EP2295901B1 - Built-in container for a household appliance - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a built-in container for a household appliance according to the preamble of claim 1. The household appliance is in particular a household refrigerator and the installation container a butter compartment, as provided in particular for mounting on the inside of a door of a household refrigerator. Such a butter compartment has conventionally a flap which occupies at least a part of its front and which is pivotable about an axis extending in the width direction of the butter compartment axis.

The flap is needed to separate the interior of the butter compartment from the rest of the storage room of the refrigerator and thus to maintain a slightly higher temperature in the butter compartment, leaving the butter supple and spreadable.

For a user who comes to the refrigerator with their hands full, it is difficult to open the butter compartment. In addition, the flap of the butter compartment in its open position is often unstable, but falls immediately when it is released. Although this measure makes sense in that it prevents the refrigerator door is closed with open butter flap and the butter flap between the refrigerator carcass door and clamped and damaged. However, it has the consequence that the user always needs one hand to keep the door open while handling the contents of the butter compartment with the other. All this makes loading and unloading the butter compartment tedious and cumbersome. This is not only time consuming for a user, but also technically disadvantageous, because the longer the user has to keep open the door of the refrigerator to handle its contents, the greater the heat input and consequently the energy consumption of the device.

From the US 2006/0290144 A1 a container is known with a door connected to a spring. In addition, a closing mechanism is provided which holds the door in the closed state. This locking mechanism is coupled to the spring.

From the EP 1 338 741 A2 For example, a hinge connection and a container equipped therewith are known.

Furthermore, from the US 2003/0080131 A1 a container with a door known, which can be opened by a spring force applied. The closed state of the door is held by a separate holding connection.

From the WO 01/60194 A2 is a closable container with a lid and a drive spring and an arcuate gear known.

The object of the invention is therefore to provide a built-in container for a refrigerator, which allows a convenient and quick handling of its contents.

The object is achieved by a built-in container with the features of claim 1.

According to the invention, a latch mechanism latching the flap in the closed position can be deactivated by a pivoting movement against the clamping force of the spring, in particular by pressing against the flap. To push against the flap is not difficult for the user even with full hands, so that he can quickly and conveniently set there after the automatic opening of the flap held in the hands refrigerated goods.

The trap mechanism is preferably activated by closing the flap. Repressing the open door is generally not difficult for the user, even if he has his hands full with objects removed from the installation container, since the open door provides a large engagement surface at which the force required to close can be exerted.

Preferably, the trapping mechanism has a guideway formed at least substantially as a cardioid, along which a guide element is guided during the movement of the flap and locked in the origin or the tip of the cardioid, whereby the flap is held in the closed position.

According to the invention, a guide slot and a pin movable in the guide slot are provided on the installation container, which are acted upon by the force of the spring element, wherein the guide slot with the flap and the pin can be connected to the body of the installation container or vice versa. At this guide slot a latching point is formed at which the pin is in the closed position of the flap and from which it is movable only against the force of the spring.

The pin expediently engages in a direction parallel to the axis in the guide slot.

The guide slot is inventively formed in the form of a groove into which the pin is pressed by a second spring element in the axial direction.

According to a preferred embodiment, a first step is arranged at the bottom of the groove so that the pin passes immediately before reaching the locking position. By the pin is pressed by the second spring element against the bottom of the groove, he can not pass the stage in the opposite direction, resulting in the locking of the flap in the closed position.

In order to control a periodic movement of the flap between the open and closed positions, the guide slot expediently comprises a first branch, which passes through the pin when closing the flap, and a second branch, which it passes through when opening the flap. A second step may be formed at the bottom of the groove at the end of the second branch to ensure that the pin does not traverse the second branch in the wrong direction when closing the flap.

In order to guide the relative movement of the pin and the groove safely, it is also possible to provide an auxiliary spring element acting on the pin in the radial direction.

On the one hand to allow unimpeded access to the contents of the installation container with the door open, on the other hand to minimize the risk of damaging the flap, if it is open when closing the refrigerator door, the flap is preferably suspended so that it is in its open position at least partially flat over the top of the carcass.

In order to keep the projection of the flap over the top of the body in the open position low and thus to be able to mount the installation container closely below the upper edge of the door, it is expedient if the axis runs centrally through the installation container. In order to realize such a course of the axis, the flap expediently has a front plate and from the front plate in the depth direction protruding tabs on which the axis is fixed, for example by projecting from the tabs axle, formed in the tabs axle bores or the like.

In order to pivot the front panel in the open position over the top of the body, at this top are advantageously formed forwardly open slots that receive the tabs when the flap is in the open position.

