WO2012130637A2

WO2012130637A2 - Refrigerator having an integrally formed air channel

Info

Publication number: WO2012130637A2
Application number: PCT/EP2012/054653
Authority: WO
Inventors: Alexander Koch
Original assignee: BSH Bosch und Siemens Hausgeräte GmbH
Priority date: 2011-03-28
Filing date: 2012-03-16
Publication date: 2012-10-04
Also published as: CN103477167B; DE102011006256A1; EP2691712A2; WO2012130637A3; CN103477167A; EP2691712B1

Abstract

In a refrigerator, in particular domestic refrigerator, having a thermoformed internal container (1) which bounds a storage chamber, having an air channel (7) which is formed in a wall (4) of the internal container (1), and having a cover (11) which delimits the air duct (7) from the storage chamber, the air duct (7) has an undercut (10) on at least one lateral flank (8), the cover (11) engaging in said undercut.

Description

Refrigerating appliance with molded air duct

The present invention relates to a refrigeration appliance, in particular a domestic refrigeration appliance, with a deep-drawn inner container delimiting a storage chamber and an air duct formed in a rear wall of the inner container. Such an air duct is often provided in particular in Nofrost refrigerators to distribute cold air from a partitioned from the storage chamber evaporator chamber in the storage chamber. To be able to guide the cold air in the air duct over longer distances, is a

Cover required, which delimits the air duct from the storage chamber.

Conventionally, a flat plastic plate is used as a cover, which is fastened by means of screws or plastic expansion rivets on the inner container. Since the cover is generally not thick-walled enough to be rigid in itself, a considerable number of screws or rivets are required to secure the cover so that it rests sufficiently close to the inner container along its entire length. The attachment of this variety of screws or expansion rivets makes mounting the cover lengthy. In addition, screws or rivets that pierce the inner container, the risk that moisture from the

Storage chamber penetrates into the insulating layer surrounding the inner container and impairs their isolation effect.

Object of the present invention is therefore to provide a refrigerator with molded on the inner container air duct, in which a cover of the air duct is quick and easy to install.

The problem is solved by a refrigeration device, in particular a

Domestic refrigerating appliance, with a thermoformed a storage chamber delimiting

Inner container, an air duct formed in a wall of the inner container and a cover delimiting the air duct from the bearing chamber, the air duct having an undercut at least on one lateral flank, in which the cover engages. As a result of this engagement, the need for fastening by means of screws, expansion dowels or the like is eliminated on at least one side of the cover. In particular, when the wall of the inner container is a rear wall, the air duct including the undercut in a simple manner during deep drawing of the

Inner container to be formed with. If the undercut is formed on opposite flanks of the air duct, the cover can be fixed in total by latching in the undercuts, without the need for further fasteners. Consequently, no openings in the inner container must be created by the

Moisture could get into the insulation layer.

The undercut preferably extends over the entire length of the

Air duct to allow locking of the cover at any point of the air duct. The cover preferably has, in its longitudinal direction, spaced-apart fingers which reach into the undercut. In contrast to a continuous along a flank of the air duct web, the spaced apart fingers do not stiffen the cover, so that the cover during installation and, if necessary, during expansion can be slightly bent and so the fingers with little

Force, one after the other, locked in the undercut and can be pulled out of the undercut again.

In order to allow a tight fit of the cover in a well-defined position on the air duct, the fingers preferably have a complementary to the undercut of the flank (s) cross-section.

In order to avoid an uncontrolled escape of air along the edges of the cover, a base plate of the cover preferably has on both sides of a core region bridging the air duct on the wall of the inner container on both sides of the air channel adjacent edge strips. The edge strips and the core area can form a single flat plate, the fingers each having a boundary between

Mark core area and edge strip. In order to improve the sealing effect of the edge strips, these can be accommodated in the air duct flanking recesses of the rear wall.

Air outlet openings may be provided on the cover to those in the

Air duct circulating air distributed in the storage chamber to distribute.

To keep the flow resistance of the air duct low, can

Air outlet openings in cross-section rounded edges on their side facing the air duct. Such rounded edges can be realized in particular by injection molding of the cover.

The cover may carry a rib longitudinally subdividing the air duct to provide from the air duct a secondary channel, e.g. to divide to accommodate electrical lines or the like.

The air duct may comprise at least two sections staggered in the depth direction of the inner container, around the inner space in its entire height

including one in the vertical with a machine room niche

overlapping region to follow a non-straight course of the air channel at the rear wall of the inner container, the cover may be divided at least by a hinge in its longitudinal direction successive sections.

Preferably, this hinge is a film hinge.

