate 16 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. Here, the door opening and closing device 10 will be described below as being provided in the freezer compartment 5, but the same applies to the vegetable compartment 6.

  FIG. 3A is a plan view of the door opening / closing device 10 including the drive mechanism 15 and the connecting plate 16 as viewed from above in FIG. FIG. 3B is a detailed view of a rotational position detecting means 32 of a rotating plate, which will be described later, provided in the drive mechanism 15. 4 and 5 are perspective views showing an example of the internal configuration of the drive mechanism 15. FIG.

In the drive mechanism 15, a rotary member (hereinafter referred to as “rotary plate 19”) is rotatably supported around a drive shaft 18 that is a rotation output shaft, and the rotary plate 19 has a drive pin 20 that is a power transmission unit. Is provided. In this embodiment, three drive pins 20 are provided. The first drive pin 20a is set at the distance r1, the second drive pin 20b is set at the distance r2, and the third drive pin is set at the distance r3 according to the distance from the drive shaft 18. Drive pins 20 c are provided, each drive pin 20 has a cylindrical shape, and the center axis of the drive pin 20 is parallel to the rotation center axis of the drive shaft 18. Here, it is assumed that r1 <r2 <r3. That is, as shown in FIG. 3, the diameter from the rotation center gradually increases greatly in the rotation direction opposite to the positive rotation direction of the rotation plate 19 (the rotation direction of the rotation plate 19 when the drawer is pulled out). The rotating plate 19 is provided with a power transmission unit composed of a plurality of drive pins.

  In this embodiment, the rotating plate 19 rotates in the direction of the arrow CCW when the freezer compartment 5 is opened. Since the connecting plate 16 is provided on the drawer door of the freezer compartment 5 as described above, the connecting plate 16 is movable along the slide rail 11 in the direction of the arrow 23. In FIG. 3, the left direction in the figure is the front side of the refrigerator, and the freezer compartment 5 is opened when the connecting plate 16 moves leftward.

  The connecting plate 16 has a step portion having a plurality of steps, and when the freezer compartment 5 is opened, the first step receiving surface 21a with which the first drive pin 20a contacts and the second drive pin 20b. Is provided with a second step receiving surface 21b in contact with the third driving pin 20c and a third step receiving surface 21c with which the third drive pin 20c is in contact. A detailed description of the operation of the drive pin 20 and the receiving surface 21 will be described later.

  The drive mechanism 15 is provided with Hall ICs 17c and 17d as the door position detecting means 17. The position of the position detection member 17a, that is, the door position, which is fixed to the lower surface on the back side of the container 12 and has a magnet 17b in the same manner as the connecting plate 16, is detected.

4 and 5, a motor pinion 25 is provided on the rotating shaft of the motor 24 and meshes with the idler 26 to be decelerated. The idler 26 and the idler pinion 27 rotate as a unit, and the idler pinion 27 meshes with the idler 28. The idler 28 and the idler pinion 29 rotate as a unit, and the idler pinion 29 meshes with the drive gear 30 and is decelerated. The drive shaft 18 and the drive gear 30 are connected to each other, and the rotational speed of the motor 24 is reduced to about 1/100, for example, by this gear configuration, and the rotary plate 19 provided on the drive shaft 18 is rotated. A device that rotationally drives the rotating plate in this way is collectively referred to as a rotational driving means. The rotation driving means is fixedly installed at the bottom of the freezer compartment 5 and the vegetable compartment 6. In the present embodiment, a torque limiting means 31 is provided between the idler 28 and the idler pinion 29, and when an excessive external force is applied to the rotating plate 19, the torque limiting means 31 is interposed and the idler 28 and the idler are interposed. Since the pinion 29 slides on each other, the drive mechanism 15 can be prevented from being damaged.

  Further, a rotation position detecting means 32 for detecting the rotation position of the drive shaft 18, that is, the rotation position of the rotation plate 19, is provided so that the rotation position of the drive shaft 18 (rotation position of the rotation plate 19) can be detected. The rotational position detecting means 32 includes a magnet 32 a embedded in the lower surface of the rotating plate 19 and Hall ICs 32 b and 32 c fixed inside the upper surface of the driving mechanism 15. FIG. 3B shows details of the rotational position detecting means. The left figure is a plan view and the right figure is a sectional view.

Next, the detail of the operation | movement at the time of opening the freezer compartment door 5 with the door opening / closing apparatus 10 by this invention is demonstrated using FIG. FIG. 6 is a view showing an operation when the door opening and closing device 10 according to the present invention opens the freezer compartment 5, and (a) shows a state where the freezer compartment 5 is closed as in FIG.
(B) The operation | movement which opens the freezer compartment 5 by operating in order of (c) (d) (e) is shown. The rotating plate 19 is rotatable around the drive shaft 18, the connecting plate 16 is supported so as to be movable in the horizontal direction in the figure, and the connecting plate 16 is provided in the freezer compartment 5. The leftward movement indicates the opening operation of the freezer compartment 5. Here, a reference line indicating the position of the illustrated left end of the connecting plate 16 in a state where the freezer compartment 5 is closed is represented as a drawing position 34.

  In the state of (b), the rotating plate 19 rotates in the direction of the arrow CCW, the first drive pin 20a comes into contact with the first receiving surface 21a, and a force in the direction of the arrow 23a is generated with respect to the connecting plate 16. At this time, since the first drive pin 20a is located at the distance r1 shown in FIG. 3 from the drive shaft 18, the force transmitted from the first drive pin 20a to the connecting plate 16 is the torque applied to the drive shaft 18. If T, then T / r1. This force is set to be larger than the resultant force of the force that peels off the magnet packing in the freezer compartment 5, the pull-in force of the closer 13, and the force that accelerates the weight of the freezer compartment 5 and the mass of the stored food. Thus, the adsorption of the magnet packing is peeled off, and the connecting plate 16 moves in the left direction in the figure together with the freezer compartment 5, and the freezer compartment 5 starts to open.

Further, in the state (c) in which the rotating plate 19 is rotated in the CCW direction, the second driving pin 20b is in contact with the second receiving surface 21b, and the first driving pin 20a is separated from the first receiving surface 21a. To do. That is, the second drive pin 20b is located at a distance r2 shown in FIG. 3 from the drive shaft 18 and r2> r1, and the second drive pin 20b is more than the first drive pin 20a. Since the distance from the drive shaft 18, which is the center of rotation, is longer, the peripheral speed of rotation is faster. For this reason, after the second drive pin 20b comes into contact with the second receiving surface 21b, the first drive pin 20a is separated from the first receiving surface 21a. In this state, the second drive pin 20b is in contact with the second receiving surface 21b and applies a force indicated by an arrow 23b. At this time, since the second drive pin 20b is located at the distance r2 shown in FIG. 3 from the drive shaft 18, the force transmitted from the second drive pin 20b to the connecting plate 16 via the second receiving surface 21b. Is T / r 2, where T is the torque applied to the drive shaft 18. This force is smaller than the force applied to the connecting plate 16 by the first drive pin 20a in the direction of the arrow 23a in the state of FIG. 6B, but the magnet packing has already been peeled off. The applied force may be set to be larger than the resultant force of the pull-in force of the closer 13 and the force of further accelerating the weight of the freezer compartment 5 and the mass of the stored food, and the connecting plate 16 is further illustrated together with the freezer compartment 5. Moving to the left direction, the opening operation of the freezer compartment 5 is continued.

