EP3155339A1

EP3155339A1 - Household appliance

Info

Publication number: EP3155339A1
Application number: EP15732433.6A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Benhe Dou; Shanshan HUANG; Yunfang Sun
Original assignee: BSH Hausgeraete GmbH
Current assignee: BSH Hausgeraete GmbH
Priority date: 2014-06-12
Filing date: 2015-06-10
Publication date: 2017-04-19
Also published as: WO2015189773A1; CN105276901A

Abstract

The present invention relates to a household appliance, including a housing (10) and a cap (11). The cap (11) is fixed to the housing (10) by using at least one connection component (17, 24), and according to a suggestion of the present invention, the connection component (17, 24) is disposed in a manner that the cap (11) can be fixed to the housing (10) very well by the connection component (17, 24) while the cap (11) is on at least two different positions.

Description

HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCE BACKGROUND

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of household appliances, and in particular to a household appliance having a housing.

Related Art

In the existing household appliances, for example, in a fridge, there should be a temperature-control box, for example, where a temperature-control plate needs to be disposed. Because a failure may occur to the temperature-control plate after a prolonged use, the temperature-control box needs to be removed, so as to detect, repair, or change the temperature-control plate. The foregoing requirement requires the convenience of removing the cap of the temperature-control box, and therefore, the cap is generally directly exposed on the surface of the fridge, or is exposed to a user after the fridge door is opened. From the aesthetic point of view, a user is not expected to notice a difference between the cap and the outer wall of the fridge surrounding the cap, and therefore, the surface of the cap forms the same color as that of the outer wall of the fridge, and the cap is disposed in a manner that the outer surface of the cap and the outer wall of the fridge surrounding the cap are located on the same plane, and it is maintained that a gap between an edge of the cap and the outer wall of the fridge is as small as possible, and is hard to be noticed by a user.

The following two types of design may exist on the outer wall of the fridge, particularly on a front wall of the top of the fridge: 1. a metal plate is directly used; and 2. a decorative plate is added on a metal plate. To enrich the variety of products, the fridges of the same model may include both of the above two types of design. Most temperature-control boxes are disposed at the foregoing position of the fridge. In the fridges of the same model, a position of the temperature-control box on the top wall of the fridge is not changed generally, but to make that both in the two conditions, the outer surface of the cap and the outer wall of the fridge surrounding the cap are located on the same plane, two caps satisfying the foregoing two conditions need to be designed.

SUMMARY

To solve a problem mentioned in the related art that in a household appliance, a cap of a housing located on outer wall needs to be redesigned due to whether a decorative plate is added, the present invention provides a household appliance having a cap that can satisfy different conditions.

To achieve the foregoing objective, the present invention provides a household appliance, including a housing accommodating at least one electric device and a cap, where the cap is fixed to the housing by using at least one connection component, and the connection component is disposed in a manner that the cap can be fixed to the housing very well by the connection component while the cap is on at least two different positions.

The connection component makes the cap capable of being fixed to the housing very well, while the cap is on the at least two different positions, so that in both conditions in which a wall of the household appliance is a metal plate or a decorative plate is added on the metal plate, a cap of the same type can be used. The cap is adjusted to be on a different position, so that an outer surface of the cap and the metal plate or the decorative plate are located on the same plane, thereby maintaining a fine outer wall of the household appliance. A distance between the two different positions at which the cap is adjusted may be designed to be equal to the thickness of the decorative plate, so as to avoid a complicated procedure of redesigning the cap after the decorative plate is added on the metal plate, and by using the same assembling device, an assembling procedure may also be simplified.

When the cap is fixed to the housing, an outer surface of the cap and the wall of the household appliance surrounding the cap are located on the same plane while the cap is on at least one of the positions. The wall of the household appliance includes two conditions: the wall of the household appliance is a metal plate or a decorative plate is added on the metal plate.

