WO2011128866A1

WO2011128866A1 - Front panel of a household appliance, in particular a cooking oven

Info

Publication number: WO2011128866A1
Application number: PCT/IB2011/051609
Authority: WO
Inventors: Gianluca Allegrezza; Pietro Maraone; Andrea Marsili
Original assignee: Indesit Company S.P.A.
Priority date: 2010-04-14
Filing date: 2011-04-13
Publication date: 2011-10-20
Also published as: ITTO20100065U1

Abstract

The present invention relates to a front panel (1) of a household appliance, in particular a cooking oven, of the type comprising a covering element (10), in particular made of glassy material, substantially having a parallelepipedon shape. The invention is characterised in that said front panel (1) comprises a support (20) fitted with: - a wall (21) comprising a front surface (21A) for securing said covering element (10), and - a foot (22) obtained in a lower portion of said front surface (21A).

Description

FRONT PANEL OF A HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCE, IN PARTICULAR A COOKING OVEN

DESCRIPTION

The present invention relates to a front panel for a household appliance, in particular a cooking oven, according to the preamble of claim 1.

As known, household appliances such as dishwashers, washing machines, clothes dryers, freezers, cooking ovens and the like are fitted on the front side, typically near their upper end, with a strip panel, usually called front panel, which includes suitable seats for mounting and accessing the control and/or display devices of the appliance itself, such as knobs, touch screens, LCDs, LED displays, lights, indicator lights and so on. Said control and/or display devices constitute as a whole a user interface which allows information to be exchanged between the user and the household appliance. Through said user interface, the user sets the various functions and may receive information, in some cases through LED indicator lights indicating the operating phase being carried out by the household appliance. For example, the user of a washing machine may be informed about the wash cycle being executed; or, through a timer and an audible signal, the user of a household oven may be informed when the cooking of a certain food is complete.

The front panels known in the art comprise a covering element, in particular made of glassy material and having substantially a parallelepipedon shape, that defines the appearance of the front panel. Said covering element is transparent at least over the display devices of said user interface which must remain visible to the user, and may include holes for the passage of knobs and/or indicator LEDs.

Taking an oven as an example, said user interface may comprise a graphic indicator, visible through said covering element, which allows the user to immediately understand, without looking at his/her watch, how far the cooking has got, e.g. if the food is half cooked or almost fully cooked.

In the front panels known in the art, a forged section is usually associated with the lower portion of the covering element to finish off said covering element, in particular from an aesthetic point of view. Said trim section is typically made of stainless steel and is associated with the lower portion of the front face and of both side faces of the covering element, so as to embrace the lower portion of those three faces of the covering element that are mostly visible to the user. Consequently, the stainless steel trim section forms a projection from the covering element, said projection being due to the thickness (usually approx. 0.5 mm) of the material of the trim section as well as to the dimensional tolerances of the glass of the covering element (approx. ± 0.5 mm).

As a result, the stainless steel trim section, which is so sized as to be able to embrace a covering element at the maximum tolerance level, may project as much as 1 mm or 1.5 mm from the covering element, if the latter is at the minimum tolerance level.

Manufacturing the front panels known in the art may therefore pose a number of problems due to the fact that the projection of the stainless steel trim section causes the presence of sharp edges, especially on the side portions of the covering element and of the household appliance.

Such sharp edges may be dangerous for the user, who may cut him/herself due to accidental contact therewith; this may happen, in particular, when cleaning the household appliance.

Moreover, the projection of the stainless steel trim section from the covering element and the household appliance is very unaesthetic.

Aiming at overcoming these drawbacks, some solutions have been proposed wherein the glass covering element has a T profile, i.e. a profile with side portions adapted to house the stainless steel trim section in a manner such that they become linear and projectionless.

However, these solutions have some drawbacks too, in that making a glass covering element with a T profile is a very costly process.