Further, in the state (d) in which the rotating plate 19 is rotated in the CCW direction, the third driving pin 20c is in contact with the third receiving surface 21c, and the second driving pin 20b is separated from the second receiving surface 21b. To do. That is, the third drive pin 20c is located at the distance r3 shown in FIG. 3 from the drive shaft 18 and r3> r2, and the third drive pin 20c is more than the second drive pin 20b. Since the distance from the drive shaft 18 which is the center of rotation is far, the peripheral speed of rotation is fast. Therefore, after the third drive pin 20c comes into contact with the third receiving surface 21c, the second drive pin 20b separates from the second receiving surface 21b. In this state, the third drive pin 20c is in contact with the third receiving surface 21c and applies a force indicated by an arrow 23c. At this time, since the third drive pin 20c is located at the distance r3 shown in FIG. 3 from the drive shaft 18, the force transmitted from the third drive pin 20c to the connecting plate 16 via the third receiving surface 21c. Is T / r3, where T is the torque applied to the drive shaft 18. This force is even smaller than the force applied to the connecting plate 16 by the second drive pin 20b in the direction of the arrow 23b in the state of FIG. 6C, but the freezer compartment 5 has already been opened and the arrow 23c has been opened. Therefore, the freezer compartment 5 has a momentum corresponding to its own weight and speed including the container and the stored food, and the third receiving of the connecting plate 16 from the momentum and the third drive pin 20c. The opening operation can be further continued against the pulling force by the closer 13 by the force transmitted to the surface 21c.

Further, in the state (e) in which the rotating plate 19 is rotated in the CCW direction, the third drive pin 20c is substantially separated from the third receiving surface 21c. The movement amount 33 of the connecting plate 16 from the state of FIG. 6A to the state of FIG. 6E is an open drive range in which the connecting plate 16 receives a force from the drive pin 20. Here, it is preferable that the amount of movement 33 of the connecting plate 16 is set to be larger than the closing urging range that is the amount of drawing by the closer 13. That is, if the retracting stroke by the closer, which is the closing urging range, is 40 mm and the moving amount 33 of the connecting plate 16 is 50 mm, the connecting plate 16 stops at the position shown in FIG. This is because even if the chamber 5 is stopped, the freezing chamber 5 just opened by the closer 13 is not closed. However, if the freezer compartment 5 is opened more than the state of FIG. 6 (e) and the connecting plate 16 moves to the left in the drawing, the connecting plate 16 does not receive the driving force from the drive pin 20, but the freezer compartment 5 Has a speed in the direction of the arrow 23d, so the opening operation is continued until it is gradually decelerated by the friction load of the slide rail 11 and stopped. Since it operates in this way, the opening amount of the freezer compartment 5 becomes larger than the moving amount 33 of the connecting plate 16.

  As described above, the driving force in the opening direction is not continuously applied during the opening operation of the freezer compartment 5, but the driving force is applied only in a short range at the beginning of opening, and thereafter, the moving speed obtained in the driving force range slides. Since the operation to stop while gradually decelerating by the frictional force of the rail can be realized, even if the freezer compartment 5 hits when the user is standing just before the door or when an object is placed, the opening direction It is safe because no driving force is applied.

  When the freezer compartment 5 starts to be opened from the closed state, the first drive pin 20a disposed closest to the drive shaft 18 pushes and drives the connecting plate 16, thereby producing a large force at a low speed. The magnet packing is peeled off, and then the second drive pin 20b provided farther than the first drive pin 20a pushes the connecting plate 16 and drives it with a medium force at a medium speed to drive the closer. The freezing chamber 5 is accelerated by continuing the opening operation against the pulling force of 13, and the third driving pin 20c provided further away from the driving shaft 18 than the second driving pin 20b is connected to the connecting plate. Since the freezer compartment 5 can be further accelerated by pushing 16 and driving at a high speed with a small force, it is convenient for reliably performing the opening operation of the freezer compartment 5.

  Furthermore, in the configuration of the present invention, the position where the driving pin 20 contacts the connecting plate 16 and applies the driving force is substantially perpendicular to the opening direction 23 of the freezer compartment 5 when viewed from the driving shaft 18. A speed 23 of 20 is proportional to the rotational speed of the rotary plate 19 and the length of the arm to the drive pin 20. As a result, it is easy to increase the speed 23 for pushing out the door by using a rotating cam in the prior art, as compared with a configuration in which the door is pushed only by the change in radius to the contact point between the cam and the door. . With such a configuration, it is possible to realize an operation in which a driving force is applied only in a short range at which the opening starts, and thereafter the opening speed 23 obtained in the driving force range is gradually decelerated by the frictional force of the slide rail and stopped. This is preferable because it is possible.

  After the freezer compartment 5 is opened by the above operation, the rotating plate 19 further continues to rotate in the CCW direction, reaches the state of FIG. 6A and stops rotating. Needless to say, at this time, the connecting plate 16 is not at the position shown in FIG. 6 (a), and the freezer compartment 5 is open, so that it is moved to the left in the figure.

  As described above, in the door opening and closing apparatus according to the present invention, after the rotating plate 19 performs the opening operation of the freezer compartment 5 and then continues to rotate in the same direction and rotates once, the freezer compartment 5 is closed. Since it is possible to return to the state, that is, the origin range described in FIG. 8, it is convenient to return to the origin range at high speed. If the rotating plate 19 is not configured to rotate in one direction but opens the freezer compartment 5 and then stops once, rotates in the opposite direction and then returns to the origin range, the present invention. It is clear that it takes an extra time to return to the origin range as compared with the rotation in one direction.

  When the freezer compartment 5 is closed, if the position of the freezer compartment 5 is within the closing biasing range of the closer 13 due to the retracting spring, the freezer compartment 5 is automatically retracted and closed until it is attracted to the magnet packing 14 by the spring force. However, if it is stopped outside this biasing range, or even within the biasing range, the spring force decreases due to secular change, the frictional force of the rail increases due to dust adhesion, etc. There may be a so-called half-door state in which a gap is formed between the magnet packing 14 and the refrigerator main body 1.

  The operation of the door opening and closing device 10 when the door is in the half door state will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 7 is a view showing the operation when the door opening and closing device 10 according to the present invention closes the freezer compartment 5, and FIG. 7A shows that the freezer compartment 5 is not closed, and the left end of the connecting plate 16 is shown in the drawing position 34. In other words, it is shown that the valve is moved by the opening amount 35 that is the closing drive range in which the closing operation can be performed. If the freezer 5 is provided with a closer 13, the freezer is usually pulled in and closed by the pulling force generated by the closer 13, but a part of the food is caught or slides for some reason. There are rare cases where the operation of the rail 11 is temporarily awkward and cannot be pulled in.

