EP2395876B1 - Refrigerator with height-adjustable shelf for refrigerated goods - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a refrigeration device, in particular a household refrigerating appliance, in the interior of which a refrigerated goods carrier is arranged in a height-adjustable manner. US6065821 discloses a refrigeration device according to the preamble of claim 1. Off DE 10 2006 040 368 A1 a refrigeration device has become known in which a refrigerated goods carrier in vertical guide rails on a rear wall of the refrigeration device housing releasably engages and can be fixed by spreading of engaging in the guide rails holding heads in these in a desired, infinitely adjustable height.

A problem with this refrigerated goods carrier is that on the one hand while some flexibility of the parts of the holding head is required to accomplish the lock, but on the other hand, this flexibility is usually associated with a certain extensibility and the holding head is exposed during operation considerable horizontal forces. If these forces lead to an expansion of parts of the holding head, then the plate of the refrigerated goods is no longer completely fixed and hangs down. Then the refrigerated goods can no longer be loaded safely.

Although a vertical adjustment of this known Kühlgutträgers in loaded condition is not excluded, but requires a high degree of strength and skill and is difficult for a single user to accomplish.

Object of the present invention is therefore to provide a refrigeration device with a height-adjustable refrigerated goods, in which a height adjustment in the loaded state is unproblematic for a single user and in which the horizontal orientation of the refrigerated goods can be permanently guaranteed.

The object is achieved by a refrigeration device according to claim 1 by the horizontal displacement of the Swing arm follow vertical movements of the refrigerated goods, even if its hinged to the inner wall end is not vertically movable, and in the determined state, the swivel arm is able to take the weight of the refrigerated goods and thus excessive torques that could lead to material fatigue or deformation , Keep away from the guide rail or engaging in the guide rail parts of the refrigerated goods carrier.

The refrigerated goods carrier preferably has at least one threaded spindle oriented parallel to the horizontal guide, and a sliding block hinged to the swivel arm has an internal thread which engages with the threaded rod. Thus, by a rotation of the threaded rod of the swivel arm forced to pivotal movement and thereby the refrigerated goods are vertically adjusted.

Appropriately, the pitch of the thread of the threaded rod is dimensioned so that the engagement of the sliding block is self-locking. Thus, the swivel arm is automatically detected as long as the threaded rod is not rotationally driven.

As a horizontal guide, a simple slot can be provided in a longitudinal strut of the refrigerated goods carrier.

The sliding block and the pivot arm are suitably connected by a connecting piece crossing the slot. Thus, it is possible to save space to accommodate the threaded rod under a supported by the longitudinal strut plate of Kühlgutträgers, whereas the swivel arm can be placed beyond the longitudinal strut, in the immediate vicinity of a wall of the refrigerator housing.

The refrigerated goods carrier preferably has two coupled rotatable threaded rods which run adjacent to the lateral edges of the refrigerated goods carrier. Since each of these threaded rods carries a sliding block connected to a pivoting arm, it is impossible for the refrigerated goods carrier to tilt obliquely under load in the transverse direction.

On the one hand to achieve a large Verstellbewegungsfreiheit of Kühlgutträgers, but on the other hand to keep the expended during adjustment force or the torque required for adjusting low, the threaded rod is preferably to a in opposite directions alternately movable drive lever coupled via a ratchet mechanism.

To ensure that the drive lever in any position affects the closing of the door, but that he is still easily accessible and operable in any position, it is advantageous if the drive lever slidable about a vertical axis arm and a transversely of the refrigerated goods carrier includes guided slider, which engage playfully in the depth direction.

The ratchet mechanism preferably couples the pivotable arm to a gear rotatable about the vertical axis.

The toothed wheel is preferably a first bevel gear which is coupled to a second bevel gear of the threaded rod via a shaft extending in the width direction of the chilled goods carrier.

To stabilize the refrigerated goods carrier in the horizontal expediently additionally contributes to a handlebar, which is pivotally connected on the one hand with a central region of the pivot arm and on the other hand with a rear portion of the refrigerated goods.

The inner wall according to the invention comprises a releasably mounted plate to which the pivot arm is articulated and which carries the guide rail. Thus, the height-adjustable refrigerated goods can be easily removed when not in use, or it can be easily retrofitted in an already in use refrigerator on request.

