WO2011080084A2

WO2011080084A2 - Cooling device comprising an auxiliary door opener

Info

Publication number: WO2011080084A2
Application number: PCT/EP2010/069847
Authority: WO
Inventors: Anil Can Agar; Mehmet Seval
Original assignee: BSH Bosch und Siemens Hausgeräte GmbH
Priority date: 2009-12-29
Filing date: 2010-12-16
Publication date: 2011-07-07
Also published as: TR200909883A2; WO2011080084A3

Abstract

The present invention is a cooling device comprising a body (10) with an inner chamber (30) which is enclosed by heat insulated walls (50); a door (20) which is coupled to the body (10) from one end by means of a hinge (60); a latch (82) which moves the door (20) away from the body (10) by pushing the door when it is activated by a drive element (88) and at least one lever arm (80) which provides the latch (82) on a first extension (81), whose second extension (85) with opposite direction is connected to the drive element (88) and which has a rotating support (83) between the two extensions.

Description

COOLING DEVICE COMPRISING AN AUXILIARY DOOR OPENER

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to domestic type cooling devices comprising a body forming an inner chamber with heat insulation where the members to be cooled are placed, a sealed door of this body and an auxiliary door opener which eases the opening of the door.

THE KNOWN STATE OF THE ART

The doors of domestic type home appliances like for instance refrigerators or coolers, which are closing the body delimiting a heat insulated inner chamber and which are hinged to the body are opened and closed by the user in order to access to the inner chamber. During this opening and closing actions, there is hot air input from the outer environment to the inner chamber cooled. When the door is closed, the hot air forms vacuum when it is cooling in the inner chamber which is cooled by a cooling cycle. Especially in cooling devices with big volume or which are adjusted to low temperature, this vacuum leads to the tightly adhering of the door to the inner chamber. Therefore, when the door is desired to be opened by the user, the vacuum force which is formed by the vacuum and which is in opposite direction to the opening direction of the door should be overcome. This situation makes the opening of the door difficult.

In the cooling device, auxiliary door openers are used in order to ease the opening of the door. For instance, with the patent publication WO2008077703, a door driver and a mechanism which makes the opening of the door easy by means of a sensor to which it is connected are disclosed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Under the light of the known state of the art, the object of the present invention is to ease the opening process of the cooling device door closing an inner chamber with heat insulation. A preferred embodiment of the present invention is a cooling device comprising a body with an inner chamber which is enclosed by heat insulated walls; a door which closes the inner chamber in a manner that can be opened and which is coupled to the body from one end by means of a hinge; a latch which is fixed on the door or on the body and which moves the door away from the body by pushing the door when it is activated by a drive element which it is connected to; and at least one lever arm which provides the latch on a first extension, whose second extension with opposite direction is connected to the drive element and which has a rotating support between the two extensions. In order for the opening of the door, the second extension of the lever arm is displaced by the drive element, and with the rotation of the lever arm on the rotating support, the latch displaces forward. Thus, the latch pushes the door in the opening direction.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a rotating axis (y) of the rotating support of the lever arm is essentially parallel to the hinge rotation axis. Thus, with the rotation of the lever arm in the rotation axis, the forwarding direction of the latch will be in the rotation axis in the opening direction of the door on the hinge. The major part of the displacement which the drive element transfers to the second extension will be used for the opening of the door. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the connection of the second extension to the drive element is in the lever arm extension plane. Thus, the pushing or drawing force which the drive element applies can be directly transferred to the latch.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, at least the second extension of the lever arm is essentially made of ferromagnetic material. Because of the ferromagnetic material, the drive element can apply force on the second extension by means of any magnetic force.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, said drive element is a magnet. This magnet can be natural magnet or electromagnet. The magnet can apply pulling or pushing forces to the ferromagnetic material magnetically, thus it leads to the forward displacement of the latch towards the door. A preferred embodiment of the present invention comprises an extension extending outwardly between the first and the second extension on the lever arm and an axis slot whose correspondence is formed on the door or on the body, in order to provide the rotating support.

