Refrigerator
AssigneeLG Electronics Inc.
InventorsSunghun Lee, Daekil Kang
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A refrigerator includes a cabinet which has a storage space; a door which opens and closes the storage space; a hinge which connects the door and the cabinet and supports the door so that the door is capable of rotating; and a damping device which is provided on one side where the hinge is mounted and provides a damping force to the door when the door rotates in a closing direction, in which the damping device consists of an oil damper, and a contact surface is formed on one side corresponding to the damping device, with which the door starts to be in contact and thus to which a damping force is transmitted, at a set angle or less, and which is separated from the damping device when the door is opened.
Claims17
A refrigerator comprising:
- a cabinet having a storage space;
- a door configured to open and close the storage space;
- a hinge connecting the door to the cabinet;
- and
- a damper provided apart from the hinge, the damper being configured to provide a damping force to the door when the door rotates towards a closed position;
- and
- an auto-closing device disposed at the door,
- wherein the auto-closing device is configured to provide a closing force to the door to assist rotation of the door towards the closed position when the door is at a first preset angle or less with respect to the closed position,
- wherein the hinge includes a contact surface configured to contact the damper when the door is at a second preset angle or less with respect to the closed position to transmit the damping force to the door and to be spaced from the damper when the door is at an angle greater than the second preset angle,
- wherein the first preset angle is greater than the second preset angle.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.