WO2014023597A1

WO2014023597A1 - Refrigerator with installation part

Info

Publication number: WO2014023597A1
Application number: PCT/EP2013/065899
Authority: WO
Inventors: Joachim Betz; Holger Walliser
Original assignee: BSH Bosch und Siemens Hausgeräte GmbH
Priority date: 2012-08-07
Filing date: 2013-07-29
Publication date: 2014-02-13
Also published as: DE102012213979A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a refrigerator, in particular a domestic refrigerator, having a body and a door (40) which surround a refrigerating compartment. An installation part (39), in particular an ice maker (1), is attached to an inner face (2) of the door (40). At least one lighting means (25) is mounted in the door (40) in order to illuminate the installation part (39).

Description

Refrigeration device with internals

The present invention relates to a refrigeration appliance, in particular a domestic refrigerator, with a body and a door surrounding a refrigeration compartment, and a built-in part mounted on the inside of the door. Such a refrigerator, which has an ice maker as a built-in part, is e.g. known from DE 10 2009 046 026 A1.

Under the mold vessel of such an icemaker from a surrounding refrigeration compartment largely separated reservoir should be appropriate to temporarily store finished pieces of ice from the mold container to consumption and thereby prevent transmission of water vapor from the ice pieces to other refrigerated goods in the refrigeration compartment and vice versa as far as possible. Even if the reservoir has transparent walls, e.g. Made of transparent plastic, it is usually difficult for a user to estimate the level of the container without opening it due to frost formation on the walls. Each time you open the reservoir warm ambient air enters the reservoir whose moisture condenses after closing the refrigerator on the walls of the container and possibly the pieces of ice therein and causes them to freeze against each other and on the container walls.

Door-mounted ice makers such as described in DE 10 2009 046 026 A1 generally have no automatic water supply, but must be manually refilled by the user to produce ice. If this spills water, it usually also gets into the reservoir and promotes the freezing of ice pieces.

The object of the invention is to provide a refrigeration device with door-mounted mounting part, in which improves the ease of use and - in the event that the mounting part is an icemaker - the risk of freezing of ice pieces is reduced.

The object is achieved by a refrigerator, in particular a household refrigerator, with a body and a door that surround a refrigeration compartment, and a mounted on an inner side of the door mounting part is mounted at least one lighting means for illuminating the mounting part in the door.

As a built-in part next to an icemaker and a simple door rack or a butter compartment into consideration.

The lighting means may be arranged to illuminate an ice storage bin of the ice maker. This makes it easier for the user to check the fill level of the ice storage container even without it, so that substantially only humidity of the air enters the storage container when it must be unavoidably opened to remove pieces of ice.

Particularly easy is the check of the level when the ice storage container is at least partially transparent, so that possibly the illuminated by the light source content is visible through a wall of the ice storage container.

Vertically alternating transparent and non-transparent areas of the wall may form a scale that facilitates an estimate of the level.

The light source or a window of the door, is emitted over the light of the bulb, may conveniently be arranged in extension of a wall of the ice storage container, so that the light can propagate in the wall of the ice storage container and can be distributed in this way in the ice storage container.

The illuminant may also be arranged to illuminate a mold container of the ice maker. Sufficient lighting of the mold container facilitates the user's filling and helps to prevent the spillage of water.

Such a mold container may be connected to a handle lever for pivoting and twisting it by hand, so that finished pieces of ice may be forced out of the mold container and fall into the ice storage container. The icemaker then requires no electrical equipment and therefore does not have to be connected to a power supply of the refrigeration device consuming. Against the exit of Isolierschaum sealed cable bushings are therefore not needed for the icemaker.

Additional cable bushings for the supply of the light source are also not required if in a conventional manner, a user interface module is installed in the door, so that supply lines of the user interface module can also be used for the light source.

The lighting means may be arranged in the user interface module and connected to a window on the inside of the door via a light pipe. In particular, such a luminous means can simultaneously illuminate a display field of the user interface module and the icemaker.

Alternatively, the light source may be disposed on a window on the inside of the door and connected to the user interface module via an electrical cable.

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:

1 is a perspective view of the rear wall of a refrigerator door with it mounted icemaker.

Fig. 2 is a schematic perspective view of an outside of the

Refrigerator door; Figure 3 shows the back wall of the refrigerator door without the icemaker.

Fig. 4 is a schematic section through parts of the door and the

ice machine;

Fig. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 3 according to a modified

design;

Fig. 6 is an analogous to FIG. 4 section according to the modified

design; and

Fig. 7 is an analogous to FIG. 4 section through a part of the door and at the

Door-mounted door racks.

1 and 2 each show in a perspective view inside and outside of the door 40 of a household refrigerator according to the invention. The door 40 is provided in a conventional manner to be hinged to a body (not shown in the figures) and to enclose with it a refrigeration compartment which provides space for a fixture 39 suspended from the inside of the door 40, such as an icemaker 1 and for further refrigerated goods. The door 40 has in a customary manner a deep-drawn from plastic, the refrigeration compartment facing inner wall 2, which is shown in Fig. 1, and a usually formed from sheet, in Fig. 2 fragmentally shown outer wall 3, along its edges with the inner wall connected to limit a cavity. This cavity is filled in the course of installation of the refrigerator with insulating foam, in particular polyurethane foam, by a precursor material of the foam is injected into the cavity and allowed to expand therein.

