EP0628686A1 - Hinge, preferably for a refrigerator or freezer - Google Patents

Abstract

A hinge for a refrigerator or freezer is provided with a hinge arm (1) which is guided in a rectilinear manner in a guide (3), which can be fastened on a main-body part (5) and on which a pivot pin (8) of a door (9) is articulated. In order to provide a hinge of high load-bearing capacity, of a long service life and with a large opening angle, of which the articulation, upon opening, carries out a rectilinear swing-out movement and correspondingly, on closure, carries out a rectilinear swing-in movement, the pivotable part is connected, by a lever/link gearing mechanism (14, 16, 20), to the guides (3) or to the main-body part (5) such that, by pivoting the pivotable part (9, 11) in the opening direction, a swing-out movement is imparted to the hinge arm (1). <IMAGE>

Description

The invention relates to a hinge, preferably a hinge for a refrigerator or freezer, with a hinge arm guided in a straight line in a guide which can be fastened to a body part or the like and to which a pivotable part, preferably a door, is articulated about a pivot axis.

The ease of use of refrigerators and freezers is increased if their doors can be opened by an angle greater than 90 ° and preferably by an angle which is approximately 160 ° or even 180 °, because then the interior of the cabinet is easily accessible and in particular Have any existing drawers pulled out smoothly. Opening angles of a refrigerator door of more than 90 ° are particularly desirable when the refrigerator door has compartments and the cabinet is provided with pull-out drawers or trays similar to drawers standing on shelves or racks, which are accessible by pulling out because one is only closed by 90 ° opening door would not swing existing door compartments far enough out of the drawer or drawer's extension path.

In the case of refrigerators or freezers, two articulated hinges make it easy to achieve swivel angles are greater than 90 ° and are in the range of 160 to 190 °, since hinge joints with only one hinge pin allow large swivel angles, which are only limited by the fact that the door strikes the cabinet parts of the cabinet part from the outside.

In modern fitted kitchens, refrigerators and freezers are combination parts of kitchen furniture which, according to customer requirements, have a continuous and closed outer front, the doors of cupboards, plates and drawers being formed by wooden or plastic plates of the same design or clad with such plates. In order to be able to combine refrigerators and freezers in fitted kitchens with other cabinet or furniture elements, it is necessary to provide the refrigerator and freezer doors with front doors that have hinges with special opening characteristics on the partition walls of the combination furniture parts, according to the desired opening angle of the refrigerator or freezer doors be articulated.

Usually, the front door covering the refrigerator or freezer door is articulated to an intermediate wall of the combination furniture parts by conventional double-link furniture hinges. This type of articulation requires that the refrigerator or freezer door and the front door that veneers it pivot about different axes, so that both doors are connected to one another by a sliding guide, which is attached to the opening sides thereof, and thus by opening the front door forming a veneer Refrigerator or freezer door is opened or dragged along. According to the opening characteristics of the furniture hinge hinging the front door, however, only opening angles of about 90 ° can be achieved, since the doors would hit the end wall or neighboring front door at larger opening angles.

In order to achieve larger opening angles, it is known to articulate the facing front door via so-called "wide-angle hinges" with intersecting hinge arms on partition walls. Such wide-angle hinges only allow an opening angle of at most 120 °. In order to be able to take advantage of such an opening angle, it is additionally necessary to translate the refrigerator door and the front door that veneers it, before it swivels into its full opening position, in order to prevent the doors from hitting the end wall or neighboring front door of the combination furniture parts.

The known hinge joints, which have several links, now have the disadvantage that they require additional space, so that the refrigerator or freezer in the furniture combination cannot utilize the entire space available per se.

Another shortcoming of the known handlebar hinges is that they cannot be designed and constructed, or only with a disproportionate amount of effort, in such a way that they can bear the weight of the refrigerator door and the front door, especially if the refrigerator door is additionally provided with compartments in which heavy goods such as cans or bottles are placed. The loads to be borne by the hinge joints can be more than 50 kp, for which conventional handlebar hinges are too weak. In the case of the handlebar hinges, it must also be taken into account that all hinge pins must bear the loads and that an increase in the diameter of the hinge pins additionally limits the opening angle that can be achieved. As such, it would be possible to provide more than two handlebar hinges for hinging a door, which would not only increase the costs, but would also cause additional difficulties in assembly.

