AU2012203141A1 - Household appliance with a door and a handle - Google Patents

Abstract

Abstract The household appliance has a door (2, 3) 5 which can be operated by means of a handle (10). The handle (10) can be moved back and forth between a first and a second position, such that a grip element (11) of the handle is located close to or in the door (2, 3) in the first position, while it is at a distance from the 10 door (2, 3) in the second position. In this way the handle (10) can be moved out of the way when it is not needed. Preferably, an air gap (22) can additionally be opened and closed with the handle (10). Furthermore, a drive (37) for actuating the handle is provided inside 15 the casing, the actuator (38) of which is arranged at the outer edge of the door (2, 3). 20 (Fig. 5) RN P107000AUOO

Description

Australian Patents Act 1990- Regulation 3.2 ORIGINAL COMPLETE SPECIFICATION STANDARD PATENT Invention Title Household appliance with a door and a handle The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me/us: P/00/0l1 -la Technical field 5 The invention relates to a household appliance with a casing, a door which is movable with respect to the casing, an interior space formed by the casing and the door, and a handle arranged on the door. 10 Background Appliances of this type are known, e.g. as cooking devices (like for example ovens, steamers, microwave ovens), refrigerators, dish washers or drawers 15 with built-in heaters. In such appliances, a handle is mounted to the door. The handle has a grip element which is used by the user in order to open the door. However, the handle is in practice often considered to be disturbing because 20 of technical and/or optical reasons. Therefore solutions are also known where the handle is formed by a recess in the door. In order to open the door, the user reaches into the recess. However, this solution is disadvantageous because the recess in 25 the door is complex to manufacture, requires space and, particularly in case of a thermally insulated door (such as for an oven or a refrigerator), it affects the insulation properties of the door. DE 102008043364 describes an oven with a 30 door, the handle of which can be extended by means of an actuator. Disclosure of the invention 35 The objective of the present invention consists in providing a household appliance with a positionable handle of a simple design. RN P107000AUOO 08.05.2012 -2 This objective is achieved by a household appliance according to claim 1. Accordingly, the household appliance has a casing and a door movable with respect to the casing. An 5 interior space is formed by the casing and the door, such as a cooking chamber or a washing chamber. A handle with a grip element is arranged on the door. In order to operate the door, the user can use the grip element. Furthermore, the handle can be moved between a first and 10 a second position, wherein the grip element is closer to the door in the first position than in the second position. In this way the handle can be brought into the second position when the user is supposed to grip the 15 grip element. If, on the other hand, the grip element is not needed, the handle can be brought into the first position where it forms less of an obstacle. A drive is provided for displacing the handle. This drive, which is arranged at the casing of 20 the appliance, has an actuator at an outer edge of the door. The actuator is actuated by the drive and cooperates with the handle in order to move the same. Arranging the drive at the casing has the advantage that no cables for the actuator have to be 25 placed in the door, thus simplifying the construction. Furthermore it is, for example, possible to show the user when he can or should open the device. Preferably, in the first position, the grip element is at least partially located within the door, 30 e.g. by being inserted at least partially into a recess provided in the door. In contrast to this, in the second position, the grip element is arranged at a distance from the door such that it can be used easily. In a further advantageous embodiment an air 35 gap is arranged within or at the door, through which air can pass, e.g. in order to vent, if necessary, the interior space of the appliance or the niche where the RN P107000AUOO 08.05.2012 -3 appliance is located. The handle can now be formed in such a way that it closes the air gap at least partially in the first position, whereas it closes the air gap less (than in the first position) or not at all in the second 5 position. In this way the handle can fulfil two functions, on the one hand as a shutter for the air gap and on the other hand as a user operated element. The present idea can be used for various household appliances, e.g. for devices with a heatable 10 interior space, e.g. for cooking devices (ovens, steamers, etc.), dish washers or for devices for warming up dishes. Furthermore it is also suitable e.g. for refrigerators or dish washers. 