CN103090635A

CN103090635A - Refrigeration utensil

Info

Publication number: CN103090635A
Application number: CN2011103541509A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 鲁松涛; 丁渊; 余刚; 王巧
Original assignee: BSH Electrical Appliances Jiangsu Co Ltd
Current assignee: BSH Electrical Appliances Jiangsu Co Ltd
Priority date: 2011-11-04
Filing date: 2011-11-04
Publication date: 2013-05-08
Anticipated expiration: 2031-11-04
Also published as: CN103090635B

Abstract

The invention relates to a refrigeration utensil which comprises a heat-insulated storage chamber (2) and a cross beam (3) located at the front end of the storage chamber (2). The refrigeration utensil further comprises a storage container (4) which is located at the rear of the cross beam (3) and overlapped with at least parts of the cross beam (3) along the front and rear direction, the storage container (4) comprises a box (6) and a cover (7), the box (6) is provided with storage space (5) which is upwards opened, and the cover (7) is used for closing at least parts of the storage space (5).

Description

Refrigeration device

[ technical field ]

The present invention relates to a refrigerator, and more particularly to a domestic or commercial refrigerator.

[ background art ]

In a known conventional refrigerator, storage compartments having different storage conditions, such as a refrigerating compartment and a freezing compartment, which may have a common door closed or respectively closed by different doors, are separated by an insulating partition wall. For example, in a two-door refrigerator having a refrigerating chamber and a freezing chamber distributed vertically, the refrigerating chamber door and the freezing chamber door respectively close the corresponding storage chambers and respectively abut against the front end surfaces of the heat insulating walls.

In another known refrigeration appliance, such as that disclosed in CN1162732A, the refrigeration appliance includes a storage compartment having a cross member at a forward end thereof, and an upper drawer door and a lower drawer door close the upper storage compartment portion above the cross member and the lower storage compartment portion below the cross member, respectively. The lower end of the upper drawer type door and the upper end of the lower drawer type door respectively lean against the front end face of the cross beam and form sealing. The lower end of the upper drawer connected with the upper drawer door and the lower end of the lower drawer connected with the lower drawer door must keep a certain distance from the upper end surface and the lower end surface of the cross beam respectively so as to prevent the cross beam from blocking the front and back movement of the drawer. Inevitably, the space behind the cross beam is wasted.

[ summary of the invention ]

It is an object of the present invention to provide a refrigeration appliance, whereby it is possible to increase the space utilization of the refrigeration appliance without having to affect the use of other storage devices.

Accordingly, one aspect of the present invention pertains to a refrigeration appliance comprising an insulated storage compartment, a cross-member located at a front end of the storage compartment; characterized by further comprising a storage container located behind the cross member and at least partially overlapping the cross member in the front-to-rear direction, the storage container including a box body forming a storage space open upward and a cover to at least partially close the storage space.

Thus, the space behind the cross member can also be utilized, for example, a user can store articles that are not used often in a storage container located behind the cross member. In addition, since the storage container is provided with the cover, the height of the articles suitable for being stored in the storage container can be limited, and the user can be prevented from storing the excessively high articles in the storage container to influence the use of the storage device (such as a drawer capable of being pulled out) positioned above the cross beam.

Other features which are considered as characteristic for the invention, individually or in combination with other features, are set forth in the following appended claims.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the cover is rotatably fixed to the case about a rotational axis. This is advantageous, on the one hand, to prevent the lid from being lost or discarded, and, on the other hand, to encourage the user to rotate the lid to the closed position when the storage container is behind the cross member, since the storage container does not interfere with the use of other storage devices until the lid is closed.

In one embodiment, a hinge may be included to pivotally connect the lid to the case; alternatively, the lid may be integrally formed with the case.

In a particularly preferred embodiment, the storage container is configured as a portable container. Thus, after being taken out of the storage chamber, the user can use the storage container at home or outdoors by carrying it with his/her hands, and for example, can use the storage container as a picnic box.

