Sliding apparatus and refrigerator having the same

Abstract

Disclosed herein is a refrigerator which improves the structure of a sliding apparatus to reduce noise and warpage generated when a storage unit slides. The refrigerator includes storage units inserted into and extracted out of storage chambers in a sliding manner, cover rails combined with both side walls of the insides of the storage chambers and provided with rack gears and planar parts, slide units combined with both side surfaces of the storage units and including pinion gears moving in a state in which the pinion gears are engaged with the rack gears and moving in a state in which the pinion gears are suspended above the planar parts, a connection bar connected between the pinion gears to prevent movement of the storage units, and a reinforcing frame connected between the slide units to prevent warpage of the storage units generated when the pinion gears move above the planar parts.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A refrigerator comprising:
 a main body;   a plurality of storage chambers, each of which is provided with an opened front surface, provided in the main body;   a storage unit received within the storage chamber formed in the lower portion of the main body among the plurality of storage chambers, and inserted into and extracted out of the storage chambers in a sliding manner;   a pair of cover rails respectively combined with both side walls of the inside of each of the storage chambers in which the storage units are received, and provided with rack gears at the front regions of the lower ends thereof and planar parts, from which the rack gears are removed, at the rear regions of the lower ends thereof;   a pair of slide units respectively combined with both side surfaces of each of the storage units, and including a pinion gears moving in a state in which the pinion gears are engaged with the rack gears and are rotated, at the front regions of the lower ends of the cover rails and moving in a state in which the pinion gears are suspended above the planar parts, at the rear regions of the lower ends of the cover rails so as to allow the each of the storage units to slide;   a connection bar connecting each of the pinion gears of the slide units of each of the storage units and preventing movement of each of the storage units when each of the storage units is inserted into and extracted out of each of the storage chambers; and   a reinforcing frame connected between the slide units of each of the storage units to prevent warpage of each of the storage units generated when the pinion gears move above the planar parts.   
     
     
         2 . The refrigerator according to  claim 1 , wherein, by providing the planar parts, from which the rack gears are removed, at the rear of the rack gears of the cover rails, noise due to friction generated when the pinion gears are engaged with the rack gears and move is eliminated when the pinion gears move above the planar parts. 
     
     
         3 . The refrigerator according to  claim 1 , wherein each of the slide units includes a first slide rail received in each of the cover rails and fixed, a second slide rail slidably combined with the first slide rail, and a third slide rail slidably combined with the second slide rail. 
     
     
         4 . The refrigerator according to  claim 3 , wherein a sliding part with which bearings facilitating sliding is combined is provided between the first slide rail and the second slide rail and between the second slide rail and the third slide rail. 
     
     
         5 . The refrigerator according to  claim 3 , wherein each of the slide units further includes a slide cover receiving and fixing the third slide rail and combined with each of both side surfaces of each of the storage units. 
     
     
         6 . The refrigerator according to  claim 5 , wherein a combining part with which each of the pinion gears is combined is provided on the third slide rail. 
     
     
         7 . The refrigerator according to  claim 5 , wherein both ends of the reinforcing frame are combined with the slide covers of the slide units. 
     
     
         8 . A refrigerator comprising:
 a main body;   a plurality of storage chambers, each of which is provided with an opened front surface, provided in the main body;   a plurality of drawer-type doors opening and closing the storage chambers in a sliding manner;   a receiving container mounted on the rear surfaces of the drawer-type doors, received in the storage chambers, and inserted into and extracted out of the storage chambers together with the drawer-type doors in the sliding manner; and   a sliding apparatus including a cover rail respectively combined with both side walls of the inside of each of the storage chambers and provided with a rack gear at the lower ends thereof, and a slide unit, each of which is provided with one side connected to each of the receiving containers and the other side slidably combined with each of the cover rails,   a pinion gears engages with the rack gears and moving are provided on the sliding apparatus so that each of the receiving containers may slide along the cover rails, and the rack gear is removed from a section of the lower end of each of the cover rails on which the pinion gears move so that noise due to friction generated when the pinion gears are engaged with the rack gears and move is eliminated in the section from which the rack gear is removed.   
     
