MXPA00006845A - Refrigerator shelf panel - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention is related to the production industry of domestic refrigerators specifically to a shelf panel, to be used in said refrigerators, allowing an easy assembly process, and with the possibility of separating the glaze from its frame for cleaning purposes;moreover, having a production procedure and a completely ecological product reducing the possibilities of polluting;characterized for having means for the installment of said sheet, foil or plate, and also permitting to hold said sheet, foil or plate in a fixed way and repeatedly remove or reinstall the same foil or another one which could be similar or different, inside the frame;said frame comprises a main upper component and a series of reinforcement ribs in its lower face;said reinforcement ribs are longitudinal and transversal at each side, forming a single piece with the main upper component, respective projections of the ribs closer to the center of the frame, form together with the correspondent ribs and the correspondent lower face of the frame main upper component, grooves wherein the ends of said plate will be housed, all of this at the lateral and rear sides of the frame.

Description

PANEL FOR REFRIGERATOR SHELF FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to the domestic refrigerator production industry and more specifically to a shelf panel to be used in such refrigerators.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The development of new panels for shelves in refrigerators, in recent ye has had a spectacular development, evolving from fixed wire frames, to complex shelving units. The factors of improvement that have led to this evolution have to do with the appearance of these panels, with the way of fixing these panels on the walls of the body of the refrigerator, with the mobility of the air to improve the transmission of heat by air convection, the ease of production of said panels, the convenience of providing spill-proof panels, among others.

On December 13, 1991, the French government published a patent application in which they appeared as inventors Maier Roland ef al, which described a refrigerator, especially a domestic refrigerator with a thermally insulated housing, in whose interior, between support strips protruding from the side walls, removable support shelves are placed, transparent material, height adjustable. Said support shelves are configured as glass plates, which are edged by a closed plastic material, which, with projections located laterally, can be introduced into the housing, between the support slats.

This edging is placed on the plates for various reasons, such as giving a better presentation, eliminating the risk of injuries caused by the sharp corners of the glass itself, or to reinforce said plates.

In this document, Maier Roland did not teach how to manufacture such panels. That is to say, they do not teach the way to place, on the glass plate, the plastic binding.

Subsequently, there were a host of developments where the encapsulation technology was used to achieve the panels with the characteristic of consisting of a sheet of glass with a frame that surrounds the sheet in the form of a border. Examples of these panels were described in the patents US 5,540,493, US 5,564,809, MX 183533, MX 191910 and MX 192053. The encapsulation technology consists of placing the plate inside the mold and injecting the plastic material around the periphery of the plate for form a peripheral rim.

The application of this encapsulation technology necessarily means the use of high quality tempered glass in order to minimize the risk of breaking it. This is due, above all, to the efforts that are produced by the differential dilatations present in the glass during the process.

Upon contacting the hot plastic with the edges of the glass plate, the mass of glass directly in contact with the plastic is heated and therefore dilates, the temperature of the rest of the glass plate, by the driving coefficient of the heat that said material has, it descends rapidly as the point where it is located is more distant, and if there is dilatation, it is very small and the efforts for differential di latations appear.

Either way, it is to be noted that when the encapsulation is applied, some glass panels, in particular if it is not perfectly flat, are broken during the process resulting in wastage and wastage of both glass and plastic, as well as of additional costs due to the time lost during the process. The processes are, therefore, inefficient and generate a considerable amount of unnecessary waste.

If the rejected product is not separated by the manufacturer, waste is generated that by its nature can not be easily recycled, since both the glass and the plastic material follow different recycling processes. Therefore, the waste generated could have a harmful impact on the environment.

Even when glass can be reprocessed, this process becomes more complicated since it is necessary to separate the plastic from the glass, which is normally carried out manually, making the recovery of waste even more expensive and delaying the manufacturing time.

All the above is also valid when the problem occurs in the encapsulation due to poor molding. In any process of encapsulation, there are always certain rejections due to a poor finish in the plastic and reprocessing presents the problem already described.

In order to solve the problem indicated above, the border has also been made around the front edge of the plate and a part of the adjacent side edges with the help of a plastic profile of appropriate dimensions to try to encircle the rear edge and a part of the edges adjacent sides with the help of another plastic profile of appropriate dimensions.

Obviously, this type of solution does not require the insertion of the glass plate in the press, managing to solve the problems due to the breaking of the panels themselves.

In addition, it is possible to apply these elements even on glass plates of different thicknesses.

