EP2268985B1 - Refrigeration apparatus and associated latching means arrangement for subsequent attachment - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a refrigerator, comprising a body which defines an interior space, a door, on the inner side facing the inside latching means are arranged, a door rack with counter-latching means, a Rastmittelanordnung in a corresponding formation of latching means and counter-latching means for stepwise height adjustment of the door compartment in several Detent positions, as well as an unlocking means for releasing a current detent position of the door compartment, wherein the latching means arrangement is formed for upward adjustment of the door compartment with unconfirmed unlocking.

A generic refrigerator is in DE 85 17 976 U1 described. The refrigerator door described therein has on the inside of height-adjustable arranged storage container, which are arranged removably between protruding from the inside of the door vertical bars on rack-like notches. The in their rear area with laterally projecting claws hooked into a groove in the flanks of the spars storage container can be adjusted in height according to stepwise on its rear side locking lugs of the pitch of the notches. As a result, the refrigerator door should be easy to produce on the one hand and on the other hand, a slight adjustment of the altitude of the storage container arranged on its inside are possible. To move up and down to move the latched storage container must always be solved by lateral pressing two opposing push buttons of the jaws; ie for height adjustment of the storage container are always both hands of a user necessary to operate this release can.

Analogously, in the DE 92 04 742 U1 formed the resilient arms which are latched into recesses and must be solved by means of a button. There are resilient or spring-mounted arms are mounted on the side parts of the Abstellbehälter, which are provided with latchable in locking recesses or latched on knob-like elevations counter-locking parts. In a predetermined grid the refrigerator door is provided with recesses or elevations on which then at any height the Snap the side parts of the storage containers into place. By pressing the buttons they can be disengaged from the current position and locked at desired locations other height. Again, however, always pressing the button is required.

Furthermore, similar to the above-described prior art unlocking means from the US 3,610,174 known.

The German patent application DE 196 33 978 A1 discloses a refrigerator door for a refrigerator, wherein on a inside of the refrigerator door, a tray bottom is formed. On the tray bottom, a recess is formed, which has a U-profile element with receptacles to a holder for a door rack. The door storage compartment has a support arm on which a pivot bolt is pivotally mounted. In this case, a locking part of the pivot bolt is received in the receptacles, so that the door storage compartment is locked in the U-profile element. An upward adjustment of the door storage compartment can be done with an unactuated actuating means. For a downward adjustment of the door storage compartment, however, a locking of the pivot bolt must first be canceled by means of an actuating aid.

From the US Pat. No. 3,682,521 is a refrigerator with a door known, on the inside of a door rack is arranged. At the door racks two actuating means are integrally formed, wherein in each case one of the actuating means is located between a side wall of the door compartment and a support rail of the door. An upward adjustment of the door compartment can be done with unactuated actuating means. For a downward adjustment of the door compartment, however, the actuating means must be actuated, which protrude laterally in an installation position on both sides of the door compartment.

The US 2003/011291 A1 discloses a refrigerator door for a refrigerator having a rear wall and laterally disposed support bars. In the rear wall of the refrigerator door recesses are provided, which are arranged in two columns. Each of the columns has a distance of approximately 25% of a width of the refrigerator door from one of the respective support posts. Between the support bars a door rack can be fastened, which integrally formed on a rear side of the door compartment locking lugs. The latches engage in a mounted state of the door compartment on the refrigerator door in the recesses to the door rack on the refrigerator door to fix. At each of the locking lugs an actuating means is integrally formed, which projects in a mounting position of the door compartment on the refrigerator door across a bottom surface of the door compartment away down. For a height adjustment of the door compartment - regardless of whether an upward adjustment or Abwärtsverstellen should be made - the actuating means must be pulled simultaneously in the direction of the operator, so that it can adjust the door racks in height with actuated actuators.

The object of the invention is to provide a generic refrigerator with improved properties in terms of a high level of comfort for an operator.

The object is achieved by a refrigeration device with the features of claim 1.