Fig. 1

eine perspektivische Ansicht eines Kühlgutträgermoduls zur Verwendung in einem Haushaltskältegerät;

Fig. 2

einen Teilschnitt durch das Kühlgutträgermodul der Fig. 1 entlang der in Fig. 1 mit II-II bezeichneten Ebene;

Fig. 3

einen schematischen Schnitt durch den vorderen Bereich des Kühlgutträgers mit einem Antriebshebel gemäß einer ersten Ausgestaltung;

Fig. 4

einen horizontalen Teilschnitt des Kühlgutträgers entlang der in Fig. 3 mit IV-IV bezeichneten Ebene, die den Antriebshebels in verschiedenen Stellungen zeigt;

Fig. 5

einen zu Fig. 3 analogen Schnitt durch einen Kühlgutträger mit einem Antriebshebel gemäß einer zweiten Ausgestaltung;

Fig. 6

einen zu Fig. 3 analogen Schnitt gemäß einer dritten Ausgestaltung;

Fig. 7

einen zu Fig. 4 analogen horizontalen Teilschnitt durch den Kühlgutträger gemäß der dritten Ausgestaltung;

Fig. 8

eine Draufsicht auf den Ratschenmechanismus; und

Fig. 9

eine nochmals abgewandelte Ausgestaltung des Kühlgutträgermoduls.

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

a perspective view of a Kühlgutträgermoduls for use in a household refrigerator;

Fig. 2

a partial section through the Kühlgutträgermodul the Fig. 1 along the in Fig. 1 level designated II-II;

Fig. 3

a schematic section through the front portion of the refrigerated goods carrier with a drive lever according to a first embodiment;

Fig. 4

a horizontal partial section of the refrigerated goods along the in Fig. 3 IV-IV designated plane, which shows the drive lever in different positions;

Fig. 5

one too Fig. 3 analogous section through a refrigerated goods with a drive lever according to a second embodiment;

Fig. 6

one too Fig. 3 analog section according to a third embodiment;

Fig. 7

one too Fig. 4 analogous horizontal partial section through the refrigerated goods according to the third embodiment;

Fig. 8

a plan view of the ratchet mechanism; and

Fig. 9

a further modified embodiment of the refrigerated goods carrier module.

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a Kühlgutträgermoduls, which is provided for releasable attachment inside a domestic refrigerator, in particular a refrigerator. The module comprises a vertical wall plate 1 for attachment to the rear wall of the refrigerator, which carries two vertical profiles 2 adjacent to its vertical edges. The profiles 2 define two mutually facing vertical grooves. 3

A refrigerated goods carrier 4 comprises a rectangular frame with a front cross strut 5, right and left longitudinal struts 6 and a rear cross strut 7. While the struts 5, 6 may be formed integrally, for example in one piece from a sheet and cut, the rear cross member 7 is hollow and picks up a transmission later will be explained in more detail. A circumferential shallow recess 8 at the top of the frame is provided to provide an in Fig. 1 not shown glass plate or the like to take, which fills the opening of the frame and can be parked on the refrigerated goods. From the back of the rear cross member 7 protruding hooks 9 engage in the grooves 3 of the profiles 2, whereby the refrigerated goods 4 is guided vertically displaceable on the profiles 2.

Two pivot arms 10 are each hinged at its lower end to a lower end of the profiles 2, and an upper end of the pivot arms 10 is rotatably connected to a sliding block 11, which extends on a respectively adjacent to one of the longitudinal struts 6 extending threaded rod 12 of the refrigerated goods 4 sits. A connecting portion 13 between sliding block 11 and pivot arm 10 each intersects an elongated horizontal slot 14 of the two longitudinal struts. 6

The two threaded rods 12 are driven via the gear inside the rear cross member 7 and coupled to each other, so that the sliding blocks 11 each move to the same extent. Thus, when the sliding blocks 11 are displaced towards the wall plate 1 and thereby the inclination of the pivot arms 10 increases, the refrigerated goods carrier 4 has to move upwards, while it moves away from the wall plate 1 when the sliding blocks move.

The threaded rods 12 are self-locking, i. Their thread pitch is so small that they can not be put into rotation solely by the pressure of a load on the refrigerated goods carrier 4, without the addition of an external drive. Due to the small pitch, a drive with low torque is sufficient to lift the refrigerated goods carrier 4 - even against a counteracting load.

In order to preclude tilting of the refrigerated goods carrier 4 during the height adjustment, the friction between the refrigerated goods carrier 4 and the profiles 2 can be minimized, for example by using rollers resting on the profiles 2. Another preferred solution is in Fig. 1 shown, attack in the handlebar 15 on the one hand centrally on each pivot arm 10 and on the other hand at a rear end of the longitudinal struts 6. By the handlebars 15 rotate in opposite directions to the pivot arms 10, respectively a deviation of the refrigerated goods from the horizontal orientation and tilting on the profiles 2 excluded.

