EP3182017A1 - Domestic appliance - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a household appliance (1), in particular cooking appliance, with a control element (4a, 4b, 4c) movable relative to a contact element (6) for controlling an operating state of the domestic appliance (1) which is provided with a contact surface (8a, 8b, 8c ) Contacting a contact surface (9a, 9b, 9c) of the contact element (6). According to the invention, it is provided that the contact surface (8a, 8b, 8c) of the operating element (4a, 4b, 4c) and / or the contact surface (9a, 9b, 9c) of the abutment element (6) at least in sections by a coating (10a, 10b , 10c) is or are formed.

Description

Background of the invention

The present invention relates to a household appliance, in particular a cooking appliance, with a relative to a contact element movable control element for controlling an operating state of the household appliance, which contacts a contact surface of a contact surface of the contact element with a contact surface.

State of the art

From the prior art household appliances, e.g. Large household appliances in the form of a cooking appliance, known in which an operating condition can be adjusted by the operation of a control by a user. Thus, for example, in a cooking appliance, a cooking stage and / or a temperature preselection can take place by rotating or displacing the operating element that is movable relative to a contact element.

On the one hand to ensure a secure contact electrical contacts when adjusting the control and on the other hand to produce a high-quality impression, a possible play-free management of the control element with respect to the contact element is to ensure. This guide must not be deteriorated over the entire life of the household appliance by possible wear of the contact surface of the control element and / or the contact surface of the contact element recognizable.

It is known to choose an appropriate combination of materials for the control and the contact element. For example, controls made of plastic with a contact element, which also consists of plastic, paired. The corresponding conditioning elements made of plastic can in turn be accommodated in a metallic control panel of the household appliance.

The household appliances known from the prior art have a disadvantage insofar as that the choice of material of the operating element and the contact element always has to be made in view of the functional interaction between the control element and contact element and the choice of material is correspondingly limited.

The description of the prior art is provided to assist in understanding the background of the present invention and may include items and information outside the prior art that are known to one of ordinary skill in the art.

The problem underlying the invention

It is an object of the present invention to provide a household appliance improved over the prior art which overcomes the disadvantages described above while maintaining the advantages achieved by the prior art.

Inventive solution

The solution of the object is achieved by a household appliance with the features of claim 1. According to the invention this is achieved in a household appliance according to the preamble of claim 1, characterized in that the contact surface of the control element and / or the contact surface of the contact element is at least partially formed by a coating ,

The contact surface of both the operating element and the abutment element represents that surface which, when the operating element is used as intended by a user, ie for setting an operating state, touches the respective other contact surface at least in sections. It is possible that the two contact surfaces also touch when no use of the control element takes place. However, it is also possible that the two contact surfaces, when the operating element is not used, do not contact, for example by a push-to-turn as Operating element is first linearly displaced by the user along an axis and then, when touching the two contact surfaces, is rotated about an axis. An adjustment of an operating condition may, without limitation, mean any adjustment of operating parameters such as time, temperature, operating mode, and the like.

In a proper use of the control element and associated relative movement between the control element and the contact element creates sliding friction on the two contact surfaces.

Instead of now, as known from the prior art, to select certain material combinations for the operating element and the contact element, the invention proposes to provide one or both components with a coating. On the one hand, therefore, the materials for both components can be chosen much more freely. In particular, materials can be selected according to aspects such as material costs, longevity or qualitative appearance - regardless of their material interaction at the contact surfaces. On the other hand, significantly better functional properties at the contact surfaces can be achieved by a coating compared to conventionally used material pairings. In addition, since the coating only has to cover portions of the surfaces of the operating element or of the contact element, additional costs resulting from the coating can be reduced to a minimum.

Under a relative mobility of control element relative to contact element is to be understood that at least one of the two components changes its position during operation. For example, the control element may change its position relative to the fixed abutment element during operation, e.g. by twisting and / or shifting the operating element.

Advantageous embodiments and developments, which can be used individually or in combination with each other, are the subject of the dependent claims.

According to one embodiment, it is provided that the coating is friction-reducing. In this way, the user can be taught in a simple and cost-effective manner a high-quality operating experience. Also can one necessary game between control element and contact element can be further reduced, which also contributes to a higher-quality operating experience, but without requiring excessive friction forces during operation. Alternatively or additionally, it may be provided that the coating is wear-reducing. The life can thus be increased and at the same time excluded due to wear enlargement of the game between the control element and contact element or at least minimized. Under "friction-reducing" and "wear-reducing" is understood in each case an improvement of the corresponding property of the contact surface with respect to the lying under the coating carrier material of the control element or contact element. Furthermore, it can be provided that the coating influences the electrical properties with regard to a line or insulation. In addition, the coating can be applied to a plastic surface and / or paint surfaces.