In this case, the refrigerator, a body which limits in particular an interior, a door which may have locking means, in particular at the inner side facing the interior, a door rack, which is in particular equipped with counter-locking means, a Rastmittelanordnung for stepwise height adjustment of the door compartment in several detent positions, in particular in a corresponding design of latching means and counter-latching means, as well as an unlocking means for releasing a momentary detent position of the door compartment, wherein the latching means arrangement is formed for upward adjustment of the door compartment with unconfirmed unlocking. According to the invention, an actuating means of the unlocking means protrudes downwards over a bottom surface of the door compartment.

By the latching means arrangement is formed for Aufwärtsverstellen the door compartment with unconfirmed unlocking, eliminates the need to operate the unlocking when the door rack is moved upwards, for example, to provide more space in a arranged underneath door racks. So far, door racks are predominantly hung on a few, firmly specified brackets on the inside of the refrigerator door. In order to fix the door racks in a different height, in general, all goods must be removed from the door racks. Then the empty door rack can be removed with both hands of a user by hanging from a first bracket and a second brackets are hung at different heights again. There are also solutions where stepwise height adjustable door racks are provided. In all these solutions, the door ratchet locked to locking strips of the refrigerator door, with always locking means are provided which hold the door racks in the current position on the locking strip. All known designs necessarily provide a release of the locking means before the door rack can be moved to a different height position. This always requires an operation by the user with both hands.

In everyday life, however, it is sometimes the case that a new product, such as a very large bottle for the first time should be set in the door racks. The user of the refrigerator holds this product in one hand and opens the door of the refrigerator with the other hand, to then determine that the height of the goods is greater than the distance between two stacked door racks, so that in the currently prevailing installation situation the new goods can not be placed in the lower door racks. Nevertheless, in order to be able to set the new goods in the lower door racks, it is necessary to position the door racks arranged above further upwards. So far, it was necessary to give the goods out of hand, i. on the side to be able to reposition the door racks with both hands. Afterwards, the goods had to be gripped again in order to be able to set them in the lower door racks. If the upper door rack has not yet been positioned sufficiently high, this process had to be carried out once more.

With the embodiment according to claim 1 of this cumbersome and time-consuming process can be avoided. With the door cabinets, a user can position the door rack with a single hand upwards, without having to take the respective product from the other hand. In this case, the user can hold the goods in an area between the two door racks in order to recognize immediately whether the upper door rack has already been moved sufficiently up to adjust the new goods in the lower door racks can.

For a secure mounting of the door compartment in a height position on the door, it is only necessary to provide a lock that unwanted sagging of the door compartment is prevented in the downward direction of gravity. Because an unintentional movement of the door compartment upwards due to gravity is not to be feared, can therefore be an effective lock with respect to a movement of the Door cabinet to be dispensed in one direction upwards. This results in the advantage that no lock must be released for an upward movement of the door compartment. The door rack can be moved upwards by a simple pressing of the door compartment, for example, with a user's hand along the locking means, so that the door rack reaches a higher position. A lowering of the door compartment is further reliably prevented due to the effective locking in the downward direction, so that the door rack remains in its higher position. Thus, a stepless height adjustment of storage containers ie door closets in the inner door is possible, so that when desired storage of high objects, ie goods such as, for example, large bottles, a flexible storage option is quickly obtained. In an upward movement of the door compartment is a one-hand operation is possible by a suitable structural design. Only in a downward movement, the unlocking means, such as, for example, two opposing push buttons must continue to be pressed simultaneously.

The latching means arrangement may comprise at least one strip-like latching means with a plurality of latching niches arranged one above the other and the counter latching means spring-biased into the latching slots may have a starting sloping surface for pushing out the counter-latching means from the instantaneous latching recess due to an upward adjustment of the door compartment. In this variant, the detent niches are symmetrical with respect to an upward-pointing direction and a downward-pointing direction and provided on the door. A device for releasing the lock in an upward movement is provided on the at least one counter-locking means, which is then provided on the door racks. The means for releasing the lock may be a starting bevel on the counter-locking means. Alternatively, the Rastmittel- and counter-locking means may be reversed, ie the counter-locking means on the door rack is symmetrical with respect to an upward direction and a downwardly facing direction and the locking means with a plurality of superimposed latching niches at each latching niche means for releasing the lock An upward movement, which may also be a starting bevel in this case, ie the latching means with a plurality of latching niches arranged one above the other can be formed by sawtooth-shaped detent strips whose starting bevel large slope arranged facing down and their locking surfaces are arranged low inclination pointing upwards.