A preferred embodiment of the present invention comprises a casing which encloses the lever arm and which has an aperture in the part corresponding to the latch.

A preferred embodiment of the present invention comprises a slot provided on the wall in a manner which can be opened to a front surface of the walls which is facing the door in order for the placement of the casing. The lever arm can be placed inside the slot so that only the latch part can be seen from outside. In a probable embodiment, the drive element is adjacent to the slot wall. By means of this, with the second extension of the lever, the lever does not form a tab from the front surface outer part.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the position of said slot on the wall is the symmetric of the position of the hinge on the wall, with respect to an axis passing orthogonally through the middle of the body. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the slot is a hinge bearing which is adapted so that the hinge can be assembled. By means of this, in a body with two mutual hinge bearings, the casing is placed into the hinge bearing which is against the hinge bearing where the hinge is placed.

A preferred embodiment of the present invention comprises at least one spring element which is adapted to the lever arm so as to turn the latch to a first position after the door pushing process. For instance, while the drive element is pulling the second extension, the spring passes from the rest position to the tensioning position from the door to the body and it is coupled to the first extension so as to pull the first extension. Else, when the drive element applies opposite pushing from the door to the body or when the drive element applies pulling force from the body to the door, pressure is applied from the door direction to the body and the spring is tensioned and it pushes the second extension.

A preferred embodiment of the present invention comprises a triggering element which is coupled to the drive element and which drives the drive element so that the latch comes out in order to project the latch by means of a signal which is obtained during the opening of the door. For instance, the triggering element which is connected to a sensor which senses that the door is being opened triggers the drive element in order to ease the opening of the door and by displacing the lever arm, the latch is projected and the distance between the door and the body is increased and for instance the door pushes the body or the body pushes the door.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

In order to understand the embodiment of the present invention with the additional elements in the best way, it had to be evaluated with the figures that are explained below.

Figure 1 is the perspective view of the upper part of the body of the domestic type cooling device whose door is closed and which comprises a slot where a representative embodiment of the subject matter invention will be assembled.

Figure 2 is the upper cross sectional view of a cooling device comprising a representative embodiment of the subject matter invention where the door is closed.

Figure 3 is the dismantled perspective view of a representative embodiment of the subject matter invention which will be assembled to the slot illustrated in Figure 1.

Figure 4 is the perspective assembled view of the embodiment illustrated in Figure 3, where the auxiliary door opener is in the opened position and where the front door is removed.

Figure 5 is the assembled perspective view of the embodiment illustrated in Figure 3, where the auxiliary door opener is in the open position.

Figure 6 is the assembled perspective view of the embodiment illustrated in Figure 3, where the auxiliary door opener is in the closed position.

REFERENCE NUMBERS 10 Body 80 Lever arm

12 Front surface 81 First extension

14 Slot 82 Latch

16 Hinge bearing 83 Support, tab

20 Door 84 Bearing

21 Extension 85 Second extension

22 Inner surface 86 Flexible element

30 Inner chamber 87 Spring element

40 Gasket 88 Drive element

50 Wall 90 Triggering element

60 Hinge y Rotation axis

70 Casing

71 Reservoir

72 Cover

73 Aperture

74 Axis slot

THE DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In Figure 1 , the body (10) and the door (20) of a cooling device comprising a slot (14) where the subject matter invention is to be placed are illustrated from the upper part in perspective form. The body (10) delimits an inner chamber (30) where the items to be cooled are placed, by means of heat insulated walls (50) so that there is an aperture on the front surface (12) thereof. A door (20) closing the front surface (12) of the body (10) is fixed to the body (10) by means of a hinge (60) in a manner that can be opened and closed. There is a hinge bearing (16) in cavity form where the hinge (60) is to be placed near the upper corner on the front surface (12) of the body (10). A similar cavity is opened near the other corner of the front surface (12) so as to form a slot (14). An extension (21 ) of the door (20) which is a part of it extends so as to close the front surface (12) by a distance upwards from the upper edge of the door (20). There is an inner surface (22) of the extension (21 ) facing the slot (14).