In this frame, it is the main object of the present invention to overcome the above- mentioned drawbacks by providing a front panel for a household appliance, in particular a cooking oven, which is so designed as to not create any excessive projections with respect to the household appliance it is associated with.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a front panel for a household appliance, in particular a cooking oven, which is so designed as to have no sharp edges which might be dangerous for the user, in particular when cleaning the household appliance.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a front panel for a household appliance, in particular a cooking oven, which is so designed as to keep production costs low.

Said objects are achieved by the present invention through a front panel for a household appliance, in particular a cooking oven, incorporating the features set out in the appended claims, which are intended as an integral part of the present description.

Further objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description and from the annexed drawings, which are supplied by way of non-limiting example, wherein:

Fig. 1 schematically shows an exploded perspective view of a front panel for a household appliance, in particular a cooking oven, according to the present invention;

Figs. 2a and 2b are a front view and a side view, respectively, of the front panel of Fig. 1.

Said description and said drawings are to be considered as non-limiting examples.

Referring now to the drawings, reference numeral 1 designates as a whole a front panel of a household appliance, in particular a cooking oven (not shown in the drawings), according to the present invention.

The front panel 1 comprises a covering element 10, in particular made of glassy material and having substantially a parallelepipedon shape.

In accordance with the present invention, the front panel 1 comprises a support 20 fitted with:

a wall 21 comprising a front surface 21 A for securing said covering element 10, and

a foot 22 obtained in a lower portion of said front surface 21 A.

Advantageously, said support 20 is made of plastic material and said foot 22 is obtained when moulding said support 20.

In addition, the front panel 1 according to the present invention comprises a trim section 30, in particular made of stainless steel, adapted to be associated with the foot 22 of the support 20. Preferably, said trim section 30 is secured to the foot 22 by using a sticky material, in particular silicone.

As can particularly be seen in the front view of Fig. 2a, the peculiar design of the front panel 1 according to the present invention allows to avoid causing the trim section 30 to project excessively from the household appliance with which said front panel 1 is associated.

In fact, the provision of the foot 22 allows the trim section 30 to be associated with the front panel 1 with the utmost precision; thanks to the presence of the foot 22, the trim section 30 must not necessarily be associated with the covering element 10 and, as a result, the trim section 30 can be positioned in a manner such as to not project laterally relative to the width of the covering element 10.

This allows making a front panel 1 having no sharp edges which might be dangerous for the user, in particular when cleaning the household appliance.

Furthermore, the design of the front panel 1 according to the present invention allows to limit the production costs of said front panel 1 , since no costly operations for cutting and shaping the glass covering element 10 are required.

In Fig. 2a it can also be seen that the design of the front panel 1 according to the present invention facilitates the assembly process. In fact, it is sufficient to align the covering element 10 and the trim section 30 with respect to a first side 20A of the support 20, so as to obtain a null projection of said components from said first side 20 A and a difference of approx. ± 0.5 mm of the covering element 10 with respect to a second side 20B of the support 20; it should be noted that said difference of approx. ± 0.5 mm is exclusively due to the dimensional and construction tolerances of the glassy material of the covering element 10, and not, as in prior-art front panels, to the disadvantageous positioning of the trim section onto the lower portion of a covering element.

Fig. 2b shows that the foot 22 and the trim section 30 extend in a direction orthogonal to the wall 21 of the support 20.

As a consequence, said support 20 substantially has an L-shaped cross-section, wherein the vertical portion consists of the wall 21 and the horizontal portion consists of the foot 22.

In addition, Fig. 2b also shows that the wall 21 has a back surface 21B that comprises fastening means 23 for positioning and securing the front panel 1 onto a household appliance.

Referring back to Fig. 1, it can be seen that the wall 21 of the support 20 comprises at least one first aperture 24 which allows the user to see information coming from the household appliance, in particular from display devices of a user interface (not shown in the drawings) of said household appliance.

Preferably, said covering element 10 is transparent at least over said first aperture 24 and/or over display devices of a user interface (said devices and said user interface are not shown in the drawings).

