WO2004015341A1

WO2004015341A1 - Refrigerating device with a sub-divided interior

Info

Publication number: WO2004015341A1
Application number: PCT/EP2003/008168
Authority: WO
Inventors: Martin Eichler; Mario Kaiser; Wolfgang Kentner; Karl-Friedrich Laible; Walter Lipp
Original assignee: BSH Bosch und Siemens Hausgeräte GmbH
Priority date: 2002-08-07
Filing date: 2003-07-24
Publication date: 2004-02-19
Also published as: AU2003260328A1; EP1535007A1; PL373244A1; RU2315925C2; RU2005102071A; DE10236210A1

Abstract

A refrigerating device having a heat-insulating housing (1) surrounding an interior (5) which is sub-divided into an upper and lower area by an intermediate wall (3). At least one inner wall of the housing (1) is associated with a refrigeratory. A separating wall (10) is arranged in front of said inner wall (19), defining a cooling tower (35) extending along the inner wall (19). A passage (12) having an adjustable cross-section is mounted in said cooling tower (35).

Description

Refrigerator with divided interior

The present invention relates to a refrigeration device with a heat-insulating housing which encloses an interior which is divided into an upper and a lower area by an intermediate wall. In many domestic refrigerators, such an intermediate wall is formed by a lowermost refrigerated goods carrier, in particular a glass plate, which separates a compartment close to the floor from the rest of the interior. In general, since an evaporator attached to an inner wall of such a refrigerator does not reach down into the compartment separated from the glass plate and the glass plate on the evaporator largely keeps air cooled from the compartment, it is usually warmer than the rest of the interior and thereby Particularly suitable for storing fresh vegetables and other refrigerated goods that are sensitive to storage temperatures that are too low.

DE 19652032 A1 discloses a refrigeration device of the type described above, in which a control device is attached to the glass plate on its rear edge, which faces the inner wall cooled by the evaporator, and has a plurality of stationary holes and a plurality of complementary slidable slides Has holes that together form a passage with a variable cross-section. This passage should enable a dosed inflow of cold air through the control device into the compartment located under the glass plate, so that the compartment can also set lower temperatures than would result if the control device were closed or not would be present.

The effectiveness of this control device proves to be limited, however, because cooled air that flows down the inner wall only flows through the passage to a small extent, even if it is wide open. Most of it flows over the glass plate.

In order to improve the effectiveness of the control device, one could enlarge the free cross section of the passage. A corresponding enlargement of the However, the control device would take up the space on the glass plate and would hinder the use of the refrigerator.

The object of the present invention is to provide a refrigeration device which enables a more effective inflow of cold air to a separated lower area of the interior without impairing the storage possibilities for the refrigerated goods.

The object is achieved according to the invention by a refrigeration appliance with the features of claim 1.

The chimney amplifies the flow of cold air entering it in the same way as a house chimney that of hot flue gases and thus leads to a more intense cold air flow into the separated lower area.

The passage is preferably formed between a lower section of the chimney and the lower area of the interior. This has the advantage that a chimney or passage between the upper area and the chimney has the advantage that cold air can collect in the chimney even when the passage is closed, so that the air flow starts reliably and quickly when the passage is opened.

If the partition covers part of the evaporator, the air in the chimney is strongly cooled, which also promotes the flow. The area covered by the partition preferably comprises the lower quarter of the evaporator or more.

Extending the chimney across the entire width of the evaporator makes it possible to quickly fill the chimney with cold air when the evaporator cools and thus to start the desired flow quickly.

The intermediate wall is preferably a support plate or a drawer of the interior of the refrigerator.

In order to minimize the space requirement of the partition delimiting the chimney, it is preferably arranged essentially vertically. In order to avoid an inflow of cold air into the lower area past the movable partition wall above it, even if this is not pushed in as far as it will go, an upper brim is preferably provided on the partition wall, which overlaps a rear edge region of the partition wall.