In the first alternative described, a locking web cooperating with the starting sloping surface may be provided between each two, in particular symmetrically formed, latching niches. In the respective locking positions of the door compartment, the counter-latching means projects into the latching niches and slipping down of the door compartment is prevented by the counter-latching means resting against the respective latching webs.

The locking means may be provided on locking strips, which are attached as separate attachments to the door. For this purpose, a multiplicity of latching nests arranged one above the other can be introduced into a strip-shaped basic component which has fastening sections, by means of which the separate attachment can be fastened to a door of a refrigeration device. The attachment portions may be formed, for example, by holes through which screws can be inserted to screw the locking strips to the door. In a variant, the fastening portions can be formed by further locking means which can latch into associated counter-locking means on the door. The locking strips can be made in particular together with the base member and the detent niches as a one-piece plastic injection molded part. In particular, two oppositely facing locking strips can be provided on spars of the door, which cooperate with two opposing counter-locking means pointing away from each other at opposite ends of the door compartment. Trained as separate attachments locking strips can be retrofitted in particular subsequently to a door of a conventional refrigerator.

The counter-locking means may be formed as the locking strips as separate attachments and attached to the door racks. For this purpose, each counter-locking means may have attachment portions, via which the counter-locking means can be attached to the door racks. The trained as separate attachments counter-locking means can be retrofitted in particular subsequently to a door of a conventional refrigerator. The separate locking strips and the separate counter-locking means can be offered as an attachment kit in a common sales unit to the consumer.

The counter-locking means may in particular comprise a housing with a lateral first opening, through which a spring-biased, the start-up inclined surface having Latch protrudes. By the counter-locking means having its own housing, the counter-locking means may be formed of a plurality of components and still form a unitary assembly that can be attached as a separate attachment to the door rack, ie first, a pre-assembly of the plurality of components in the housing of the counter-locking means and then the uniform assembly thus formed attached as a separate attachment in a further assembly step on the door racks. The further assembly step can be done at the factory during the manufacture of the refrigerator or later by a customer service technician or the user himself as part of a retrofit.

The locking means arrangement as such is formed with mounting portions for retrofitting the locking means assembly to a door and / or a door rack of a refrigerator.

The locking lugs may be wedge-shaped with an upwardly pointing start-up inclined surface of great inclination and a downwardly facing locking surface of low inclination. The Rasnasen are biased in their protruding from the side first openings of the housing out positions. Due to the low inclination of the downwardly facing locking surface and the sufficient spring preload, the dead weight of the door compartment can not push against the spring preload in the housing even at maximum load the locking lugs, so that always a reliable locking is effective and an automatic lowering of the door compartment is reliably prevented , Instead of a downwardly facing locking surface of low inclination, a locking surface without inclination or even a locking surface with opposite inclination could be used. In the latter case, however, the door racks would have to be slightly raised when you press the unlocking, but this can be understood as additional security. The upward sloping starting slope large inclination is interpreted in such a way that a sufficiently large restoring force can be exerted on the locking lug by a lifting movement of the door compartment already with a single hand movement of a user to overcome the spring biasing force and push back the latch into the housing of the counter-locking means. The restoring force can be initiated due to the lifting movement on the locking webs of the locking bar in the starting inclined surface.

The housing of the counter-locking means may have a lower second opening through which an actuating means of the unlocking means protrudes. The actuating means forms a button for releasing the locking latch. By pressing inwards the projecting beyond the second opening portion of the actuating means, the latching nose is forcibly moved out of the latching means, so that the latching means arrangement is released and the door rack can be selectively offset down or up. After releasing the protruding portion of the actuating means pivots out of the second opening by means of spring bias out of the housing and the detent latches on one of the height associated latching niche of the locking means and the locking bar.