The cap includes a cover and at least two extending walls extending from an inner surface of the cover to a back wall of the housing, and at least a part of the connection component is fixed on the extending walls. In a preferred manner, there are four extending walls, and the adjacent extending walls are perpendicularly connected, to form a hollow body whose profile is rectangular. The disposing of the extending walls improves the stability of the connection component disposed on the extending walls, and also improves the strength of the entire cap, making the cap hard to be damaged.

A direction in which the cap moves between the at least two positions is perpendicular to an outer surface of the cap, that is, the direction is perpendicular to the wall of the household appliance which is close to a surround of the cap, and therefore, when the decorative plate is added on the metal plate of the household appliance, it only needs to move the cap outward to a next position, the moving distance is set to be the thickness of the decorative plate, and it makes the outer surface of the cap and the surface of the decorative plate locate on the same plane.

The connection component is a fastener, which facilitates the installation and removal. The fasteners include a first fastening piece fixed on the housing and a second fastening piece fixed on the cap, and the first fastening piece and the second fastening piece work with each other.

The second fastening piece includes an elastic piece, and by operating the elastic piece, the first fastening piece and second fastening piece can be separated, and the cap can be removed from the housing.

The household appliance further includes a buffer piece, where the buffer piece is located between the elastic piece and the extending walls of the cap. A function of the buffer piece is to protect the elastic piece on the second fastening piece, and prevent the elastic piece from rupture due to excessively large bending amplitude. The buffer piece is also an elastic sheet in a bended shape, where one end of the buffer piece is fixed on the elastic piece, and the other end abuts the extending wall of the cap. The buffer piece generates a displacement relative to the extending wall of the cap when the buffer piece is forced.

The first fastening piece is a latch, and the second fastening piece includes at least two clamping slots that can hold the latch. The latch may work with any one of the clamping slots, and corresponds separately to the different positions of the cap, for example, when the latch is located at the first clamping which is close to the opening of the housing, the outer surface of the cap and the metal plate of the household appliance are located on the same plane; and when the latch is located at the second clamping slot which is close to the back wall of the housing, the outer surface of the cap and the decorative plate covering the metal plate of the household appliance are located on the same plane.

The clamping slots are located on the elastic piece, and the clamping slots and the elastic piece are an integrated structure. Acute angles formed by the intersection of the inclined planes of the clamping slots and the surface of the elastic piece are less than 45 degrees, and are preferably 30 degrees. When the angle is smaller, it is easier for the latch to fall off the slot, but an excessively small angle is not good for the fixing of the latch and the slot. In addition, for a smaller angle, for example, 30 degrees, when there is a small external force, the latch is easy to have a small displacement relative to the slot. For example, when the latch is located in the clamping slot, the cap can be pulled out by using a sucker which sucks the surface of the cap, so that the latch moves a small displacement relative to the clamping slot. The small displacement is enough to make a side wall of the cover of the cap higher than the wall of the household appliance surrounding the cap. The household appliance further includes guiding pieces guiding the cap to move relatively to the housing, and the guiding pieces include a guiding bulge and a guiding groove working with the guiding bulge. For example, the guiding bulge may be disposed on the extending wall of the cap, and the guiding groove is disposed at an inner wall of the housing. When the extending wall of the cap is inserted into the housing, guided by the cooperation of the guiding bulge and the guiding groove, both the first fastening piece and the second fastening piece can be located on the correct positions, which is good for the installation of the cap and the housing.