  Here, when the rotary plate 19 is rotated around the drive shaft 18 in the direction of the arrow CW, the third drive pin 20c comes into contact with the return surface 22 on the left side in the figure facing the receiving surface 21 of the connecting plate 16. FIG. 7B shows a state in which the rotating plate 19 is further rotated in the direction of arrow CW, but the connecting plate 16 is pushed and moved in the direction of arrow 36 by the third drive pin 20c, so that the connecting plate 16 The left end of the figure moves to the retracted position 34. The position shown in FIG. 7B indicates that the freezer compartment 5 is completely closed until the magnet packing 14 is attracted to the refrigerator body 1.

  Thereafter, when the rotating plate 19 is rotated in the arrow CCW direction, the state shown in FIG. 7C is obtained, and the rotating plate 19 is rotated to the same position as shown in FIG. 3 and stopped.

  By operating as described above, even if the freezer compartment 5 is not completely closed and is in a so-called half-door state, by rotating the rotating plate 19 in the opposite direction to the case where the rotating plate 19 is opened, On the other hand, the freezing chamber 5 can be closed by applying a force in the closing direction, which is preferable because half doors can be prevented.

As described above, the force for opening the freezer compartment 5 needs to be more than the total of the force for peeling the magnet packing 14 and the pulling force by the closer 13, but when closing the magnet packing 14 is pulled. Since the peeling force is unnecessary and the pulling force by the closer 13 is generated, the closing force applied by the door opening and closing device 10 according to the present invention is sufficient as a weak force compared to the opening force. According to the present embodiment, when the freezer compartment 5 is closed, the third drive pin 20c farthest from the drive shaft 18 pushes the return surface 22 of the connecting plate 16, so that the drive torque applied to the drive shaft 18 is increased. Even if the opening force is the same as that at the time of opening, the closing force is preferably smaller by r1 / r3 than the opening force. Furthermore, even if a finger or the like is sandwiched between the freezer compartment 5 and the refrigerator main body 1, the force to be sandwiched is small and the safety is high.

  Furthermore, it is safer to perform the closing operation slowly at a lower closing speed. Therefore, it is desirable to make the closing operation slower than the opening operation of the freezer compartment 5.

  Here, the closing drive range that is the opening amount 35 that can close the freezer compartment 5 will be described with reference to FIG. 2. The opening amount 35 is the door thickness that is the thickness of the door body 5 a that forms the front surface of the freezer compartment 5. It is desirable to make it smaller than 71. This is because if the opening amount 35 is larger than the door thickness 71, a finger or the like is put in the inter-door gap 72 generated between the freezer compartment 5 and the vegetable compartment 6 or the switching chamber 3 door when the freezer compartment 5 is started to be retracted. Although there is a risk of being pinched, if the opening amount 35 is set to be smaller than the door thickness 71, there is no possibility of fingers being pinched, so that safety is further enhanced.

Next, a suitable position of the rotating plate 19 when the freezer compartment 5 is closed will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 8, the connecting plate 16 shown by a solid line is in a position where the left end in the drawing matches the drawing position 34 and the freezer compartment 5 is closed. Even if the refrigerator is provided with the door opening and closing device 10 as in the present invention, the user may pull out the freezer compartment 5 for some reason. Alternatively, when the door opening / closing device 10 does not operate due to a failure, it is desirable that the user can manually open and close it freely. When opening and closing manually as described above, the door opening and closing device 10 desirably has a configuration that does not obstruct a manual operation by the user when the freezer compartment 5 is opened or closed, or a phenomenon that the operation becomes heavy.

  If the user manually pulls out and opens the freezer compartment 5 from the state in which the freezer compartment 5 is closed, the connecting plate 16 provided in the freezer compartment 5 moves to the left side in the figure and becomes the position of the broken line. In the position of the broken line, each symbol is indicated by adding '. Here, the rotary plate 19 is in the position indicated by the solid line in FIG. 8, and the second tip 37b, which is the tip of the second receiving surface 21b provided on the connecting plate 16 at that position, and the first drive pin 20a. If there is a positional relationship in which the second tip 37b and the first drive pin 20a do not come into contact with each other when the connecting plate 16 moves to the left in the drawing, the user manually enters the freezer compartment. Since the connecting plate 16 and the drive pin 20 are not in contact with each other when the 5 is pulled out, the freezer compartment 5 can be freely pulled out and opened.

  Next, the rotary plate 19 is at a broken line position 19 ′, and there is a gap 39 between the first tip 37a provided on the connecting plate 16 and the third drive pin 20c at that position, so that the connecting plate 16 If the first tip 37a and the third drive pin 20c ′ are in a positional relationship that does not come into contact with each other when moving to the left in the figure, when the user manually pulls out the freezer compartment 5, the connecting plate 16 and the drive pin 20 Can be freely pulled out and opened.

  As described above, when the user manually opens and closes the freezer compartment 5, the connection plate 16 and the drive pin 20 do not come into contact with each other so that the line connecting the drive shaft 18 and the first drive pin 20a is the origin. It suffices to be within the angle range of the range 40. Therefore, when the freezer compartment 5 is closed, it is desirable to set the rotating plate 19 to be within the above-described origin range 40, and it is convenient to use when manually opening and closing. Such an angle range of the rotating plate 19 is referred to as being in the origin range in the present invention.

  Next, a control circuit configuration for controlling the door opening and closing device 10 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 9 is a block diagram in which a configuration relating to the door opening / closing device is extracted from the refrigerator main body control circuit. The control circuit applies a reverse voltage to the motor 24 in the drive mechanism 15 around the microcomputer 41, an H bridge circuit 42 for changing the applied voltage by PWM, a motor current detection circuit 43 for detecting the motor current, H The motor switching circuit 44 for switching the output of the bridge circuit 42 to the respective motors 24 of the drive mechanism 15 provided in the freezer compartment 5 and the vegetable compartment 6 and the operation display section 7 are installed, or the door is in a half-door state or It is comprised from the alerting | reporting means 45 for notifying a user that the drive mechanism 15 became inoperable. This notification means 45 is a buzzer sounding or lighting or blinking of a lamp.

The microcomputer 41 is connected with signals from the door position detection means 17 and the rotation position detection means 32 provided in each chamber drive mechanism 15. Here, suffixes F and V are added to the figure numbers of the drive mechanisms, the detection means, and the components constituting the drive mechanisms in order to distinguish the freezer compartment 5 and the vegetable compartment 6 from each other. For example, the drive mechanism 15 of the freezer compartment 5 is 15F, the door position detection means 17 is 17F, the drive mechanism 15 of the vegetable compartment 6 is 15V, and the door position rotation detection means 17 is 17V. An open switch 8 a for the freezer compartment and an open switch 8 b for the vegetable compartment are also connected to the microcomputer 41.

  Here, the configuration and operation of the door position detection means 17 and the rotation position detection means 32 which are the key to controlling the door opening and closing device 10 will be described.

