REFRIGERATOR
The present disclosure provides a refrigerator, including a storage compartment and a door opening or closing the storage compartment. A vacuum sealing device is disposed on the door. The vacuum sealing device includes an upper support and a lower support opposite to each other and a vacuumization assembly. The lower support is detachably connected to the door; opening cavities are formed on mutually-opposed surfaces of the upper support and/or the lower support; the upper support can move close to or away from the lower support under the drive of a driving device; the upper supports moves close to the lower support until the upper support and the lower support are butt-joined, and the opening cavities sealingly form a vacuumization region by sealing portions; the vacuumization assembly is in communication with the vacuumization region through a pipe to perform vacuumization or depressurization for the vaccumization region.
This application continuation of International Patent Application No. PCT/CN2020/076691 with a filing date of Feb. 26, 2020, designating the United States, now pending, and further claims priority to Chinese Patent Applications No. 201910447697.X, 201920774302.2, 201910448238.3, 201920773601.4, 201910447702.7, 201920773590.X, 201910447696.5, 201920773585.9, 201910448237.9, 201920774300.3, 201910448236.4, 201920773589.7, 201910447688.0, 201920773583.X, 201811457088.4, titled as REFRIGERATOR, filed on May 27, 2019, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
TECHNICAL FIELDThe present disclosure relates to the field of household appliances and in particular to a refrigerator.
BACKGROUNDIn recent years, people have an increasing requirement for food material preservation along with increasing awareness of health. Refrigerator is the commonest household appliance for preservation of food materials. Therefore, the food material preservation storage becomes a technical need to be met in the field of refrigerators.
At present, various manufacturers launch different preservation technologies for food material preservation storage. For example, with vacuum preservation technology, the condition of food spoilage under vacuum takes change. Firstly, in a vacuum environment, it is difficult for microorganisms and various promoting enzymes to survive and the microorganisms will take a long time to grow. Secondly, under vacuum, oxygen in a container will decrease significantly, various chemical reactions cannot be completed, and foods will not be oxidized, so that the foods can be preserved for long.
Currently, in the vacuum preservation technology applied to refrigerators, a sealing drawer is provided inside the refrigerator. A miniature vacuum pump is disposed outside the drawer to perform vacuumization treatment for the drawer, so that the drawer maintains in a negative pressure state, thereby realizing preservation of food materials in the drawer. The preservation manner has the following limitations: 1. the vacuum pump will take up a partial storage space of a refrigerating compartment because the vacuumization treatment is to be performed by the vacuum pump; 2. the preservation manner requires sealing for the drawer, otherwise vacuum state cannot be formed inside the drawer, and thus higher requirements are proposed for the forming and assembly process of the drawer; 3.the preservation manner can only perform preservation for the food materials in the drawer and have no preservation effect on those food materials in other regions of the refrigerator.
SUMMARYThe present disclosure provides a refrigerator including a storage compartment and a door opening or closing the storage compartment. The door is provided with a vacuum sealing device including an upper support and a lower support corresponding to each other in position and a vacuumization assembly. The lower support is detachably connected to the door; opening cavities are opened on mutually-facing surfaces of the upper support and/the lower support; the upper support may be moved close to or away from the lower support under the drive of a driving device; the upper support moves close to the lower support until the upper support is butt-joined with the lower support, and the opening cavities sealingly form a vacuumization region by sealing portions. The vacuumization assembly is in communication with the vaccumization region through a pipe so as to perform vacuumization or depressurization for the vacuumization region.
The preferred examples of the present disclosure will be described below with accompanying drawings to help understanding the object and advantages of the present disclosure.
The technical solution of the present disclosure will be clearly and fully described below in combination with accompanying drawings. In the description of the present disclosure, it is to be understood that orientations or positional relationships indicated by terms such as “center”, “upper”, “lower”, “left”, “right”, “vertical”, “horizontal”, “inside”, “outside”, are based on orientations or positional relationships shown in the drawings and are used only for convenience and simplification of descriptions of the present disclosure, rather than indicate or imply that the indicated apparatus or element shall have a specific orientation and be configured or operated in a specific orientation. Thus, the terms shall not be understood as limiting of the present disclosure. In addition, the terms “first”, “second” and “third” are used only for descriptions and shall not be understood as indicating or implying relative importance.