The connection component includes a terminal, and the cap can be removed from the housing by operating the terminal. The terminal may be located at a place close to the inner surface of the cover of the cap, or a groove may also be provided on an edge of the cap, and the terminal is disposed in the groove, that is, the terminal is located inside the edge of the cap, and the cap is conveniently removed by operating the terminal. The household appliance is a fridge, a washer or a gas cooktop.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a three-door fridge in a household appliance of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a housing of a temperature-control box on a top wall of the three-door fridge;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a cap of the temperature-control box; FIG. 4 is an enlarged diagram of a part C in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a cutaway drawing in which a terminal of the connection component is located inside an edge of the cap;

FIG. 6 is a cutaway drawing in which a latch of a fastener works with clamping slots; FIG. 7 is a cutaway drawing in which a wall of a fridge is a metal plate and the fridge has a temperature-control box;

FIG. 8 is an enlarged diagram of a part A in FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a cutaway drawing in which a wall of a fridge includes a metal plate and a decorative plate and the fridge has a temperature-control box; and FIG. 10 is an enlarged diagram of a part B in FIG. 9.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 shows a three-door fridge 1, including a refrigerated chamber 37 on the top, an intermediate chamber 36 in the middle, and a freezing chamber 35 at the bottom, and a refrigerated chamber door 34, an intermediate chamber door 33, and a freezing chamber door 32 separately of the foregoing three chambers. Temperature-control chambers 10, 11 (referring to FIG. 2 and FIG. 3) configured to arrange a printed circuit plate (PCB) such as a temperature controller therein is disposed on the top of the refrigerated chamber 37, that is, a top wall of the fridge. An outer surface 5 of a cover 2 of a cap 11 of the temperature-control chamber 10, 11 is exposed to a front wall 12 of the top wall of the fridge, and the front wall 12 is a metal plate. For an esthetic reason, the outer surface 5 of the cover 2 and the metal plate 12 are located on the same plane and use the same color, and it is ensured that a gap between the cover 2 and the metal plate 12 surrounding the cover 2 is as small as possible, which avoids being easily noticed. When the refrigerated chamber door 34 of the refrigerated chamber 37 is closed, the cover 2 is sheltered by the refrigerated chamber door 34. In addition, a switch that can trigger a power supply of a bulb inside the refrigerated chamber 37 may further be disposed on the front wall 12 of the top wall of the fridge. Because the switch is of common design, details are not described herein.

FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 are respectively a housing 10 of the foregoing temperature-control chamber and the cap 11 enclosing the housing 10. The housing 10 is approximately a cuboid, and to suit the shape of the PCB plate, an extending area is disposed on a corner of a back wall of the cuboid. An opening 22 of the housing 10 is rectangular. First fastening pieces 17 having connection and fixation functions are disposed separately on two side walls of the housing 10. In this embodiment, the first fastening piece 17 is a bulge, and a guiding bulge 21 having a guiding function is disposed at a lower wall inside the housing 10. The cap 11 includes the cover 2 and four extending walls 27, 28 extending from an inner surface 4 of the cover 2 to the back wall of the housing 10, and adjacent extending walls in the four extending walls are perpendicularly connected to each other, to form a hollow body whose profile is rectangular. The wall 28 in the four extending walls is provided with a guiding groove 23 working with the guiding bulge 21 provided on an inner wall of the housing 10, and the guiding bulge 21 works with the guiding groove 23, so that the cap may be located at a right position when entering the housing 10, which helps the cap 11 be connected to the housing 10. Second fastening pieces 24 are disposed both on the two extending walls 27 perpendicularly connected to the wall 28 at which the guiding groove 23 is located, and for a specific structure of the second fastening piece 24, reference may be made to FIG. 4. An end 3 of the second fastening piece 24 is fixed on the extending wall 27, and the fixed end 3 is almost flush with an end portion of the extending wall 27. The fixed end 3 includes two fixed legs 8 that are fixed on the extending wall 27 and are parallel with each other, and a connection piece 9 connected to the two fixed legs 8. The second fastening piece 24 further includes an elastic piece 18 that can deform, and the elastic piece 18 and the connection piece 9 are an integrated structure. A major part of the elastic piece 18 is approximately parallel to the extending wall 27, and a first clamping slot 20 and a second clamping slot 15 are provided side by side on the elastic piece 18. An arrangement direction of the first clamping slot 20 and the second clamping slot 15 is perpendicular to a surface of the cover 2 of the cap 11, the first clamping slot 20 is closer to the cover 2 than the second clamping slot 15, and the first clamping slot 20 and the second clamping slot 15 can both work with the first fastening piece 17. A distance between the first clamping slot 20 and the second clamping slot 15 is designed to be equal to the thickness of a decorative plate 14 (referring to FIG. 10) to be added on the metal plate 12 of the fridge. A buffer piece 19 is located between the elastic piece 18 and the extending wall 27.

