SE1430141A1 - Refridgerator with transparent lid - Google Patents

Abstract

There is provided a refrigerator comprising a bottom wall, a top wall and at least one side wall enclosing a cavity for cooling articles by means of a cooling arrangement, such as bottles and/or cans, wherein a side wall comprises an openable door,the top wall comprises a transparent and openable lid such that an article placed in the cavity, in a closed configuration of the refrigerator, can be viewed through the transparent lid from above the top wall.

Description

1 Refrigerator with transparent lid Technical field The present invention relates to the field of refrigerators, in particular refrigerators for hotel rooms.

Background Refrigerators for hotel rooms are sometimes referred to minibars. The items, such as bottles or cans with drinkable liquids, placed in minibars are normally for sale. Such sales may provide a substantial income for hotel owners.

Summary The present inventor has realized that sales from a minibar could be increased if the hotel guest could see them and that the hotel guest can make the choise of which drink to purchase in a standing position without kneeling or bending over trying to see what is in the minibar. The inventor has noticed that many hotel guests are not even aware of that drinks are for sale in the hotel room. Additionally, if all the drinks are visible from the front and the top, it makes the surveillance/refill much easier for the janitor as this person also can make a inventory without kneeling/bending over and also access many more positions in the minibar without moving around the bottles. All bottles on the top level are accessible from the top. Further, the inventor has realized that home owners also may have an interest in displaying chilled drinks to guests. Said minibar may be placed as a stand alone piece of furniture clearly indicating "here are cold drinks" to the guests and accessible in a height similar to a impulsive purchase in the supermarkets.

Therefore, the present disclosure provides a refrigerator comprising a bottom wall, a top wall and at least one side wall enclosing a cavity for cooling articles by means of a cooling arrangement, such as bottles and/or cans, wherein a side wall comprises an openable door, characterized in that the top wall comprises a 2 transparent and openable lid such that an article placed in the cavity, in a closed configuration of the refrigerator, can be viewed through the transparent lid from above the top wall.

The refrigerator of the present disclosure thus allows items to be chilled and displayed to guests at the same time.

Brief description of the figures Fig 1 shows a perspective view of an embodiment of a refrigerator according to the present disclosure in an open configuration.

Fig 2 shows a perspective view of an embodiment of a refrigerator according to the present disclosure in a closed configuration.

Detailed description The refrigerator of the present disclosure comprises a bottom wall, a top wall and at least one side wall. Normally, it comprises four side walls that may form a rectangular cross-section. However, it may also comprise a single side wall forming a circular cross-section, which means that the refrigerator is cylinder-shaped, or any other number of side walls. The walls enclose a cavity for cooling articles, such as can (e.g. beer or soda cans) or bottles (e.g. wine bottles) or chilled snacks. A cooling arrangement is place in connection with the cavity. The cooling arrangement may for example by an absorption arrangement known to the skilled person. A side wall of the refrigerator comprises an openable door.

The top wall comprises a transparent and openable lid such that an article placed in the cavity can be viewed through the transparent lid from above the top wall, also when the refrigerator is in a closed configuration. The lid may for example be composed of glass or a plastic material and may be of double layer with insulative air layer in between for less energy consumption. The average thickness of the lid is preferably less than 15 mm, such as less than 12 mm, such as 2-10 mm. such as 3-7 mm. The lid may also be referred to as a hatch. The lid may for example be hingedly attached. Sliding door may be an option. 3 The transparent lid may for example extend into the side wall, such that the article placed in the cavity also can be viewed through the transparent lid from beside the side wall in the closed configuration of the refrigerator. Accordingly, the lid may have a first substantially flat portion that forms part of the top wall and a second substantially flat portion that extends into the side wall, wherein the plane of the first substantially flat portion is approximately perpendicular to the plane of the second substantially flat portion.

The refrigerator normally comprises at least one shelf. For example, two or more shelves may be arranged in the cavity at different heights. In such an embodiment, the height of the top shelf and optionally also the height of the other shelf/shelves may be adjustable. When the height of the top shelf is adjustable, is may be adapted to the height of the bottles or cans placed below the lid such that they are visible to the guest/user, while the lid still can be closed.

The depth of the top shelf may for example be less than the depth of the shelf arranged below the top shelf. Thereby, taller bottles can be placed on the second highest shelf and still be visible and accessible.

The refrigerator may further comprise a removable cover adapted to cover the transparent lid in the closed configuration of the refrigerator. Such cover may save energy when no guest/user is in the room of the refrigerator. Accordingly, such a cover is normally intransparent, preferably metallic and shiny to shield radiation heat that will enter the fridge from the surrounding room that holds a higher temperature. Said intransparent shield may carry an insulative layer, preferably expanded polymers to further reduce energy consumption on occasions when the products inside the fridge does not need to be visible.

Further, the door may be intransparent and comprise an insulating material to save energy. Accordingly, the average thickness of the door may be at least 20 mm, such as 25-80 mm. 4 The dimensions of the refrigerator may be those typical for a hotel minibar. Accordingly, the may have a height of 400-1050 mm, a width of 200-700 mm and a depth of 150-600 mm. A height of 400-1050 mm represents a height that is a logical height to grab things and open hatches, just like in a home kitchen environment (common standard is 900 mm).

