US 12,339,056 B2
Refrigerator
Shinsuke Shitara, Tokyo (JP)
Assigned to HAIER SMART HOME CO., LTD., Qingdao (CN); QINGDAO HAIER REFRIGERATOR CO., LTD., Qingdao (CN); and AQUA CO., LTD., Tokyo (JP)
Appl. No. 18/023,723
Filed by HAIER SMART HOME CO., LTD., Qingdao (CN); QINGDAO HAIER REFRIGERATOR CO., LTD., Qingdao (CN); and AQUA CO., LTD., Tokyo (JP)
PCT Filed Aug. 30, 2021, PCT No. PCT/CN2021/115376
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Feb. 27, 2023,
PCT Pub. No. WO2022/042725, PCT Pub. Date Mar. 3, 2022.
Claims priority of application No. 2020-146170 (JP), filed on Aug. 31, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2023/0341171 A1, Oct. 26, 2023
Int. Cl. F25D 23/02 (2006.01)
CPC F25D 23/028 (2013.01) [F25D 23/02 (2013.01); F25D 2323/021 (2013.01); F25D 2400/06 (2013.01)] 7 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A refrigerator, having side-by-side doors comprising a first door and a second door, wherein:
the first door has a rotatably provided middle post;
the middle post has a locking mechanism for preventing rotation of the middle post;
the locking mechanism has a release mechanism for releasing locking;
the middle post is switched between a first position where the middle post is located when the first door is opened and a second position where the middle post is located when the first door is closed by opening and closing the first door, and the locking mechanism is released by the release mechanism during rotation from the first position to the second position, thus performing switching;
the locking mechanism has a projecting portion, and the projecting portion reduces an amount of rotation of the middle post when the middle post is in the first position and the release mechanism is not released;
the locking mechanism further has a post-side locking portion;
the post-side locking portion comes into contact with a door-side locking portion provided on the first door when the middle post rotates, thereby preventing the rotation of the middle post;
the projecting portion is configured to extend from the post-side locking portion towards the door-side locking portion to reduce a gap between the post-side locking portion and the door-side locking portion;
the middle post is kept at the first position by a torsion spiral spring when the first door is opened.