EP1460360A2

EP1460360A2 - Domestic refrigerator with modular shelves

Info

Publication number: EP1460360A2
Application number: EP04005682A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Marco Maritan; Marco Signa; Enrico Brambilla
Original assignee: Whirlpool Corp
Current assignee: Whirlpool Corp
Priority date: 2003-03-21
Filing date: 2004-03-10
Publication date: 2004-09-22
Also published as: EP1460360A3; ITVA20030007U1

Abstract

A domestic refrigerator has a cavity with side walls and in which a plurality of shelves can be installed. On each side wall (12) of the cavity at least one support element (16) in the form of a substantially planar frame provided with guide means (18, 20) is fitted in appropriate seats (14, 32) provided in said wall (12) in order to support the shelves (22, 24) and to permit the latter to be located in configurations at different heights in the cavity.

Description

The present invention relates to a domestic refrigerator having a cavity with side walls and capable of containing a plurality of shelves.
A domestic refrigerator is intended to mean any kind of upright freezer or refrigerator with one or more cavities that is/are accessible through one or more doors.
Refrigerator shelves are currently made from plastic material, glass, metal or combinations thereof and are supported by appropriate horizontal grooves provided on the side walls and co-operating with corresponding projecting side pins of the shelves. Although such a solution makes it sufficiently easy to adjust the position (height) of the shelves within the cavity, such adjustment most often entails removing the shelves from the cavity and reinserting them at a different height, during which operations the cavity is in communication with the external environment with obvious disadvantages in terms of greater energy consumption of the household electrical appliance and non-optimal preservation of the foodstuffs. Moreover, the grooved seats on the side walls, apart from requiring more complex and costly thermoforming moulds, have the disadvantage of being difficult to clean, with the consequent risk of harbouring bacteria, so impairing hygiene in the cavity.
Document EP-A-1278035 illustrates a solution in which a shelf is constituted by two flat, superimposed components, it being possible to move the lower component in appropriate guides in such a manner as to locate it in an out-of-service position close to the first component and in an in-service position at a distance from the first component.
In this solution, the upper shelf is integral with two sides or edges, which accommodate the guides for the second component and, consequently, producing said parallelepipedal device is relatively complex, with additional problems associated with the movement and storage of the parts. Furthermore, said known shelf is supported by the side walls of the cavity in a conventional manner, with the same problems outlined above.
The aim of the present invention is thus to provide a domestic refrigerator that does not have the above-stated disadvantages and is capable of ensuring easier adjustment of the position of the shelves and greater standardisation of components, while remaining straightforward and economic to produce.
According to the invention, said aim is achieved thanks to the fact that the refrigerator comprises, on each side wall, at least one support element in the form of a substantially planar frame capable of being fitted, removably, in appropriate seats provided in said side wall, the support element having guide means to support the shelves and to permit the latter to assume configurations at different heights in the cavity.
Thanks to said characteristics, the side walls of the cavity do not require grooves or guides, but simply seats, preferably blind holes, into which appropriate pins on the side of the support elements can be fitted. Moreover, once the vertical position of each pair of mutually opposing support elements has been established in the factory or by the user, adjustment of the position of the shelves by the user is greatly facilitated thanks to the presence of guides and, consequently, mandatory pathways.
According to another characteristic of the invention, each support element comprises an upper rectilinear portion on which is supported, removably, a main shelf and from which there extend two lower arms, the latter being provided with guides capable of co-operating with corresponding projecting side portions of auxiliary shelves underneath the same.
Further advantages and characteristics of a refrigerator according to the present invention will emerge from the following detailed description, which is provided purely by way of non-limiting example, with reference to the attached drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a partially sectional side view of a refrigerator according to the invention;
Figure 2 is a perspective view of the shelf assembly of the fridge in Figure 1, in which the walls of the cavity have been removed for the sake of clarity;
Figure 3 is a perspective view of two support frames in the facing in-service configuration in the refrigerator shown in Figure 2;
Figure 4 is a front view in the direction of the arrow IV in Figure 2; and
Figure 5 is a perspective view that shows a variant manner of fitting one of the frames in Figure 3 on the side wall of the cavity of the refrigerator.

