Refrigerator

Abstract

A refrigerator comprising a housing, a pair of doors, link devices, and damping devices. Each of the damping devices includes a casing defining the appearance of the damping device, a cam member, a piston, a sealing member fitted around the piston, a spring, a guide rod, and a cap member connected to the guide rod so as to be positioned inside the casing. Since the damping device of the present invention is reducible in size, and is vertically mountable by virtue of its reduced operating space, it can be installed inside a refrigerator door or refrigerator housing, rather than the bottom surface of the refrigerator. Especially, the damping device can be mounted inside the lower end portion of a front panel of the refrigerator door, resulting in ease in exchange and repair thereof.

1 . A refrigerator, including a housing and a pair of doors that are coupled to the housing in a hingedly rotatable manner, the refrigerator comprising: 
 sets of link devices to respectively transmit a rotating force of each of the doors relative to the housing;    a damper, associated with each of the doors, coupled to the respective link devices, to absorb a shock to each of the doors and to allow each of the doors to be automatically closed.    
     
     
         2 . The refrigerator according to  claim 1 , wherein each damper includes: 
 a substantially cylindrical casing;    a cam member coupled to each of the link devices so as to convert the rotating motion of the associated one of the doors into linear motion;    a piston, coupled to the cam member inside the casing, to move linearly; and    a spring anchored to the casing and oil charged inside the casing to dampen the linear motion of the piston.    
     
     
         3 . The refrigerator according to  claim 2 , wherein the damper is mounted vertically inside the door.  
     
     
         4 . The refrigerator according to  claim 2 , wherein the cam member of the damper comprises a substantially hollow shaft having spiral grooves, wherein 
 the piston is coupled to the cam member to linearly move along the spiral grooves, and    the cam member converts the rotating motion of the door, transmitted through an associated one of the link devices, to the linear motion of the piston.    
     
     
         5 . The refrigerator according to  claim 2 , further comprising link connection portions to couple the cam members to the respective link devices, wherein each cam member is positioned inside each cylindrical casing so that the link connecting portion is provided at one end of each cylindrical casing and protrudes outwardly to allow the link device to be rotatably fitted therearound.  
     
     
         6 . The refrigerator according to  claim 5 , wherein the damping device further includes a sealing member, which is fixed around the piston to seal the oil charged around the piston inserted inside the casing.  
     
     
         7 . The refrigerator according to  claim 4 , wherein the cam member and the piston are coupled to each other by guide pins so that the piston is linearly movable within a range of the spiral grooves formed at the cam member.  
     
     
         8 . The refrigerator according to  claim 7 , wherein the guide pins are located close to a lower end of the cam member in a closed state of the door, and slide upward along the spiral grooves toward an upper end of the cam member by receiving an external force when the door is opened, so as to allow the oil to be compressed by a sealing member.  
     
     
         9 . The refrigerator according to  claim 8 , wherein the guide pins allow the door to be smoothly and/or automatically closed as they are returned toward the lower end of the cam member by making use of a repulsive force of the spring and/or the oil.  
     
     
         10 . A refrigerator comprising a housing, and a pair of doors coupled to the housing in a hingedly rotatable manner, the refrigerator further comprising: 
 damping devices provided at the doors or the housing; and    link devices to connect the housing and the respective doors and to transmit a rotating force of the doors to the damping devices.    
     
     
         11 . The refrigerator according to  claim 10 , wherein each of the link devices includes a first link member and a second link member.  
     
     
         12 . The refrigerator according to  claim 11 , wherein each of the first and second link members has rotatably connectable joint portions at both ends thereof.  
     
     
         13 . The refrigerator according to  claim 11 , wherein the first and second link members partially overlap each other while forming a small angle therebetween in a closed state of an associated one of the doors, whereas they are spaced apart from each other by a certain large angle when the door is opened.  
     
     
         14 . The refrigerator according to  claim 12 , wherein fasteners to rotatably connect the first and second link members to each other are coupled to the respective joint portions.  
     
     
         15 . The refrigerator according to  claim 10 , wherein each link device is adjacent to a central axis of rotation of an associated one of the doors.  
     
     
         16 . The refrigerator according to  claim 10 , wherein each link device includes a hinge member and a hinge shaft, wherein one end of the hinge member is fixed to the housing, and the other end of the hinge member is coupled to the associated one of the doors by the hinge shaft so as to secure rotation of the door.  
     
     
         17 . The refrigerator according to  claim 2 , wherein the damper is mounted vertically inside one of the doors.  
     
     
         18 . A damping device to dampen to absorb shock applied to a refrigerator door and to automatically close the refrigerator door, comprising: 
 a hinge to rotably connect the door to the refrigerator so as to allow the door to rotate from a first position in which the door closes the refrigerator to a second position in which the refrigerator is open;    a damper including a cylindrical casing, a cam to translate the rotational movement of the door to linear movement, a piston coupled to the cam to move linearly in accordance with the translated rotational movement, and a spring anchored to the casing to oppose the movement of the piston in one direction and aid the movement of the piston in the other direction; and    a link system to connect the hinge with the damper so as to actuate the damper.    
     
     
         19 . The damping device according to  claim 18 , wherein the damper is coupled to the door via a support member having a cylindrical guide portion into which the piston is inserted and a circular center opening.  
     
     
         20 . The damping device according to  claim 19 , further comprising a link connecting portion to integrally protrude from the end of the cam, the link connecting portion having a cylindrical section to extend through the circular center opening of the support member and a rectangular section to cooperate with the link system.  
     
     
         21 . The damping device according to  claim 19 , wherein the link system comprises: 
 a first link member having a rectangular hole to cooperate with the rectangular section of the link connecting portion at a first end thereof; and    a second link member to be coupled to a second end of the first link member at a first end thereof and to be coupled to the hinge at a second end thereof.    
     
     
         22 . The damping device according to  claim 19 , wherein the second link member is longer than the first link member.