Despite the advantages mentioned above, this solution does not allow completely enclosing the glass sheet, so there are parts of the glass plate that does not have the plastic reinforcement and is more susceptible to breakage, in addition to the appearance that presents , when the edging is interrupted, it is clearly devoid of aesthetics.

PCT / FR98 / 00148 describes a solution for the described problem of the encapsulated frames and the frames that partially surround the glass plate. In this document a frame composed of two lateral segments is proposed, where the corresponding parts of the glass sheet will be introduced; a posterior segment and an anterior segment, which are joined at their contiguous ends by respective corner connections.

However, although this solution allows to eliminate the drawbacks of the structures of encapsulated panels and the frames that partially surround the glass plate, it presents other drawbacks that need to be solved.

The assembly process is somewhat complicated since you have to carry a sequence to achieve the final result. A sequence could be to place any of the side pieces of the frame in its corresponding part of the glass sheet. Then one of the corner pieces would be inserted. The side part of the frame next to the one already placed on the glass is placed in the glass, in its corresponding part, and simultaneously said part is inserted in the free end of the corner piece. Following this order of ideas, you will notice the problematic that represents the placement of the last lateral piece.

Another assembly sequence would be to join a lateral section with the frontal section by means of a corner joint, and the other lateral section with the rear section, before being placed on the glass plate, forming two pieces that will be inserted later on the edges of the glass plate, at the same time as the corresponding ends of these two pieces are inserted. This operation is the one that would present the problem in this sequence.

Finally, you can see the problem of assembling the frame with the proposed structure, in the patent cited immediately above. This framework also involves a long manufacturing time and a relatively inefficient industrial process.

On the other hand, although the insertion is achieved, even in a difficult manner, in the body of the present, the problem of cleaning the panel thus obtained is not foreseen. In the event of spillage of any liquid food, part of it could drain between the gaps or interstices present between the frame and the sheet or glass plate and cleaning it generates a problem, having to disassemble the various components of the panel to then clean the glass and having to reassemble said panel. If this operation is not carried out, the waste trapped between the frame and the panel could begin to decompose and generate a hygiene and health problem in a product that is in direct contact with the food.

This without taking into account the possibility of needing to add a sticker between the parts of the frame that fit together. Situation that would make the panel practically non-disarmable, which would make it impossible to perform the operation described in the final part of the previous paragraph, with the consequences already mentioned. In case the glass breaks, the owner of the refrigerator would be forced to replace the panel completely, instead of simply replacing the broken glass, which causes expenses to the consumer, and even worse, when the owner is in front of a unusable panel, most likely throw it away as it is found, ie, the glass adhered to the plastic material, which discourages the practice of reusing materials and hinders the recycling of them, having to The materials were separated by third parties after the panel was thrown away. In the worst case, the panel would never be separated into its components, it would remain garbage and generate contamination, which is obviously serious given the slow biodegradability presented by the plastic material.

OBJECTIVES OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to make possible a refrigerator panel panel whose structure allows a simple and efficient assembly process.

Another objective is to allow a panel with the above quality and also have the ability to separate the glass from its frame for cleaning purposes.

Still another objective is to have a panel design for refrigerator panel with the possibility of replacing the glass and take advantage of the panel in case of glass breakage, thus promoting the culture of re-use, which helps to take care our natural resources and constitutes a pillar of sustainable development. This benefit operates during the manufacture of the panel and / or during the normal operation of the refrigerator or cooler.

Still another objective is to achieve a panel design that eliminates the disadvantages of panel production, for refrigerator panel, by means of the encapsulation, including among these the decrease of the probabilities of defective parts, and of being able to easily recycle the material in case of defects.

Still another objective is to achieve a production procedure and a product that is environmentally friendly and friendly, by reducing the chances of contamination by a product foreign to nature, as are most resins or polymers used for plastics.

And all those qualities and advantages that will become apparent at the time of making the description, general and detailed, of the structure of refrigerator shelf panel, object of the present invention, with support in the figures that for illustrative purposes, more not Limitations are appended to this.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Broadly speaking, the present invention consists of a panel formed by a sheet, plate or sheet, housed in a plastic frame, which comprises a lower perimeter groove where it is possible to slide the sheet, sheet or plate and mentioned.

In one of the preferred embodiments, said sheet, plate or sheet, is made of transparent material, this allows a better illumination of the interior of the refrigerator where said panels are located. However, this is not restrictive and translucent or even opaque materials could be used.

In the occurrence, the transparent or non-transparent material of said sheet or plate, without being limiting, may be glass, acrylic, PET, among others.