In order to allow space-saving movement of the flap, the axis of the flap is preferably arranged above a diagonal which connects a front upper edge and a lower rear edge of the substantially parallelepiped-shaped installation container.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the flap is coupled to a motion damper, in particular a rotary motion damper, which dampens the pivotal movement of the flap caused by the spring element. The motion damper, in particular the rotary motion damper, preferably comprises a body rotatable in a liquid bath.

Fig. 1

Ansichten des erfindungsgemäßen Butterfachs mit geschlossener, halboffener bzw. ganz offener Klappe;

Fig. 2

eine Ansicht des Butterfachs, bei der eine äußere Schale einer Seitenwand weggelassen ist, um einen in der Seitenwand untergebrachten Fallenmechanismus zu zeigen; und

Fig. 3

ein vergrößertes Detail aus Fig. 2.

Further advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description of exemplary embodiments with reference to the accompanying figures. Show it:

Fig. 1

Views of the butter compartment according to the invention with closed, semi-open or completely open flap;

Fig. 2

a view of the butter compartment, in which an outer shell of a side wall is omitted to show a trapped in the side wall trap mechanism; and

Fig. 3

an enlarged detail Fig. 2 ,

The Fig. 1 shows perspective views of a butter compartment according to the invention with a body 1 and hinged to the body 1 flap 2 in the closed, partially open or open position. The entire butter compartment is roughly cuboid. Side walls 3, a bottom 4 and a mounted in a mounted state on a refrigerator door rear wall of the butter compartment are formed by the body 1. The side walls 3 are divided by a vertically extending step 4 into a wide front area 5 and a narrower rear area 6, the outside of which jumps back behind that of the front area 5. The rear portions 6 are provided in a manner known per se, between vertical spars engage, which protrude from the inside of a (not shown) refrigerator door and carry on their mutually facing flanks vertically elongated support projections which engage in complementary, downwardly open grooves 7 in the rear region 6 of each side wall 3.

The cross-sectionally L-shaped flap 2 comprises a front plate 8, which assumes the front of the butter compartment in the closed position and a web 9 which adjoins the upper edge of the front plate 8 at right angles and which forms part of the top of the butter compartment. The majority of the ceiling occupies a horizontal ceiling plate 10 of the body 1.

The flap 2 comprises two tabs 11, which engage from the lateral edges of the front panel 8 at right angles in the interior of the body 1. The tabs 11 are only in the lower right representation of Fig. 1 to see the butter compartment with flap 2 open. Formed on the tabs 11, the course of a pivot axis 33 of the flap 2 defining journal 12 extend through an opening of an inner shell of each side wall 3 into an inner cavity which fills at least the front portion 5 of each side wall 3 to a large extent. The tabs 11 engage in forwardly open slots 29 at the edges of the ceiling plate 10 a. The pivot axis 33 extends just above an imaginary diagonal 34, which connects a front upper and a rear door near lower corner of the butter compartment. This ensures that the front panel 8 of the flap 2 extends closely over the ceiling panel 10 in the open position.

Fig. 2 shows a side view of the butter compartment 1, in which an outer shell of the viewer facing side wall 3 is omitted to show the interior of the cavity. On the rounded in cross-section axis journals 12, a disc 13, here approximately in the form of a 120 ° -Kreissektors, rotationally attached, so that it is pivotable together with the flap 2 about the axle 33 fixed by the axle 33. A first spring element, here in the form of a helical spring 14, is stretched between engagement points on the disc 13 and the inner shell 15 of the side wall 3 and acts on the flap 2 with a tensile force F, which acts on an opening of the flap 2.

In a loop-shaped guide groove 16 of the disc 13 engages a pin 17 a. The pin 17 is movable in the figure for the sake of clarity omitted, fixed to the inner shell 15 scenes in the radial direction relative to the pivot axis 33 of the flap 2 and in the direction parallel to the pivot axis 33. Acting on the pin 17 spring elements 18, 19 which act on the pin 17 in the radial direction on the pivot axis 33 to or axially against the bottom of the guide groove 16 are also shown in the figure as coil springs; In particular, in the case of the spring element 19 acting on the pin 17 in the axial direction, a realization as a leaf spring element extending essentially parallel to the shell 15 is also expedient for reasons of space.

Fig. 3 shows the disc 13 and in particular its guide groove 16 in an enlarged view. The position occupied by the pin 17 with the flap 2 closed detent position 20 in the guide groove 16 is in Fig. 3 indicated by a dotted circle. The spring element 19 keeps the pin 17 pressed against the bottom of the guide groove 16 at the detent position 20, and the torque exerted by the helical spring 14 causes a hollow side wall 21 of the guide groove 16 to press against the pin 17 from the lateral direction and so stick to it prevents yielding to the upward pressure of the spring element 18.