As in the sectional view Fig. 2 shown, the vertical wall plate 1 is provided for mounting on the refrigerator rear wall at its back with hooks 44, which are hooked into known, embedded in the refrigerator rear wall holding profiles. Above and / or below the module can not be mounted vertically adjustable refrigerated goods directly in the same holding profiles, or it can be several Kühlgutträgermodule of in Fig. 1 be mounted on top of each other.

Of course, the guide profiles 2 could also be mounted directly on an inner wall of the refrigerator instead of on the removable wall plate 1. However, such an exemplary embodiment does not fall under the scope of the claims.

The transmission in the rear cross member 7 is manually actuated by means of a drive lever 16. The drive lever 16 is constructed in two parts, with a pivotable about an axis extending through the rear cross member 7 vertical axis 17 and a slider 18 which is slidably guided in a horizontal slot 19 of the front cross member 5. Arm 17 and slider 18 engage in play depth in the direction of play, to implement a displacement of the slider 18 along the transverse strut 5 in a pivoting movement of the arm 17.

As in Fig. 3 shown in more detail, the game-engaging engagement of slider 18 and arm 17 is realized by the slider 18 facing the end of the arm 17 is forked and the two prongs 20 of the fork are interconnected by a pin 21 having a longitudinally extending slot 22th of the slider 18 crosses. The slider 18 is guided linearly by the edges of the slot 19 engage with a small clearance from above and below in grooves 23 of the slider.

Fig. 4 shows in a section along the in Fig. 3 With IV-IV level designated the drive lever 16 in a central position and from there to the right or left deflected stop positions. In the central position, the arm 17 is perpendicular to the (in Fig. 4 not shown) from the rear cross member 7, and the pin 21 is located at the front end of the slot 22. The two stop positions are either by the contact of the slider 18 is defined with one end of the slot 19 or by the contact of the pin 21 with the rear end of the slot 22.

At the in 3 and 4 shown construction may come to visible wear marks of the slider 18 on the front cross member 5 with prolonged use. Fig. 5 shows an alternative construction that avoids this problem. The front cross member 5 is here designed as a downwardly open C-profile, in the downwardly open undercut groove 24, a head piece 25 of the slider 18 engages positively. A frictional contact is possibly still possible on the underside of the transverse strut 5, which, when it is below eye level of a user, is normally not seen.

In order to hide any possible grinding marks even better, vertical walls of the transverse strut 5 can, as indicated in the figure by dashed outlines 26, be extended downwards.

An alternative embodiment of the drive lever is in the FIGS. 6 and 7 each based on one Fig. 3 analog section or a section along the plane VII-VII Fig. 6 shown. The drive lever 16 in turn has a pivotable about an axis extending through the rear cross member 7 pivotal arm 17. On this telescopically slidably fitted a sleeve 27, of which a front end through the slot 19 of the front cross member 5 projects forward to a gripping portion for To make operation by a user. A protruding from the sleeve 27 cylindrical pin 28 is guided in a groove 29 of the front cross member 5 slidably in the longitudinal direction. As seen from the top of the Fig. 7 to recognize, guided by the pin 28 sleeve 27 slides on the arm 17 the further forward, the further this is deflected from its central rest position to the left or to the right.

Fig. 8 shows a plan view of the drive lever 16 driven by the ratchet mechanism in the interior of the rear cross member 7. From a bottom plate of the cross member 7 is a shaft 30 vertically into its inner cavity from inside. The arm 17 of the drive lever 16 is slidably mounted on the shaft 30. Above the arm 17, a gear 31 with a radial toothed rim 32 and a conical toothed ring 33 is attached to the shaft 30. The teeth of the latter appear in Fig. 8 in plan view. Below the gear 31, a hairpin spring 34 is centered on the Fixed bottom plate of the cross member 7. Two legs of the hairpin spring 34 press from right and left against the arm 17 to drive it back from a deflected position to the rest position.

A second hairpin spring 35 is attached centrally to the arm 17. When the arm 17 is in its in Fig. 8 is drawn with solid lines drawn center position, the tips of the two legs of the hairpin spring 35 on the radial sprocket 32 attack. A pin 36 projecting from a ceiling of the rear cross brace 7 in the interior thereof contacts the inner sides of both legs of the hairpin spring 35.

Two in the lateral direction mirror images of each other extending shafts 37 each carry a meshing with the ring gear 33 bevel gear 38 and at her in Fig. 8 not shown end another bevel gear 39, which, as in Fig. 2 shown, meshes with a bevel gear 40 one of the threaded rods 12 to transmit each rotation of the gear 31 to the threaded rods 12.