At the lateral edges of the inner wall 2, two vertical bars 4 are formed, which carry projections 5 at their mutually facing flanks. The projections 5 are provided in order to suspend mounting parts 39, such as a door rack, not shown here, or just the ice maker 1 already mentioned.

In the embodiment shown in Fig. 1 of the ice maker 1 is narrower than the distance between the two marginal Holmen 4. Therefore, here is another with Protrusions 5 provided Holm 6 tightened at a central location of the inner wall 2 to allow the suspension of the icemaker 1 (and possibly other not shown door racks next to the icemaker 1).

The ice maker 1 essentially consists of two assemblies, a production assembly 7 and a storage assembly 8. The production assembly 7 comprises a mold container 10 pivotally suspended in a housing 9 and having a plurality of hollow molds each resulting in a piece of ice. The housing 9 comprises an open at the top and bottom box in which the mold container 10 is suspended. The top of the box is closed by an overlying lid 1 1. For filling the mold container 10, the lid 1 1 can be removed; in the embodiment shown here, an opening of the lid 1 1 is closed by a pivotable flap 12, so that it is sufficient for filling the mold container 10, the flap 12 hochzuschwenken. A shaft 13 carrying the mold container 10 is passed through a side wall of the box which is largely cut away in the representation of FIG. 1 and connected to a lever 14. When pieces of ice in the mold container 10 are ready, a user can pull the lever 14 away from the inner wall 2 and pivot downwardly. As a result, the mold container 10 rotates about an axis defined by the shaft 13 until it abuts against its end facing away from the lever 14 against a stop of the box. If the lever 14 is pivoted further after reaching the stop position, the mold container 10 is twisted about the pivot axis, whereby the pieces of ice are forced out of the molds and pass through the open bottom of the housing 9 in the bearing assembly 8.

The bearing assembly 8 comprises a frame of a bottom plate 15 and on the projections 5 of the spars 4, 6 engaging side walls 16, between which an upwardly open drawer 17 is received in transparent plastic. On the outside of the door 40, as shown in Fig. 2, a user interface 18 is mounted. The user interface 18 may comprise a display 19, in particular an LCD matrix display, on which a user can read the current operating state of the Can read the refrigerator; Furthermore, there may be keys 20, knobs or the like for setting the operating state by the user.

FIG. 3 shows the inner wall 2 of the door 40 without the ice maker 1. In the region of the inner wall 2 covered by the ice maker 1 in FIG. 1, several transparent windows 21 can be seen. Depending on whether lighting of only the generating module 7 or the storage module 8 is provided, a single group of windows 21 or only a single window may be provided; In the illustrated embodiment, there are two groups of windows arranged to illuminate both assemblies 7, 8.

4 shows a schematic section through parts of the door 40 and the bearing assembly 8 arranged thereon. On an inner side of the outer wall 3 of the door 40, a shell 22 is mounted in order to provide installation space for an electronic board 23, a diffusing screen 24 and the display 19 , An LED 25 on the electronic board 23 illuminates the scattering screen 24 grazing from a lateral direction via a prism 26, so that the display 19 is read in front of the brightly lit diffuser 24. A second prism 27, integrally formed with the prism 26 here, diverts light from the LED 25 to a fiber optic light guide 28 extending through a passage of the shell 22 and a heat-insulating foam layer 29 inside the door 40 to one of the windows 21 the inner wall 2 extends.

The window 21 of FIG. 4 is arranged at ground level of the pull-out box 17, so that a large part of the light emerging from the window 21 propagates in a bottom plate 30 of the pull-out box 17. Light impinging on the underside of the bottom plate 30 is reflected steeply upwards by oblique facets 31 formed therefrom so that it exits at the top of the bottom plate 30 and, if there are pieces of ice, makes them shine. Thus, the level of the pull-out box 17 for a user looking at the inside of the door 40 can be quickly and reliably recognized even when the pull-out box is misted on its visible side and is not completely transparent. It is therefore not necessary to pull out the drawer 17 and look inside, and the ingress of humidity into the drawer 17 is kept to a minimum. It is obvious that a light guide such as the light guide 28 shown in FIG. 4 may also extend from an LED of the electronic board 23 to a window 21 illuminating the generation assembly 7.

Since the LEDs 25 are located close to the outside of the door 40, the heat input into the refrigeration compartment caused by them is negligible, even if the LEDs 25 are constantly in operation. In order to minimize the heat generation of the LEDs 25, a control circuit may be provided which only turns on the LEDs when the actuation of one of the keys 20 or an opening of the door 40 or the presence of a user in the vicinity of the refrigerator has been detected.