15 Short description of the drawings Further embodiments, advantages and applications of the invention are described in the dependent claims and in the now following description and 20 the figures, which show: Fig. 1 a sectional view of an oven, Fig. 2 a first embodiment of a movable handle, Fig. 3 a second embodiment of a movable 25 handle, Fig. 4 a third embodiment of a movable handle, Fig. 5 a fourth embodiment of a movable handle, 30 Fig. 6 a fifth embodiment of a movable handle, Fig. 7 a sixth embodiment of a movable handle with the handle in the first position and Fig. 8 the embodiment according to Fig. 7 35 with the handle in the second position. Ways of carrying out the invention RN P107000AUOO 08.05.2012 -4 Embodiments: Fig. 1 shows an oven with a casing 1 with two doors 2, 3. 5 The upper door 2 is mounted to the casing 1 in such a way that it can be pivoted about a horizontal axis and forms together with the casing 1 a first interior space 4 as the muffle (i.e. cooking chamber) of the oven. The muffle has, as known, a heating (not 10 shown), by means of which food can be warmed up. The lower door 3 is formed by the front plate of a drawer 6 held inside the casing 1. The second door 3 forms, together with casing 1, a second interior space 7 for receiving the drawer 6 in its pushed-in position. 15 Advantageously, also the second interior space 7 can be heated by a heater, e.g. for warming up dishes. Both doors 2, 3 are shown in Fig. 1 in a closed as well as also (dashed) in an at least partially opened position. 20 Handle 10 are arranged at both doors 2, 3. Each handle 10 has two possible positions, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1. In the following, various embodiments of handle 10 of door 2 are described in more detail. It has to be noted that also handle 10 of door 3 25 can be formed in the same way and that, as indicated above, doors with handles of this type can also be used for other household appliances. A first embodiment of handle 10 is shown in Fig. 2. In this embodiment handle 10 has a grip element 30 11 which can be gripped (held) by the user, as well as a curved guide element 12, wherein grip element 11 is mounted to guide element 12. The guide element is held in the door 2 in a guidance comprising e.g. rolls 13a, 13b, in such a way that it is movable along a curved path. In 35 this way handle 10 can take on a first and a second position. In Fig. 2 the first position is shown with RN P107000AUOO 08.05.2012 -5 solid lines and the second position is shown with dashed lines. In the first position, grip element 11 is arranged at least partially in a recess 14 in door 2. 5 Grip element 11 leaves recess 14 when transferring handle 10 to its second position, which is shown dashed lines. In this second position, grip element 11 is located at a distance from the door 2, where is can be gripped easily by the user. 10 In the first embodiment according to Fig. 2 the handle can substantially be pivoted about a gripping axis 17, which runs parallel to the outer surface 18 of the door. This gripping axis 17 preferably also runs horizontally for a horizontally extending grip element 15 11. A drive can be provided at a stationary location, on the casing 1 of the device, in order to transfer the handle from its first to its second position and/or from its second position to its first position. 20 The drive is coupled to an actuator located at an outer edge of the door in order to move the handle. Also in the second embodiment, according to Fig. 3, handle 10 can be pivoted about a gripping axis 17 extending parallel to the outer surface 18 of the door. 25 For this purpose, in this embodiment handle 10 is pivotally attached to the door 2 in a pivoting bearing 20. It also has a grip element 11 which forms, in this case, the first arm of an L-profile. The second arm of the L-profile is attached to pivoting bearing 20 and, 30 additionally, forms a closing plate 21. In the first position of the handle 10, shown with solid lines in Fig. 3, grip element 11 comes to lie in a recess 14 of door 2 and is arranged substantially perpendicular to the outer surface 18 of the door 2. 