In Figure 2, the body (10) and the door (20) of a cooling device comprising the subject matter auxiliary door opener are illustrated schematically by taking a cross section from the top. A door (20) is hinged into the aperture in the front face of the body (10), which the walls (50) form by wrapping the three faces. A gasket (40) wraps between the door (20) and the body (10) seamlessly. A casing (70) with a latch (80) is fixed to the body (10) in opposite direction of the position of the hinge (60) with respect to an imaginary axis passing through the middle. Moreover, by positioning a triggering element (90) on the body (10), this element is connected to a drive element (88) inside the casing (70) by means of a cable.

In Figure 3, the parts of a representative embodiment of a auxiliary door opener enclosed by a casing (70) are illustrated in dismantled form. The casing (70) comprises a reservoir (71 ) which can be connected so as to form a box with two pieces and a cover (72) which covers this reservoir. An aperture (73) is formed on the front face of the cover (72). Moreover, there is an axis slot (74) with one each coaxial hole form which is opened inwards on the upper and lower surface of the cover (72) which correspond to the end of the aperture (73). A lever arm (80) has a first extension (81 ) and a second extension (85) which are separated by a support (83) and which extend in opposite directions with respect to each other linearly. At the point where the support (83) is combined, the ends of the first and the second extension (81 , 85) which are facing one another are combined by coinciding one above the other from one each edge. In the part of the reservoir (71 ) which is facing the first extension (81 ), there is a spring element (87) and correspondingly, in the part facing the second extension (85), there is a drive element (88). The free part of the first extension (81 ) forms a latch (82). On the end of the latch (82), a bearing (84) with fork form is formed where a flexible element (86) is to be assembled from one each mutual end. The flexible element (86) has a cylindrical form.

In Figure 4, the assembly of the lever arm (80) inside the reservoir (71 ) is illustrated. The drive element (88) is an electromagnet. The drive element (88) formed by the electromagnet and the spring element (87) in spiral structure are fixed to the inner surface of the reservoir (71 ) from one each end. The lever arm (80) is assembled by the seating of the support (83) to the axis slot (74) in a rotatable manner, where the support is in tab form and extends outwardly from the lateral surface in the middle part. The spring element (87) is fixed onto the face of the first extension (81 ) facing the reservoir (71 ) from the free end thereof. The position of the spring element (87) on the first extension (81 ) is close to the free end of the first extension (81 ). On the other hand, the drive element (88) is fixed to the reservoir (71 ) through the second extension's (85) face facing the reservoir (71 ). The position of the drive element (88) inside the reservoir (71 ) is towards the face of the second extension (85) facing the reservoir (71 ). In Figure 5 and Figure 6, the casing (70) is illustrated with the drive element (88) in active and closed positions respectively with the reservoir (71 ) and the cover (72) combined. With the drive element (88) in open position, the latch (82) extends outwardly from the aperture (73). When the drive element (88) is in closed position, the latch (82) does not pass through the aperture (73).

In the application of the subject matter invention, the casing (70) is assembled to the slot (14) and the electromagnet forming the drive element (88) is connected to the triggering element (90) formed by a control circuit, by means of an electrical connection. The triggering element (90) is connected by a user to a sensor (not illustrated in the figure) which detects the opening displacement of the door (20). When the opening of the door is detected by the sensor, the triggering element (90) activates the drive element (88) which is formed by the electromagnet. This process is realized by giving electricity to the electromagnet. The second extension (85) which is made of ferromagnetic material, for instance an iron alloy or which carries a ferromagnetic material thereon displaces towards the drive element (88) as a result of the magnetizing. Thus, by turning the lever arm (80) on the support (83), the latch (82) part of the first extension (81 ) may get out of the aperture (73). The latch (82) projects from the slot (14) on the body (10) towards the door (20) with the turning of the lever arm (80) as the drive element (88) is opened. Thus, the flexible element (86) on the end of the latch (82) contacts with an inner surface (22) on the opposite door (20) extension (21 ) and it forces the door (20) to be opened by rotating in the hinge (60) axis. Thus, the user opens the door (20) with less effort. In the present application, the drive element (88) is selected to have a power so as to apply at least 10- 20 N of force to the second extension (85). This force decreases the vacuum effect formed against the drawing direction on the door (20), during the cooling of the hot air inside the inner chamber (30) by means of the cooling cycle.