Considering the costs and benefits, in particular the achievable effectiveness with regard to the reduction of wear of the coating, according to the invention one or both contact surfaces has a coating which extends at least in sections. It is conceivable, for example, at least 50 percent, at least 75 percent or at least 90 percent of the contact surface or the contact surfaces to coat. If at least a portion of the contact surface or those contact surfaces which has the coating is uncoated, however, it can be prevented that a user can perceive the coating. For example, an outer edge region of the coated contact surface (s) may be uncoated.

However, in order to achieve a maximum effective reduction of wear, it is provided according to an embodiment that the contact surface of the operating element and / or the contact surface of the contact element is completely formed by a coating or are.

In principle, however, it is not necessary for the coating according to the invention to extend beyond the contact surface (s) to other surfaces of the components. In particular, according to one embodiment it can be provided that the coating is not exposed, ie that visible surfaces of the operating element and / or the Investment element are free from the coating of the contact surface (s) according to the invention. In particular, it can be provided that all surfaces of the operating element and / or the contact element, with the exception of the coated contact surface, are free of the coating according to the invention. By "the coating according to the invention" is to be understood in this sense the coating of the contact surface; not excluded in this sense, of course, different types of coatings such as visible surfaces, such as color coatings or markings on the control element or the contact element. If the coating is not exposed, this can be selected only in terms of their functional properties in the contact between the control element and the display element. There are no special requirements for the look or feel of the coating must be considered.

According to an alternative embodiment, it is provided that the coating is at least partially exposed. Although not necessary for reasons of wear of the contact surfaces, this may possibly result in a simpler production of the control element or of the contact element, namely by a surface comprising the contact surface, e.g. a front surface of the contact element is completely coated. It is also possible that sections of a contact surface are visible or become visible when operating the operating element: if e.g. the operating element is formed by a push button, which is substantially completely received in a first position in the contact element and protrudes in a second position thereof, a part of the envelope-shaped contact surface of the push button is visible in the second position, so is free.

In order to achieve a cost-effective, yet effective improvement of the functional properties in the area of the contact between the control element and the contact element, it can be provided that only one of the two contact surfaces has a coating. Thus, for example, only the contact surface of the contact element at least partially have a coating, while the contact surface of the control element has no coating.

According to one embodiment, it is provided that the coating is a CVD coating. This is a so-called "chemical vapor deposition", ie a coating based on chemical vapor deposition. Since it is a coating produced at atmospheric pressure, the coating of the contact surface can be cost-effective, in particular relatively easy to be integrated into the series production of the control element or the contact element.

According to one embodiment, it is provided that the coating is applied to a metallic surface. This embodiment makes use of the fact that the carrier material for the coating can basically be chosen without regard to the resulting sliding friction between operating element and contact element and a metallic component is particularly stable and conveys a particularly high value. For example, it can be provided that the contact element comprises a carrier material made of metal, in particular it can be provided that the contact element is formed by a metallic control panel of the household appliance.

According to one embodiment, it is provided that the coating is transparent. For the user, the coating is thus not readily apparent, so that the valency of the household appliance for the user is not diminished. This embodiment is particularly advantageous when the coated contact surface is at least partially exposed and / or other surfaces outside the contact surface have the coating.

According to one embodiment, it is provided that a layer thickness of the coating is less than 1 micron, in particular that the layer thickness is in the range between 100 to 500 nanometers. On the one hand, such thin coatings can already ensure the required wear reduction and / or friction reduction. On the other hand, such thin coatings make it possible for them to exert essentially no influence on the relevant dimensions of operating element and contact element. In particular, conventional, already used in household appliances controls or system elements can be provided with a coating and installed in household appliances according to the invention without having to change the relevant dimensions of the control element and the contact element.

According to one embodiment, it is provided that the operating element is a push-turn knob, a rotary knob, a push button or the like. While a rotary knob performs only a rotation about an axis of rotation and a pushbutton performs only a translation along an axis, a spin knob can be moved both translationally and rotatively.

The contact element can represent a guide of the operating element. In particular, the contact element can limit the operating element at least with respect to a degree of freedom in its movement. The abutment element may e.g. be formed by a substantially flat component and / or form a receptacle of the operating element, by e.g. forms a sleeve or a cup-shaped structure. The contact element can be formed in particular according to one embodiment by a front panel. Preferably, this is a control panel of the household appliance.