     
         9 . The refrigerator according to  claim 8 , wherein the pinion gears are respectively combined with the sliding apparatus, and in order to prevent movement of each of the receiving containers when each of the receiving containers is inserted into and extracted out of the corresponding storage chamber, a connection bar is connected between the pinion gears. 
     
     
         10 . The refrigerator according to  claim 8 , wherein the sliding apparatus further includes a reinforcing frame connected between the slide units to prevent warpage of each of the drawer-type doors generated when the pinion gears pass through the rack gears and moves above the planar parts during the sliding process of each of the receiving containers in the forward and backward directions. 
     
     
         11 . The refrigerator according to  claim 8 , wherein each of the slide units includes a first slide rail received in each of the cover rails and fixed, a second slide rail slidably combined with the first slide rail, and a third slide rail slidably combined with the second slide rail. 
     
     
         12 . The refrigerator according to  claim 11 , wherein a sliding part with which bearings facilitating sliding are combined is provided between the first slide rail and the second slide rail and between the second slide rail and the third slide rail. 
     
     
         13 . The refrigerator according to  claim 11 , wherein each of the slide units further includes a slide cover receiving and fixing the third slide rail and combined with each of both side surfaces of each of the storage units. 
     
     
         14 . The refrigerator according to  claim 13 , wherein both ends of the reinforcing frame are combined with the slide covers of the slide units. 
     
     
         15 . A sliding apparatus to insert and extract a storage unit received in a storage chamber, the front surface of which is opened, into and out of the storage chamber in a sliding manner, comprising:
 a cover rail respectively combined with both side walls of the inside of the storage chamber in which the storage unit is received, and provided with a rack gears at the front regions of the lower ends thereof and planar parts, from which the rack gears are removed, at the rear regions of the lower ends thereof;   a slide unit respectively combined with both side surfaces of the storage unit, and including a pinion gear moving in a state in which the pinion gear engages with the rack gears and are rotated, at the front regions of the lower ends of the cover rails and moving in a state in which the pinion gears are suspended above the planar parts, at the rear regions of the lower ends of the cover rails so as to allow the storage unit to slide;   a connection bar connected between the pinion gears of the slide units to prevent movement of the storage unit when the storage unit is inserted into and extracted out of the storage chamber; and   a reinforcing frame connected between the slide units of the storage unit to prevent warpage of the storage unit generated when the pinion gears pass through the rack gears and move above the planar parts during the sliding process of the storage unit in the forward and backward directions.   
     
     
         16 . The sliding apparatus according to  claim 15 , wherein, by providing the planar parts, from which the rack gears are removed, at the rear of the rack gears of the cover rails, noise due to friction generated when the pinion gears are engaged with the rack gears and move is eliminated when the pinion gears move above the planar parts. 
     
     
         17 . The sliding apparatus according to  claim 15 , wherein each of the slide units includes a first slide rail received in each of the cover rails and fixed, a second slide rail slidably combined with the first slide rail, and a third slide rail slidably combined with the second slide rail. 
     
     
         18 . The sliding apparatus according to  claim 17 , wherein a sliding part with which bearings facilitating sliding are combined is provided between the first slide rail and the second slide rail and between the second slide rail and the third slide rail. 
     
     
         19 . The sliding apparatus according to  claim 17 , wherein each of the slide units further includes a slide cover receiving and fixing the third slide rail and combined with each of both side surfaces of the storage unit. 
     
     
         20 . A storage apparatus comprising:
 a body;   a storage compartment disposed within the body;   a drawer-type door to open and close the storage compartment;   a storage container attached to the rear of the drawer-type drawer that slidable into and out of the storage compartment with the movement of the drawer-type drawer;   a cover rail disposed on opposing sides of the storage compartment;   a sliding unit attached to opposing sides of the storage container to slidably interact with the cover rail;   wherein the cover rail comprises:
 a rack gear disposed on the front portion of cover rail; 
 a smooth portion disposed on the rear portion of the cover rail adjacent to the rack gear; 
   wherein the sliding unit comprises:
 a plurality of slide rails that allow the draw to slide; 
 a pinion gear to engage the rack gear of the cover rail and to be suspended over the smooth portion of the cover rail; 
 a connection bar connecting each of the pinion gears disposed on opposing sides of the storage container; 
 a reinforcement member to connect each of the opposing sliding unit to each other to prevent warping.