WO2015049092A1

WO2015049092A1 - Refrigeration appliance with a door opening aid

Info

Publication number: WO2015049092A1
Application number: PCT/EP2014/069137
Authority: WO
Inventors: Stephan Kempfle
Original assignee: BSH Bosch und Siemens Hausgeräte GmbH
Priority date: 2013-10-02
Filing date: 2014-09-09
Publication date: 2015-04-09
Also published as: DE102013220088A1

Abstract

A refrigeration appliance has a carcass (1) and a door leaf (2) hinged on the carcass (1), the carcass and the door leaf defining a storage compartment (4), and at least one door opening aid arranged on the carcass (1) and having a tappet (15) movable between a rest position and an active position, the tappet (15) pushing against an edge zone (14) of the door leaf (2) when moving from the rest position to the active position.

Description

REFRIGERATOR WITH A DOOR OPENING HELP

The present invention relates to a refrigerator, in particular a domestic refrigerator, with a door opening aid, such. known from DE 10 2010 020 626 A1. In this conventional built-in device, a door opening aid is mounted on an outer surface of the body and comprises a movable plunger which abuts on the way from a rest position into an operative position against a furniture panel suspended from the door leaf and thus brings the door in a partially open position, from the out further opening the door for a user with little effort is possible.

In order to achieve the partially open position, the plunger must apply a considerable force to the furniture panel, so that at the touched by the plunger areas of the furniture panel after a short use wear tracks are visible. A further disadvantage is that, since the furniture panel is required for receiving the force of the plunger, the known concept is not applicable to free-standing devices, since they have no prefabricated furniture panel.

Object of the present invention is to provide a refrigeration device, which allows the integration of a door opening help with little effort and is applicable for both built-in and floor-standing devices.

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

Domestic refrigerating appliance, with a body and a door leaf hinged to the body, which limit a storage compartment, and arranged with at least one arranged on the body, a movable between a rest position and an operative position plunger door opening aid of the plunger on the way from the rest position into the operative position to a Edge area of the door leaf abuts.

By the ram acts on the door leaf itself, the dependence on the furniture plate is eliminated, so that the door opening aid can be used in both built-in and stationary devices. In addition, unlike a built-in refrigerator, which is only when it is placed with the end user, is combined with the furniture panel, the Door leaf is part of the device from the outset and the point at which the plunger interacts with the door leaf, already established during the manufacture of the device, even at the manufacture of the device effective measures against the emergence of signs of wear can be made by the operation of the door opening help. Such measures may consist, for example, in that the part of the door leaf touched by the plunger is made of a high-quality, wear-resistant material, that it is exchangeable or that it is positioned at a location that is not readily visible by a user.

Preferably, the door opening aid is housed in the body, as one at a

Outer surface of the body protruding door opening help would increase the footprint of the device significantly. This is particularly noticeable in a built-in device disturbing.

If the door leaf in a conventional manner has a base body provided with a heat-insulating filling, the edge region on which the plunger abuts can expediently be formed by a pressure plate attached to the base body. If necessary, such a pressure plate can be replaced if signs of wear become noticeable on it. In addition, it can be omitted when not needed, so that a same model of body can be used to manufacture refrigerators with and without door opening help.

Preferably, the plunger is arranged at the level of a hinge connecting the door leaf to the carcass. In particular, when the door leaf has a simple, efficient to produce cube-shaped base body, it is expedient if hinges are arranged above and below this base body and attack on the upper and lower narrow side. Since the body has to extend to the height to support the hinges, it also offers space for attaching the plunger there, without the external dimensions of the refrigeration device to be increased. The plunger may be arranged centrally between two side walls of the body to be equally effective, regardless of which side wall of the body the door leaf is articulated. Alternatively, the plunger can also be arranged adjacent to a side wall of the body which is remote from the hinge in order to make the lever arm, with which the plunger acts on the door, as long as possible.

In order to allow a flexible adaptation to the space conditions at the site, the door leaf is preferably mounted either with left or right stop on the body, so that a change in the attack, if desired, even at the location of the device can still be done.

The door opening aid is preferably electrically driven. A drive unit of the door opening aid may conveniently be accommodated in a machine room of the carcass, which is arranged in the usual manner at the rear of the carcass and provides space for a compressor and possibly other components of a refrigerator of the refrigerator. If the drive unit comprises an electric motor, it may be expediently arranged on a side of the engine room which is remote from the driver's side. So can one

Connecting rod, which converts a rotary motion of the electric motor in a reciprocating motion of the plunger, extending through the engine room and so the space available there for their movement transverse to the axis of rotation of the engine or to

Use the direction of movement of the plunger.

An arm connecting the plunger to the power plant may be run in a pipe to minimize the risk of foreign body obstruction. Such a tube may be embedded in a heat-insulating layer of the body, but it may also extend outside of such a thermal barrier coating, in particular below the thermal barrier coating, held in an open position of feet of the body

Space between a base and the bottom of the body.

It may be expedient that two tubes each extend adjacent to side walls of the body, wherein the arm is expediently guided in that tube which runs along the side wall facing away from the hinge. Further features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description of embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a refrigerator according to a first

Embodiment of the invention;

2 shows a section in the depth direction through the bottom region of the body of the

Refrigerating appliance of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a partial perspective view of a refrigerator according to a second

Embodiment of the invention; an analogous to Fig. 3 view of a third embodiment of the invention; and FIG. 5 is a partial perspective view according to a fourth embodiment of the invention

Invention.