When designing hinge joints for refrigerator and freezer doors, it must be borne in mind that on the one hand they have the required load capacity and on the other they are designed for 100,000 opening and closing movements.

The object of the invention is therefore to provide a hinge with a high load-bearing capacity, a long service life and with a large opening angle, the hinge of which executes a straight extension movement when opening and accordingly a straight entry movement when closing. In particular, when used for refrigerators or freezers, the hinge should also enable the refrigerator or freezer doors to be opened by a considerably greater angle than 90 ° if the refrigerators or freezers are parts of built-in kitchens and the refrigerator or freezer doors have front doors which are facing.

According to the invention, this object is achieved in a hinge of the type specified at the outset in that the pivotable part is connected to the guide or the body part by a lever-link mechanism mechanism such that the pivoting part in the opening direction gives the hinge arm an extension movement . In the hinge according to the invention, the pivotable part, which is usually a door, is only supported by the articulated connection to the hinge arm, which can be designed for the desired load-bearing capacity by appropriate dimensioning of the hinge axis. The lever-link mechanism mechanism provided according to the invention only serves to extend and retract the hinge arm in its guidance, so that it is not loaded with the weight of the pivotable part or the door. However, since the hinge arm transfers the weight of the articulated part to its guide, the guide and the hinge arm must be carried out so long that also the hinge arm is securely held in the guide in the extended position.

According to a preferred embodiment it is provided that at the outer end of the hinge arm one end of a first link is articulated, the other end of which is articulated between the ends of a lever, the end regions on the one hand on the guide or on the body part and on the other hand at one end of a second Handlebar are hinged, the other end portion is hinged at a distance from the pivot axis on the pivotable part, such that the first link with the lever arm of the lever, which lies between its linkages on the first link and on the guide or the body part, one The hinge arm extends and retracts the toggle lever and the second link with the lever forms a crank-like drive. In this transmission kinematics, the hinge arm is moved in its guidance by a toggle lever system, a lever of the toggle lever system being part of a crank mechanism, the drive of which is derived from the pivoting movement of the pivotable part or the door.

The first link and the lever arm of the lever forming part of the toggle lever are expediently of approximately the same length.

The first link can be articulated approximately in the central region of the lever. The location of the linkage and the length of the handlebars and the lever are selected according to the desired movement characteristics of the hinge arm.

A pivotable hinge part, to which the second link is articulated, is expediently articulated on the hinge arm. This pivotable hinge part then forms the supporting part for the door.

The lever expediently has the shape of a flat triangle, the first link being articulated in the region of the flat tip of the triangle pointing in the opening direction. This configuration enables the crank-like drive to be adapted favorably to the toggle lever system.

The hinge arm is expediently guided in the guide via rolling elements, preferably balls. The guide can consist of a conventional ball bushing.

In a further embodiment of the invention it is provided that the hinge arm is loaded by a spring in the direction of its retracted position. This spring prevents, for example, a refrigerator door from not remaining in an open position without being noticed. The spring does not need to exert a greater closing pressure because magnetic strips in hermetic and freezer cabinets hermetically seal the door.

According to a further advantageous embodiment, it is provided that the toggle lever is in its over-center position at the largest possible opening angle of the hinge. In this over-dead center position, the spring loading the hinge arm holds the door in its open position.

Fig. 1

eine Draufsicht auf das erfindungsgemäße, eine Kühlschranktür mit dem Kühlschrank verbindende Scharnier in seiner Schließstellung und

Fig. 2

das Scharnier gemäß Fig. 1 in seiner geöffneten Stellung.

An embodiment of the invention is explained below with reference to the drawing. In this shows

Fig. 1

a plan view of the inventive hinge connecting a refrigerator door to the refrigerator in its closed position and

Fig. 2

the hinge of FIG. 1 in its open position.

The hinge shown in the drawing consists of a straight hinge arm 1, which is guided longitudinally displaceably via balls 2 held in cages in a straight guide 3, which is fastened to the inside of the outer lateral boundary wall 5 of the refrigerator and is foamed in the manner shown. The outer end of the hinge arm 1 is provided with an outwardly pointing bend 6, which is provided with a bearing bore 7 for the hinge pin 8 of the door. The refrigerator door 9, which carries a facing furniture panel 10, is mounted on the hinge pin 8. To fasten the refrigerator door 9 to the hinge, the hinge arm 1 is mounted on the vertical bearing journal 8 on a plate 11 forming a pivotable hinge part. The plate 11 is connected to the refrigerator door 9 in a load-bearing manner.