The intermediate wall can be composed of floor sections lying at different heights. If the higher floor section is above the passage and the lower one is at or below the passage, a higher air flow through the passage can result in the area of the higher floor section than at the lower floor section. This can be exploited by providing the lower area with a transverse subdivision so that a partial area lies below the higher and below the lower floor section, the part which is less supplied with cold air and is located below the lower floor section and is particularly suitable for storing sensitive items Chilled goods such as vegetables and the like are suitable, while in the part supplied with cold air, for example Drinks can be accommodated. According to this subdivision, a high-walled pull-out box, in particular for vegetables, the walls of which extend just below the lower bottom section, and a low-walled pull-out box is preferably arranged under the lower floor section, which allows beverage packs to be removed simply by tilting, even without pulling out the box allows over the low wall.

For anchoring the partition wall, recesses are formed in the walls of the interior, preferably in the walls adjacent to the wall cooled by the evaporator, into which resilient locking projections of the partition wall can engage. Furthermore, the partition can be supported in a condensate drainage channel, which is conventionally formed in each case on the lower edge of the inner wall of the interior assigned to the evaporator. In order to keep the partition wall pressed against the inner wall, the condensate drainage channel preferably has a cross-section which slopes away from the outside in cross section to the internal resistance.

In order to prevent cold air from flowing into the separated compartment between a lower edge of the dividing wall and the drainage channel, the dividing wall is preferably provided with a sealing lip which is located below the passage on that of the evaporator cooled wall is present and thus prevents air passage beyond the passage. In order to nevertheless allow the condensed water forming on the cooled wall to drain, the sealing lip has a slope that slopes down to a deepest point and has a cutout at this deepest point through which condensed water can flow into the drainage channel.

The passage is expediently formed by an arrangement of fixed holes that is regularly distributed over the width of the partition and a slider that is slidable before the arrangement and provided with complementary holes. With such an arrangement, a slight freedom of movement of the slide corresponding to the width of the holes is sufficient to switch from a completely open state of the passage to a completely closed one.

In order to avoid that the partition wall in its upper area is pressed against the cooled wall by the refrigerated goods carrier or possibly by refrigerated goods protruding from it backwards and thus blocking an air flow running down the chimney to the passage, the partition wall is in its The upper area is expediently provided with the spacers facing the cooled wall, preferably in the form of vertical ribs.

Further features and advantages of the invention result from the following description of exemplary embodiments with reference to the attached figures. Show it:

Figure 1 is a front view of a refrigerator according to the invention, with the door omitted.

Fig. 2 shows a second front view of the refrigerator, with a pull-out

Shelf that separates the bottom shelf from the rest of the interior is omitted;

3 shows a perspective cutaway view of the refrigeration device;

4 shows a second cut-away view of the refrigeration device without refrigerated goods carrier; 5 shows a third cutaway view of the refrigeration device;

6 is a perspective view of the partition with the passage open;

7 shows the partition with a closed passage; and

Fig. 8 the partition, seen from its side facing the rear wall of the refrigerator.

Fig. 1 shows, with the door omitted, a front view of the heat-insulating housing 1 of a refrigerator which is equipped with a plurality of refrigerated goods carriers 2, 3, 4 which can be pulled out on telescopic rails (not shown) and which divide the interior of the device into a number of compartments. The upper refrigerated goods carriers 2 have the shape of flat drawers or trays, which extend continuously over the entire width of the interior 5. The middle support 3, which forms an intermediate wall between a lower compartment and the rest of the interior of the refrigeration device above it, is composed of two shells 6, 7 which are formed in one piece and each have floor sections at different heights. The lowermost refrigerated goods carrier 4 is also divided in two into a low-walled bottle compartment 8 below the higher bowl 6 and a vegetable compartment 9, the walls of which extend to just below the lower bowl 7 of the refrigerated goods carrier 3.

In the upper area of the rear wall of the interior 5, an evaporator 15 - a so-called cold wall evaporator - is attached on the heat insulation side and extends down to the level of the bottom of the lower shell 7 or just above it. This evaporator 15 effectively cools the compartments above the refrigerated goods carriers 2 and 3. The compartment below the refrigerated goods carrier 3 is essentially cooled only by the inflow of cold air from compartments above it.