According to a further modification, a light source, preferably an LED, may also be mounted directly on one of the windows 21 and be connected to the electronic board 23 via an electrical cable for power supply. The use of different lighting means for illuminating the display 19 and the icemaker 1, whether the latter are arranged on the electronic board 23 or on the windows 21, makes it possible to limit the lighting of the ice maker 1 to times at which the door 40 is open but to illuminate the display 19 constantly or at least when the presence of a user in the vicinity of the refrigerator is detected. Fig. 5 shows a view of the inner wall 2 according to a modified embodiment of the invention. In that area of the inner wall 2, in front of which the bearing assembly 8 will be mounted, the horizontally elongated windows 21 of FIG. 3 are replaced by one or more vertically elongate windows 21 extending substantially over the entire height of the pull-out box 17 to be mounted in front thereof extend.

6 shows a partial section through the door 40 and the bearing assembly 8 mounted in front according to this modified embodiment. The pull-out box 17 is essentially made of transparent plastic, only on its front wall 32 opaque or milky cloudy, extending in the horizontal direction strips 33 are arranged to form a scale of alternating in the vertical direction transparent and non-transparent areas. When a user has opened the door 40 and stands in front of the drawer 17, ice in the lower part of the drawer 17 shields part of the window 21 from the user's eyes. Based on the number of transparent intermediate regions 34 of the front wall 32, through which the user can clearly see the light of the window 21, he can quickly and objectively estimate the filling level of the pull-out box 17.

If the strips 33 are not opaque, but milky, then those strips 33 in the upper area of the front wall 32 which are hit by light not attenuated by ice cubes in the drawer 17 will scatter the light striking them in all directions. Thus, the user can estimate the level of the pull-out box 17 on the basis of the number of strongly luminous strips 33, without having to assume a position in which he can see through the box through the window 21.

FIG. 7 shows a partial section through the door 40 according to FIG. 3, in which two door racks 35 are arranged in front of the windows 21 instead of the assemblies 7, 8 of the ice maker 1. The door racks 35 are formed in the usual way as in approximately cuboid boxes with open top. Here, they each have an opaque front wall 36 and an opaque rear wall 37, which is opaque in the immediate vicinity of a bottom plate 30, whereas the bottom plate 30 is transparent and preferably, except for a holographic foil or scattering foil 38 arranged on its underside, is crystal clear. Light emerging from the windows 21 propagates substantially undamped in the bottom plates 30 until it strikes the scattering foil 38 and is diffused by it. Thus, light that propagates in the bottom plate 30 of the upper door compartment 35, refrigerated the upper door compartment from below and the contents of the underlying door compartment 35 from above.

REFERENCE NUMBERS

1 ice maker

2 inner wall

3 outer wall

4 Holm

5 lead

6 Holm

7 generating module

8 bearing assembly

9 housing

10 mold containers

1 1 lid

12 flap

13 wave

14 levers

15 base plate

16 side wall

17 pull-out box

18 user interface

19 display

20 button

21 windows

22 shell

23 electronic board

24 diffusing screen

25 LEDs

26 prism

27 prism

28 light guides

29 foam layer

30 base plate

31 facet 32 front wall

33 strips

34 intermediate area

35 door racks

36 front wall 37 rear wall

38 scattering film

39 built-in part

40 door

Claims

Refrigerating appliance, in particular household refrigerating appliance, with a body and a door (40) surrounding a refrigerating compartment, and a built-in part (39) attached to an inside (2) of the door (40), characterized in that at least one lighting means (25) for Lighting the built-in part (39) in the door (40) is mounted.

Refrigerating appliance according to claim 1, characterized in that a

User interface module (18) is installed in the door (40) and that the at least one light source (25) is arranged in the user interface module and connected to a window (21) on the inside (2) of the door via a light guide (28).

Refrigerating appliance according to claim 1, characterized in that a

User interface module (18) is installed in the door (40) and that the illuminant is arranged on a window (21) on the inside (2) of the door (40) and connected to the user interface module (18) via an electrical cable.

Refrigerating appliance according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the built-in part (39) is an ice maker (1).

Refrigerating appliance according to claim 4, characterized in that the at least one lighting means (25) is arranged to illuminate an ice storage container (17) of the ice maker (1).

6. Refrigerating appliance according to claim 5, characterized in that the ice storage container (17) is at least partially transparent.

7. Refrigerating appliance according to claim 6, that a wall of the ice storage container (17) in

vertical direction has alternating transparent and non-transparent areas.

8. Refrigerating appliance according to one of claims 4 to 7, characterized in that the at least one light source is arranged to illuminate a mold container (10) of the ice maker (1).

9. Refrigerating appliance according to one of claims 4 to 8, characterized in that a mold container (10) for pivoting and twisting with a handle lever (14) is connected.

10. Refrigerating appliance according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the built-in part (39) is a butter compartment or a door rack (35).

1 1. Refrigerating appliance according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the lighting means (25) or a window (21) of the door (40) is emitted via the light of the lighting means (25) in extension of a wall (30) of the built-in component (1 ) is arranged.