Further features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description of embodiments with reference to the accompanying figures. From this description and the figures are also features of the

Embodiments, which are not mentioned in the claims. Such features may also occur in combinations other than those specifically disclosed herein. Therefore, the fact that several such features are mentioned in the same sentence or in a different type of textual context does not justify the conclusion that they can occur only in the specific combination disclosed;

instead, it must be assumed that, of several such characteristics, it is also possible to omit or modify individual ones, provided that this is the case

Functionality of the invention is not in question. Show it: a schematic perspective view of a refrigeration device inner container according to the present invention;

Portions of the rear wall of the inner container and an intended for mounting on the rear wall cover according to a first embodiment of the invention; a portion of a cover according to a second embodiment of the invention; a schematic horizontal section through the cover of Figure 3 in mounted on the rear wall state. a section analogous to FIG. 4 according to a third embodiment of the invention; a section analogous to FIG. 4 according to a fourth embodiment of the invention; a section analogous to FIG. 4 according to a fifth embodiment of the invention; a vertical section through the air duct and the cover according to a sixth embodiment of the invention; a perspective view of a cover according to a seventh embodiment of the invention; a view similar to Figure 8 view according to an eighth embodiment of the invention; and

Fig. 11 is a vertical section through the air duct and the cover according to a ninth embodiment of the invention. Fig. 1 shows a schematic view obliquely from below and behind an inner container 1 for a household refrigerator according to a first embodiment of the invention. The in per se known manner of thermoplastic material, in particular polystyrene, deep-drawn inner container 1 has substantially the shape of a cuboid with an open, surrounded by a frame 2 front side walls 3, a ceiling and in Fig. 1 the viewer facing the rear wall 4 and a bottom 5. In the lower part of the rear wall 4, a recess 6 is formed to leave room for a machine room niche, which accommodates a compressor and possibly a condenser and a fan for cooling the compressor and condenser in the finished refrigerator. An air duct 7 extends on the rear wall 4 over the entire height of the inner container including the recess 6. At lateral flanks 8 of the air duct is shown in Fig. 1 each have a projecting bead 9, the inside of the

Inner container 1 each corresponds to a groove-like undercut 10, such. to recognize in Fig. 2. The undercut 10 extends on both flanks 8 over the entire length of the air duct 7.

Adjacent to a portion of the rear wall 4 with the recessed therein air duct 7, Fig. 2 shows a portion of a cover 1 1. A base plate or a

Core portion 12 of the plastic injection molded cover 1 1 is provided to be placed in the air duct 7, wherein lateral edges 13 of the core portion 12, the flanks 8 of the air duct 7 touch and projecting from the edges 13 in the air duct 7 in elastic fingers 14 in the undercuts 10 of the flanks 8 engage. The fingers 14 are arranged at the edges 13 in pairs at the same height. The cover 1 1 is elastically flexible in dimensions, so that during the attachment of the cover pairs of fingers 14 at one end of the cover 1 1 already in the

Undercuts 10 may be engaged, but finger pairs at another end of the cover 1 1 not yet, and the pairs of fingers successively in the

Undercuts 10 are engaged. Similarly, the finger pairs can be pulled out at a disassembly of the cover 1 1 one after the other from the undercuts 10. So a quick and easy assembly and disassembly of the cover 1 1 is possible with little effort.

Fig. 3 shows a view of a portion of the cover 11 according to a second embodiment of the invention. The fingers 14 are opposite to the embodiment of FIG. 2 extending slightly, and on either side of the core portion 12 extend edge strips 15 which, when the cover 11 is mounted in the manner shown in Fig. 4 on the air duct 7, adjacent to the air duct 7 on the rear wall 4 abut the

Escape of air from the air duct 7 along the edges of the cover 11 to prevent or at least limit.

The fingers 14 carry in the undercuts 10 engaging locking projections 16, the cross-section to that of the undercuts 10 is complementary to ensure an exact positioning of the cover 11. A the edge strip 15th

facing edge 17 of the locking projections 16 is oblique to the depth direction of

Inner container 1 oriented so that when the cover 11 is pulled away from the air duct 7, a sideways into the interior of the channel 7 directed force is exposed, which bends the finger 14 and makes it possible to peel the cover 1 1 from the air duct 7.

As shown in Fig. 5, between the edge strip 15 and the rear wall 4 each have an elastic sealing strip 18 may be arranged, which is elastically compressed and the flanks of the air channel 7 seals when the fingers 14 are locked in the undercuts 10.

Fig. 6 shows a modification in which the edge strips 15 of the cover 11 in turn are received in recesses 19 of the rear wall 4 on both sides of the air channel 7. On the one hand, the depressions 19 can improve the sealing on the flanks of the air duct 7 by enforcing a sharp deflection of air escaping between the edge strips 15 and the rear wall 4, thereby hindering the escape. In addition, they allow, as in the embodiment of Fig. 2, the outside of the cover 1 1 to make flush with the surrounding rear wall 4 and so to create a flat, easy to clean inner surface of the storage chamber. In the embodiment of Fig. 7 is from the inside of the cover 1 1 from a rib 20, which extends until just in front of a rear wall 21 of the air channel 7 and separates from this a side channel 22. This sub-channel 22 can be used to accommodate a cable harness 23, the arranged at different locations of the inner container 1 temperature sensor or the air circulation in the air duct. 7 driving fan with a control circuit, eg in the engine room niche 6 connects.

