EP2400244A2 - Cooler, in particular domestic cooler - Google Patents

Abstract

The apparatus has a boundary wall (3) comprising a mounting opening (1), where a housing portion (5) is mounted into the opening. The housing portion comprises an actuator i.e. bistable spring portion (15), for adjusting the housing portion between an initial state (I) and an assembly state, where the housing portion exhibits cross-section reduced in relation to the opening in the initial state. The housing portion is clamped within the opening under widening of the cross-section in the assembly state. The wall is turned towards a cooling chamber (7) of the apparatus.

Description

The invention relates to a refrigerating appliance, in particular a household refrigerating appliance, according to the preamble of claim 1 and a component which can be installed in such a refrigerating appliance according to patent claim 13.

The refrigeration space limiting inner container of refrigerators are currently usually produced in a Kunststofftiefziehverfahren. Subsequently, an insulating foam is introduced between the inner container and an outer housing in the foaming process.

From the DE 199 62 255 A1 a generic refrigerator is known, which has a mounting opening in a, the cooling space facing boundary wall, in which a separate housing part for receiving a lighting fixture or the like is used.

The mounting openings for such housing parts are already made before the foaming process, for example by means of stamping tools or with the help of milling robots in the inner container. Subsequently, the relevant attachments are mounted therein. Since the inner container is subject to large variations in wall thickness as a result of the production, it is necessary for the add-on parts to be additionally sealed after assembly in order to ensure foam-tightness for the subsequent foaming process. A locking of the attachments in the inner container is due to the fluctuating wall thickness to realize process reliable only with great effort.

The object of the invention is to provide a refrigeration device, in particular a domestic refrigerator, and a component for installation in such a refrigeration device, in spite of wall thickness variations of the boundary wall a particular foam-tight installation is made possible in a simple manner.

Under a refrigeration device is in particular a household refrigeration appliance understood, ie a refrigeration appliance for household management in households or possibly in the Catering area is used, and in particular serves to store food and / or drinks in household quantities at certain temperatures, such as a refrigerator, a freezer, a fridge-freezer, a freezer or a wine storage cabinet.

The object is solved by the features of claim 1 or claim 13. Preferred developments are disclosed in the subclaims.

According to the invention, a refrigeration device has a boundary wall with a mounting opening. In the mounting opening, a component, such as a housing part for receiving a lighting fixture mounted. This component closes the mounting hole. The component is specially provided with a particular manually operable actuator. When actuated, the component between a ground state in which the component assumes a reduced compared to the mounting hole cross-section and an adjustable mounting position in which the component under cross-sectional widening is clamped within the mounting hole.

As mentioned, the component may be a housing part for receiving a lighting fixture. But it can also serve to accommodate or attach other internals, such as sensors, pull-out rails, shelves, air ducts etc.

The invention is based on the idea that the component can be braced by the cross-sectional widening, that is to say by widening on the outer circumference of the component, parallel to the wall plane within the assembly opening. According to the invention, the fact is used that the position and the contour of the mounting opening in the punching / milling process can be determined extremely accurately positioned without tolerance fluctuations. Accordingly, the required for a foam-tight clamping cross-sectional widening of the component can be reliably measured. The effective direction of the contact pressure required for sealing is thus no longer, as described in the above-mentioned prior art, perpendicular to the thin Kühlgutbehälterwand, but parallel thereto, that is perpendicular to the sectional surface of the opening edge of the mounting hole. In particular, the boundary wall is backfoamed, and the component closes the mounting opening foam-tight in the assembled state. This prevents foaming from escaping from the mounting hole during foaming. Preferably, the boundary wall is part of a heat-insulating wall of the refrigerator. In particular, the boundary wall faces a cooling space of the refrigeration device. For example, the boundary wall corresponds to an inner container of the refrigeration device delimiting the cooling space.

For a foam-tight installation, it is particularly advantageous if the component in the assembled state directly to the, the mounting hole facing cut surface of the boundary wall, the so-called hole reveal in abutment.

The actuator required according to the invention can be designed differently. By way of example, the actuator may be a wedge element or a screw element, which is arranged adjustable relative to the component. By appropriate adjusting or screwing these elements, the component can be spread open under cross-sectional widening example.

Alternatively, it is with regard to a particularly easy mounting technique advantageous when the actuator is a bistable spring portion of the component. The bistable spring section can operate on the snap-frog effect, in which by manual operation, the component can be brought into the ground state or in the assembled state. The two basic and assembly states are each stable states that can be changed only after applying an external operating force.

The bistable spring portion may preferably surround a functional portion of the component, such as a receiving trough for receiving the aforementioned lighting body circumferentially. In this case, the bistable spring section can pass to the outside in a component edge.

For installation, the component is first moved to its ground state. Subsequently, the component with the reduced in the ground state cross-section is loosely inserted into the mounting hole. The component edge is doing at the opening edge of the Assembled mounting opening and thus engages behind the opening edge on its, the refrigerator compartment side facing away.