The actuating means may be pivotally mounted in the housing and have a lever for actuating a connected to the latching spring portion of the counter-locking means. The actuating means forms a control knob on which one piece a resilient biasing hook can be formed. Furthermore, the lever is integrally formed on the actuating means or control knob, which actuates the spring portion of the counter-locking means to pivot the latching nose out of the latching niche of the latching means and into the housing.

An embodiment of the invention is described with reference to a refrigerator for household purposes exemplified in the figures. From the detailed description of this specific embodiment, there are also other general features and advantages of the present invention.

Figur 1

eine perspektivische Ansicht eines Kältegeräts für Haushaltszwecke mit Türabstellern;

Figuren 2a,2b

vergrößerte Ansichten eines Türabstellers gemäß Fig. 1 mit einer Rastmittelanordnung in zwei unterschiedlichen Raststellungen;

Figur 3

eine Teilansicht des Türabstellers nach Fig. 2 in einer Ansicht auf ein Gegenrastmittel von unten;

Figur 4

eine Teilansicht des Türabstellers nach Fig. 2 bzw. Fig. 3 mit einem angebautem Gegenrastmittel;

Figur 5

das Gegenrastmittel nach Fig. 3 in Alleinstellung mit Gehäusedeckel;

Figur 6

das Gegenrastmittel nach Fig. 5 bei abgenommenem Gehäusedeckel;

Figur 7

das Gegenrastmittel nach den Figuren 5 und 6 in einer explodierten Darstellung der Einzelteile;

Figur 8

eine zu den Gegenrastmitteln nach den Fig. 3 bis 7 korrespondierende Rastleiste.

Show it:

FIG. 1

a perspective view of a refrigerator for household use with door cabinets;

FIGS. 2a, 2b

enlarged views of a door compartment according to Fig. 1 with a locking means arrangement in two different locking positions;

FIG. 3

a partial view of the door compartment after Fig. 2 in a view of a counter-latching means from below;

FIG. 4

a partial view of the door compartment after Fig. 2 respectively. Fig. 3 with a mounted counter-latching means;

FIG. 5

the counter-locking means after Fig. 3 in isolation with housing cover;

FIG. 6

the counter-locking means after Fig. 5 with removed housing cover;

FIG. 7

the Gegenrastmittel after the FIGS. 5 and 6 in an exploded view of the items;

FIG. 8

one to the counter-arrest means after the Fig. 3 to 7 corresponding locking strip.

A refrigerator 1 for household purposes according to Fig. 1 has a cabinet-shaped body 2, the walls 3 define an interior 4 of the refrigerator 1. A front opening 5 of the body 2 can be closed by means of a door 6. The door 6 is pivotably mounted on the body 2 via hinge assemblies 7 about a vertical axis. The door 6 has an inner side 8 facing the inner space 4 in the closed position. On the inside 8 of the door 6, two supporting beams 9a and 9b are arranged on opposite lateral edge portions. The support beams 9a and 9b may be formed integrally with the inside 8. They extend in the vertical direction and have a strip-like shape. The supporting beams 9a and 9b are used for fastening door racks 10a, 10b and 10c. For example, the door rack 10c consists of a trough-like box part with a rectangular shape and an upper open ceiling side. On the open side of the ceiling to be cooled goods, in particular bottles and beverage cartons can be adjusted. Each door rack 10a, 10b and 10c may be detachably mounted on the bars 9a and 9b. In particular, the door racks 10a, 10b and 10c can be fastened to the uprights 9a and 9b at various altitudes.

Fig. 2a shows an enlarged view of a door compartment 10c in an upper detent position on the inside of the door 6 and Fig. 2b the door rack 10c in a lower detent position. The door rack 10c is mounted in a height-adjustable manner between the two bars 9a and 9b. For this purpose, a locking bar 11 a and 11 b are each attached to the facing inner sides of the spars 9 a and 9 b as a locking means 11. A locking bar 11a is in Fig. 8 explained in more detail. The two locking strip 11a and 11b are rigidly connected rigidly to the bars 9a and 9b and to the door 6, respectively. Such as in the following FIGS. 3 and 4 shown closer, the door racks 10c on two opposite counter-locking means 12. In the inserted position of the door compartment 10c on the door 6, the counter-locking means 12 with the locking means 11 form a locking means 13. Due to this locking means 13 of the door rack 10c is mounted in the two arrow directions in the vertical direction upwards or downwards. A displacement is possible in each case by a latching step or by further latching steps along the latching strips 11a and 11b. The counter-locking means 12 mounted on the left-hand side and right-hand side of the door racks 10c are designed to be identical or mirror-symmetrical.