With reference to the drawings, 10 denotes overall a domestic refrigerator having a cavity 11 and internal side walls 12. On each side wall 12, there are provided blind holes 14 capable of co-operating with corresponding pins 16a of planar support frames 16. Each support frame 16, made for example by means of injection moulding of polymeric material, is substantially C-shaped and has an upper rectilinear portion 16b (in the operational configuration of the frame) downwards from which there extend substantially triangular planar attachments 16c provided, on the face opposite the wall 12 of the cavity, with inclined sliding guides 18, the function of which will be clear from the following description. Each upper rectilinear portion 16b of the frames 16 also has a horizontal support guide 20.
The support frames 16 are fitted on the side walls 12 of the cavity of the refrigerator by aligning the pins 16a with the blind holes 14, the number of said blind holes 14 permitting adjustment of the position of said frames in accordance with the requirements and choices of the user. Insertion of the pins 16a in the holes 14 can be achieved by force-fitting, by snap-fitting, by adhesive bonding, with the assistance of screws or similar systems capable of ensuring or not that the frames 16 can be removed from the walls 12.
Main shelves 22 are fitted on the horizontal support guides 20 of the frames 16, said shelves being, for example, of the thermally insulating type in order to create zones with different temperatures within the refrigerator. In this case, the main shelves 22 can contain electronic circuitry with a front-mounted selector 22a for setting the desired temperature or temperature range in the portion of the compartment above the shelf itself. Each main shelf 22 is fitted so as to slide in the guides 20, being provided with stops (not shown) to limit the horizontal movement of the shelf. Thanks to said further characteristic, the user can more easily introduce foodstuffs into the cavity 11 or remove them from it.
Under the main shelf 22 auxiliary shelves 24 are fitted, which shelves have side attachments 24a capable of sliding in the guides 18 of the frames 16. In order to be able to locate the auxiliary shelves 24 in configurations intermediate to the lower one denoted by the reference K in Figure 4, each guide 18 has seats 18a connected to the guide itself and capable of accommodating the side attachments 24a in a stable manner so as to locate the auxiliary shelves 24 in the intermediate configurations denoted L and M in Figure 4. Thus, should the user wish to use only one auxiliary shelf 24, he/she will easily be able to position it in one of the intermediate configurations L and M by simply "derailing" the attachments 24a from the inclined guides 18, with a horizontal movement relative to the substantially vertical movement along the guides 18. The inclined configuration of the guides 18, besides allowing greater controllability of the movement of the auxiliary shelves 24 in the guides, ensures that the shelf, without any horizontal movement towards the opening of the cavity 11, slides from its upper configuration M to the lower configuration K or vice versa without passing through the position corresponding to configuration L. Should the user wish to place the intermediate shelf 24 in configuration K, he/she simply needs to pass the guides 18 along the attachments 24a until the lower position of the guides 18, denoted by the reference 18b in Figure 3, is reached.
Although the drawings show the condition in which each pair of frames 16 supports 4 shelves, one of which is a main shelf plus 3 auxiliary shelves, the user can decide to use only one auxiliary shelf 24 by locating it, by simply sliding it in the guides 18, in one of the configurations K, L or M, depending on the type of products loaded into the cavity. Alternatively, the manufacturer can supply just one auxiliary shelf 24 for each pair of frames 16, giving the purchaser of the household electrical appliance the option of equipping the refrigerator with one or more auxiliary shelves 24 as accessories.
Another advantage of the refrigerator according to the invention resides in the fact that the same type of shelf used as a main shelf 22 is advantageously used as a shelf which acts as a lid for the "crisper" drawer for storing fruit and vegetables, denoted by reference D in Figure 1. This provides further advantages in terms of a smaller number of components in the refrigerator 10.
Figure 5 shows a variant manner of fixing the frames 16 to the walls 12 of the cavity 11. In said variant, a shaped bush 30 is provided between each pin 16a of the frame 16 and the corresponding blind hole 14 of the wall 12, said bush having a portion 30a capable of being force-fitted into the hole 14 and a portion 30b in which is formed a cylindrical seat 32 for the pin 16a. In addition to eliminating the conventional side guides provided on the wall of the liner, the use of the shaped bushes 30 ensures greater stability for the group of shelves. Moreover, when the user pulls out the main shelf 22, the presence of the bushes 30 prevents the shelf from tipping due to the weight being loaded in an unbalanced manner.
By means of the solution according to the present invention, the vacuum thermoforming moulds for the liner are less complex and costly than conventional such moulds. The moulds used to produce the shelves are also simpler and less costly, given that the side guides are obtained independently of the shelves and using appropriate moulds. A reduction in costs is also obtained given that the user is provided with greater flexibility with regard to positioning of the shelves with just two blocks of shelves according to the invention, it being possible to have four effective positions (which can currently be achieved by having four separate shelves).

Claims

Domestic refrigerator having a cavity with side walls and in which a plurality of shelves are capable of being fitted, characterised in that it comprises, on each side wall (12), at least one support element (16) in the form of a substantially planar frame capable of being fitted in appropriate seats (14, 32) provided in said wall (12), said support element (16) having guide means (18, 20) in order to support shelves (22, 24) and to permit the latter to be located in configurations at different heights (K, L, M) in the cavity.
Refrigerator according to Claim 1, characterised in that each support element (16) comprises an upper rectilinear portion (16b), in the installed configuration of the element, on which is supported a main shelf (22) and from which two lower arms (16c) extend, the latter being provided with guides (18) capable of co-operating with corresponding projecting side portions (24a) of auxiliary shelves (24).
Refrigerator according to Claim 1, characterised in that each support element (16) has at least two pairs of seats (18a, 18b) capable of co-operating with corresponding projecting side portions (24a) of the shelves (24) in order to support a shelf (24) at different heights or, alternatively, to support at least two shelves (24), said pairs of seats (18a, 18b) being interconnected by the above-stated guide means (18).
Refrigerator according to Claims 2 and 3, characterised in that, in each arm (16c) of the support element (16), a guide (18) is provided, in which guide three seats (18a, 18b) are provided in order to support an auxiliary shelf (24) at different heights, it being possible to engage said seats (18a) by the corresponding projecting side portions (24a) of the auxiliary shelves (24) by means of a substantially horizontal movement of derailing the guides (18) brought about by the user.
Refrigerator according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the seats provided in each side wall (12) of the cavity (11) are constituted by blind holes (14).
Refrigerator according to Claim 5, characterised in that intermediate elements (30) in the form of a bush are interposed between the support elements (16) and the seats (14) of the side walls.
Refrigerator according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the cavity (11) comprises at least two pairs of support elements (16) capable of supporting a total of at least four removable shelves (22, 24).
Refrigerator according to Claim 2, characterised in that it comprises a portion of the cavity (D) closed at the top by the same type of shelf (22) used as a main shelf.
Refrigerator according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the guide means (18) are inclined relative to the vertical.
Refrigerator according to Claim 2, characterised in that the main shelf (22) is supported in a sliding manner by the support elements (16, 20).