When the door (20) is opened, the triggering element (90) interrupts the signal it sends to the drive element (88). For instance, in the embodiment in the figure, since the electrical current coming to the electromagnet is interrupted, the spring element (87) which is tensioned with the forward displacement of the latch (82) pulls the latch (82) towards inside the aperture (73). Thus, the lever arm (80) returns to its initial position. In an alternative embodiment, the triggering element (90) and/or the sensor can be provided in the reservoir casing (70). For instance, the electricity obtained by means of a battery or a sun power collector can operate the system by being sent to the electromagnet (88) by means of the triggering element (90).

In the cooling devices whose door (20) opening direction changes, the idle hinge bearing (16) can accommodate the casing (70) by forming the slot (14). In order to provide efficiency in the transfer of the force applied to the arm (80) by means of the drive element (88), the rotation axis (y) which is formed by the extension direction of the support (83) extends in the direction which the hinge rotates the door (20).

Claims

1. A cooling device comprising a body (10) with an inner chamber (30) which is enclosed by heat insulated walls (50); a door (20) which closes the inner chamber (30) in a manner that can be opened and which is coupled to the body (10) from one end by means of a hinge (60); a latch (82) which is fixed on the door (20) or on the body (10) and which moves the door (20) away from the body (10) by pushing the door when it is activated by a drive element (88) which it is connected to characterized by comprising at least one lever arm (80) which provides the latch (82) on a first extension (81 ), whose second extension (85) with opposite direction is connected to the drive element (88) and which has a rotating support (83) between the two extensions.

2. A cooling device according to claim 1 , characterized in that a rotating axis (y) of the rotating support (83) of the lever arm (80) is essentially parallel to the hinge (60) rotation axis.

3. A cooling device according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the connection of the second extension (85) to the drive element (88) is in the lever arm (80) extension plane.

4. A cooling device according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that at least the second extension (85) of the lever arm (80) is essentially made of ferromagnetic material.

5. A cooling device according to claim 4, characterized in that said drive element (88) is a magnet.

6. A cooling device according to the any of the preceding claims, characterized by comprising an extension (83) extending outwardly between the first and the second extension (85, 81 ) on the lever arm (80) and an axis slot (74) whose correspondence is formed on the door (20) or on the body (10), in order to provide the rotating support (83).

7. A cooling device according to the any of the preceding claims, characterized by comprising a casing (70) which encloses the lever arm (80) and which has an aperture (73) in the part corresponding to the latch (82).

8. A cooling device according to claim 7, characterized by comprising a slot (14) provided on the wall (50) in a manner which can be opened to a front surface (12) of the walls (50) which is facing the door (20) in order for the placement of the casing (70).

9. A cooling device according to claim 8, characterized in that the position of the slot (14) on the wall (50) is the symmetric of the position of the hinge (60) on the wall (50) with respect to an axis passing orthogonally through the middle of the body (10).

10. A cooling device according to claim 9, characterized in that the slot (14) is a hinge bearing (16) which is adapted so that the hinge (60) can be assembled.

1 1. A cooling device according to the any of the preceding claims, characterized by comprising at least one spring element (87) which is adapted to the lever arm (80) so as to turn the latch (82) to a first position after the door (10) pushing process.

12. A cooling device according to the any of the preceding claims, characterized by comprising a triggering element (90) which is coupled to the drive element (88) and which drives the drive element (88) so that the latch comes out in order to project the latch by means of a signal which is obtained during the opening of the door (10).