Exemplary embodiments Fig 1 shows an embodiment of a refrigerator according to the present disclosure in an open configuration. Fig 2 shows the embodiment in a closed configuration. The refrigerator has four side walls that form a rectangular cross section. Further, it has a bottom wall and a top wall. The walls enclose a cavity. The top wall comprises a hingedly attached transparent lid/hatch 9, 11. The lid 9, 11 is thus openable. Consequently, the guest/user may not only see articles in the cavity through the transparent lid 9, 11. The guest/user may also access the articles by lifting the lid 9. The lid may comprise a handle to facilitate opening. The shape of the lid 9, 11 may be such that it extends into the front side wall in a closed configuration of the refrigerator (see Fig 2). A cover 1, 10 may also be hingedly attached to the top wall. Such a cover 1, 10 is normally intransparent. For example, it may be composed of metal and optionally carrying a insulating layer of poor heat conductivity, for example expanded polymers . The cover 1, 10 may be adapted to completely cover the lid 9, 11. Accordingly, the cover 1, 10 may comprise a first and a second portion hingedly attached to each other as shown in the figures.

Shelves are arranged in the refrigerator. The height of the top shelf is such that a beer can placed on it is clearly visible to a guest when the refrigerator is closed. The distance 8 between the top shelf and the underside of the lid (in the closed configuration) may be just above 110 mm, which is the height of a normal beer can. The depth of the top shelf is less than the depth of the second highest shelf 3. The top shelf ideally coincide with the height at which the evaportation chamber of the cooling system is positioned. Accordingly, at least the upper part of a taller wine bottle placed on the second highest shelf 3 is also visible to a guest when the refrigerator is closed.

The front wall comprises a hingedly attached door 5, which may be a conventional insulated minibar door. However, the door may be provided with a motion detector 6. The purpose of a motion detector would be to switch on the lamp positioned on the inside of the door, thereby upon detecting motion in the hotel room the lamp lights up the cavity and display the products inside the fridge, guiding the hotel guest to the minibar and stimulate impulsive purchase.

A light switch 7 may be arranged on the outside of the refrigerator, such as on the top wall. Consequently, the lights in the cavity, which enhance the visual impression of the articles, may easily be turned off by the hotel guest, in once the minibar has been located and to avoid annoying light when the hotel guest moves around in the hotel room, or moves in the bed whilst sleeping.

A cooling system (not shown) is arranged in the refrigerator. The cooling system may for example be of absorption type that has the advantange of being completely silent, but a carefully designed compressor system or peltier element (with lowest possible noise level) may be engaged. The inside volume of these minibars typically range from 30 — 110 L, preferably 30-50 L. Electrical energy for the cooling system may be supplied by a cord connected to a socket in a wall of the room in which the refrigerator is placed. Alternatively, or as a complement, a battery may be arranged in the refrigerator, such as in the bottom of the refrigerator. Thereby, the refrigerator may be placed freely for maximized attention. The battery may have a capacity of 50 Ah (12 V) that would with a typical 40 L fridge and a top potential of the absorption cooling system of 60 W (normally active 50% of the time, therenby average consumption 30 W) last for 20 h. If a compressor cooling based system is engaged said 20 h extends by about a factor of 3-4, meaning 60-80 h, meaning a smaller battery battery capacity may be used. A NiMH battery of 50 Ah (12 V) weight about 2 kg, which is no more than 2 wine bottles, hence it can be 6 managed easily. If a Li-ion battery is engaged further weight reduction is achieved. However the common accumulator of lead — sulfuric acid may be used but the weight of such an accumulator is 17,5 kg making the minibar heavier, hence requiring two persons to move easily. Typically an empty minibar of 40 L with absorption cooling weighs about 15 kg, hence manageable by one person for shorter distances.

Holes 4, 12 may be provided at the bottom of refrigerator to allow air for cooling the cooling system to enter. Also, holes 2, 13 may be arranged at the top of the refrigerator to let out heated cooling air.

The front door, since it already from the lamp carries electrical cables, may be fitted with a touch screen (not shown) that is connected through wifi which can be used to order more drinks from the hotel reception or be an entry into social media where other consumers or hotel guests in the same situation may be connected to interchange thoughts and ideas of how to mix drinks.

Abstract There is provided a refrigerator comprising a bottom wall, a top wall and at least one side wall enclosing a cavity for cooling articles by means of a cooling arrangement, such as bottles and/or cans, wherein a side wall comprises an openable door, characterized in that the top wall comprises a transparent and openable lid such that an article placed in the cavity, in a closed configuration of the refrigerator, can be viewed through the transparent lid from above the top wall. 1

Claims (8)

1. Refrigerator comprising a bottom wall, a top wall and at least one side wall enclosing a cavity for cooling articles by means of a cooling arrangement, such as bottles and/or cans, wherein a side wall comprises an openable door, characterized in that the top wall comprises a transparent and openable lid such that an article placed in the cavity, in a closed configuration of the refrigerator, can be viewed through the transparent lid from above the top wall.

2. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the transparent lid extends into the side wall such that the article placed in the cavity, in the closed configuration of the refrigerator, also can be viewed through the transparent lid from beside the side wall.

3. The refrigerator according to claim 1 or 2, wherein two or more shelves are arranged in the cavity at different heights and the height of the top shelf is adjustable.

4. The refrigerator according to claim 3, wherein depth of the top shelf is less than the depth of the shelf arranged below the top shelf.

5. The refrigerator according to any one of the previous claims further comprising a removable and intransparent cover adapted to cover the transparent lid in the closed configuration of the refrigerator.

6. The refrigerator according to any one of the previous claims, wherein the door is intransparent and comprises an insulating material.

7. The refrigerator according to claim 6, wherein the average thickness of the door is at least 2 cm.

8. The refrigerator according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the refrigerator comprises four side walls forming an approximately rectangular cross section. a height of n the of touch for Drawings of refrigerator with transparent hatch With both hatch and door opened: With door and transparent hatch closed but metallic heat radiation shield removed