The door position detecting means 17 includes first door position detecting means for detecting whether or not the door of the freezer compartment 5 (vegetable compartment 6) is completely closed, and the opening amount of the freezer compartment 5 (vegetable compartment) door is predetermined. It is comprised by the 2nd door position detection means which detects whether it is within the opening amount 35. As shown in FIG. 3A, a position detection member 17a having a magnet 17b therein and a Hall IC 17c built in the drive mechanism 15 are fixed to the lower surface of the container 12 in the same manner as the connecting plate 16. And the position of the magnet 17b, that is, the door position is detected. The position / interval of the Hall IC and the position / length of the magnet are appropriately set. The Hall IC 17d is a first door position detecting means for detecting whether or not the freezer compartment 5 door is completely closed. Second door position detecting means for detecting whether or not the opening amount of the freezer compartment 5 door is within a predetermined opening amount 35. FIG. 10 schematically shows the position of the magnet 17b, that is, the door, and the output of each Hall IC. In a state where the door is completely closed (the state shown in FIG. 10A), both Hall ICs 17c and d output logic 1 and are opened (FIG. 10).
(The state of (b)) and the output of the Hall IC 17d becomes 0, and as the opening amount increases, the output of the Hall IC 17c becomes 0 at the position of the predetermined opening amount 35 (the state of FIG. 10C). When it becomes larger (the state shown in FIG. 10D), both output 0.

  The microcomputer 41 controls the rotation of the motor 24 in the drive mechanism 15 from the information of the door position detection means 17.

Next, the configuration of the rotational position detection means 32 will be described. As shown in FIG. 3B, the rotational position detection means 32 is a first rotational position detection provided on the upper surface of the drive mechanism within the rotational range of the rotary plate 19 and the magnet 32a embedded in the lower surface of the rotational plate 19 of the drive mechanism 15. It comprises a Hall IC 32b as a means and a Hall IC 32c as a second rotational position detection means. Magnet 32a, Hall IC
32 b and 32 c are arranged equidistant from the axis center of the drive shaft 18. Then, the rotational position of the magnet 32a, that is, the rotational position of the rotating plate 19 is detected by the Hall ICs 32b and 32c. The Hall IC 32b is a first rotational position detecting means for detecting an origin range where the rotating plate 19 does not interfere with the connecting plate 16 during the manual opening / closing operation of the door described in FIG. The Hall IC 32c is located at a position where the third driving pin 20c on the rotating plate 19 is almost separated from the third receiving surface 21c of the connecting plate 16 when the door is electrically opened as described with reference to FIG. 6 (state of FIG. 6E). ) To detect the second rotational position. Thereafter, the rotating plate 19 is in a free state, and the load on the motor is reduced. For this reason, when the motor is driven at a constant voltage, the rotation speed becomes high after that and the noise increases. Further, it is necessary to reliably drive with high torque from the start of driving by the motor to the state of FIG. If the high-torque driving time of the motor is limited to a certain time by a timer or the like and thereafter switched to low-torque driving, when the weight in the container 12 is heavy, the time until the state shown in FIG. There is a possibility of switching to torque drive and falling into a state where the door cannot be opened.

As described above, in the present invention, it is necessary to detect at least the two rotational positions described above as the rotational position of the rotating plate 19. FIG. 11 schematically shows the operation of the rotational position detecting means 32 in this embodiment. This is a view seen from the back side (lower side) of the configuration of the rotational position detecting means 32 shown in FIG. 3 and the rotational position of the rotary plate 19 and the position of the connecting plate 16 shown in FIG. In the figure, (a) is the origin position, (b) is the position where the first drive pin 20a on the rotating plate 19 is in contact with the first receiving surface 21a of the connecting plate 16, and (c) is the third position on the rotating plate 19. The state in which the drive pin 20c is exactly away from the third receiving surface 21c of the connecting plate 16 is shown. The origin position is detected by the Hall IC 32b with the approximate center of the origin range described in FIG. 8 as the origin position. When the rotating plate 19 is at the origin position ((a) in the figure), the Hall IC 32b outputs a logic 1 because the magnet 32a is directly above the Hall IC 32b. When the rotating plate rotates in the CCW direction ((b) in the figure), since the magnet 32a is detached from the Hall IC 32b, the Hall IC 32b outputs a logic 0. When the rotating plate 19 is further rotated in the CCW direction and the third drive pin 20c on the rotating plate 19 is at a position ((c) in the figure) that is substantially separated from the third receiving surface 21c of the connecting plate 16, the magnet 32a. Is directly above the Hall IC 32c, the Hall IC 32c outputs a logic one. Further rotation causes the magnet 32a to be disengaged from the Hall IC 32c, so that the Hall IC 32c outputs a logic 0.

  The microcomputer 41 controls the rotation start, stop, and speed of the motor 24 in the drive mechanism 15 from the information of the rotational position detecting means 32.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, the door position detection means 17 and the rotation position detection means 32 are provided in the drive mechanism 15 fixed to the main body. For this reason, the electric wiring connected to the door opening / closing device 10 is concentrated on the drive mechanism 15 and is suitable for mounting the door opening / closing device 10 because there is no need to draw out the electric wiring from the freezing room and the vegetable room which are movable parts and their doors. It is. As a result, the cost of the door opening / closing device 10 can be reduced.

  In the present embodiment, the door position detection means 17 and the rotation position detection means 32 are composed of the magnet and the Hall IC as described above, but are not limited thereto. For example, a potentiometer, a micro switch, a photocoupler, or the like may be used. However, non-contact detection by magnetism is more preferable than non-contact detection by light where it is easily affected by condensation and dirt, such as a refrigerator. In addition, in a refrigerator where the door is frequently opened and closed, position detection using an electrical contact such as a microswitch or position detection using a resistance value change due to sliding such as a potentiometer is not preferable in terms of reliability. Furthermore, in the refrigerator exposed to low temperature, it is necessary to consider the temperature characteristics of the detection means.

  Hereinafter, control of the drive mechanism 15 in the present embodiment will be described with reference to a timing chart and a flowchart. The energization to the motor 24 in the drive mechanism 15, the value and direction of the applied voltage (rotational direction of the motor) are performed by the program of the microcomputer 41, the H bridge circuit 42, and the motor switching circuit 44. These are controlled by the open signal 8a for the freezer compartment and the open switch 8b for the vegetable compartment, the detection signals of the door position detection means 17 and the rotation position detection means 32, and the detection signal of the motor current detection circuit 43, which are input to the microcomputer 41. Is done.

FIG. 12 is a schematic flowchart when the drive mechanism 15 is installed in the freezer compartment 5 and the vegetable compartment 6. Immediately after the power is turned on, first, the door position detection means 17 of each drive mechanism and the position information of the door from the rotation position detection means 32 and the position information of the rotary plate are read to initialize each drive mechanism (steps S1 and S2). This is done with power failure recovery in mind, and details will be described later. Subsequently, a failure of the door opening / closing device 10 is checked (step S3), and if it is a failure, a failure warning (step S4) of the door opening / closing device is performed by the notification means 45.

Next, it is detected that the open switch 8a or 8b has been operated by the user (steps S5, S6, S7). In the present embodiment, when the open switch 8a for the freezer compartment and the open switch 8b for the vegetable compartment are pressed simultaneously, the drawer opening operation is not performed. Moreover, if the open switch 8a of the freezer compartment 5 is pushed, reception of the open switch 8b of the vegetable compartment 6 is prohibited (step S8), and the door position state is read from the door position detecting means 17V of the vegetable compartment (step S9), If the vegetable room is opened (step S10), the freezing room is not opened. If the vegetable compartment is closed (step S10), the output of the H-bridge circuit 42 is switched to the motor of the freezer compartment drive mechanism 15F by the switching circuit 44 (step S11), and the freezer compartment door position detection means 17F The door position is read (step S12), and the door opening operation is performed (step S13). That is, the opening operation of each chamber is performed exclusively.