According to one embodiment, it is provided that the operating element is rotatable about an axis perpendicular to the abutment element and / or is displaceable along an axis perpendicular to the abutment element.

According to one embodiment it is provided that the household appliance is in a non-limiting manner a household appliance from the group of cooking appliance, hob, dishwasher, washing machine or refrigerator. In the case of a cooking appliance, it may be an oven or a stove.

Preferably, it is provided that neither the operating element nor the contact element is detachable or disassemblable from the latter when the household appliance is used as intended, and in particular can not be dismantled without destruction.

An inventive household appliance may have a plurality of operating elements for setting operating states. It is conceivable that each operating element contacts a separate contact element via a corresponding contact surface. It is also conceivable that two or more controls contact the same investment element. For example, the contact element can be formed by a front panel, in particular by a control panel, of the household appliance, on which several controls are arranged or which is contacted by a plurality of controls.

The control element and the contact element are separate components. Preferably, the control element and / or the contact element are / is formed in one piece.

Further features of the invention will become apparent from the claims, the figures and the description of the figures. The features and feature combinations mentioned above in the description as well as the features and feature combinations mentioned below in the description of the figures and / or shown alone in the figures can be used not only in the respectively specified combination but also in other combinations or in isolation, without the scope of To leave invention.

Brief description of the drawings

Fig. 1

eine schematische Darstellung eines Haushaltsgerätes in Form eines Gargeräts umfassend drei Ausführungsbeispiele der vorliegenden Erfindung.

Fig. 2

einen Ausschnitt einer schematischen Schnittdarstellung entlang der Schnittebene II-II aus Fig. 1.

The above and other features of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to certain embodiments thereof, which are illustrated by the accompanying drawings, and which are given by way of illustration only, and thus are not limitative of the present invention. In the drawing show:

Fig. 1

a schematic representation of a household appliance in the form of a cooking appliance comprising three embodiments of the present invention.

Fig. 2

a section of a schematic sectional view along the section plane II-II Fig. 1 ,

It should be understood that the appended drawings are not necessarily to scale, presenting a somewhat simplified representation of various preferred features which serve to illustrate the principles of the invention. The specific design features of the present invention as disclosed herein, including, but not limited to, specific dimensions, orientations, locations, and shapes, will be understood in part by the specific ones envisaged registration and the working environment. In particular, the thicknesses of coatings and the gaps between contact surfaces are exaggerated for clarity

In the figures, identical or functionally identical elements are provided with the same reference numerals.

Detailed description of the figures

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In Fig. 1 is a simplified schematic representation of a household appliance 1 in the form of a cooking appliance comprising three embodiments of the present invention.

The cooking appliance comprises a cooking chamber 2, in which food can be fried or baked, for example, and which is accessible through a door 3. Operating conditions of the cooking appliance, such as the cooking level (top / bottom heat, circulating air, etc.) or the temperature can be adjusted via controls 4a, 4b, 4c by a user. Although a household appliance according to the invention can also have only a single operating element 4a, 4b, 4c. However, in order to represent three different embodiments, the cooking appliance in this case has three operating elements 4a, 4b, 4c.

The operating elements 4a, 4b, 4c are arranged on a front panel 5, which forms a control panel of the cooking appliance. The front panel 5 forms together with in Fig. 2 coating described in more detail the contact element 6 for the controls 4a, 4b, 4c.

The front panel 5 is made of metal, while the controls 4a, 4b, 4c are made of plastic.

In the in Fig. 2 shown section of a schematic sectional view along the section plane II-II Fig. 1 It can be seen that the operating element 4a is a rotary control which is rotatable about a rotation axis 7a. Compared to the fixed contact element 6, the control element 4a is thus relatively movable.

About a contact surface 8a of the control element 4a and a contact surface 9a of the contact element 6, these two components touch. The contact surfaces 8a, 9a are formed by circular surfaces, wherein in the schematic representation fastening and storage elements for fixing and guiding the control element 4a have been omitted; in fact, the contact surfaces 8a, 9a would be formed, for example, by annular surfaces.

The contact surface 9a of the contact element 6 is formed by a coating 10a, which is applied directly to the contact element 6 forming the front panel 5. It is a CVP coating that reduces both friction and wear.