In a preferred technical realization, the bistable spring section may be a domed snap-action disk provided in the component, at whose curvature apex the above-mentioned functional section is formed. The snap disk provided in the component can be curved in the ground state with respect to the cooling space to the outside. By manual operation of the bistable spring portion can jump from the ground state in the assembled state or snap over, in which the component curvature is now directed inwards into the refrigerator.

The bistable spring section described above can be deformed when actuated, starting from the ground state under cross-sectional widening to a deflection point. The deformation of the spring section to the deflection point is carried out with application of an external actuating force. After overcoming the deflection of the bistable spring section under cross-section reduction automatically, that is deformed without an external operating force to the stable mounting state.

In order to ensure a reliable installation of the insert in the refrigeration device, it must be ensured that in the assembled state the built-in component presses against the opening edge of the mounting opening with a sufficiently large contact pressure. For this reason, the component can have at least one movement stop for the positional definition of the mounting state, which stops a deformation movement of the bistable spring section after overcoming the deflection point. The movement stop is in this case formed on the mounting part such that, when the spring section is in contact with the movement stop, a component cross-section results, with which the component is securely clamped in the mounting opening of the boundary wall.

For a circumferentially uniform cross-sectional widening, it is particularly preferred if the component has a circular cross-sectional contour which can be inserted into a likewise circularly designed mounting opening. In the event that the component has a different cross-sectional contour from the circular shape, there is a risk of non-uniform in the circumferential direction Cross-sectional expansion. In order to counteract such an uneven cross-sectional widening, the bistable spring section of the component can be formed with compensation points, for example a predetermined bending point and / or a film hinge. With the help of such compensation points, the cross-sectional widening when changing from the ground state to the mounting state as a function of the cross-sectional contour of the component is adjustable or customizable.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the invention with reference to the accompanying figures will be described.

Fig. 1

in einer perspektivischen Seitenschnittdarstellung ein in einem Grundzustand befindliches Gehäuseteil, dessen Bauteilrand an einem Öffnungsrand einer Montageöffnung einer Kühlraum-Begrenzungswand angesetzt ist;

Fig. 2

das Gehäuseteil in einer Ansicht von oben sowie in Alleinstellung; und

Fig. 3 bis 5

jeweils Seitenansichten, anhand derer der Einbau des Gehäuseteils in die Begrenzungswand veranschaulicht ist.

Show it:

Fig. 1

in a perspective side sectional view of a located in a ground state housing part whose component edge is attached to an opening edge of a mounting opening of a cooling space boundary wall;

Fig. 2

the housing part in a view from above and in isolation; and

Fig. 3 to 5

each side views, by means of which the installation of the housing part is illustrated in the boundary wall.

In the Fig. 1 is a pre-positioned at a mounting opening 1 of a boundary wall 3 component 5 is shown in the form of a housing part. The boundary wall 3 is part of a, a cooling chamber 7 defining inner container of a refrigeration device. The inner container is manufactured in a known manner by deep drawing. Subsequently, in a punching process or by means of a milling robot, the mounting opening 1 is incorporated into the boundary wall 3, in which the housing part 5 is inserted. The housing part 5 has according to the Fig. 1 a receiving trough 9 for receiving a lighting fixture or a controller, not shown here. After installation of the housing part 5, a foaming process is carried out, in which, in a conventional manner, a cavity between the inner container and an outer housing is filled with a Wärmeisolierschaum.

The housing part 5 shown in the figures has, in addition to the receiving trough 9, a laterally outwardly angled component edge 11. The edge of the component 11 has a peripheral edge 13 on the edge. This engages behind the mounting opening 1 at the, the cooling chamber 7 facing away and the Wärmeisolierschaum side facing. The peripheral web 13 of the side edge 11 is formed on a likewise circumferential side edge 14. This is at an insertion edge 17 in a respect to the cooling chamber 7 outwardly domed snap disk 15, in the uniform material and in one piece and approximately centrally the receiving trough 9 is integrated. According to the embodiment shown, the component edge 11, together with the bulge 15 and the receiving trough 9, is designed as a one-piece component with substantially the same material thickness as a plastic part.

According to the embodiment shown, the annular snap disk 15 of the housing part 5 is designed as a bistable spring portion which is manually acted upon by an actuating force F, whereby the housing part 5 of which, in the Fig. 1 and 3 shown basic state I in a, in the Fig. 5 shown mounting state II can be brought. In the ground state I, the housing part 5 has a reduced compared to the opening cross-section of the mounting hole 1 component cross-section. This reduced component cross-section makes it possible to pre-position the housing part 5 in a loose mounting in the mounting opening 1, as shown in the Fig. 1 or 3 is shown. As a result, the side edge 11 of the housing part 5 rests against the opening edge region of the mounting opening 1. By contrast, the insertion edge 17 formed at the transition between the side flank 11 and the snap disk 15 already protrudes through the assembly opening 1. The side flank 14 inclined in the assembled state I with respect to the assembly opening edge serves as an insertion bevel, by means of which the housing part 5 is pre-positioned in the assembly opening 1 in the correct position can.