The covering element 10 may also have at least one hole 11 (Fig. 1 shows one pair of holes 11) for the passage of control and/or display devices (not shown in the drawings) of the household appliance, such as, for example, knobs, LEDs and the like.

Furthermore, the wall 21 may comprise at least one second aperture 25 for the passage of control means (not shown in the drawings) of the household appliance; for example, said control means may comprise knobs, levers, push-buttons and the like.

The features and advantages of the front panel of a household appliance, in particular a cooking oven, according to the present invention are apparent from the above description.

In particular, the present invention allows to provide a front panel 1 wherein a trim section 30, in particular made of stainless steel, can be associated with the utmost precision with said front panel 1.

Advantageously, the provision of a support 20 fitted with a foot 22 allows the trim section 30 to not be directly associated with the covering element 10; in fact, the trim section 30 is associated with the foot 22 and can therefore be positioned in a manner such as to not project excessively sideways relative to the width of the covering element 10.

Such a design allows making a front panel 1 having no sharp edges which might be dangerous for the user, in particular when cleaning the household appliance.

A further advantage of the present invention is that it requires no costly cutting and shaping operations to align the side portions of the covering element 10, made of glassy material, with those of the trim section 30.

Moreover, the design of the front panel 1 according to the present invention facilitates the assembly process, since it is sufficient to align the covering element 10 and the trim section 30 with respect to a first side 20A of the support 20 to obtain a null projection of said components relative to said first side 20A.

It is however clear that many changes may be made to the front panel for a household appliance, in particular a cooking oven, according to the present invention, and that in its practical implementation the various components may have different shapes and arrangements or be replaced with other technically equivalent elements without departing from the novelty spirit of the inventive idea.

It can therefore be easily understood that the present invention is not limited to the above-described front panel for a household appliance, in particular a cooking oven, but may be subject to many modifications, improvements or replacements of equivalent parts and elements without departing from the inventive idea, as clearly specified in the following claims.

Claims

1. A front panel (1) of a household appliance, in particular a cooking oven, of the type comprising a covering element (10), in particular made of glassy material, substantially having a parallelepipedon shape,

characterised in that

said front panel (1) comprises a support (20) fitted with:

a wall (21) comprising a front surface (21 A) for securing said covering element (10), and

a foot (22) obtained in a lower portion of said front surface (21 A).

2. A front panel (1) according to claim 1, characterised in that said support (20) is made of plastic material and said foot (22) is obtained when moulding said support (20).

3. A front panel (1) according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterised in that said front panel (1) comprises a trim section (30), in particular made of stainless steel, adapted to be associated with the foot (22) of the support (20).

4. A front panel (1) according to claim 3, characterised in that said foot (22) and said trim section (30) extend in a direction orthogonal to the wall (21) of the support

(20).

5. A front panel (1) according to one or more of claims 3 and 4, characterised in that said support (20) has substantially an L-shaped cross-section, wherein the vertical portion consists of the wall (21) and the horizontal portion consists of the foot (22).

6. A front panel (1) according to claim 1, characterised in that said wall (21) has a back surface (2 IB) comprising fastening means (23) for positioning and fastening the front panel (1) onto said household appliance.

7. A front panel (1) according to claim 1, characterised in that said wall (21) comprises at least one first aperture (24) which allows the user to see information coming from the household appliance, in particular from display devices of a user interface of said household appliance.

8. A front panel (1) according to claim 1, characterised in that said wall (21) comprises at least one second aperture (25) for the passage of control means of the household appliance.

9. A front panel (1) according to claim 7, characterised in that said covering element (10) is transparent over at least said first aperture (24) and/or over display devices of a user interface.

10. A front panel (1) according to claim 1, characterised in that said covering element (10) has at least one hole (11) for the passage of control means and/or display means of the household appliance.

11. A household appliance comprising a front panel (1) according to one or more of claims 1 to 10.