Once the sheet, plate or sheet, housed in the frame, and introduced through a slit, which in one of the preferred embodiments is located on the back of the frame, and which coincides with one of the sides of the perimetric groove , the frame has a means for blocking, on the back, the exit of the sheet. This means consists, in the preferred embodiment, in a longitudinal structure formed by a vertical element and a horizontal element delimiting a right angle. Said structure, called hook, receives, within the space formed by 1) a corresponding part of the lower face of the upper main component, 2) by the vertical element, projected downwards, of said hook and 3) by its horizontal element, projected towards the front, the corresponding edge of the plate, sheet or sheet.

When the sheet or plate is inserted in the frame, it slides through the slit, and when the sheet or plate is well installed, with a slight twist of the back side, where the hook is fixed and forms part of it, the blade is inserted in said hook, remaining fixed.

The frame is formed substantially by an upper main component which, at three ends of its periphery, presents short downward projections, with the main purpose of giving it some rigidity and resistance to the structure. These peripheral projections, when projecting downward, do so by forming rounded upper edges.

The upper main component of the frame, presents, in one of its modalities, on its lateral edges, at least a narrow margin on each bank. These narrowings allow the passage of air between the different levels of the refrigerated space, separated by the panel.

Other panel modalities may have some narrowing also on the back. To recapitulate, in some modalities there are narrowings in the lateral parts of the frame, in others in the rear part and even in both the sides and the back.

On the other hand, it is understandable that the shape of said narrowings can vary and be, for example, rectangular, or in the form of a half moon, to give two examples, however the forms can be very varied. In addition, the dimensions of said extensions, which may also be called recesses, may also vary, as well as the proportions between said dimensions. Being, for example, recesses in the form of half-moon more or less elongated or more or less short. The rectangle can have a very small or very large length / width ratio.

On the lower part, on three of the sides of the upper component of the frame, the front side and the two lateral sides, adhered to the lower face of the upper component on its corresponding side, comprise a series of ribs, projected downwards, parallel and transverse to the longitudinal axis of each of the sides.

These ribs reinforce the frame, increasing its resistance to various efforts and increase the rigidity of it to avoid deformations that could disturb the users of the refrigerator where these panels are fixed. On each side we can find at least one longitudinal rib, but more than one of these could appear.

When there is only one rib per side, it is located some distance from the inner edge of the side that is the frame. This arrangement is important, because part of the internal face of this longitudinal projection will form one of the three faces of the slot in which the sheet, plate or sheet of the panel will slide.

Another of the three internal faces of the perimetric groove, the upper face of said groove will be formed by the lower face of the upper frame component. This means that the upper component of the frame will cover, on its upper face, the part of the transparent sheet that will be housed in the frame.

From the inner side of the innermost longitudinal rib on each side, or from the longitudinal rib, when the side only has a single rib of this type, at a convenient height, according to the thickness of the sheet or plate of transparent material to lodge in the frame, a projection is placed towards the center of the frame, and it is this projection the third of the elements that form the slot in which the sheet or plate of the panel is going to slide. This would be the bottom element of the slot.

Optionally, in one of the modalities, under the lateral projection of the innermost longitudinal rib, ribs are formed that will transmit the stresses, stresses caused by any load generated by the weight of the objects that will be placed on the sheet or plate of transparent material of the panel, when this is installed in the refrigerator and the refrigerator is working, towards the rib length! nal, from where the projection was formed.

On the back side, the longitudinal ribs are only attached to the upper component of the frame at their lateral ends. To do this, these longitudinal ribs form an inverted bridge, to form the rear groove through which the sheet or plate of transparent material to be housed in the perimeter groove will be introduced.

It is also on this back side, as already mentioned, where the elements of the support and fixing means of the plate or sheet sheet of the panel of the present invention are located. In the area corresponding to this hook, you can see a recess, from the top to the bottom of the longitudinal ribs, to "house" the hook.

This upper main component assembly of the frame and the series of lower projections for reinforcement and for forming the grooves and the occlusion means of the exit of the sheet, plate or panel sheet, is a simple structure comprising relatively little material, but it has good presentation when it is installed in the refrigerator.

In an interesting embodiment, the frame may comprise, from any point or segment of the lateral edges, hooks on which the upper part of a vegetable tray can be slidably supported. This, especially when the panel is at the lower end of the refrigerated space of the refrigerator.