When the arm 17 out of his in Fig. 8 shown with solid lines central rest position to the right in the position shown by dashed lines, then the left leg of the hairpin spring 35 is spread by the pin 36 from the sprocket 32, while the right leg presses against the ring gear and the gear 31 drives clockwise , When the arm 17 is moved back to the center position, the right leg sweeps over the teeth of the ring gear 32, without taking the gear 31. Only when the arm 17 passes the center position and its left leg again comes into contact with the ring gear 32, the gear 31 is driven by him counterclockwise, while at the same time the right leg is spread by the pin 36. Thus, by pivoting the arm 17 back and forth between the center position and a right stop position, the gear 31 can be rotated arbitrarily far in a first direction, and by pivoting the arm 17 between the middle position and a left stop position, it is rotated in the opposite direction ,

Fig. 9 shows in a perspective view of a modified embodiment of the Kühlgutträgermoduls Fig. 1 , The difference between the two embodiments lies in the design of the rear cross member 7. This has in the case of Fig. 9 in the middle one circular arc-shaped projection 41 which receives the gear 31. The front side of the transverse strut 7 has, in the amount of the projection 41, an opening 43 in order to enable the reciprocating movement of the arm 17 entering the transverse strut 7 there. At the bottom and the ceiling of the crossbar 7 43 guide rails are formed at the level of the opening, in which slats 42 connected to each other to a flexible band are taken longitudinally displaceable. A middle of these blades 42 surrounds the arm 17, so that upon each pivotal movement of the arm 17, the fins 42 follow in their guide rails. The band of the lamellae 42 is longer than the opening 43, so that the opening 43 is closed in its entire extent by the lamellae 42 in any position that the arm 17 can assume. Thus, pinching of objects between the arm 17 and an edge of the opening 43 and the ingress of dirt into the interior of the transverse strut 7 is excluded.

Claims (13)

1. Refrigerating appliance, in particular domestic refrigerating appliance, with a cooling stock support (4) adjustable in height, in which a rear region of the cooling stock carrier (7) is guided in a guide rail (2, 3) at an inner wall (1) of the refrigerating appliance to be vertically movable, characterised in that the inner wall comprises a detachably mounted plate (1) which carries the guide rail (2, 3) and with which a pivot arm (10) is pivotably connected, the pivot arm being displaceable and fixable in an at least approximately horizontally arranged guide (14) of the cooling stock support (4).
2. Refrigerating appliance according to claim 1, characterised in that the guide (14) is arranged in the front half of the cooling stock support (4).
3. Refrigerating appliance according to claim 1 or 2, characterised in that the cooling stock support (4) comprises a threaded spindle (12) oriented at least approximately parallelly to the horizontal guide (14), and that a slide block (11) articulated to the pivot arm (10) has an internal thread in engagement with the threaded rod (12).
4. Refrigerating appliance according to claim 3, characterised in that the engagement is self-locking.
5. Refrigerating appliance according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the horizontal guide is a slot (14) in a longitudinal strut (6) of the cooling stock support (4).
6. Refrigerating appliance according to claim 3 or 4 and claim 5, characterised in that the slide block (11) and the pivot arm (10) are connected by a connecting member (13) crossing the slot (14).
7. Refrigerating appliance according to any one of claims 3 to 6, characterised in that the cooling stock support (4) comprises two coupled rotatable threaded rods (12) which respectively extend adjacent to the lateral edges (6) of the cooling stock support (4).
8. Refrigerating appliance according to any one of claims 3 to 7, characterised in that the threaded spindle (12) is coupled by way of a ratchet mechanism (32, 35, 36) with a drive lever (16) movable in alternation in opposite directions.
9. Refrigerating appliance according to claim 8, characterised in that the drive lever (16) comprises an arm (17) pivotable about a vertical axis and a slider (18) displaceably guided in transverse direction of the cooling stock support (4), which engage one in the other with maintenance of play in depth direction.
10. Refrigerating appliance according to claim 9, characterised in that the ratchet mechanism (32, 35, 36) couples the pivotable arm (17) to a gearwheel (31, 33) rotatable about the vertical axis.
11. Refrigerating appliance according to claim 10, characterised in that the gearwheel (31) comprises a first bevel gear (33), that the threaded rod (12) carries a second bevel gear (40) and that the first and second bevel gears (33, 40) are coupled by way of a shaft (37) extending in width direction of the cooling stock support (4).
12. Refrigerating appliance according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised by at least one guide (15) which is pivotably connected at one end with the pivot arm (10) and at the other end with a rear region of the cooling stock support (4).
13. Refrigerating appliance according to claim 12, characterised in that the guide (15) is pivotably connected at least approximately in a centre region of the pivot arm (10).

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