35 Closing plate 21 runs substantially parallel to outer surface 18 and comes to lie against an air gap 22 extending along the upper edge 23 of the door 2. Thus, RN P107000AUOO 08.05.2012 -6 handle 10 closes air gap 22 at least partially in the first position. Air gap 22 is connected to the interior space 4 and/or other parts of the device. Advantageously, the household appliance has a fan by means of which air 5 can be blown through the air gap 22. In the second position of the handle 10, shown with dashed lines in Fig. 3, grip element 11 comes to lie outside door 2 at a distance therefrom, such that it can be well gripped. It extends substantially parallel 10 to outer side 18. Closing plate 21 is now, however, substantially perpendicular to outer surface 18 and does not block air gap 22, such that more air can flow through the air gap. As can be seen from the embodiment according 15 to Fig. 3, gripping axis 17 extends advantageously parallel the air gap 22, such that the air gap can be opened and closed along its entire length by pivoting handle 10. The embodiment shown in Fig. 4 is similar to 20 the one of to Fig. 3 in that handle 10 is pivotal about a gripping axis 17 in a pivoting bearing 20. Grip element 11 is connected to the pivotal bearing 20 via a curved clamp 24. In the first position (drawn with solid lines in Fig. 4) the grip element is again located in a recess 25 14 of door 2, while it is located at a distance from door 2 in the second position (drawn with dashed lines in Fig. 4). A further embodiment is shown in Fig. 5. It is built in a similar way like the one according to Fig. 30 3. It has a (schematically shown) spring element 36 extending between door 2 and handle 10. The spring element is arranged in such a way that the elastic energy saved therein has two minima, namely in the first and the 35 second position of the handle, while it is elastically deformed during the passage between these two positions. RN P107000AUOO 08.05.2012 -7 In this way the handle is held in a bistable way in the first or the second position. Electrically operated drive 37 can e.g. be formed by an electromagnet. In the present embodiment 5 this drive serves to transfer handle 10 from the first to the second position. For this purpose, drive 37 is equipped with a rod-shaped actuator 38 extending into the area of outer edge 23 of the door 2. Actuator 38 can be operated by the drive and cooperates with handle 10 in 10 order to move the same. For this purpose, in the embodiment. according to Fig. 5, a nose 39 is provided at handle 10, against which the actuator 38 can be pressed from the top in order to move the handle so far from its first position that it is subsequently transferred into 15 its second position by spring 36. In the embodiment according to Fig. 5, drive 37 can actively transfer the handle from the first into the second position, however not from the second into the first position. By operating drive 37 it is possible to 20 show the user that the door can now be opened. Furthermore, the device can automatically open the air gap 22 if necessary. The transfer of the handle back into its first position is done in this embodiment manually by the user. 25 Drive 37 is arranged on casing 1, i.e. it is stationary. This has the advantage that no cables for the actuator have to extend into door 2. Additionally, it is advantageous, particularly also in case of ovens, not to place any electric components in the door because of the 30 relatively high temperatures that can be present there. The actuation of the handle by the drive can also take place in a different way. For example, the drive can act directly on the pivot axis of the handle. Furthermore, the drive can also be formed to 35 transfer the handle from its second to its first position or back and forth between both positions. RN P107000AUO0 AQ )C lE 1) -8 Fig. 6 shows an embodiment with a drive 37 arranged at the casing 1. Drive 37 is preferably an electric motor driving a axle 40. A pinion 41 is arranged on the axle 40, driving a first gear rack 42 which forms 5 the rod-shaped actuator 38. Actuator 38 is arranged in the area of the outer edge of door 2. It can be extended into the door by rotating the drive 37 in a first direction and it can be moved out again by rotating drive 37 in a second direction. 10 If first gear rack 42 is extended into door 2, it presses onto a coaxial second gear rack 43. Second gear rack 43 is arranged in the door 2 and is displaceable in a parallel to the first gear rack 42. A first cogwheel 44 engages second gear rack 15 43 and is rotated when extending the first gear rack 42 into door 2. First cogwheel 44 drives a second cogwheel 45, together with which it forms with it a reduction gear. A first lever 46 is attached to second cogwheel 45 and is pivoted about a rotation axis 47 of the second 20 cogwheel 45 during the rotation of the second cogwheel 45. A second lever 48 is pivotably attached to first lever 46. Second lever 48 is pivotally connected to a handle neck 49. Handle neck 49 is pivotally mounted to door 2 and pivotal about a gripping axis 17. It carries 25 grip element 11 of handle 10. By extending first gear rack 42 into door 2, first lever 46 the second lever 48 can therefore be pivoted. During the movement the knee joint formed by these levers is stretched and pivots handle neck 49 and 30 handle 10 from the first position shown in Fig. 6 around the gripping axis 17 out of the