In order to achieve a better understanding of the invention, it will be briefly described the drawings of the preferred embodiment of the invention, which for illustrative but not limitative purposes, are annexed to the present description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 illustrates a top plan view of the panel frame of the present invention. Figure 1a shows in conventional perspective perceived from one of the lateral ends a view of the panel object of the present invention, in order to observe the configuration of the front and rear ends. Figure 2 illustrates in a bottom plan view of the frame illustrated in figure 1, where its longitudinal and transverse reinforcing ribs can be visualized. Figure 3 is a conventional perspective view of the frame, viewed from the rear side, slightly above the frame, to see the anterior slot where the sheet, plate or sheet of the panel of the present invention sits.

Figure 4 is a conventional perspective view of the frame, viewed from the front end slightly above the frame, to see the rear flange where the sheet, plate or sheet of the panel of the present invention sits. Figure 5 is a side view of the frame already illustrated in the previous four figures, looking at the rear side detail of the frame, where the support and fixing hook of the sheet of transparent material of the panel is located. Figures 6a, 6b and 6c show, in cross section at the level of where the rear hook is located, three stages in the installation procedure of the sheet, plate or sheet, within the framework of the present invention. Figure 7 illustrates the modality of the panel frame in which there are lateral and posterior narrowings or recesses. Figure 8 illustrates a modality of the panel frame in which only a recess or subsequent narrowing is had. Figure 9 illustrates a modality of the panel frame in which no recess or narrowing is present. Figure 10 illustrates a section from the back to the front to allow one of the modalities of the panel frame to be seen in which the rails on which the tray of food slides can be seen.

Next, a detailed description of the invention will be made, using the illustrative drawings to improve the understanding thereof. The same symbols will be used to indicate the same parts in the different figures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Figure 1 illustrates a top plan view of the panel frame, of one of the embodiments of the present invention. With this configuration it allows an adequate air circulation between the zones of different temperatures. The narrowing or recesses 1 and 2 of the frame allow a space through which the air can pass downwards and upwards of the level in which the panel is located.

Figure 1a shows in conventional perspective a view of the panel object of the present invention, in order to observe the configuration of the front and back ends. As can be seen in this view, the rear part of the frame, in its upper part, has a projection 3 backwards and upwards forming a parabolic profile.

Figure 2 illustrates in a bottom plan view of the frame shown in Figure 1, where its longitudinal ribs 4 and transverse ribs 5, of reinforcement can be visualized. The longitudinal ribs work both tension and compression, according to the catenary that is formed. The transverse ribs help the longitudinal ribs reinforce the frame, increasing the transverse surface of said longitudinal ribs and driving the stresses generated to the upper frame component. These transverse ribs also stiffen the frame.

Figure 3 is a conventional perspective view of the frame, seen from the rear side, slightly above, to see the front slot 6 where the sheet, plate or sheet of the panel of the present invention sits. This groove 6 is formed by the corresponding lower part 7 of the upper main component of the frame, by one of the longitudinal ribs 8 of this front side of the frame and by the projection 9, towards the center of the frame, of said longitudinal rib. This projection is also called the front tab. Said front flange, corresponding to the lower element of the front groove 6, is where part of the front end of the sheet, plate or sheet of the present invention is to be housed.

Figure 4 is a conventional perspective view of the frame, seen from the front end slightly above the frame, to see the rear slot 10 where the sheet, plate or sheet of the panel of the present invention sits. In this view the opening 11 can be seen, formed when the longitudinal ribs 12 of the rear side of the frame are found, joined only at their ends and forming a kind of bridge. These ribs have a narrowing 13, where the rear hook 14 can be housed which will serve as support and exit block for the sheet, sheet or plate.

Said rear hook 14 consists of a longitudinal structure formed by a vertical element and a horizontal element delimiting a right angle. This structure, called a hook, for receiving the corresponding edge of the sheet, plate or sheet, forms a space delimited by the corresponding part of the lower face of the upper main component, by the vertical element, projected downwards, of said hook and by its horizontal element, projected towards the front.

Furthermore, it is necessary to indicate that this hook is attached, forming part of the frame in monolithic form, to the underside of the rear side of the upper main component of the panel frame of the present invention.

Figure 5 is a side view of the frame already illustrated in the four previous figures, looking at the rear side detail of the frame, where the support and fixing hook of the sheet of transparent material of the panel is located. This view is another perspective of Figure 4, where the slot 50 and the anterior slot 51 can be seen, as well as the bridge formed by the longitudinal ribs 12 on the front side of the frame. From this view, the posterior slit 10 is seen in its previous perception, on the side opposite to where the sheet, sheet or plate sits. Also, the narrowing of the longitudinal ribs 13 on the front side of the frame can be perceived, where the front groove can be accommodated.