As in the FIGS. 3 and 4 shown, each counter-locking means 12 has a cuboid housing 14. In each case on the left side wall 15a and the right side wall 15b of the door compartment a niche 16a and 16b is formed, in which the housing 14 of the counter-locking means 12 is received. Above the bottom surface 17 of the door compartment 10c, an actuating means 18 of an unlocking means 19 protrudes downwards. By pressing two opposing actuating means 18, the unlocking means 19 are actuated and the latching means arrangement 13 is released so that the door rack 10c can be moved downwards along the latching strips 11a and 11b. For moving the door compartment 10c upward, a release of the latching means assembly 13 is not required, so that pressing the actuating means 18 to push up the door compartment 10c is not required. The housing 14 is, as in Fig. 4 shown releasably attached to the left side wall 15a of the door compartment 10c. For this purpose, the niche 16b has a latching element 20 which has a latching groove 21 on the housing 14 in the installed position (FIG. Figure 4 ) surrounds to hold the housing 14 of the counter-latching means 12 fixed to the side wall 15 a of the door compartment 10 c. The latching element 20 of the niche 16b and the latching groove 21 on the housing 14 form corresponding attachment sections for retrofitting to one of the door racks 10th

In the FIGS. 5 and 6 is a counter-locking means 12 and its components are shown by way of example. In Fig. 5 the housing 14 is closed by a housing cover 22. Front side of the housing 14 in the housing cover 22, a first opening 23 is provided. From the first opening 23, a portion of a detent 24 of the counter-locking means 12 protrudes. The locking lug 24 has a starting inclined surface 25. The starting slope 25 has a large inclination relative to the horizontal. In particular, the large inclination may be inclined downwards from 45 ° to approximately 90 ° with respect to the horizontal. Facing away from the start-up sloping surface 45 and arranged on the latching lug 24 is a latching surface 26. The latching surface 26 has a slight inclination relative to the horizontal. The low inclination can in particular between 0 ° and about 45 ° relative to the horizontal inclined upward. At a bottom of the housing 14, a second opening 27 is provided. From the second opening 27, the actuating means 18 of the unlocking means 19 protrudes.

Fig. 6 shows the mounting of locking lug 24 and actuating means 18 in the housing 14 with the housing cover 22 removed. The latching lug 24 is attached to a spring section 28. The spring portion 28 is designed substantially tongue-shaped. An upper end 29 of the spring portion 28 is formed by a substantially rectangular plate, which has two recesses 30 a, 30 b for fixing the locking lug 24 to retaining webs 31 a, 31 b of the housing 14. A lower end 32 of the spring portion 28 has a sliding surface 33 on which a lever 34 of the actuating means 18 attaches. The sliding surface 33 extends obliquely to the horizontal. The locking lug 24 with the upper end 29, the lower end 32 and the sliding surface 33 may be made as a one-piece plastic injection molded part. The actuating means 18 has two opposite pins 35a, 35b, which are mounted in the housing 14, so that the actuating means 18 is rotatably mounted in the housing 14 about the axis of the pins in the arrow direction. The Actuating means 18 is connected to the lever 34. By pressing the actuating means 18 pivots this in the arrow direction, so that the lever 34 is moved upward. The free end of the lever slides along the sliding surface 33 of the spring portion 29. Due to the oblique to the horizontal sliding surface 33, the Rasnase 24 is pressed by the pivotal movement of the lever inwards and the locking means assembly 13 released. To bring the latch 24 after releasing the actuating means 18 back to the starting position in which the Rasnase 24 projects out of the housing 14 from the first opening 23, the actuating means 18, a spring 36, which counteract the actuating means 18 in its initial length the arrow direction moved back. The spring 36 is supported on an inwardly projecting wall 37 of the housing 14. The actuating means 18 may be made together with the lever 34 and the spring 36 as a one-piece plastic injection molded part.