As in Fig. 2 schematically illustrated, the coating 10a extends beyond the contact surface 9a of the contact element 6 addition. The coating 10a is therefore exposed and in particular also partially covers a visible surface of the abutment element 6. In this way it can be ensured that, despite slight dimensional differences and / or positional differences of the operating element 4a due to manufacturing tolerances, the coating always remains in contact with a contact surface 8a 10a touched. The projection of the coating 10a with respect to the contact surface 9a of the contact element 6 is in Fig. 2 for illustrative purposes exaggerated and is less than 1 millimeter in the present case.

The operating element 4b is a push-turn knob, which initially travels linearly along an axis 7b, namely can be moved out (eg by means of a so-called push-push mechanism) and can subsequently be rotated about the axis 7b. Contact surfaces are in this case formed by an inner circumferential surface of a sleeve 11 formed by the front panel 5 (contact surface 9b of the contact element 6) and by an outer lateral surface of the control element 4b (contact surface 8b of the control element 4b).

In contrast to the embodiment described above, in this case, the contact surface 8b of the operating element 4b is formed by a coating 10b, while the contact surface 9b of the contact element 6 has no coating. The coating 10b is therefore not visible in a first position of the operating element 4a, namely when this is substantially completely received in the sleeve 11. However, when the operating element 4b is actuated, in particular rotated, the coating is visible. The coating is transparent, so that a user does not notice it easily.

The operating element 4c is likewise a push-turn knob, which is arranged to be movable relative to the contact element 6 along and about the axis 7c. In contrast to the embodiment described above, this control element 4c is shown in its first position. The operating element 4c is thus substantially completely accommodated in a sleeve 11.

Again, only one of the two contact surfaces 8c, 9c formed by a coating 10c, namely the cylinder jacket-shaped contact surface 9c of the contact element 6. This has the advantage that even if the control element 4c is in the second position, ie extended, the coating 10c for the user is imperceptible. For manufacturing reasons, not only the contact surface 9c is formed by the coating 10c; Rather, a bottom surface 12 of the sleeve 11 is formed by the coating 10c.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

1

household appliance

2

oven

3

door

4a

operating element

4b

operating element

4c

operating element

5

front panel

6

contact element

7a

axis of rotation

7b

axis

7b

axis

8a

Contact surface of the control element

8b

Contact surface of the control element

8c

Contact surface of the control element

9a

Contact surface of the contact element

9b

Contact surface of the contact element

9c

Contact surface of the contact element

10a

coating

10b

coating

10c

coating

11

shell

12

floor area

Claims (13)

Domestic appliance (1), in particular cooking appliance, with a control element (4a, 4b, 4c) which is movable relative to a contact element (6) for controlling an operating state of the household appliance (1), which with a contact surface (8a, 8b, 8c) has a contact surface ( 9a, 9b, 9c) of the abutment element (6), characterized in that the contact surface (8a, 8b, 8c) of the operating element (4a, 4b, 4c) and / or the contact surface (9a, 9b, 9c) of the abutment element ( 6) is at least partially formed by a coating (10a, 10b, 10c) or are. Domestic appliance according to claim 1, characterized in that the coating (10a, 10b, 10c) is friction-reducing and / or wear-reducing. Domestic appliance according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the contact surface (8a, 8b, 8c) of the operating element (4a, 4b, 4c) and / or the contact surface (9a, 9b, 9c) of the contact element (6) completely through the coating (10a, 10b, 10c) is formed or are. Domestic appliance according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the coating (10c) is not exposed. Domestic appliance according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the coating (10a, 10b) is exposed. Domestic appliance according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the coating (10a, 10b, 10c) is a CVD coating. Domestic appliance according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the coating (10a, 10b, 10c) is applied to a metallic surface. Domestic appliance according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the coating (10a, 10b, 10c) is transparent. Domestic appliance according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that a layer thickness of the coating (10a, 10b, 10c) is less than 1 micrometer, in particular that the layer thickness is in the range between 100 to 500 nanometers. Domestic appliance according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the operating element (4a, 4b, 4c) is a push-turn knob (4b, 4c), a rotary knob (4a) or a push button. Domestic appliance according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the abutment element (6) is a front panel (5). Domestic appliance according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the operating element (4a, 4b, 4c) about a perpendicular to the contact element (6) standing axis (7a, 7b, 7c) rotatable and / or along a perpendicular to the contact element (6 ) standing axis (7b, 7c) is displaceable. Domestic appliance according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the household appliance (1) is a large household appliance from the group of cooking appliance, hob, dishwasher, washing machine or refrigerator.

Images