Air outlet openings 24 may be punched out of the substantially planar core region 12 of the cover 1 1 or cut out in other ways. Preferably, the outlet openings 24 are formed as slightly over the rear wall 4 and the surrounding core portion 12 into the inner container 1 in projecting nozzle, which, as shown in the section of Fig. 8, on its side facing the air duct 7 side

have rounded portions 25 to discharge a low-turbulence, approximately horizontally oriented air flow into the inner container 1 into it.

As already seen in Fig. 1, the air channel 7 is divided into a plurality of sections, an upstream portion 7a and two pulling around the recess 6 around portions 7b, 7c, of which the portion 7b substantially horizontally and the portion 7c vertically aligned is. In order to cover the air duct 7 over its entire length with a continuous cover 1 1, this cover 11 according to the embodiment shown in Fig. 9 by two film hinges 26 in each case in the sections 7a, 7b, 7c of the air duct corresponding sections 1 1a , 1 1 b, 11 c structured. The middle portion 11 b is shown in Fig. 9 without fingers 14, but it could be the same as the adjacent sections 1 1 a, 11 c provided with fingers 14.

It would also be conceivable to provide at section 11 b instead of fingers two ribs extending over the entire length of section 11, which have no latching projections, but in the mounted state lie against flanks 8 of section 7b, laterally as well seal, if due to manufacturing tolerances in the vertical dimensions of the sections 7a, 7c and 1 1a, 1 1c, a close contact of the edge strips 15 of the portion 11 b with the inner container 1 is not possible.

Fig. 10 shows an embodiment of the cover 1 1, wherein this is divided into two separate parts 27, 28. The upper part 27 comprises the upstream portion 11 a of the cover 11 and one with this portion 1 1 a via a

Film hinge 26 connected, provided with two slots 30 plate 29. The plate 29 comes in the mounted state above the horizontal portion 7b of the air duct 7 to lie. The second part 28 comprises the portion 11c as well as a plate 31 which, like the portions 11a, 11c, is provided with latching fingers 14. In the assembled state, the plate 31 rests on the plate 29, and a pair of their locking fingers 14 passes through the slots 30 with play in the longitudinal direction thereof to engage in the undercut 10 of the portion 7b. Thus, the length of the central portion of the cover 11 formed by the plates 29, 31 can be adapted to manufacturing tolerances of the inner container 1, so that in the other sections 11a, 11b the edge strips 15 are in contact with the inner container 1 over their entire length can. Fig. 1 1 shows a vertical section through the boundary region of the portions 7a, 7b of the air duct 7 and 11 a, 11 b of the cover 1 1 according to a ninth embodiment of the invention. Instead of a single film hinge 26 here is a plurality of each other or with the sections 1 1a, 1 1 b connected via film hinges segments 32 which make the cover 11 between the sections 1 1a, 11 b over a length of several cm highly flexible , Thus, the cover can also closely and tightly nestle against a rounded transition region 33 between vertical and horizontal regions of the rear wall 4.

A correspondingly highly flexible section formed by a plurality of segments 32 can also be provided at the transition between the sections 7b, 7c or 11b, 11c. In addition, by requiring the flexible portion formed by the segments 32 to be longer than bridging the rounded transition region 33 between the channel sections 7a, 7b and 7b, 7c, it is possible to extend the cover over its entire length beyond the boundaries of the channel sections 7a, 7b, 7c to move away and so compensate for dimensional tolerances of the inner container.

Claims

Refrigerating appliance, in particular household refrigerating appliance, with a deep-drawn inner container (1) delimiting a storage chamber, an air duct (7) formed in a wall (4) of the inner container (1) and a cover (11) delimiting the air duct (7) from the storage chamber in that the air channel (7) has at least one lateral flank (8) an undercut (10) into which the cover (1 1) engages.

Refrigerating appliance according to claim 1, characterized in that the undercut (10) on opposite side flanks (8) of the air channel (7) is formed.

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

Undercut (10) extends over the entire length of the air duct (7).

Refrigerating appliance according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the cover (1 1) spaced apart in its longitudinal direction, in the undercut (10) engaging fingers (14).

Refrigerating appliance according to claim 4, characterized in that the fingers (14) have a cross-section complementary to the undercut (10).

Refrigerating appliance according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that a base plate of the cover (1 1) on both sides of the air duct (7) bridging core region (12) on the wall (4) of the inner container (1) adjacent edge strips (15).

Refrigerating appliance according to claim 6, characterized in that the edge strips (15) in the air duct (7) flanking recesses (19) of the wall (4) are accommodated. Refrigerating appliance according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the cover (1 1) has air outlet openings (24).

Refrigerating appliance according to claim 8, characterized in that the

Air outlet openings (24) in cross section rounded edges (25) on its the air duct (7) facing side.

Refrigerating appliance according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the cover (11) carries a the air duct (7) longitudinally dividing rib (20).

Refrigerating appliance according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the air channel (7) at least two in the depth direction of the inner container (1) offset from each other sections (7a, 7c).

Refrigerating appliance according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the cover (1 1) by at least one hinge (26) in in their

Longitudinal successive sections (7a, 7b, 7c, 32) is divided.

Refrigerating appliance according to claim 12, characterized in that the hinge (26) is a film hinge.