Also when the vegetable compartment open switch 8b is pressed (step S14 to step S19), the vegetable compartment door opening operation is performed (step 20).

  If neither open switch has been pressed, the program's open counter is checked to see if each room has not been opened for a long time (steps 30 and 31). If it has been left open for a long time, the drawer remains open. A warning is given by the notification means 45 (step S32). Otherwise, the output of the H bridge circuit 42 is first switched to the motor 24F of the freezer drive mechanism 15F by the switching circuit 44 (step S33), and the door position is read from the freezer door position detecting means 17F (step S34). Then, the door closing operation is performed (step S35). Subsequently, similarly, the output of the H-bridge circuit 42 is switched to the motor 24V of the vegetable room drive mechanism 15V by the switching circuit 44 (step S36), the door position is read from the door position detection means 17V of the vegetable room (step S37), The chamber door is closed (step S38).

  Next, details of the door opening operation will be described with reference to a timing chart shown in FIG. 13 and a flowchart shown in FIG. The opening operation of the freezer compartment 5 and the vegetable compartment 6 is the same, and FIGS. 13 and 14 are used in common.

  First, it is checked based on a signal from the door position detecting means 17 whether or not the drawer door is in a closed state (step S40). If the open switch 8 is pressed, the opening operation is not performed if it is opened.

  If it is closed, it is next checked whether or not the rotating plate is at the origin position (step S41). If it is not at the origin position, a fault error is set (step S42) and the opening operation is not performed. This is because, as will be described later, if the switchgear is operating normally, it must be at the origin position. In this case, the switchgear is likely to be out of order.

  If it is at the origin position, a rectangular wave signal having a duty of 20% is output from the port P1 of the microcomputer 41 so as to rotate the motor 24 in the CCW direction to the H bridge 42 (step S43) (at time t1 in FIG. 13). When the motor 24 is rotated in the CCW direction, no rectangular wave signal is output from the port P2. Conversely, when rotating in the CW direction, a rectangular wave signal is output from port P2 and a rectangular wave signal is not output from port 1. By doing so, it is possible to switch the rotation of the motor 24 in the CCW and CW directions using the H bridge 42.

  As is well known, the DC voltage applied to the motor 24 can be varied by varying the duty of the rectangular wave signal. The voltage is variable using so-called PWM. In the motor voltage Vm of FIG. 9, if the duty of the rectangular wave signal is 20%, the DC voltage applied to the motor 24 is about 20% of Vm. The duty 20% is set so as to be an applied voltage that gives a starting torque by which the motor 24 can start rotating the rotary plate 19.

  Subsequently, the duty is increased by a fixed amount every fixed period (step S44), and the rotation of the motor 24 is increased. (Time from t1 to t2 in FIG. 13, soft start) Then, when the duty reaches 80%, the increasing process is stopped (step S45) (time t2 in FIG. 13). The amount of increase, that is, the rate of increase for each fixed period, is 80 at the position where the first drive pin 20a on the rotating plate 19 contacts the first receiving surface 21a of the connecting plate 16 as shown in FIG. It is desirable to design so that it becomes%.

  Thus, the reason why the voltage applied to the motor is gradually increased is that (1) the inrush current to the motor coil is prevented, and (2) the first drive pin 20a on the rotating plate 19 is connected to the first of the connecting plate 16. This is because the load on the motor is light until it comes into contact with the one receiving surface 21a, so that the rotational speed is suppressed as much as possible to reduce vibration noise. The duty 80% is a value determined by the following.

  As described in the opening operation of FIG. 6, the force transmitted to the connecting plate 16 is T / r1 when the output torque of the drive shaft 18 is T. This force is the combined force of the force that peels off the magnet packing in the freezer compartment 5 or the vegetable compartment 6, the pull-in force by the closer 13, and the force that accelerates the weight of the freezer compartment 5 or the vegetable compartment 6 and the mass of the stored food. Is set to be larger, the adsorption of the magnet packing is peeled off, and the connecting plate 16 moves in the left direction in the drawing together with the freezer compartment 5 or the vegetable compartment 6 and starts to open. That is, the duty of the rectangular wave signal that gives the applied voltage for rotating the motor 24 so as to give the output torque T to the drive shaft 18 is 80%.

Continue driving the motor with the duty fixed at 80%. (Time from t2 to t3 in FIG. 13) At this time, the microcomputer 41 reads the motor current by the motor current detection circuit 43 (step S
45) The overcurrent is checked (step S46). While the drive pin 20 on the rotating plate 19 abuts against the receiving surface 21 of the connecting plate 16 and continues to apply force to the drawer, the food in the storage case is caught by the main body and stops opening, or an obstacle before the drawer Therefore, if the opening of the drawer is stopped, a large braking is applied to the motor rotation, and an overcurrent flows. By detecting this overcurrent, the open counter is started (step S52), and the rotation of the motor 24 is stopped (step S53). Then, a rectangular wave signal with a duty of 50% is output from the port P2 of the microcomputer 41 so as to rotate the motor 24 in the CW direction to the H bridge 42 (step S54). In other words, the motor 24 is rotated in the opposite direction, the rotation position detecting means 32 checks the rotation position, the rotation plate 19 is rotated in the opposite direction and returned to the origin position (step S55), and the motor drive is stopped ( Step S51).

If no overcurrent is detected, the third drive pin 20c on the rotating plate 19 shown in FIG. 11C is checked from the third receiving surface 21c of the connecting plate 16 while checking the rotating position by the rotating position detecting means 32. The motor 24 is driven with a duty of 80% to a position that is almost separated. When the motor 24 is rotated, although not shown in the flowchart, the output of the rotational position detecting means 32 is read at a constant interval by interruption processing or the like. When the rotational position at which the third drive pin 20c on the rotating plate 19 is substantially separated from the third receiving surface 21c of the connecting plate 16 is detected from the output of the rotational position detecting means 32 (step S48) (t3 in FIG. 13). At that time, the duty is reduced to 30% (step S49), and the motor 24 is rotated at a low speed to the origin position while the rotational position detecting means 32 checks the rotational position. When the origin position is detected from the output of the rotational position detecting means 32 (step S50), the motor 24 is stopped (step S51).

  The third drive pin 20c on the rotating plate 19 is substantially separated from the third receiving surface 21c of the connecting plate 16, that is, the connection between the driving pin and the receiving surface is released (link free), and the motor 24 is rotated at a low speed. The reason for this is that the drawer is no longer sufficiently accelerated and the forward movement continues with the inertial force, so that the motor does not need to give torque to the drive shaft 18, and the load on the motor is small, resulting in high speed rotation. This is because noise and vibration are prevented from occurring and quiet operation is realized.