In Fig. 7 are the individual components that can be produced as plastic injection molded parts, just described the counter-latching means 12 in an exploded view again. To improve the spring action of the spring portion 28, the front side, the locking lug 24 carries on its back an additional spring bar 38, the fixed end 38a is attached to the back of the spring portion 28 and is supported on the inner wall of the housing 14 with its free end 38b ,

In Fig. 8 a latching means 11 corresponding to the counter-latching means 12 is shown. The locking means 11 shown is formed by a locking bar 39. The locking bar 39 is designed rod-shaped and has a strip-like basic shape. Two identical or at least mirror-symmetrical locking strips 39 are fastened to opposite inner sides of bars of the door 6. For this purpose, the locking strip 39 mounting portions 40a, 40b, 40c. In the simplest embodiment shown by way of example, the fastening sections 40a, 40b, 40c can be formed by simple bores or circular openings through which screws, not shown, can be guided in order to screw the locking strips 39 to the door 6. Each latching niche 41 forms a receptacle for the Rasnase 24 of the counter-latching means 12. The latching niches 41 are preferably arranged at uniform intervals from each other and in particular immediately following one another on the locking bar 39. A very close succession of the notches 41 causes a very fine Rastaufteilung to the door racks 10 in many different locking positions to be able to set. In the closest consequence, the detent niches 41 can be separated only by narrow locking webs 42. At the locking webs 42, the locking lugs 24 of the counter-locking means 12 can be supported as on rungs of a ladder.

Claims (10)

1. Refrigeration apparatus featuring:

   - a carcass (2),

   - a door (6),

   - a door shelf (10),

   - a latching means arrangement (13) for stepped height adjustment of the door shelf (10) in a plurality of latching positions on the door (6),

   - an unlocking means (19) for releasing a current latching position of the door shelf (10),

   wherein the latching means arrangement (13) is embodied for upwards adjustment of the door shelf (10) without the unlocking means (19) being actuated.
   characterised in that an actuation means (18) of the unlocking means (19) extends downwards beyond a floor surface (17) of the door shelf (10c).
2. Refrigeration apparatus according to claim 1, characterised in that the latching means arrangement (13) features at least one strip-type, especially door-side latching means (11) with a number of latching recesses (41) arranged above one another and that opposing latching means (12) engaging into the latching recesses (41) especially provided on the door shelf (10) are able to be deflected against a return force feature an introduction taper (25) for pushing out the opposing latching means (12) from the current latching recess (41) as a result of an upwards adjustment of the door shelf (10) and a stop (42) against which the introduction taper (25) runs during the upwards adjustment of the door shelf (10).
3. Refrigeration apparatus according to claim 2, characterised in that the opposing latching means (12) are held under spring pre-tensioning in their hinged-out position.
4. Refrigeration apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, characterised in that a latching web (42) interacting with the introduction taper (25) serving as a stop, is provided between each two latching recesses (41a, 41b).
5. Refrigeration apparatus according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterised in that the latching means (11) are provided on latching strips (39) which are attached as separate add-on parts to the door (6).
6. Refrigeration apparatus according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterised in that the opposing latching means (12) are attached to the door shelf (10) as separate add-on parts.
7. Refrigeration apparatus according to claim 6, characterised in that the opposing latching means (12) feature a housing (14) with a lateral first opening (23) through which a spring pre-tensioned latching lug (24) having the introduction taper (25) protrudes.
8. Refrigeration apparatus according to claim 7, characterised in that the latching lug (24) is embodied as a wedge shape with an introduction taper (25) pointing upwards at a large angle and a locking surface (26) pointing downwards at a smaller angle.
9. Refrigeration apparatus according to claim 7 or 8, characterised in that the housing (14) features a lower second opening (27) through which an actuation means (18) of the unlocking means (19) projects.
10. Refrigeration apparatus according to claim 9, characterised in that the actuation means (18) is supported pivotably in the housing (14) and has a lever (34) for actuating an opposing latching means for actuating a spring section (28) of the opposing means (12) connected to the latching lug (24).

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