In the descriptions of the present disclosure, it is noted that the terms “mounting” “connection” and “coupling” shall be understood in a broad sense, for example, it may be a fixed connection, or a detachable connection, or integrated connection; or direct connection or an indirect connection through an intermediate medium, or may be internal communication between two elements. Those skilled in the art may understand the specific meanings of the above terms in the present disclosure according to the specific situations.
Furthermore, the below-described technical features involved in different examples of the present disclosure may be combined with each other as long as they do not constitute conflict.
Example 1The storage compartment 100 has an open box body. The storage compartment 100 is vertically divided into a lower freezing compartment 100A and an upper refrigerating compartment 100B. Each of the partitioned spaces may have an independent storage space. Specifically, the freezing compartment 100A is at the lower part of the storage compartment 100 and may be selectively covered by a drawer-type freezing compartment door A. The space above the freezing compartment 100A is divided into a left side and a right side to form the refrigerating compartment 100B respectively. The refrigerating compartment 100B may be selectively closed or opened by a refrigerating door 200B pivotably mounted on the refrigerating compartment 100B.
As shown in
Specifically, as shown in
Specifically, a first sealing groove 313 is disposed on the periphery of the first opening cavity 311 of the lower support 310 and a second sealing groove 323 is disposed on the periphery of the second opening cavity 321 of the upper support 320. The first sealing groove 313 and the second sealing groove 323 are opposed in position and internally provided with a sealing ring 350 respectively. The two sealing rings 350 of the first sealing groove 313 and the second sealing groove 323 seal the vacuumization region 301 inside, realizing reliable sealing of the vacuumization region 301.
Specifically, as shown in
The vacuum sealing device 300 further includes a vacuumization assembly 330. As shown in
The vacuum degree of the vacuumization region 301 can be controlled by disposing the pressure sensor, and the vacuum pump 331 can be switched on and off based on the detection value of the pressure sensor, thereby guaranteeing the vacuumization effect. After the vacuumization and sealing operations are completed, the above electric pressure relief valve may be started to automatically control the pressure relief of the vacuumization region 301, thereby facilitating taking out the storage bag by users. In order to prevent foreign matters in the vacuumization region 301 entering the vacuum pump 331 through the pipe 335, a filtering protection device is also disposed on the pipe 335. In an example, as shown in
In another example, as shown in
One connection hole of the vacuumization region 301 connecting with the pipe 335 may be disposed. Of course, in order to prevent vacuumization failure caused by plugging of the connection hole by the foreign matters in the vacuumization region 301 in a case of single connection hole, two or more connection holes may be disposed to connect with the pipe 335 respectively. The pipes 335 are parallel-disposed to connect with a main pipe through a three-way or multi-way connector. The pressure sensor and the electronic pressure relief valve are disposed on the main pipe.
As shown in
More specifically, as shown in
In the above vacuum sealing device, the driving device 340 may be an electric driving device or an air pressure driving device. Because of large occupation space of the air pressure driving device, the electric driving device is adopted as the driving device 340 in this example. Specifically, as shown in
Specifically, as shown in
As shown in
During a vacuumization stage, a sealed vacuumization region 301 is formed between the lower support 310 and the upper support 320, and the upper support 320 moves downward under the action of atmospheric pressure due to decrease of air pressure. At this time, due to existence of the elongated pin hole, the output rack 345 keeps stationary when the upper support 320 moves downward, thereby providing protection for the entire driving device 340.
In order to accurately control the movement of the upper support 320 and further determine whether the upper support 320 moves to be in place, the vacuumization region 301 is enabled to form a sealed space. In an example, the motor 341 is a stepping motor 341 and whether the upper support 320 moves to be in place can be determined by detecting the rotational stroke of the stepping motor 341. In another example, a microswitch is disposed at the lower support 310 or the upper support 320. After the upper support 320 moves to be in place and then triggers the microswitch, the controller controls the driving device 340 to be stopped and locked at a current position according to a feedback signal of the microswitch.