The cooled rear wall of the inner container 5 is pre-blended at the level of the middle refrigerated goods carrier 3, which can be better seen in the view of FIG. 2, in which the middle refrigerated goods carrier 3 is omitted. It divides a narrow chimney 35 (see also FIG. 3) that extends over the entire width of the rear wall from the interior from. An upper edge 11 of the partition wall 10 has a stepped course corresponding to the contour of the walls of the refrigerated goods carrier 3. At the level of the upper edge 11, the partition wall 10 runs at a distance of a few millimeters to approximately 1 cm from the rear wall of the inner container 5. Air cooled in the upper region of the rear wall can therefore penetrate into the chimney 35. In a lower area of the partition 10, a passage 12 with an adjustable cross-section is formed, through which a quantity of air proportional to the set cross-section can penetrate between the rear wall and the refrigerated goods carrier 3 into the compartment underneath and cools it. This displaces warm air between the door of the refrigerator and the front edge of the carrier 3 in the higher compartments.

Fig. 3 shows a partially cutaway view of the housing 1, in which except for a door-side frame 13, the outer walls of the housing 1 are omitted and an inner container 14, which forms the walls of the interior 5, is shown in half. The already mentioned evaporator 15 can be seen on the rear wall of the inner container 14. As can be seen in this figure, a brim 16 extending horizontally into the interior 5 extends along the upper edge 11 of the intermediate wall and, together with a shoulder 17 running parallel underneath (see also FIG. 6), delimits a wide groove in which engages a stiffening brim of the refrigerated goods carrier 3 projecting to the rear. The brim 1 6 and shoulder 1 7 together form a labyrinth seal which substantially prevents an inflow of cold air into the lower compartment between the refrigerated goods carrier 3 and the partition wall 10 even when the refrigerated goods carrier 3 does not directly separate the partition wall 10 touched.

FIG. 4 shows a view of the housing 1 partially cut away as in FIG. 3 from a rearward direction. One can see here a sealing lip 18 in the form of an obliquely downwardly extending flexible rubber apron which extends over the entire width of the partition wall 10 and with its free lower edge lies against the rear wall 19 of the inner container 14 just above a condensation water drainage channel 20. As in conventional refrigeration devices, the condensate drainage channel 20 runs downwards on the rear wall 19 below the evaporator 15 to a collection point (not shown), at which a bore for draining the condensate water out of the housing 1 is formed. A substantially horizontally rearward projection 21 of the sealing lip 18 is provided in the funnel-shaped approach to this hole to intervene and to prevent a cold air flow between the sealing lip 1 8 and the rear wall 1 9 at the height of this approach, without, however, blocking the drain hole.

Fig. 5 shows how the partition 10 is fixed in the inner container 14. On its right and left side flanks, the partition wall 10 has a flexible tongue 23 which, starting from the side flank, first extends horizontally from it and then vertically parallel to it and has an outwardly directed pin 24 at its free end (see also FIG. 6, 8). In order to be able to inject the tongue 23 in one piece with the body of the partition 10 using simple molding tools, the pin 24 is not solid or hollow, but is formed by a plurality of intersecting narrow walls.

Both side walls 25 of the inner container 14 each have a deep-drawn recess in which the pins 24 engage. Gripping hooks 26 located opposite the pins 24 on the rear sides of the tongues 23 can be gripped with the fingers in order to pull the pins out of the recesses in the side walls and thus to remove the partition wall 10.

In its assembled position, the partition wall 10 is additionally supported by a plurality of ribs 27 which protrude from a lower flank of the partition wall 10 and are supported in the condensation water drainage channel 20. The ribs 27 each have a complementary beveled lower edge, which can be seen in particular in FIG. 5, through which the dividing wall 10 is also pressed in its central region against the rear wall 19. The approach between the partition wall 10 and the rear wall 19 is limited by the rib wall spacers 28 formed on the partition wall 10, which are shown in FIG. 8.