The guide 3 is provided with an angled, tab-shaped part 12, on which the lever 14 is pivotally mounted about the hinge pin 13. The lever 14 consists of a stamped sheet metal part in the form of a flat triangle. In the region of the obtuse-angled tip of the triangular lever 14, a first link 16 is pivotably mounted on a hinge pin 15, the other end of which is supported on the hinge pin 17 at the outer end of the hinge arm 1. At the other end of the lever 14, a second link 20 is pivotally mounted about the hinge pin 19, the other end of which is mounted on the plate 11 or door 9 via the hinge pin 21. The first link 16 forms with the arm 23 of the lever 14 a toggle lever system. Furthermore, the lever 14 is part of a crank-like drive, the lever 14 being given a pivoting movement via the second link 20 when the door 9 is opened and closed. The torque transmitted from the door 9 to the lever 14 depends on the distance between the hinge pins 17 and 21, and this distance is corresponding to the desired extension and insertion force selected, which is to be transmitted from the toggle lever system to the hinge arm 1.

The hinge arm 1 is acted upon in a manner not shown by a spring in the direction of its retracted position. In this way, a certain closing torque is exerted on the door, particularly in the closing area.

In the largest open position of the hinge joint shown in FIG. 2, the bolt 15, which forms the toggle joint, is in an over-center position, so that the joint is held in its open position by the spring.

For the articulation of the refrigerator door 9, an upper and a lower hinge joint are provided, of which only the upper one can be seen from the drawing.

The opening of the refrigerator and the door seal 26 are provided with circumferential magnetic strips, which ensure a hermetic seal when the door is closed. For this reason, the hinge does not have to exert any special closing pressure on the device pressure in the closed position.

The refrigerator is rebuilt by plates 27, 28, which form a furniture remodeling of a fitted kitchen. The opening characteristic of the hinge is chosen so that the refrigerator door 9 can be opened without bumping against the furniture panel 28, together with the furniture panel 10 fastened to it, so that the hinge arm 1 can be extended so far by the toggle lever crank mechanism that the Furniture plate 10 bypasses the plate 28 without hindrance, with an offset from the furniture side wall 27 to the adjacent front door of from 2 mm.

As can be seen from the drawing, opening angles that are greater than 165 ° can be easily achieved with the hinge according to the invention.

Claims (9)

Hinge, preferably hinge for a refrigerator or freezer, with a hinge arm guided in a straight line in a guide which can be fastened to a body part or the like and on which a pivotable part, preferably a door, is articulated about a pivot axis,
characterized by
that the pivotable part (9, 11) is connected by a lever-link mechanism (14, 16, 20) to the guide (3) or the body part (5) such that by pivoting the pivotable part (9, 11 ) the hinge arm (1) is given an extension movement in the opening direction. Hinge according to claim 1, characterized in that one end of a first link (16) is articulated to the outer end of the hinge arm (1), the other end of which is articulated between the ends of a lever (14), the end regions thereof are articulated on the one hand on the guide (3, 12) or on the body part and on the other hand on one end of a second link (20), the other end region of which is articulated at a distance from the pivot axis (8) on the pivotable part (11), that the first link (16) with the lever arm (23) of the lever (14), which lies between its articulations (13, 15) on the first link (16) and on the guide (3, 12) or on the body part, a toggle lever extending and retracting the hinge arm (1) and the second link (20) with the lever (14) forms a crank-like drive. Hinge according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the first link (16) and the lever arm (23) of the lever (14) forming part of the toggle lever are approximately of the same length. Hinge according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the first link (16) is articulated approximately in the central region of the lever (14). Hinge according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that a pivotable hinge part (11) is articulated to the hinge arm (1), with which the second link (20) is articulated. Hinge according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the lever (14) has the shape of a flat triangle and the first link (16) is articulated in the region of the obtuse-angled tip of the triangle pointing in the opening direction. Hinge according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the hinge arm (1) preferably via roller bearings Balls (2) in the guide (3) is slidably guided. Hinge according to one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the hinge arm (1) is loaded by a spring in the direction of its retracted position. Hinge according to one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the toggle lever is in an over-center position at the largest possible opening angle of the hinge.

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