EP3508791A1

EP3508791A1 - Household appliance with a wall element

Info

Publication number: EP3508791A1
Application number: EP18150678.3A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Marco Böckler; Willi Kranz
Original assignee: Electrolux Appliances AB
Current assignee: Electrolux Appliances AB
Priority date: 2018-01-09
Filing date: 2018-01-09
Publication date: 2019-07-10
Anticipated expiration: 2038-01-09
Also published as: EP3508791B1

Abstract

A household appliance with a wall element (10) having an aperture (20) formed therein, and an electric component (30) mounted in the aperture (20) is provided, wherein the electric component (30) comprises an abutment (36) which rests against a rim of the aperture (20) at a first side of the wall element (10), and at least one clamp (38) element which projects laterally from the electric component (30) and which rests against a second side of the wall element (10) opposite the first side. The rim of the aperture (20), at least in the region where the clamp element (38) rests against the wall element (10), comprises a bulge (22).

Description

The present invention relates to a household appliance with a wall element having an aperture formed therein, and an electric component mounted in the aperture, wherein the electric component comprises an abutment which rests against a rim of the aperture at a first side of the wall element, and wherein at least one clamp element projects laterally from the electric component and rests against a second side of the wall element opposite the first side of the wall element.
In order to effect mounting of an electric component, such as a switch or a lamp, by means of clamping within an aperture formed in a wall element of a household appliance, the electric component is inserted into the aperture in the wall element of the household appliance from a first side of the wall element, for example from an outer side, wherein the clamp during insertion of the electric component into the aperture is deformed. Upon reaching the mounting position the clamp at least partially is relieved to rest against the opposing second side of the wall element, in such example the inner side.
Such a household appliance is shown in EP 1 811 227 A1 which discloses an electric lighting element having a fixation ring with an abutment rim and lateral clamp elements, wherein upon insertion of the fixation ring in an aperture of a wall element the wall element is clamped between the abutment rim and the clamp elements.
While the above approach for mounting an electric component at a wall element of a household appliance allows for rapid and thus cost effective assembly, care has to be taken that there is provided for sufficient clamping force so that the electric component is fixedly installed at the wall element. Considering that the clamping force is defined not only by the shape and position of the one or more clamp elements, but also by the distance of the clamp elements from the abutment as well as by the thickness of the wall element at which the electric component is to be mounted, any given electric component inherently requires a certain dimensioning of the wall element and the aperture in order to be able to provide for sufficient clamping force.
In view of the above, it is an object of the present invention to provide for a household appliance with a wall element which provides for more design flexibility in that it allows for any given wall thickness a larger variety of electric components to be installed.
This object is solved in a household appliance with a wall element having an aperture formed therein, and an electric component mounted in the aperture, the electric component comprising an abutment which rests against a rim of the aperture a first side of the wall element, and at least one clamp element projecting laterally from the electric component and which rests against a second side of the wall element opposite the first side, in that the rim of the aperture, at least in the region where the clamp element rests against the wall element, comprises a bulge, which thus increases the axial distance (when viewed in the direction of insertion of the electric component into the aperture) between the positions where the abutment rests against the first side and where the clamp element rests against the second side of the wall element. In this manner the clamping force of a given electric component can be increased which provides for a more secure fixation of the electric component at the wall element. Furthermore, providing for a bulge along the rim at least in the region where the clamp element rests against the wall element enables installing electric components that are designed for use with a wall element of a certain thickness also at a thinner wall element, wherein the bulge virtually simulates a larger wall thickness. Providing for a bulge along the rim of the aperture thus greatly increases the variety of electric components that can be installed in a wall element of a given thickness.
Preferred embodiments of the present invention are defined in the dependent claims.
In particular, when the wall element is made of sheet metal, the bulge can be an embossment. Thus, for example when the wall element is an oven cavity and the electric component is a lamp to be installed in an aperture of a wall of the oven cavity, the bulge can be formed into the rim of the aperture in the step of shaping the sheet metal so as to form the respective portion of the oven cavity, such as deep drawing the sheet metal, so that no additional manufacturing steps are required for manufacturing the bulge.
In such embodiments the embossment either can comprise a plurality of individual bulges that are provided at least in the region or regions where the one or more clamp elements rest against the wall element, or it can be a continuous embossment that extends substantially the full length of the rim.
In an alternative embodiment, wherein the wall element is made of sheet metal, the bulge can comprise at least one folded tab that is provided at the rim of the aperture. For example when forming a circular aperture in a wall element that is made of sheet metal, wherein the aperture advantageously can be formed by punching, instead of punching the entire circular shape, the punch can be provided with a recess for each of the clamps, so that when punching the sheet metal a plurality of tabs is formed along the rim of the generally circular shape of the aperture, which tabs then are folded back onto the sheet metal to provide for a larger wall thickness along the rim of the aperture where the clamps rest against the wall element.
In preferred embodiments, the clamp element comprises a spring element that laterally projects from the electric component. In such embodiments the spring element is configured to be deformed during insertion of the electric component into the aperture, and is at least partially relieved when the electric component reaches its mounted position in which the abutment rests against the rim of the aperture. The spring element can be a wire element or a resilient tab, such as a tab made of spring steel, which laterally projects from the electric component and which preferably has slanted edges so that, during insertion of the electric component into the aperture the tab is deformed inwardly with respect to the aperture, and which when being released when approaching the mounted position of the electric component again deflects outwardly thus fixing the electric component.
To avoid a misalignment of the electric component, the aperture can be configured to have a shape that prevents rotation of the electric component and further can be configured to have a shape that allows mounting of the electric component only in a single orientation. Thus, for example when the electric component has a circular cross section, the rim of the aperture can be provided with a cut-out or recess, and the electric component can be provided with a lateral projection the shape of which is complementary to that of the cut-out or recess.
The electric component can be any kind of electric component to be mounted at a wall element of a household appliance. Particular examples of such electric component include lamps, displays, switches, buttons, sensors, heating elements, signaling devices, transducers, transmitters, communication devices, and the like.
Preferred embodiments of the present invention are described in further detail below by reference the drawings in which:

Figure 1: illustrates a wall element of a household appliance made in accordance with the present invention;
Figure 2: illustrates an electric component to be mounted at the wall element shown in Figure 1.
Figure 3: depicts a wall element of a further embodiment of a household appliance made in accordance with the present invention;
Figure 4: is a partial sectional view along line E-E of the wall element shown in Figure 3 ; and
Figure 5: shows the wall element shown of Figure 3 with an electric component mounted in the wall element.

Figure 1 shows a wall element 10 of a household appliance, which wall element for example can be a portion of a wall of an oven cavity of an electric oven. The wall element 10 is made of sheet metal and may be provided with a protective coating, such as an enamel layer.
Wall element 10 comprises an aperture 20 for mounting of an electric component, such as a lamp 30 as it is shown in Figure 2 . When the wall element 10 is made of sheet metal, aperture 20 advantageously can be formed by stamping or by laser cutting. In the specific example illustrated in the drawings, aperture 20 is of a generally circular shape that conforms to the circumferential shape of the housing of the lamp 30. Around aperture 20 there is formed a continuous bulge 22 which in the embodiment shown in the drawings comprises an embossing that surrounds aperture 20. In order to prevent rotation of lamp 30 when inserted into aperture 20, aperture 20 further comprises a recess 24 which cooperates with a projection 44 of corresponding shape.
As shown in Figure 2 , lamp 30 comprises an annular housing 32 and a transparent or translucent bulb 34. Between annular housing 32 and bulb 34 there is a rim 36 which has a larger diameter than the annular housing 32 so as to provide for an abutment when inserting lamp 30 into aperture 20. To provide for a clamping force for holding lamp 30 when inserted into aperture 20, there are provided a plurality of clamp elements 38 which in the embodiment depicted in Figure 2 are designed as resilient tabs tab are made of an elastic material such as spring steel and which laterally project from the annular housing 32. In order to effectively exert a clamping force onto the rim of the aperture of the wall element during and after inserting of the lamp, the tabs 38 at the side facing towards the abutment rim 36 comprise a slanted edge 40, which in the mounted state of the lamp 30 rests against the rim of aperture 20, wherein the degree by which the tabs can spring back towards their relieved position in which they project radially from the annular housing 32 depends on the thickness of the wall element. Also the edge 42 that faces away from the abutment rim 36 preferably is slanted, so as to facilitate insertion of lamp 30 into aperture 20, wherein the slanted edges 42 when acting against the rim of aperture 20 causes the tabs 38 to deflect substantially tangentially with respect to the annular housing 32.
In order to allow for an unimpeded deflection of the tabs 38 with respect to the annular housing 32, the tabs 38 are located so as to provide for a clearance between the edges 40 of tabs 38 and the abutment rim 36. To provide for sufficient clamping force also in cases where the thickness of the wall element is only slightly larger, or even is smaller, than the clearance between edge 40 and abutment rim 36, the aperture 20 is provided with bulge 22 which thus virtually provides the wall element 10 with an enlarged thickness where the rim of the wall element is to be clamped between the abutment and the clamp elements.
It this manner it is possible to provide for a secure fixation of components, such as a lamp, which for example are configured for a wall thickness of at least 1 mm, also with a wall element that is made of thinner sheet metal, such as sheet metal having a thickness of, for example, only 0,6 mm. The present invention hence not only allows for larger flexibility in terms of the elements that can be fixedly attached to a wall member of a household appliance, but also provides for a larger tolerance in terms of the housing materials with which a certain electric component can be used. Thus, the present invention allows using standardized electric components with different housing element irrespective of the thickness of the wall elements in which these components are to be mounted.