One driving device 340 may be disposed. The output gear is located in a middle region of the upper support 320. In this case, it causes an edge area of the upper support 320 and the lower support 310 to be loosely attached, resulting in air leakage of the vacuumization region 301. Thus, in order to provide sealing of the vacuumization region 301, the driving devices 340 are disposed at both sides of the upper support 320 respectively. Correspondingly, one connection plate 347 is disposed, two guide grooves 3471 are disposed on the connection plate 347, and two output racks 345 protrude into the guide grooves 3471 respectively.
Specifically, as shown in
When the user performs plastic sealing for a storage bag, especially powder-like foods such as flour or liquid or the like by use of the vacuum sealing device 300, the powder or liquid may enter the vacuumization region 301 during vacuumization and finally accumulate in the first opening cavity 311 of the lower support 310. Therefore, in order to help the user to clean the food residues in the lower support 310, the lower support 310 is detachably mounted relative to the door 200.
The lower support 310 may be mounted on the door 200 in several manners. In this example, as shown in
In an example, as shown in
In order to further ensure the insulation performance of the door 200 and avoid cold leakage occurring from a clearance between the mounting hole 201 and the small insulation door 250, as shown in
Specifically, in order to guarantee the small insulation door 250 is reliably fixed on the door 200, a locking device 400 is disposed between the small insulation door 250 and the door inner liner 220. The locking device 400 is used to lock or unlock the small insulation door 250 on or from the door 200.
As shown in
Specifically, in order to improve the reliability of the locking device 400, two locking grooves 221 and two locking hooks are disposed respectively. The locking grooves 221 are located at upper and lower sides of the mounting hole 201. As shown in
As shown in
In an initial state, the upper locking hook 420 and the lower locking hook 410 are in the first position under the elastic force of the reset spring 430 to realize the locking of the small insulation door 250 and the door inner liner 220. When the user moves the lower locking hook 410 by hand, the lower locking hook 410 rotates around the hinging portion 412, the hooking portion 414 moves downward to separate from the locking groove 221 at the lower side, and at the same time, the connection portion push up the upper locking hook 420 to move upward so that the upper locking hook 420 separates from the locking groove 221 at the upper side. In this way, the upper locking hook 420 and the lower locking hook 410 are in the second position to realize the unlocking of the small insulation door 250 and the door inner liner 220.
In order to ensure the external aesthetics of the door 200 of refrigerator, as shown in
The inner side of the bar table door 260 further includes an operation panel 270 covered on the outer side of the mounting cavity. An inserting hole 271 is formed on the operation panel 270, and a lower surface of the inserting hole 271 is flushed with an upper surface of the first opening cavity 311. In this case, the vacuum sealing device 300 can be entirely hidden at the rear side of the operation panel 270. When performing vacuum plastic sealing, the user may directly insert the opening of the storage bag from the inserting hole 271 of the operation panel 270, and directly extend it to the upper surface of the first opening cavity 311. When the upper support 320 moves downward, the opening of the storage bag can be placed in the vacuumization region 301. Specifically, the operation panel 270 is detachably connected to the door housing 210. A display control device 272 is further disposed on the operation panel 270. The display control device 272 includes an indicating device for displaying a working state of the vacuum sealing device 300 and a control button for controlling the vacuum sealing device 300 to stop or start. The user may determine whether to pull out the storage bag according to the working state of the vacuum sealing device 300 indicated by the display control device 272.
When applying the vacuum sealing device 300, the user may insert the storage bag to be sealed through the inserting hole 271 on the operation panel 270. After the storage bag is inserted to be in place (the storage bag abuts against the limiting rib 322), the user may trigger a start button on the operation panel 270 to start the motor 341 so as to control the upper support 320 to descend until the upper support 320 moves to be in place (sealing the vacuumization region 301) and then control the vacuum pump 331 to start so as to perform vacuumization treatment for the vacuumization region 301. The storage bag is vacuumized through the opening of the storage bag in the vacuumization region 301. When the pressure sensor detects a pressure value reaches the set negative pressure value, the vacuum pump 331 is controlled to stop and the heating device 370 is started to work at the same time. After the heating device 370 works for a set time, the electric pressure relief valve is controlled to start, and then the linear motor 341 is controlled to start to control the upper support 320 to ascend until the first opening cavity 311 separates from the second opening cavity 321. The display control device 272 on the operation panel 270 indicates the user can pull out the storage bag. In this way, the vacuum sealing of the storage bag is completed.