door 2. A catch 50 is arranged at second cogwheel 45, which protrudes radially outwards with respect to the rotation axis 47 of the second cogwheel 45. During the 35 movement of second cogwheel 45, catch 50 abuts against a jack lever 51 which is thereby pushed radially outwards and subsequently latches into catch 50, namely when RN P107000AUOO 08.05.2012 -9 handle 10 has substantially been filly pivoted to its second position. When this position has been reached, drive 37 drives first gear rack 42 back. Handle 10 is held in its 5 second position by the catch and the jack lever. The door can now be gripped by the handle and opened by the user. If the handle 10 is to be retracted again from the second, pivoted position, door 2 is first closed by the user. Thereafter, drive 37 again drives the first 10 gear rack 42 into the door 2 until it hits the second gear rack 43 and pushes the same further inwards beyond its current position. By this, the handle 10 is pivoted a little more outward and, at the same time, jack lever 51 moves beyond catch 50 and releases the same. Now the 15 first gear rack 42 is retracted by the drive 37. Second gear rack 43 is then pushed back outwards by a spring (not shown in Fig. 6) located within door 2. Therefore, first cogwheel 44 is rotated back. Catch 50 and lack lever 51 are formed in such a way that 20 they don't engage when first cogwheel is rotated backwards (similar to the catch in a ballpoint pen). Thus, first cogwheel 44 can rotate back to its initial position, thereby causing handle 10 to pivot back into door 2. 25 A further embodiment is shown in Figs. 7 and 8. This embodiment differs from the embodiment according to Fig. 6 insofar as two gear rack pairs are used, by means of which the return of the handle can be carried out actively and not via a spring force, thus obviating 30 the need for a return spring and a catch. In this embodiment, axle 40 of drive 37 actuates two first gear racks 55a, 55b which are arranged in a mutually parallel way on opposite sides of axle 40. Gear rack 55a moves away from the door 2 and gear rack 35 55b moves into door 2 when axle 40 rotates in a first direction. Gear rack 55b moves away from door 2 and gear RN P107000AUOO 08.05.2012 -10 rack 55a moves into door 2 when the axle rotates in the second direction. The two first gear racks 55a, 55b are arranged coaxially with respect to two second gear racks 5 56a, 56b which are arranged in a displaceable manner within door 2. First gear rack 55b pushes second gear rack 56b into the door when axle 40 of drive 37 turns in the first direction starting from the position of Fig. 7. 10 A cogwheel 57, which is arranged between the two second gear racks 56a, 56b and engages with these two gear racks, is rotated by the movement of gear rack 55b. Cogwheel 57 moves, on the one hand, gear rack 56a towards the edge of the door and pivots, on the other hand, a 15 first lever 46. First lever 46 is pivotably connected to a second lever 48 and forms with it a knee joint. This knee joint is stretched during the rotation of cogwheel 57 and moves handle neck 49, which is pivotably connected to second lever 48 as well as to door 2. Therefore, 20 handle 10 is moved out into its second position. When handle 10 is entirely moved out, drive 37 is rotated back so far that the first gear racks 55a, 55b are again located in the position shown in Fig. 7. Fig. 8 shows the second gear racks 56a, 56b 25 and the handle 10 in the opened, second position. Advantageously, the knee joint formed by the two levers 46, 48 is somewhat overstretched in this position by means of a spring (not shown), such that the user is not able to pivot handle 10 back. In this 30 context, "overstretching" designates a position which is reached when the knee joint is moved, starting from the first position (as shown in Fig. 7), beyond its fully extended position. In order to retract the handle again, drive 35 37 is rotated in the second direction and thus, first gear rack 55a is extended into the door 2, such that second gear rack 56a is pushed into the door, cogwheel 57 RN P107000AUOO 08.05.2012 - 11 is rotated in the opposite direction and handle 10 is retracted into its first position. In the above two embodiments, actuator 38, formed by the first gear rack 42 or the first gear racks 5 55a, 55b, can be inserted into an edge of the door by means of drive 37 in order to operate the handle 10. Furthermore, at least a second gear rack 43, 56a, 56b arranged in the door is longitudinally displaceable by means of actuator 38. This second gear 10 rack actuates at least one cogwheel 44, 45, 57 in the door. The cogwheel is itself connected to handle 10, in order to move the latter, by means of a lever mechanism (e.g. formed by the levers 46, 48 or also only by a single lever). 