Preferably, the storage container includes a handle at one end.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the top surface of the storage container does not protrude beyond the upper surface of the cross member in the longitudinal direction. In this way, the storage container does not take up space in the portion of the storage compartment located above the cross beam and therefore does not have any effect at all on the use/arrangement of the storage device located above the cross beam. On the other hand, this is also aesthetically advantageous.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the height of the storage container is not greater than the height of the cross beam.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, a substantially horizontal supporting wall is included behind the cross member, on which supporting wall the storage container is located.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, it is possible to further comprise at least one regenerator on said supporting wall. By arranging the less frequently used regenerator behind the cross beam, the user can more efficiently use the other more easily used space.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, further comprising a first drawer located within the storage compartment and above the cross member and a second drawer located below the cross member.

The construction of the present invention and other objects and advantages thereof will be more apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiments taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[ description of the drawings ]

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the invention. Wherein,

fig. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a refrigeration appliance according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2 shows a schematic perspective view of a storage assembly behind a cross beam according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the storage container opened according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

[ detailed description of the invention ]

Please refer to the drawings, and particularly to fig. 1. The refrigerator 1 comprises a cabinet 15 with an insulated storage compartment 2. The storage chamber 2 has an access opening opened forward through which a user can take food out of the storage chamber 2 or place food in the storage chamber 2.

The cabinet 15 includes a cross member 3 at a front end of the storage chamber 2. Both ends of the cross member 3 are fixed to respective one of the side walls of the cabinet 15, while spanning the front end of the storage chamber 2. Thus, the access port of the storage chamber 2 is divided by the cross beam 3 into an upper access port 21 located above the cross beam 3 and a lower access port 22 located below the cross beam 3.

The upper access opening 21 and the lower access opening 22 are closed by

doors

15, 16, respectively, at the front end of the case 15. The lower ends of the

doors

15 and 16 respectively abut closely against the front face 31 of the beam 3 to prevent gas from flowing at the junction of the beam 3 and the

doors

15, 16. The cross beam 3 may have a thermal insulation material to reduce heat exchange between the storage chamber 2 and the outside at the cross beam 3.

In an alternative embodiment, the upper access opening 21 and the lower access opening 22 may also be closed by a common door.

The refrigerator 1 comprises a first drawer 12 which can be pulled out and is located above the cross member 3 and a second drawer 13 which is located below the cross member 3.

In the longitudinal direction, the bottom surface of the first drawer 12 is slightly higher than the top surface 30 of the cross member 3 to allow the first drawer 12 to be pulled out without being blocked by the cross member 3.

Similarly, the upper end of the second drawer 13 is lower than the bottom surface 32 of the cross member 3 to allow the second drawer 13 to be pulled out without being blocked by the cross member 3.

The refrigeration appliance 1 can also comprise a third drawer 14 located below the second drawer 13.

According to the invention, the refrigerator 1 comprises a storage container 4 which is located behind the cross member 3 and at least partially overlaps the cross member 3 in the front-rear direction.

The top surface 30 of the storage container 4 is not higher than the upper surface 30 of the cross member 3 so that the storage container 30 does not interfere with the use of the first drawer 12. The bottom surface of the storage container 4 does not project downward beyond the bottom surface 32 of the cross member 3. In the present embodiment, the height of the storage container 4 is not greater than the height of the cross member 3, and the storage container 4 is completely hidden by the cross member 3 when viewed from the front to the rear.

The storage container 4 is placed on a substantially horizontal support wall 10 located behind the cross beam 3. The support wall 10 may be formed by the bottom wall of the tray 18 shown in fig. 2. The trays 18 are supported on the inner walls of the storage compartment 2 by a support structure 19.

The refrigerator 1 further comprises at least one cold store 11 on the support wall 10. In the present embodiment, two cold accumulators 11 are disposed next to the left and right sides of the storage container 4, respectively.

In an alternative embodiment, the support wall 10 may also be formed by a shelf. Alternatively, the storage container 4 may be directly supported on the inner wall of the storage chamber 2.