A function of the buffer piece 19 is to protect the elastic piece 18 on the second fastening piece 24, and prevent the elastic piece 18 from rupture due to excessively large bending amplitude. The buffer piece 19 is also an elastic sheet in a bended shape, where one end of the buffer piece 19 is fixed on the elastic piece 18, and the other end of the buffer piece 19 abuts the extending wall 27 of the cap. The buffer piece generates a displacement relative to the extending wall 27 when the buffer piece is forced. An end of the elastic piece 18 connects the connection piece 9, and the other end of the elastic piece 18 is connected to a terminal 25. The terminal 25 is an operation piece which is perpendicular to the elastic piece 18 and the extending wall 27, the operation piece 25 is entirely located inside a groove 29 of the inner surface 4 of the cover 2, and an opening of the groove 29 faces the inside of the housing 10. The depth of the groove 29 is about one fourth (referring to FIG. 5) of the thickness of the cover 2. According to one aspect, it is ensured that the operation piece 25 has a certain thickness, thereby facilitating an operation, and if the operation piece 25 is excessively thin, the operation piece 25 is easy to be broken during an operation; and according to another aspect, security of the cover 2 also needs to be ensured, and if the operation piece 25 is excessively thick, the cover 2 corresponding to the groove 29 at which the operation piece 25 is located necessarily has thin thickness, and the cover 2 has a risk of rupture because being necessarily thin.

It is mentioned above that the first clamping slot 20 and the second clamping slot 15 are provided side by side on the elastic piece 18. Referring to FIG. 6, the first clamping slot 20 and the second clamping slot 15 are located on the elastic piece 18, and the first clamping slot 20, the second clamping slot 15 and the elastic piece 18 are an integrated structure. Acute angles D formed by the intersection of the inclined planes of the first clamping slot 20 and the second clamping slot 15 and a surface of the elastic piece 18 are preferably less than 45 degrees. In this embodiment, the angles D are 30 degrees. When the angle D is smaller, it is better for a latch 17 to fall off the slots 15, 20, but excessively small angle is not good for the fixing of the latch 17 and the slots 15, 20. In addition, for a small angle, for example, 30 degrees, when there is a small external force, the latch 17 is easy to have a small displacement with the slots 15, 20. For example, the latch 17 is located in the second clamping slot 15. The cover 2 is pulled out by using a sucker or another sucking apparatus which sucks the outer surface 5 of the cover 2, so that the latch 17 moves a small displacement relative to the second clamping slot 15 in FIG. 6, and the cover 2 slightly moves a small distance outward. The small displacement is enough to make a side wall 26 of the cover 2 of the cap 11 higher than the wall of the household appliance surrounding the cap 11, and therefore, the exposed operation piece 25 located inside the side wall 26 of the cap 11 may be pushed and pressed by using a component such as a thin section, so as to conveniently remove the cap 11 from the housing 10. The removal manner is reliable, and an operator may watch the thin section pushing the operation piece 25 during the whole operation, and may control the operation strength and amplitude, thereby preventing a connection component on the cap 11 from being damaged because of an operation error.

FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 show a connection relationship between the temperature-control boxes 10, 11 and the metal plate 12 when the wall of the fridge is only the metal plate 12. The temperature-control boxes 10, 11 are cuboids, and the back wall 6 thereof is different from the housing 10 in FIG. 2. The latch 17 is located in the first clamping slot 20 close to the cover 2, and the metal plate 12 has a perpendicular part 16 close to an opening of the temperature-control boxes 10, 11, where the perpendicular part 16 is bended and is perpendicular to the metal plate 12 on the top of the fridge and on the front door. The housing 10 is fixed on the perpendicular part 16 of the metal plate. The outer surface of the cover 2 and the metal plate 12 surrounding the cover 12 are located on the same plane, and no obvious gap exists between them. FIG. 9 and FIG. 10 show a connection relationship between the temperature-control boxes 10, 11, the metal plate 12, and the decorative plate 14 after the decorative plate 14 is added on the metal plate 12. The latch 17 is located in the second clamping slot 15 far away from the cover 2, and the housing 10 is still fixed on the perpendicular part 16 of the metal plate. The outer surface of the cover 2 and the decorative plate 14 surrounding the cover 2 are located on the same plane, no obvious gap exists between them. The thickness of the decorative plate 14 is equal to the distance between the first clamping slot 20 and the second clamping slot 15.

Claims

CLAIMS What is claimed is:

1. A household appliance, comprising a housing (10) accommodating at least one electric device and a cap (11), wherein the cap (11) is fixed to the housing (10) by using at least one connection component (17, 24), and the connection component (17, 24) is disposed in a manner that the cap (11) can be fixed to the housing (10) very well by the connection component (17, 24) while the cap (11) is on at least two different positions.

2. The household appliance according to claim 1, wherein when the cap (11) is fixed to the housing (10), an outer surface (5) of the cap (11) and a wall (12) of the household appliance surrounding the cap (11) are located on the same plane, while the cap (11) is on at least one of the positions.

3. The household appliance according to claim 1, wherein the cap (11) comprises a cover (2) and at least two extending walls (27, 28) extending from an inner surface (4) of the cover (2) to a back wall (6) of the housing (10), and at least a part of the connection component (17, 24) is fixed on the extending walls (27, 28).

4. The household appliance according to claim 1, wherein a direction in which the cap (11) moves between the at least two positions is perpendicular to an outer surface (5) of the cap (11).

5. The household appliance according to claim 1, wherein the connection component (17, 24) are fasteners.

6. The household appliance according to claim 5, wherein the fasteners (15, 17, 20, 24, 25) comprise a first fastening piece (17) fixed on the housing (10) and a second fastening piece (24) fixed on the cap (11), and the first fastening piece (17) and the second fastening piece (24) work with each other.

7. The household appliance according to claim 6, wherein the second fastening piece (24) comprises an elastic piece (18, 25).

8. The household appliance according to claim 7, further comprising a buffer piece (19), wherein the buffer piece (19) is located between the elastic piece (18, 25) and extending walls (27, 28) of the cap (11).

9. The household appliance according to claim 6, wherein the first fastening piece (17) is a latch, and the second fastening piece (24) comprises at least two clamping slots (15, 20) that can hold the latch (17).

10. The household appliance according to claim 1, wherein the clamping slots (15, 20) are located on an elastic piece (18, 25), and acute angles formed by the intersection of the inclined planes of the clamping slots (15, 20) and a surface of the elastic piece (18, 25) are less than 45 degrees.

11. The household appliance according to claim 1, further comprising guiding pieces (21, 23) for guiding the cap (11) to move relatively to the housing (10).

12. The household appliance according to claim 11, wherein the guiding pieces (21,

23) comprise a guiding bulge (21) and a guiding groove (23) working with the guiding bulge (21).

13. The household appliance according to claim 1, wherein the connection component (17, 24) comprises a terminal (25), and the cap (11) can be removed from the housing (10) by operating the terminal (25).

14. The household appliance according to claim 13, wherein the terminal (25) is close to an edge (26) of the cap (11).

15. The household appliance according to claim 13, wherein the terminal (25) is located inside an edge (26) of the cap (11).

16. The household appliance according to claim 1, wherein the household appliance is a fridge, a washer or a gas cooktop.