6-8 show in particular the structure of the passage 12. An arrangement of uniformly spaced, vertically elongated, stationary holes 29 extends over the entire width of the partition wall 10, as shown in FIG. 8. Above and below the arrangement of the holes 29 there are three horizontally elongated contactors 30. Locking hooks 31 of a slide 32, which is extended onto the front of the partition 10, are locked in these slots 30. The width of the locking hook 31 is less than that of the slots 30, the contact of the locking hook 31 with the Lateral edges of the slots 30 limit the horizontal freedom of movement of the slide 32.

6, 7, the slide is shown cut horizontally. It has a plurality of movable holes 33 which are complementary in shape and arrangement to the holes 29. 6, the slide 32 is in a left stop position, in which the holes 29, 32 lie congruently in front of one another and allow maximum passage of cold air. In the right stop position of the slide 32 shown in FIG. 7, which is offset by half a hole spacing from the position of FIG. 6, the holes 29, 32 are closed and no air exchange takes place.

With the aid of a projecting gripping section 34, a user can place the slide 32 in one of the positions shown or in any intermediate position in order to continuously adjust the cold air flow into the lower compartment. The gripping section 34 is placed above the bottle compartment 8 in order to enable access without the refrigerated goods carrier 4 having to be pulled out for this purpose.

Claims

claims

1. Refrigeration device with a heat-insulating housing (1), which encloses an interior (5), which is divided by an intermediate wall (3) into an upper and a lower area, at least one inner wall of the housing (1)

Is assigned to the evaporator and there is a passage (12) between the two areas, characterized in that a partition (10) is arranged in the interior in front of the inner wall (19) assigned to the evaporator and delimits a chimney extending along the inner wall, and that the passage (12) is arranged on the chimney (35).

2. Refrigerating appliance according to claim 1, characterized in that the passage (12) has a variable cross section.

3. Refrigerating appliance according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the

Passage (12) connects a lower section of the fireplace (35) to the lower area of the interior.

4. Refrigerating appliance according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the partition (10) a part of the area of the

Evaporator (19) covered.

5. Refrigerating appliance according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the partition (10) covers the lower quarter of the surface of the evaporator (19).

6. Refrigerating appliance according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the partition (10) extends over the entire width of the evaporator (19).

7. Refrigerating appliance according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the intermediate wall is a support plate.

8. Refrigerating appliance according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the partition is a drawer (3) ..

9. Refrigerating appliance according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the partition (10) is arranged substantially vertically.

10. Refrigerating appliance according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the partition (10) has an upper brim (16) which overlaps an edge region of the intermediate wall (3).

11. Refrigerating appliance according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the intermediate wall (3) has two bottom sections at different heights, the higher bottom section being above and the lower one at the height of the passage (12) or below.

12. Refrigerating appliance according to claim 11, characterized in that a low-walled pull-out box (8) and a high-walled pull-out box (9) is arranged under the higher bottom section.

13. Refrigerating appliance according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the partition (10) is provided with resilient locking projections (23, 24) which engage in recesses in the walls of the interior (5).

14. Refrigerating appliance according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the partition (12) is supported in a condensate drainage channel (20).

15. Refrigerating appliance according to claim 14, characterized in that the condensate drainage channel (20) is sloping in cross section to the outside of the housing.

16. Refrigerating appliance according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the partition carries a sealing lip (18) which bears below the passage (12) on the wall (19) assigned to the evaporator.

17. Refrigerating appliance according to claim 16, characterized in that the sealing lip (18) is cut out at a deepest point.

18. Refrigerating appliance according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the passage (12) is formed by an arrangement of fixed holes (29) which is regularly distributed over the width of the partition (10) and a perforated slide (32) which can be displaced before the arrangement ).

19. Refrigerating appliance according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the partition (10) carries spacers (28) facing the upper part of the wall (19) associated with the evaporator.