When a user presses against the flap 2 from the front, the pin 17 detaches from the side wall 21 and abuts against a tip 22 of the opposite side wall. An escape of the pin 17 down is precluded by a step 23 at the bottom of the guide groove 16. The flap 2 can therefore give the pressure acting on them only by the pin 17 in the guide groove 16 radially inwardly to the journal 12, wanders and thereby against the force of the spring element 19 an inclined slope 24 slides up the bottom of the groove 16.

When the pin 17 has reached a turning point 25, the shape of the guide groove 16 does not allow the pin 17 to further yield to the pressure acting on the flap 2. If the user now releases the flap 2, this will the force F of the coil spring 14 and pivots in the counterclockwise direction in its open position. In this case, the pin 17 slides in an upper (or relative to the pivot axis 33 inner) branch 26 of the guide groove 16 along. He passes through a second step 27 at the bottom of the groove 16, on the spring element 19 relaxes again. When the rotation of the flap 2 continues, finally, the pin 17 exits sideways out of the guide groove 16. When the flap 2 has reached its open position, the pin 17 is located at a turning point 28 outside the guide groove sixteenth

When the user again presses against the flap 2 to close it, the sector-shaped disc 13 pivots clockwise. The pin 17 abuts an embankment 30 at an edge of the disc 13 and is pressed at this radially outward. As a result, the spring element 19 is tensioned. Upon further pivoting of the flap, the pin abuts against the step 27 and, since it can not pass, is deflected against the force of the spring element 18 radially outward into a lower branch 31 of the guide groove 16.

When the pin 17 has passed through the lower branch 31 to the end and abuts at a turning point 32 on a side wall of the groove 16, the flap 2 has already passed through its normal closed position. The flap 2 can not continue to pivot so that the user releases it. Driven by the coil spring 14, the plate 29 pivots counterclockwise again, and at the same time, the spring element 19 drives the pin 17 radially inwardly. Thus, the pin 17 slides over the step 23 and remains in the locking position 20, in contact with the side wall 21, stand. Thus, it is possible only by pressing against the flap 2 to let these swing from the closed to the open position and return them from the open to the closed position.

Claims (14)

1. Built-in container for a household appliance, which is embodied with a carcass (1) and a flap (2) which can be pivoted about an axis (33),
   having a spring element (14) which applies the flap (2), which can latch in a closed position, into an open position, and a catch mechanism (13, 16-19) which latches the flap (2) in the closed position, which can be deactivated by a pivot movement of the flap (2) against the tensioning force of the spring (14), in particular by pressing against the flap (2),
   characterised in that the catch mechanism (13, 16-19) comprises a guiding link (16) and a pin (17) which is able to move in the guiding link (16), which are able to be applied against one another by the force of the spring element (14), and that the guiding link (16) has a latching point (20), at which the pin (17) is located when the flap (2) is closed and from which it can only move out against the force of the spring (14), wherein the guiding link is a groove (16), into which the pin (17) is pressed by a second spring element (19) in the direction parallel to the axis (33).
2. Built-in container according to claim 1, characterised in that the catch mechanism (13, 16-19) can be activated by closing the flap (2).
3. Built-in container according to claim 1 or 2, characterised in that the pin (17) engages into the guiding link (16) in a direction parallel to the axis (33).
4. Built-in container according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that a first stage (23) at the base of the groove (16) is arranged such that the pin (17) passes it immediately before reaching the latching position (20).
5. Built-in container according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the groove (16) comprises a first branch (31), through which the pin passes when closing the flap (2), and a second branch (26), through which the pin (17) passes when opening the flap (2), and that a second stage (27) is formed on the base of the groove at the end of the second branch (26).
6. Built-in container according to one of the preceding claims, characterised by an auxiliary spring element (18) applying the pin (17) in the radial direction.
7. Built-in container according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the flap (2), in its open position, at least partially covers an upper side (7) of the carcass (1).
8. Built-in container according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the flap (2) has a front plate (8) and a tab (11) protruding from the front plate (8) in the depth direction, to which the axis (33) is fixed.
9. Built-in container according to claim 8, characterised in that the front plate (8), with the flap (2) in the open position, is pivoted over a front side (10) of the carcass (1), and that slots (29) open to the front are formed on the upper side (10) of the carcass (1) and receive the tabs (11) in the open position of the flap (2).
10. Built-in container according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the axis (33) runs above a diagonal (34), which connects a front upper edge and a lower rear edge of the substantially cuboid-shaped built-in container.
11. Built-in container according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the flap (2) is coupled to a motion damper, in particular rotary motion damper, which attenuates the pivot movement of the flap (2) caused by the spring element (14).
12. Built-in container according to claim 11, characterised in that the motion damper, in particular the rotary motion damper, comprises a body which can be rotated in a liquid bath.
13. Built-in container according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the built-in container is a built-in container for a household appliance.
14. Built-in container according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the built-in container is a butter compartment.

Images