For installation of the according to the Fig. 1 and 3 prepositioned housing part 5, the actuating force F is applied to the snap disk 15. This reduces the curvature of the snap-action disc while increasing the component cross-section of the housing part 5. By the application of force is the snap-action disc 15 to a, in the Fig. 4 shown deflecting x deformed under further cross-sectional widening. After overcoming the deflection point x, the snap disk 15 can automatically without further external application of force to the, in the Fig. 5 shown stable Deform assembly condition II. When taking place after overcoming the deflection point x deformation, the snap disk 15 is in accordance with the Fig. 5 bulged downward and reduces the component cross-section.

The component geometry of the housing part 5 is designed such that, in the assembled state II, a component cross section of a predetermined size results. This is compared to the opening cross-section of the mounting hole 1 increases such that the housing part 5 automatically and foam tight against the mounting hole 1 facing narrow cutting surface 23 foam-tight braced, that is, the peripheral side edge 14 foam-tight against the cutting surface 23 is pressed. Foam penetration during the subsequent foaming process is thus reliably excluded.

For a limitation of the deformation process to the mounting state, the housing part 5 on stop elements 25. These are formed according to the figures on the side facing away from the cooling chamber 7 side of the snap disk 15. Like from the Fig. 3 to 5 It can be seen that by means of the movement stops 25, an automatic deformation of the snap-action disc 15 after overcoming the deflection point x is stopped in such a way that a component cross-section results in the assembled state II with which a foam-tight clamping of the housing part 5 in the assembly opening 1 is made possible.

In order to achieve as foam-tight as possible a plant between the component side edge 11 and the cutting surface 23 of the mounting hole 1, a circumferentially as uniform as possible cross-sectional widening of importance. For such a uniform cross-sectional widening 19 predetermined bending points 27 and film hinges 29 are formed by material weakening in the bulge. The predetermined bending points 27 and the film hinges 29 are dimensioned such that, in spite of the right-angled component contour, when changing from the ground state I to the mounting state II, a cross-sectional widening uniform in the circumferential direction of the component can take place.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

1

mounting hole

3

boundary wall

5

component

7

refrigerator

9

receiving trough

11

margin

13

edge web

14

side flank

15

bistable spring section

17

lead-in

23

section

25

travel stop

27

Predetermined bending point

29

film hinge

X

turning point

Claims (15)

Refrigeration appliance, in particular domestic refrigeration appliance, with a boundary wall (3) which has a mounting opening (1), wherein in the mounting opening (1) a component (5) is mounted, which closes the mounting opening (1), characterized in that the component ( 5) has an actuator (15), upon actuation of which the component (5) can be adjusted between a basic state (I), in which the component (5) has a reduced cross-section compared to the mounting opening (1), and an assembly state (II) is, in which the component (5) with cross-sectional widening within the mounting hole (1) is clamped. Refrigerating appliance according to claim 1, characterized in that the boundary wall (3) is back-foamed, and that the component (5) closes the mounting opening (1) in the assembled state (II) foam-tight. Refrigerating appliance according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the boundary wall (3) faces a cooling space (7) of the refrigerating appliance. Refrigerating appliance according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the component (5) in the assembled state (II) with, the mounting opening (1) facing cut surface (23) of the boundary wall (3) in particular foam-tight system. Refrigerating appliance according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the actuator (15) of the same material and / or integrally in the component (5) is integrated. Refrigerating appliance according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the actuator (15) is a bistable spring section which brings the component (5) in the normal state (I) or in the assembled state (II) when operated manually. Refrigerating appliance according to claim 6, characterized in that the bistable spring portion (15) surrounds a functional portion (9) of the component, such as a receiving trough for receiving the lighting fixture, circumferentially, and the outside passes into a component edge (11), which in a Vorpositionierung of the component (5) in the mounting opening (1) can be attached to the opening edge. Refrigerating appliance according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that the bistable spring section (15) is a domed snap-action disc in which the functional portion (9) is bulged approximately in the middle and in the ground state (I) with respect to the cooling space (7) is domed on the outside, and in the assembled state (II) is curved inward to manual. Refrigerating appliance according to one of claims 6 to 8, characterized in that the bistable spring portion (15) upon actuation starting from the ground state (I) under cross-sectional widening to a deflection point (x) is deformed, and after overcoming the deflection point (x) under cross-section reduction automatically is deformable until the stable mounting state (II). Refrigerating appliance according to claim 9, characterized in that for the positional definition of the mounting state (II), the component has at least one movement stop (25) which interrupts a deformation movement of the bistable spring portion (15) after overcoming the deflection point (x). Refrigerating appliance according to claim 10, characterized in that the movement stop (25) is arranged so that in the assembled state (II) results in a component cross section, with which the component (5) in the mounting opening (1) can be clamped. Refrigerating appliance according to one of claims 6 to 11, characterized in that in the bistable spring portion (15) of the component (5) at least one predetermined bending point (27) and / or a film hinge (29) is formed, with the aid of a cross-sectional widening when changing from the ground state (I) in the mounting state (II) as a function of the component contour is adjustable or adaptable. Component for a refrigeration device according to one of the preceding claims. Component according to claim 13, characterized in that it is a housing part for receiving a lighting fixture. Component according to claim 14, characterized in that a functional portion (9) of the component is a receiving trough for receiving the lighting fixture.

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