Example 2The structure of example 2 is basically same as that of the example 1 except the connection manner of the lower support 310 and the small insulation door 250. Specifically, in this example, as shown in
Specifically, a first limiting portion extending upward is formed on an end of the extension arm 2511, a second limiting portion mated with the first limiting portion is formed on a lower side of the lower support 310, and the first limiting portion and the second limiting portion are mated to position the lower support 310 on the extension arm 2511. More specifically, the first limiting portion is a limiting plate and the limiting portion is a baffle plate formed on the bottom of the lower support 310 and extending downwardly. The baffle plate is inserted into the inner side of the limiting plate to mount the lower support 310 to the extension arm 2511, thus avoiding the problem of poor sealing of the vacuumization region caused by horizontal movement of the lower support 310.
In order to further guarantee the heat insulation of the door 200 and avoid cold leakage occurring from the clearance between the mounting hole 201 and the small insulation door 250, the small door gasket 253 is disposed between the small insulation door 250 and the door inner liner 220. Specifically, the support arm 2512 is disposed at the position of the first housing 251 mated with the door inner liner 220, and the size of the support arm 2512 is greater than that of the mounting hole 201. A mounting groove surrounding the mounting hole 201 is disposed on the support arm 2512 and the small door gasket 253 is mounted in the mounting groove.
Specifically, in order to guarantee the small insulation door 250 can be reliably fixed on the door 200, the locking device 400 is disposed between the small insulation door 250 and the door inner liner 220.
As shown in
Specifically, in order to improve the aesthetics of the small door, a mounting recess is formed on the bottom of the small door and the locking hook is mounted into the mounting recess.
The structure of the example 3 is basically same as that of the example 1 except the connection manner of the lower support 310, the small insulation door 250 and the door 200.
As shown in
The structure of the example 4 is basically same as that of the example 1 except the structure of the area of the door 200 where the vacuum sealing device 300 is located.
Specifically, in this example, as shown in
The structure of the example 5 is basically same as that of the example 1 except the manner of mounting the lower support 310 to the door 200.
Specifically, as shown in
More specifically, the lower support 310 is detachably connected to the door 200 by push ejection. As shown in
As shown in
The structure of the example 6 is basically same as that of the example 5 except the manner of mounting the lower support 310 on the door 200.
Specifically, in this example, as shown in
More specifically, the lower support 310 is detachably connected to the door 200 by snap fitting. A first fitting portion 391 and a second fitting portion 392 mutually mated are formed respectively on the lower support 310 and the door 200. The first fitting portion 391 is formed on the lower surface of the lower support 310 and specifically is a bending hook. The second fitting portion 392 is fixedly connected to a front side surface of the door 200. The lower support 310 moves close to the door 200 until the first fitting portion 391 and the second fitting portion 392 are mated, realizing the mounting of the lower support 310. During dismounting, the lower support 310 is pulled outwardly, and the first fitting portion 391 and the second fitting portion 392 are separated due to elastic deformation. Thus, the user can perform separate cleaning for the lower support 310, facilitating user operation.
Obviously, the above examples are only used to clearly describe the present disclosure rather than limit the present disclosure. Those skilled in the prior art may make different types of other changes or modifications based on the above descriptions. All examples are not necessarily or cannot be exhausted herein. All apparent changes or modifications derived herein still fall within the scope of protection of the present disclosure.
Claims
1. A refrigerator, comprising:
- a storage compartment;
- a door opening or closing the storage compartment, wherein a vacuum sealing device is disposed on the door, and the vacuum sealing device comprises:
- an upper support and a lower support opposite to each other, wherein opening cavities are formed on mutually-opposed surfaces of the upper support and/or the lower support; when the upper support and the lower support are butt-joined, the opening cavities sealingly form a vacuumization region by sealing portions; the lower support is detachably mounted to the door;
- a driving device configured to drive the upper support close to or away from the lower support;
- a vacuumization assembly in communication with the vacuumization region through a pipe to perform vacuumization or depressurization for the vacuumization region.
2. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein a mounting hole communicating inside with outside is formed on the door, the lower support and a small insulation door are disposed in the mounting hole, and the small insulation door is at an inner side of the door.