The storage container 4 is described in detail below with reference to fig. 1, 2, and 3.

The storage container 4 includes a case 6 and a cover connected to the case 7. The box body 6 forms a storage space 5 having an opening 8 opened upward.

Referring to fig. 3, one side of the cover 7 is fixed to the case 6 and can rotate around a rotation axis. When the lid 7 is in the closed position, the opening 8 is closed.

The lid 7, the case 6, and the connecting portion 23 therebetween are integrally formed. In an alternative embodiment, the lid 7 may also be manufactured separately from the case 6 and then be pivotally connected to the case 6 by a hinge.

The storage container 4 includes a handle 9 at one side thereof. For this purpose, a through hole 24 may be provided through the storage container 4 at one side of the storage container 4 to form a handle 9 for a one-handed user to hold.

In one embodiment, the box 6 includes a first hollow boss 25 extending upwardly from a bottom wall thereof, and the lid 7 includes a second boss 26 that interfaces with the boss 25. When the lid 7 is in the closed position, the first and second bosses 25, 26 abut to form the through-hole 24 that penetrates the storage container 4.

In this way, the storage container 4 is configured as a portable container, and the user can take out the storage container 4 from the storage chamber 2.

The storage container 4 is provided with a latch structure for locking the box body 6 and the cover 7 in a closed state. In this embodiment, the cover 7 is provided with a hook 20 at a side opposite to its fixed end, and the hook 20 is caught on the case 6 when the cover 7 is closed.

In the above embodiment, the cover 7 completely closes the storage space 5. The invention should not be limited thereto and in an alternative embodiment the lid 7 may only partially enclose the storage space 5, for example the lid 7 may be of a mesh structure, which may also serve to prevent storage of too high items in the storage space 5.

In addition, although fig. 1 shows only one storage compartment, it should be understood that the present invention can obviously also be applied to refrigeration appliances having a plurality of storage compartments, such as refrigerators, wine chests, and the like. The invention should not be limited by the number of storage compartments of the refrigeration appliance and the positional relationship therebetween.

Claims

1. A refrigeration appliance (1) comprises

An insulated storage compartment (2); and

a cross beam (3) located at the front end of the storage chamber (2);

characterized in that the storage container (4) is arranged behind the cross beam (3) and at least partially overlapped with the cross beam (3) in the front-back direction, and the storage container (4) comprises a box body (6) forming a storage space (5) which is opened upwards and a cover (7) used for at least partially closing the storage space (5).

2. The refrigeration appliance according to claim 1, wherein the cover (7) is rotatably fixed to the box (6) about a rotational axis.

3. The refrigeration appliance according to claim 2 including a hinge for pivotally connecting said lid to said cabinet.

4. The refrigeration appliance according to claim 2, characterized in that the cover (7) and the box (6) are formed in one piece.

5. A cold appliance according to any of the claims 1-4, wherein the storage container (4) is configured as a portable container.

6. A cold appliance according to any of the claims 1-4, wherein the storage container (4) comprises a handle (9) at one end thereof.

7. Refrigeration appliance according to any of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that in the longitudinal direction the top surface (40) of the storage container (4) does not extend beyond the upper surface (30) of the cross member (3).

8. Refrigeration appliance according to any of claims 1 to 4 and 7, characterized in that the height of the storage container (4) is not greater than the height of the cross-member (3).

9. The refrigeration appliance according to any of the claims 1 to 4 and 7, comprising a substantially horizontal supporting wall (10) located behind the cross beam (3), the storage container (4) being located on the supporting wall (10).

10. A refrigerator appliance according to claim 9, further comprising at least one regenerator (11) located on said supporting wall (10).

11. Refrigeration appliance according to any of claims 1 to 4, 7 and 8, characterized in that it further comprises a first drawer (12) located inside the storage compartment (2) and above the cross-member (3) and a second drawer (13) located below the cross-member (3).