  The reason why the rotating plate 19 is returned to the origin position when the opening operation is completed or when the reverse rotation with overcurrent is completed is that the user can manually open and close the drawer at any time as described with reference to FIG. The opening operation described above makes it possible to open the door quietly, reliably and safely.

  Although the opening operation is not performed when a fault error occurs in the above-described opening operation, the present invention is not limited to this, and a signal with a predetermined duty in the CW or CCW direction is output to the H-bridge circuit and a voltage is applied to the motor 24 for rotation. The plate 16 may be rotated to return to the origin. In this case, it may be checked that the motor rotation is inhibited while detecting overcurrent, and the origin return may be performed again by switching the rotation direction. Alternatively, the number of attempts to return to the origin is counted, and if no return to origin is made even after a predetermined number of times, a fault error may be generated for the first time.

  Next, details of the door closing operation will be described with reference to a timing chart shown in FIG. 15 and a flowchart shown in FIG. The closing operation of the freezer compartment and the vegetable compartment is the same, and FIGS. 15 and 16 are used in common.

  First, it is checked based on a signal from the door position detecting means 17 whether or not the drawer door is in a closed state (step S60). If closed, the open counter is reset (step S61) and the closing operation is not performed. The opening counter is a time counter for monitoring the opening time of the drawer. This is because the notification means 45 warns the user when the opening counter has reached a predetermined value, for example, 3 minutes.

  Next, it is checked whether or not the drawer is in the retracted position (step S61). When it is not in the retracted position, that is, when the drawer is opened and cannot be closed by the drive mechanism 15, the count of the opening counter is started to monitor the opening time (step S63), and the closing operation is not performed. This release counter is counted up at regular intervals by processing such as interruption not described in the flowchart.

  If it is in the retracted position, it is checked whether or not the rotating plate 19 is at the origin position by a signal from the rotational position detecting means 32 (step S64). If it is not at the origin position, the open / close operation previously performed for some reason is not completed or the drive mechanism 15 may be broken, so a fault error is set (step S65) and the close operation is not performed.

  If it is at the origin position, a rectangular wave signal with a duty of 40% is output from the port P2 of the microcomputer 41 so as to rotate the motor 24 in the CW direction to the H bridge 42 (step S66) (at time t5 in FIG. 15). The motor driving is continued with the duty fixed at 40% (motor rotating speed). The rotating plate 19 rotates at a medium speed around the drive shaft 18 in the direction of the arrow CW, and the third drive pin 20c faces the receiving surface 21 of the connecting plate 16 as shown in FIG. It contacts the return surface 22 on the left side of the figure. Further, the connecting plate 16 is pushed and moved in the direction of the arrow 36 by the third drive pin 20c. At this time, the microcomputer 41 reads the motor current by the motor current detection circuit 43 (step S67) and checks for an overcurrent (step S68). While the third drive pin 20c is in contact with the return surface 22 on the left side of the figure facing the receiving surface 21 of the connecting plate 16 and applying a force, food in the storage case is caught by the main body and stops closing. Alternatively, if the user inadvertently puts a finger or the like between the drawer and the main body to stop the closing, a large braking is applied to the motor rotation, and an overcurrent flows. By detecting this overcurrent, an open counter is started (step S75), and the rotation of the motor 24 is stopped (step S76). Then, a rectangular wave signal with a duty of 30% is output from the port P1 of the microcomputer 41 so as to rotate the motor 24 in the CCW direction to the H bridge 42 (step S77). That is, the motor 24 is rotated in the opposite direction, the rotating plate 19 is rotated in the opposite direction and returned to the origin position (step S78), and the motor drive is stopped (step S79).

  If no overcurrent is detected, the rotation continues, and the output of the Hall IC 17a of the position detection means 17 confirms that the drawer is not in a half-door state but is closed (Step S69), and stops the rotation of the motor 24 (Step S69). Step S70) (at time t6 in FIG. 15). Then, a rectangular wave signal with a duty of 30% is output from the port P1 of the microcomputer 41 so as to rotate the motor 24 in the CCW direction to the H bridge 42 (step S71) (at time t7 in FIG. 15). That is, the motor 24 is rotated in the opposite direction, the rotating plate 19 is rotated in the opposite direction and returned to the origin position (step S72), the motor drive is stopped (step S73) (time t8 in FIG. 15), and the motor 24 is opened. The counter is reset (step S74), and the closing operation is terminated.

  Although the closing operation is not performed when a fault error occurs in the closing operation described above, the present invention is not limited to this, and a signal with a predetermined duty in the CW or CCW direction is output to the H bridge circuit to apply a voltage to the motor 24 and rotate. The plate 16 may be rotated to return to the origin. In this case, it may be checked that the motor rotation is inhibited while detecting overcurrent, and the origin return may be performed again by switching the rotation direction. Alternatively, the number of attempts to return to the origin is counted, and if no return to origin is made even after a predetermined number of times, a fault error may be generated for the first time.

  Next, an initialization process that is performed first when the power is turned on or when recovering from a power failure will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. The figure shows the initialization process for the freezer compartment, but the vegetable compartment performs the same process.

  First, the output of the H bridge 42 is switched by the selection circuit 44, connected to the motor 24F of the drive mechanism 15F installed in the freezer (step S81), and the drawer position of the freezer 5 is read from the door position detection means 17F (step S81). S81). Subsequently, the state of the drawer door is checked from this information. If the drawer is completely closed (step S82), it is determined that the drawer is in the closed state, the open counter is reset (step S83), and the closing operation is not performed. If it is open, it is checked whether or not the drawer is in the retracted position (step S84). If it is in the retracted position, it is checked from the rotational position detecting means 32F whether or not the rotating plate 19 is in the origin position (step S84). If it is not at the origin position (S92), a failure of the drive mechanism 15F is considered, so a fault error is set (step S93) and the process is terminated.

If it is at the origin position, a rectangular wave signal with a duty of 40% is output from the port P2 of the microcomputer 41 so that the motor 24F is rotated in the CW direction to the H bridge 42 as in the closing operation (step S94). The motor driving is continued with the duty fixed at 40% (motor rotating speed). The rotating plate 19 rotates at a medium speed around the drive shaft 18 in the direction of the arrow CW, and the third drive pin 20c faces the receiving surface 21 of the connecting plate 16 as shown in FIG. It contacts the return surface 22 on the left side of the figure. Further, the connecting plate 16 is pushed and moved in the direction of the arrow 36 (closed direction) by the third drive pin 20c. At this time, the microcomputer 41 reads the motor current by the motor current detection circuit 43 (step S95) and checks for an overcurrent (step S96). While the third drive pin 20c is in contact with the return surface 22 on the left side of the figure facing the receiving surface 21 of the connecting plate 16 and applying a force, food in the storage case is caught by the main body and stops closing. Alternatively, if the user inadvertently puts a finger or the like between the drawer and the main body to stop the closing, a large braking is applied to the motor rotation, and an overcurrent flows. By detecting this overcurrent, an open counter is started (step S103), and the rotation of the motor 24F is stopped (step S104). Then, a rectangular wave signal with a duty of 30% is output from the port P1 of the microcomputer 41 so as to rotate the motor 24F in the CCW direction to the H bridge 42 (step S105). In other words, the motor 24F is rotated in the opposite direction, the rotating plate 19F is rotated in the opposite direction and returned to the origin position while checking the origin position (step S106), and the motor drive is stopped (step S107).