15 Particularly, two first gear racks 55a, 55b as well as two second gear racks 56a, 56b are provided, wherein the first two gear racks 55a, 55b can be moved in opposite directions relatively to each other by the drive 37 and wherein each first gear rack is associated to one 20 second gear rack such that each second gear rack can be pushed by its associated first gear rack. The cogwheel 57 is arranged between the two second gear racks and can thus be actuated by them in opposite directions. Hence, the cogwheel 57 can be rotated in one direction by 25 pushing the one second gear rack and in the opposite direction by pushing the other second gear rack. In this way the cogwheel can be actively actuated in both rotation directions by a pure butt joint, i.e. by pushing. 30 Notes: The described grip element 11 of the handle is located closer to or in the door 2 in the first position, while it is located at a distance from door 2 35 in the second position. In this way the handle 10 of the door 2 can be moved away when it is not used. RN P107000AUOO Ows 2n 2 -12 Furthermore, an air gap arranged at or in door 2 can be at least partially closed by the handle in the way described above. In this manner, a more even surface is achieved and, additionally, the air exchange 5 in the air gap can be influenced by operating the handle. The drive can either be formed in such a way that it can only transfer the handle from the first into the second position or only from the second into the first position, or in both directions. If the drive can 10 only move the handle in one direction, the movement in the other direction is done by the user. Latch mechanisms or spring mechanisms can also be used in order to fix the handle in one or both positions and/or in order to support the movement in the one or the other direction. 15 The appliance can preferably be designed in such a way that it brings the handle automatically from the first into the second position if necessary. For this purpose, the appliance can e.g. be equipped with a presence sensor by means of which the presence of a user 20 can be detected. The presence sensor is advantageously a proximity sensor or a contact sensor on an optical, capacitive or inductive basis. If the presence of a user is detected by the presence detector, the handle is transferred from the first into the second position. If 25 the user goes away again, the handle can be brought into the first position again. Advantageously, the handle is self-inhibited in the first and the second position, i.e. it stays in the respective position when neither the user nor a 30 possible actuator exerts a force on it. A self-inhibition of this type may e.g. be implemented by spring elements (see Fig. 5), magnetically and/or by means of a latch mechanism. Additionally, the handle is preferably bistable, meaning it is self-inhibited only in the first 35 and the second position and not in between. Grip element 11 can be located relatively far from the door 2 in the second position, particularly RN P107000AUOO nR A nc;)nlV -13 further than in conventional solutions with a fixed handle. Thus, the handle can be well gripped and additionally the injury danger in case of a possibly hot door (oven) is reduced. 5 An air gap 22 of the type described above is particularly suitable for ovens as well as for dish washers, where it can be used to extract humid air from the chamber during the drying phase. The door may have a locking element which 10 e.g. can be unlocked by the movement of the handle from the first into the second position. In a further advantageous embodiment the door has, however, no locking mechanism or it has a locking mechanism but the handle is movable between the first and the second position without 15 operating the locking mechanism. While preferred embodiments of the invention have been described in the present application, it has to be clearly noted that the invention is not limited thereto and can also be executed in a different way 20 within the scope of the following claims. The reference in this specification to any prior publication (or information derived from it), or to any matter which is known, is not, and should not be taken as an acknowledgment or admission or any form of suggestion that that prior publication (or information derived from it) or known matter forms part of the common general knowledge in the field of endeavour to which this specification relates. Throughout this specification and the claims which follow, unless the context requires otherwise, the word "comprise", and variations such as "comprises" and "comprising", will be understood to imply the inclusion of a stated integer or step or group of integers or steps but not the exclusion of any other integer or step or group of integers or steps. The reference numerals in the following claims do not in any way limit the scope of the respective claims. RN P107000AUOO 08.05.2012

