1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a storage container for a refrigerator, and more particularly, to a mounting structure of a storage container for a refrigerator which is used for mounting an ice storage container to a rear surface of the refrigerator.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In general, a refrigerator is an apparatus for storing food therein in a refrigerated or frozen state using cold air generated through the phase change of a refrigerant. Recently, as the standard of living is improved, the consumer wishes to use a large refrigerator having a variety of functions. Accordingly, the function and capacity of refrigerator becomes further increased.
FIG. 1 is a front view showing the configuration of a side-by-side refrigerator in which a dispenser, icemaker and the like are provided. Referring to this figure, two doors 10 are installed on a front surface of a main body of a refrigerator. The doors 10 are installed to be pivotal on both ends of the front surface of the refrigerator main body, respectively, such that they can selectively cover spaces partitioned from side to side in the refrigerator main body. Therefore, each of the doors 10 allows the individual storage space to be opened or closed.
The door 10 is provided with a home bar 20 and a dispenser 30 that are exposed to the outside, if desired, for the sake of user's convenience. The home bar 20 is provided on one door 10 to be exposed to the outside and is installed such that liquors or drinks can be taken out from the refrigerator without opening the door 10 in order to minimize loss of cold air which may occur when the door 10 is opened. The dispenser 30 is also provided on the other door 10 of the refrigerator to be exposed to the outside such that a user can take ice or purified water directly from the outside.
A water purification filter 32, storage tank 34, water pipe 36 and icemaker 40 are provided on an inner side of the refrigerator such that the purified water and ice can be supplied from the dispenser 30 to the outside. Some of the above components are provided on the door 10 and others are provided on the refrigerator main body. Alternatively, all of the components may be provided on the door 10. A refrigerator so configured is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,082,130 and Korean Patent No. 0432752.
A process of taking water out from the dispenser 30 will be explained. Water supplied from the outside is temporarily stored in the storage tank 34 and then purified in the water purification filter 32. Then, the purified water is taken out from a dispensing port of the dispenser 30 or flows through the water pipe.
Further, a process of taking ice out from the dispenser 30 will be explained. The purified water that passed through the storage tank 34 and water purification filter 32 is supplied to the icemaker 40 through the water pipe 36 and then frozen into ice in the icemaker 40.
The ice made in the icemaker 40 is stored in a storage container 42 positioned below the icemaker 40. This storage container 42 is formed integrally with the door 10 or it may be detachably coupled to the door through a simple fitting or coupling process, if necessary.
However, the related art refrigerator has the following problems.
That is, the ice storage container 42 should be formed integrally with the door 10 or configured such that the storage container can be detachably coupled to the door through a simple fitting or coupling process, if necessary.
In a case where the storage container 42 is formed integrally with the door 10, it is difficult to remove foreign substances from the storage container 42 or clean the interior of the storage container. Thus, there is a problem in that the sanitary conditions in the storage container become worse.
Furthermore, even though malfunction or failure occurs in the storage container 42 or the adjacent icemaker 40 or dispenser 30, the storage container 42 cannot be separated from the door for the service works. Therefore, there is another problem in that serviceability is lowered.
On the other hand, in a case where the storage container 42 is detachably coupled to the door 10 through a simple fitting or coupling process, the coupling state may be loosened or the coupling structure is deformed due to shock, vibration or the like generated by the frequent pivot motions of the door 10. Therefore, there is also a problem in that the storage container 42 cannot be properly coupled to the door 10.