Particularly in cases in which the electric component is to be mounted within a region of high humidity, such as in embodiments wherein the electric component, for example a lamp, is to be mounted within an oven cavity, advantageously the radial thickness of the bulge 22 is made small so as to avoid condensation losses.
In Figure 3 there is shown a wall element 10 of a household appliance in accordance with another preferred embodiment, which differs from the wall element shown in Figure 1 in that instead of a continuous bulge there are provided a series of individual bulges 50 which are provided at locations around aperture 52 which correspond to the locations of the tabs 38 of a lamp 30 to be mounted in aperture 52. Thus, in the embodiment shown in Figure 3 there are formed three bulges 50 along the edge of aperture 52 that are evenly distributed about aperture 52.
The bulges 50 are formed by deforming the sheet metal of wall element 10. As shown in Fig. 4, the bulges 50 can be formed by embossing the respective portions of wall element 10. Thus, as shown in the cross-sectional view of Figure 4 the bulges can be designed as a double bend of the sheet material of wall element 10, so that the bulges 50, although being formed of a sheet material having a thickness t, due to the double bend behave as having a thickness x, which thickness x can be arbitrarily selected by selecting the dimensions of the double bend, such as the offset provided by the double bend, which in turn is dependent on the length and angular orientation of the intermediate portion 54 of the double bend.
It is readily to be understood that the continuous bulge 22 or the series of bulges 50 can be formed by other types of deformation rather than a double bend, such as by a single bend, a U-shaped embossment or any other shapes that simulate a larger material thickness in the region or regions where the tab or tabs, respectively, of the lamp are positioned.
In that manner given lamps the tabs of which are designed for a certain minimum wall thickness also can be employed in household appliances having a thinner wall element, so that the same standardized lamp can be used with various different household appliances.

Claims

Household appliance with a wall element (10) having an aperture (20) formed therein, and an electric component (30) mounted in the aperture (20), the electric component (30) comprising an abutment (36) which rests against a rim of the aperture (20) at a first side of the wall element (10), and at least one clamp (38) element projecting laterally from the electric component (30) and which rests against a second side of the wall element (10) opposite the first side, characterized in that the rim of the aperture (20), at least in the region where the clamp element (38) rests against the wall element (10), comprises a bulge (22).
The household appliance of claim 1, wherein the wall element (10) is made of sheet metal and the bulge (22) is formed by an embossment.
The household appliance of claim 2, wherein the embossment is a continuous embossment that extends substantially the full length of the rim of the aperture (20).
The household appliance of claim 2, wherein the embossment is discontinuous thus forming a plurality of bulges that extend substantially along the rim of the aperture (20).
The household appliance of claim 1, wherein the wall element (10) is made of sheet metal and the bulge comprises at least one folded tab that provided at the rim of the aperture (20).
The household appliance of any one the preceding claims, wherein the clamp element (38) comprises a spring element that laterally projects from the electric component (30).
The household appliance of claim 1, wherein the spring element (38) is a resilient tab having at least one slanted edge (40, 42).
The household appliance of any one the preceding claims, wherein the aperture (20) has a shape that prevents rotation of the electric component (30).
The household appliance of any one the preceding claims, wherein the aperture (20) has a shape that allows mounting of the electric component (30) only in a single orientation.
The household appliance of claim 9, wherein the rim of the aperture (20) comprises a cut out (24) and the electric component (30) has a lateral projection (44) the shape of which is complementary to that of the cut out.
The household appliance of any one the preceding claims, wherein the electric component (30) is selected from the group consisting of lamps, displays, switches, buttons, sensors, heating elements, signaling devices, transducers, transmitters, and communication devices.