Shape Design of Hinge Stopper to Improve Refrigerator Door Opening Force

In this study, the shape design optimization of a refrigerator door hinge stopper was performed to reduce the discrepancy in the opening forces of the left and right doors of a double-door refrigerator. A finite element model was constructed and analyzed by quasi-static analyses to evaluate the structural performance of the door hinge stopper. The reaction moment calculated at the hinge axis was used as a measure of the door opening and closing forces. The design objective is to increase the door opening force by 50% while maintaining the door closing force and the maximum stress calculated in the body of the hinge stopper at the current level. A new design concept with a contacting slot was proposed to decouple the door closing and opening forces. Shape optimization was performed to determine the dimensions of the new design of the hinge stopper, and the rib pattern was determined by topological optimization to further increase the door opening force. It was observed that the new design met all design requirements.

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