The bridge of the longitudinal ribs forms the slit 10 along most of the rear side, through which the sheet, sheet or plate, of transparent material, is inserted for installation in the frame.

Figures 6a, 6b and 6c show in cross section, in the sense A-A ', at the level where the rear hook is located, three stages in the installation procedure of the sheet, plate or sheet, in the frame object of the present invention. The sheet, sheet or plate 20 enters throthe slit 10, formed by the rear side of the upper main component of the frame with its projection 3 and the corresponding longitudinal ribs 12, at the other end of these three figures, the front slot 6 is perceived. This groove 6 is formed by the corresponding lower part 7 of the upper main component of the frame, by one of the longitudinal ribs 8 of this rear side of the frame and by the projection 9, towards the center of the frame, of said longitudinal rib. In the remote case that the sheet, plate or sheet slides down on the front side of the frame, the fall of it would be stopped by the bridge of the longitudinal ribs 12 on the front side of the frame.

Figure 7 illustrates the modality of a panel in which there are narrows or side recesses 1 and 2 and rear 73.

Figure 8 illustrates a tray embodiment in which only a recess or rear narrowing 73 is had. Figure 9 illustrates a modality of the panel frame in which no recess or narrowing is present.

Figure 10 illustrates a section of the panel frame, from the rear part to the previous one, to allow one of the modalities of the panel frame to be seen, in which the rails 101 on which the tray of the panels slide can be seen. foods.

The invention has been described sufficiently so that a person with average knowledge in the art can reproduce it and obtain the results that we mentioned in the present invention. That is, the present has been described with sufficient qualification. However, any person skilled in the art field of the present invention may be able to make modifications not described in the present application, however, if for the application of these modifications in a refrigerator panel structure, it is required of the subject matter claimed in the following claims, said structures should be included within the scope of the invention.

It is possible to have, for example, a rubber gasket, or any other suitable material, which is placed around the edges of the sheet, sheet or plate of transparent material, before being placed in the frame. The design of said packaging could be such that its edges coincide with the free edges of the frame and the entry of any liquid into the interstices is avoided.

Claims (1)

1. R E I V I N D I C A C I O N S Having sufficiently described the invention, it is considered as a novelty and the content is therefore claimed in the following clauses. 1 Refrigerator shelf panel, of the type comprising a sheet, plate or sheet comprised in a plastic frame, characterized in that the frame has means to allow thereon, the installation of said sheet, sheet, or plate, to allow also containing said sheet, plate or sheet in a fixed manner and being able to repeatedly remove and re-install the same sheet or another sheet, same or different, within the frame, such frame behaving like an envelope, in which the sheet is housed Refrigerator shelf panel, as claimed in the preceding claim, further characterized, because for its function as an envelope species, said frame comprises an upper main component and a series of reinforcement ribs on its lower face, said ribs of reinforcements are longitudinal and transverse to each of the four sides of the frame, these ribs are formed in one piece with the main main component; two projections of the longitudinal ribs closer to the center of the frame, together with the corresponding longitudinal ribs and the corresponding lower face of the main upper component of the frame, form slots where the ends of said sheet, sheet or plate are lodged, all this on the lateral and frontal sides of said frame. Panel for refrigerator shelf, as claimed in any of the preceding claims, further characterized, because to fix the sheet, plate or sheet, on the back side of the frame, parallel to said side, and joined forming a single piece with the rear side of the main main component, below it, there is understood a longitudinal structure formed by a vertical element and a horizontal element delimiting a right angle, said structure called hook, to receive inside the space formed by the corresponding part of the lower face of the main main component, by the vertical element, projected downwards, of said hook and by its horizontal element, projected toward the front, the corresponding edge of said sheet, plate or sheet. Refrigerator shelf panel, as claimed in any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the longitudinal ribs and their respective transverse ribs, on the rear side of the frame, are attached to the lower face of the main component. - upper only at its ends, and forms an inverted bridge, to delimit a slit through which the sheet, plate or sheet of the panel can be inserted and removed. Refrigerator shelf panel, as claimed in claim 4, characterized, also because said bridge formed by said longitudinal ribs of the rear side of the panel frame, has a central depression in its upper face, to allow to accommodate the hook. Refrigerator shelf panel, as claimed in any of the previous claims, characterized, in addition because the upper main body of the frame has lateral narrowings in the horizontal plane that allow air flow between the volumes separating the panel that includes said framework. Panel for refrigerator shelf, as claimed in any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the upper main body of the frame comprises on its rear side a narrowing, which may be in addition to the side slots claimed in claim 6, or that replaces these lateral narrowing.