3. The refrigerator according to claim 2, wherein the small insulation door and the lower support are integrally formed.
4. The refrigerator according to claim 3, wherein the lower support and the small insulation door are formed of a first housing and a second housing with opening cavities and an insulation piece disposed between the first housing and the second housing; the first housing is snap-fitted with the second housing, the first housing is provided with an extension arm along a direction away from the second housing, and the lower support is formed on the extension arm.
5. The refrigerator according to claim 2, wherein the lower support is detachably connected to the small insulation door.
6. The refrigerator according to claim 5, wherein the lower support and the small insulation door are formed of the first housing and the second housing with opening cavities and the insulation piece disposed between the first housing and the second housing; the first housing is snap-fitted with the second housing, the first housing is provided with an extension arm along a direction away from the second housing, and the lower support is formed on the extension arm.
7. The refrigerator according to claim 2, wherein a small door gasket is disposed between the small insulation door and a door inner liner.
8. The refrigerator according to claim 2, wherein a locking device is disposed between the small insulation door and the door inner liner, and the locking device is used to lock the small insulation door to the door.
9. The refrigerator according to claim 8, wherein the locking device comprises:
- a locking hook assembly disposed on the small insulation door and a locking groove disposed on the door inner liner;
- wherein the locking hook assembly comprises a locking hook inserted through the small insulation door, the locking hook switches between a first position and a second position, and the locking hook, when in the first position, is mated with the locking groove to lock the small insulation door, and when in the second position, is separated from the locking groove to unlock the small insulation door.
10. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the lower support is detachably mounted to the door from an outer side of the door.
11. The refrigerator according to claim 10, wherein the lower support is detachably connected to the door through a second push ejection switch, or the lower support is detachably connected to the door by snap-fitting.
12. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the vacuum sealing device further comprises an insulation cushion disposed at one of the lower support and the upper support; and a heating device disposed at the other of the lower support and the upper support, wherein the insulation cushion and the heating device are opposed to each other.
13. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the vacuumization assembly comprises a vacuum pump in communication with the vacuumization region through a pipe; a pressure detection device and a pressure relief device are further disposed on the pipe, the pressure detection device is used to detect the pressure of the vacuumization region, and the pressure relief device is controlled to release the pressure of the vacuumization region.
14. The refrigerator according to claim 13, wherein the driving device comprises a motor and a transmission mechanism, the transmission mechanism is used to convert a rotational movement of the motor into a rectilinear movement and an output end of the transmission mechanism is connected with the upper support.
15. The refrigerator according to claim 13, wherein the driving device and the vacuumization assembly are mounted in one mounting base, a mounting cavity recessed inwardly is disposed at the door housing, and the mounting base and the upper support are mounted into the mounting cavity.
16. The refrigerator according to claim 15, wherein a bar table door is disposed at an area of the outer side of the door where the vacuum sealing device is located, a lower end of the bar table door is hinged with the door, and an upper end of the bar table door is connected with the door housing through a first push ejection switch.
17. The refrigerator according to claim 16, wherein an inner side of the bar table door further includes an operation panel covered on an outer side of the mounting cavity, an inserting hole applicable for inserting a storage bag to be inserted is formed on the operation panel, a display control device is further disposed on the operation panel and the display control panel comprises an indicating device for displaying a working state of the vacuum sealing device.
18. The refrigerator according to claim 17, wherein an auxiliary door plate is disposed at an area of the door where the vacuum sealing device is located, a surface of the auxiliary door plate is flushed with a surface of the door housing, an inserting hole applicable for inserting a storage bag to be inserted is formed on the auxiliary door plate, a display control device is further disposed on the auxiliary door plate and the display control device comprises an indicating device for displaying a working state of the vacuum sealing device.
Type: Application
Filed: Feb 24, 2021
Publication Date: Sep 9, 2021
Inventors: Meiyan WANG (QINGDAO), Xiaodong ZHOU (QINGDAO), Peng ZHANG (QINGDAO), Shudong ZHANG (QINGDAO), Yajing LI (QINGDAO), Jian ZHANG (QINGDAO), Tiewei LIU (QINGDAO), Junwang YAN (QINGDAO), Shuailing YANG (QINGDAO)
Application Number: 17/183,568