Claims (12)

1. Household appliance comprising a casing (1), 5 a door (2, 3) movable with respect to the casing (1), an interior space formed by the casing (1) and the door (2, 3) and a handle (10) arranged on the door (2, 3), 10 with a grip element (11) for operating the door (2, 3), wherein the handle (10) can be moved between a first and a second position, wherein the grip element (11) is closer to the door (2, 3) in the first position than in the second position and 15 a drive (37) for transferring the handle (10) from the first position into the second position and/or from the second position into the first position, characterized in that the drive (37) is arranged at: the casing (1) and has an actuator (38) at an 20 outer edge (23) of the door (2, 3), wherein the actuator (38) can be operated by the drive (37) and cooperates with the handle (10) in order to move the handle (10).

2. Household appliance according to claim 1, wherein an air gap (22) is arranged in or at the door (2, 25 3), and wherein the handle (10) closes the air gap (22) at least partially in the first position and closes the air gap (22) less or not at all in the second position.

3. Household appliance according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the handle (10) can pivot 30 about a handle axis (17) which extends parallel to an outer surface (18) of the door (2, 3) .

4. Household appliance according to the claims 2 and 3, wherein the handle (10) has a closing plate (21), wherein the closing plate (21) comes to lie 35 in against the air gap (22) in the first position but not in the second position, and wherein the grip element (11) and the closing plate (21) can pivot together about the RN P107000AUOO

08.05.2012 -15 handle axis (17) and the pivot axis (17) extends parallel to the air gap (22). 5. Household appliance according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the door (2, 3) is pivotal 5 with respect to the casing (1), particularly about a horizontal axis. 6. Household appliance according to one of the claims 1 to 5, wherein the door (2, 3) is arranged at a drawer (6) held within the casing (1). 10 7. Household appliance according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the grip element (11) is at least partially located within the door (2, 3) in the first position and is located at a distance from the door (2, 3) in the second position. 15 8. Household appliance according to one of the preceding claims with a heater for heating the interior space, and particularly wherein the household appliance is a cooking device, a dishwasher or a device for warming up dishes. 20

9. Household appliance according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the door (2, 3) does not have a locking mechanism or the door (2, 3) has a locking mechanism but the handle (10) is movable between the first and the 25 second position without operating the locking mechanism.

10. Household appliance according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the handle (10) is self inhibited in the first and the second position, particularly bistable between the first and the second 30 position.

11. Household appliance according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the actuator (38) is extendible into an edge of the door (2) by the drive in order to operate the handle (10), and particularly 35 wherein the actuator (38) is a first gear rack (42, 55a, 55b). RN P107000AUOO 08.05.2012 -16

12. Household appliance according to one of the preceding claims, wherein at least a second gear rack (43, 56a, 56b) arranged in the door (2) is longitudinally displaceable by means of the actuator (38), wherein at 5 least a cogwheel (44, 45, 57) can be rotated in the door by a longitudinal displacement of the second gear rack (43, 56a, 56b), and wherein the cogwheel (44, 45, 57) is connected to the handle (10) by means of a lever mechanism (46, 48). 10

13. Household appliance according to claim 12, wherein two first gear racks (55a, 55b) as well as two second gear racks (56a, 56b) are provided, wherein the first two gear racks (55a, 55b) can be actuated by the drive (37) in opposite directions with respect to one 15 another, wherein each first gear rack (55a, 55b) is associated to one second gear rack (56a, 56b) such that each second gear rack (56a, 56b) can be pushed by its associated first gear rack (55a, 55b), and wherein the cogwheel (57) can be actuated by both second gear racks 20 (56a, 56b) to rotate in opposite directions.

14. Household appliance according to one of the claims 12 or 13, wherein the lever mechanism has a knee joint with two levers (56, 58), wherein the knee joint is overstretched in the second position. 25

15. Household appliance according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the actuator (38) is rod shaped. 30 RN P107000AUOO no nz nA1n