  If no overcurrent is detected, the rotation continues, and it is confirmed by the output of the Hall IC 17a of the position detection means 17F that the drawer is not in a half-door state but is closed (Step S97), and the rotation of the motor 24 is stopped ( Step S98). Then, a rectangular wave signal with a duty of 30% is output from the port P1 of the microcomputer 41 so as to rotate the motor 24F in the CCW direction to the H bridge 42 (step S99). That is, the motor 24F is rotated in the opposite direction, the rotating plate 19F is rotated in the opposite direction and returned to the origin position (step S100), the motor drive is stopped (step S101), and the release counter is reset (step S100). S102), the process is terminated.

If it is in the open state beyond the retracted position, the closing operation cannot be performed, so it is checked whether or not the rotating plate is at the origin position (step S85). If it is at the origin position, the release counter is started (step S89). If it is not at the origin position, a rectangular wave signal with a duty of 30% is output from the port P1 of the microcomputer 41 so that the motor 24F is rotated in the CCW direction to the H bridge 42 in order to return the rotating plate 19 to the origin position (step S86). ). The rotating plate 19F is rotated in the CCW direction and returned to the origin position (step S87), the motor drive is stopped (step S88), and the release counter is started (step S89). When the release counter exceeds a predetermined value N (step S99), a fault error is set (step S99).
91) The process is terminated.

  Although the closing operation is not performed at the time of a fault error in the initialization process described above, the present invention is not limited to this, and a signal with a predetermined duty in the CW or CCW direction is output to the H bridge circuit to apply a voltage to the motor 24F. The rotating plate 16F may be rotated to return to the origin. In this case, it may be checked that the motor rotation is inhibited while detecting overcurrent, and the origin return may be performed again by switching the rotation direction. Alternatively, the number of attempts to return to the origin is counted, and if no return to origin is made even after a predetermined number of times, a fault error may be generated for the first time.

  When the user stands in front of the refrigerator 1 and opens the freezer 5, if the amount that the freezer 5 is electrically opened is, for example, about 15 cm to 20 cm, the inside of the freezer is looked over from the opening when opened. This is preferable. On the other hand, in the vegetable compartment 6, if the vegetable compartment 6 is opened in the same manner as the freezer compartment because the vegetable compartment 6 is in the vicinity of the floor surface, the lower end of the door of the vegetable compartment 6 may hit the user's toe when opened. In order to prevent the lower end of the door of the vegetable compartment 6 from hitting the user's toe when the door is opened, the vegetable compartment 6 in the lower stage has a lower opening speed when opening than the freezer compartment 5 in the upper stage. In addition, it is desirable for safety to further reduce the opening amount to within 10 cm, for example. It is also necessary to deal with the user's preference for the amount of door opening.

  In the door opening / closing mechanism of the present invention, as described in FIG. 6, when the freezer compartment 5 is opened and the connecting plate 16 moves to the left in the state of FIG. Although the freezing chamber 5 has a speed in the direction of the arrow 23d, the freezing chamber 5 has an inertial opening operation until it is gradually decelerated by the friction load of the slide rail 11 and stopped. continue.

  The opening amount due to this inertia is determined by the friction coefficient of the slide rail and the speed in the direction of the arrow 23d in FIG. This speed depends on the rotational speed of the rotating plate 19, that is, the rotational speed of the motor 24, specifically, the duty of the rectangular wave signal at the timing chart t3 in FIG. Therefore, the opening amount described above can be adjusted by changing the duty value. Moreover, the reason why the opening and closing of the door becomes troublesome depending on the number of years of use is that the friction coefficient of the slide rail changes over time, and the decrease in the opening amount due to the fluctuation of the friction coefficient can be adjusted by making the duty variable higher.

  In other words, it is possible to make the opening degree of the freezer room larger than that of the vegetable room by adjusting the maximum duty at the time of opening operation of each room by the program, or it is possible to make the opening degree almost constant regardless of the age of use. is there. Thereby, the convenience of the refrigerator can be further improved. In addition, if a switch for changing the opening amount to, for example, three stages is provided so that the above-described duty value can be changed, the opening amount can be selected by the user, and the user's preference for the door opening amount can be dealt with. Is possible.

  In the above-described embodiment, the configuration in which the three drive pins 20 are provided on the rotating plate 19 has been described. However, the number of the drive pins 20 is not limited to three. In FIG. 18, the fourth drive pin 20 d is provided on the rotary plate 19 at a position at a distance r4 (> r3) from the drive shaft 18. The coupling plate 16 is provided with a fourth receiving surface 21d on which the fourth drive pin 20d abuts.

  In the operation of opening the freezer compartment 5, the same operation as shown in FIG. 6 is performed, and in addition, the fourth drive pin 20 d pushes the fourth receiving surface 21 d to the left in the figure, so that the connecting plate 16 rotates. The range for receiving force from the plate 19 is expanded. In addition, since r4> r3, if the rotational speed of the drive shaft 18 is constant, the speed at which the fourth drive pin 20d pushes the fourth receiving surface 21d to the left in the figure is the case where there is no fourth drive pin 20d. It becomes larger by r4 / r3. As described above, since both the range of force and the speed are enlarged, when the freezer compartment 5 is opened, the opening amount of the freezer compartment 5 is enlarged, and from the user's point of view, after pressing the open switch 8 The response of the opening movement of the can be improved and a comfortable operation feeling can be obtained.

  Further, when the rotating plate 19 is rotated in the direction of arrow CW and the connecting plate 16 is moved in the direction of arrow 36 in the same manner as described in FIG. The fourth receiving surface 21d is pushed. Since the fourth drive pin 21d is farther away from the drive shaft 18 than the r4 and the third drive pin 21c, the opening 35 of the connecting plate 16 is set to about r4 /. Even if r3 is increased, the freezer compartment 5 can be closed. In this way, since the opening amount 35 that can be closed from the half-door state can be increased, the freezer compartment 5 can be more reliably closed even if a half-door is generated, energy saving can be realized, and the stored food can be removed from the outside air. Deterioration due to intrusion can be prevented.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to reduce the opening force of the drawer door of the refrigerator to open the door with a light and quiet luxury, and automatically close the door from a so-called half-door state. This has the effect of improving the energy saving effect.

  That is, when opening the freezer compartment 5 from the closed state, the motor is rotated at a high speed, and the first drive pin 20a disposed closest to the drive shaft 18 pushes the drive plate 16 to drive it. Although the opening / closing speed is low, a large force is exerted to peel off the magnet packing, and then the second driving pin 20b provided farther than the first driving pin 20a pushes the connecting plate 16 to a medium opening / closing speed. By driving with a medium force, the opening operation is continued against the pulling force of the closer 13 to accelerate the freezer compartment 5 and then further away from the drive shaft 18 than the second drive pin 20b. Since the third drive pin 20c provided on the outer side pushes the connecting plate 16 and the force is small but the open / close speed is driven at a high speed, the freezer compartment 5 can be further accelerated. Is convenient to reliably perform the can operates in the opening by inertia and later, the motor rotates at low speed, there is an effect that can be completed reliably opening operation by performing the homing low noise.

Furthermore, even if the freezer compartment 5 is not completely closed and is in a so-called half-door state, the rotating plate 19 is rotated in the opposite direction to the case where the freezer compartment 5 is opened, thereby freezing the connecting plate 16. Since the chamber 5 can be closed by applying a force in the closing direction, a half-door is prevented and an energy saving effect is obtained.

  When manually opening and closing, the door opening and closing mechanism according to the present invention reliably returns to a position where the drive mechanism provided in the refrigerator main body and the connecting plate provided integrally with the drawer door do not contact each other. It is easy to use because it does not hinder the user's manual operation or the opening / closing operation becomes heavy, and the user's usability is not impaired in the event of a failure. .

  Further, in the present embodiment, the configuration in which the refrigerator is provided with the door opening / closing device has been described, but it is not limited to the refrigerator, for example, a file cabinet for storing documents or a sink built-in type that is pulled out and used for the front. The present invention can be applied to a drawer-type device such as a dishwasher, and in this case, the present invention clearly has the same effect as described in the invention.

  In the present embodiment, an example in which the drive mechanism 15 is configured by only a spur gear is shown, but the drive mechanism 15 is not limited to a spur gear, and may be configured by using a worm gear.

  Furthermore, the drive pin 20 may be a rotary roller instead of the cylindrical pin as in the present embodiment.

The perspective view which shows the structure of the refrigerator by this invention. Sectional drawing which shows the structure of the refrigerator by this invention. The top view which shows the structure of the drawer door opening / closing apparatus of the refrigerator by this invention. The perspective view which shows the structure of the drawer door opening / closing apparatus of the refrigerator by this invention. The perspective view which shows the structure of the drawer door opening / closing apparatus of the refrigerator by this invention. The figure explaining opening operation | movement of the drawer door opening / closing apparatus of the refrigerator by this invention. The figure explaining closing operation | movement of the drawer door opening / closing apparatus of the refrigerator by this invention. The figure explaining the position at the time of the stop of the drawer door opening / closing apparatus of the refrigerator by this invention. The block diagram of the control circuit of the drawer door opening / closing apparatus of the refrigerator by this invention. Operation | movement explanatory drawing of the door position detection means of the drawer door opening / closing apparatus of the refrigerator by this invention. Operation | movement explanatory drawing of the rotation position detection means of the drawer door opening / closing apparatus of the refrigerator by this invention. The figure which shows another structure of the drawer door opening / closing apparatus of the refrigerator by this invention. The timing chart of the opening operation | movement of the drawer door opening / closing apparatus of the refrigerator by this invention. The flowchart of the opening operation | movement of the drawer door opening / closing apparatus of the refrigerator by this invention. The timing chart of the closing operation | movement of the drawer door opening / closing apparatus of the refrigerator by this invention. The flowchart of the closing operation | movement of the drawer door opening / closing apparatus of the refrigerator by this invention. The flowchart of the initialization process of the drawer door opening / closing apparatus of the refrigerator by this invention. The figure which shows another structure of the drawer door opening / closing apparatus of the refrigerator by this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Refrigerator body 2 Refrigerating room 3 Switching room 4 Ice making room 5 Freezing room 6 Vegetable room 7 Operation display part 8 Open switch 10 Door opening / closing device 11 Slide rail 12 Container 13 Closer 14 Magnet packing 15 Drive mechanism 16 Connecting plate 17 Door position detection means 17c First door position detection means 17d Second door position detection means 18 Drive shaft 19 Rotating plate 20 Drive pin 20a First drive pin 20b Second drive pin 20c Third drive pin 20d Fourth drive pin 21 Receiving surface 21a first receiving surface 21b second receiving surface 21c third receiving surface 21d fourth receiving surface 22 return surface 23 opening direction 24 motor 25 motor pinion 26 idler 27 idler pinion 28 idler 29 idler pinion 30 drive gear 31 Torque limiting means
32 Rotation position detection means 32b First rotation position detection means 32c Second rotation position detection means 33 Movement amount 34 Retraction position 35 Opening amount 36 Arrow 37a First tip 37b Second tip 37c Third tip 38 Gap 39 Clearance 40 Origin range 41 Microcomputer 42 H bridge circuit 43 Motor current detection circuit 44 Motor switching circuit 45 Notification means 71 Door thickness 72 Door clearance

Claims (6)

In a refrigerator with a drawer door that can be pulled out in the front-rear direction,
Rotation drive means fixed to the refrigerator body and a rotation member provided with a plurality of power transmission portions at positions where the distance from the rotation center is gradually changed in the rotation direction by rotating the rotation drive means;
Control means for controlling the rotation driving means;
Provided on the lower surface of the drawer door or the container placed on the drawer door, and has a step portion having a plurality of steps, and the rotational movement of the rotating member receives the power of the power transmission portion at the step portion. A connecting member that converts the motion into linear motion;
A first rotational position detecting means for detecting a rotational position of the rotating member where the rotating member and the connecting member do not interfere when the drawer door is closed;
A second rotational position detecting means for detecting a rotational position of the rotating member from which the connecting member is separated from the power transmitting portion after the power transmitting portion transmits power to the stepped portion;
A refrigerator characterized by comprising:   2. The switch according to claim 1, further comprising a switch for opening the drawer door, and when the switch is operated, the control means operates the rotation driving means by the output of the first rotation position detection means, and rotates the rotation member. Power is transmitted from the power transmission portion closest to the center to the first step of the connection member, and the power transmission portion next closest to the rotation center of the rotation member is connected to the first step of the connection member. Power is sequentially transmitted to the two steps, and the power transmission unit transmits power to the step portion, and then the rotational speed of the rotating member is reduced by the output of the second rotational position detecting means, A refrigerator, wherein the drawer door is opened away from the power transmission unit.   3. The first door position detecting means for detecting that the drawer door is closed, and the power transmission unit can apply power to the connecting member when the drawer door is closed. A second door position detecting means for detecting that the drawer door is positioned so far, the first door position detecting means detects that the drawer door is not closed, and When the second door position detection means detects that the drawer door is open, and the first rotation position detection means detects the rotation position of the rotation member at which the rotation member and the connecting member do not interfere with each other The refrigerator performs the operation of closing the drawer door.   4. The closing mechanism according to claim 3, wherein when the drawer door is closed, the rotation direction of the rotation driving means is rotated in the opposite direction to that when the drawer door is opened, and the power transmission unit applies power to the connecting member. refrigerator.   When closing the drawer door in claim 4, the rotation direction of the rotation driving means is rotated in the opposite direction to that when the drawer door is opened, and is located farthest from the rotation center among the plurality of power transmission parts. A refrigerator that transmits power to the connecting member.   3. The drive signal given to the half bridge circuit according to claim 1, wherein the rotation drive means is composed of a motor and a half bridge circuit for applying a voltage to the motor, and signals from the first and second rotation position detection means. The refrigerator is characterized in that the opening amount of the drawer door is adjusted by controlling the drawer.

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