Fig. 1 shows in a perspective view obliquely from below the housing of a household refrigerator, which may be both a stand-up device and a built-in device. The housing comprises in a customary manner a body 1 and a door leaf 2, which is pivotally hinged to the body 1 and in the closed position abuts almost airtight on a front frame 3 of the body. This almost airtight connection causes when hot air has passed through the open door 2 in a storage room 4 in the body and cools there, a negative pressure is created, which presses the door 2 with great force against the front frame 3 and a reopening of the Door 2 difficult, as long as the pressure difference between storage room 4 and the environment is not fully balanced.

Even large-scale magnetic attraction between a magnetic seal of the door 2, not shown here, and the front frame 3 can make the opening of the door 2 difficult by hand. Hinge elements 5, which hold the door 2 pivotable about an axis 6, are here at upper and lower ends of a right side wall 7 of the body 1, in the amount of a ceiling or floor plate 8, 9, mounted and engage in non-visible bushings of the door 2 on. Corresponding bearing bushes 10 are also provided in mirror image form to a left edge of the door leaf 2 in order to be able to mount the door leaf 2, if desired, also with a pivot axis running along its left edge.

The door leaf 2 comprises a flat cuboid base body 1 1 of known type, with a solid outer skin made of sheet metal or plastic and a filling of insulating hard foam. The bushings 10 engage in upper and lower narrow sides 12 of the main body 1 1 a. A pressure plate 13 is at the bottom

Narrow side 12 attached in the middle and stands down from. The pressure plate 13 may be an injection-molded part made of plastic, possibly with a metallic support on a front side 3 facing the stop side 14. The stop side 14 is located on the frame 3 in the depth direction of the body 1 movable plunger 15 opposite. The plunger 15 is movable between a rest position in which it is spaced from the pressure plate 13 in the closed position of the door leaf 2, and an operative position in which it abuts the pressure plate 13 and the door leaf 2 is spread apart from the frame 3. The movement of the plunger 15 is driven by a drive unit 16 which is housed in a machine room 17 at the back of the body 1. The engine room 17 further includes components known per se and therefore not shown in the figure of a refrigerator such as a

Compressor, a condenser, etc. The drive unit 16 includes an electric motor 18 and a to the electric motor 18 preferably via a reduction gear eccentrically articulated connecting rod. A hidden in Fig. 1 in the interior of the bottom plate 9 arm connects the front end of the connecting rod 19 with the plunger 15th

According to the section through the bottom plate 9 shown in FIG. 2, the arm designated here by 20 is guided in a tube 21 which, embedded in the thermal insulation material 22 of the body 1, between a front wall 23 of the machine room 17 and a plunger 15 receiving recess 24 of the front frame 3 extends. The arm 20 is here formed integrally with the connecting rod 19, and a taper 25 between the two ensures the necessary pivoting movement between the in Depth direction of the body 1 linearly in the tube 21 guided arm 20 and the arm at its rear end of the electric motor 18 to a pendulum motion in

Width direction of the carcass 1 driven connecting rod 19.

Fig. 2 shows in the connecting rod 19 at a rear turning point of their movement; beyond the rest position shown here, they can not pull the plunger 15 into the recess 24 into it. An operative position in which the plunger is maximally far out of that of the indentation 24 is shown as a dashed outline; before the plunger can reach this position, he pushes against the pressure plate 13 and thereby displaces the door leaf 2 from the position shown, in which its magnetic seal 29 tightly against the front frame 3, in a partially open position, in the magnetic seal 29 and front frame 3 are separated by an air gap.

Fig. 3 shows a modification of the embodiment of Figs. 1 and 2 with reference to a partial view of the refrigeration device housing. The tube 21 is not embedded in the thermal insulation material 22, but runs in a downwardly open recess 26 of the

Bottom plate 9. Thus eliminates the need, the ends of the tube 21 against the

Passage of the thermal insulation material 22 to seal during foaming.

FIG. 4 shows a simplified variant with reference to a section analogous to FIG. 2. The bottom of the bottom plate 9 is flat here, and the tube 21 extends under the bottom plate 9 in a space kept free of feet 27 of the body 1 between the bottom plate and a base, not shown, on which the body is placed.

FIG. 5 shows, again in a perspective view analogous to FIG. 3, a variant in which two tubes 21 extend along both side walls 7 of the body 1. In the embodiment shown here, the tubes 21, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, extend within the bottom plate 9, but it is obvious that the tubes 21 also outside the thermal insulation material 22, in a recess of the bottom plate 9 or, at least in a rear area, below the bottom plate 9 could run.

In the engine room 17, two brackets 28 are mounted, of which the left side wall 7 adjacent receives the electric motor 18 of the drive unit 16, while the other, only visible in the Fig. Holder 28 is unoccupied. The Connecting rod 19 drives here an extending in the left tube 21 arm whose tip forms the protruding from an opening of the frame 3 plunger 15. A corresponding opening at the front end of the right-hand tube 21 is concealed by the lower hinge element 5 mounted in front of it. One of the lower narrow side 12 of the door leaf base body 1 1 downwardly projecting pressure plate 13 is arranged here at the hinge distal end of the narrow side to cooperate with the plunger 15.

The pressure plate 13 is removable and can be replaced or, if necessary, at the opposite end of the lower narrow side 12 of the base 1 1, instead of the hinge member 5 shown in FIG. 5 are mounted there, and the hinge member 5 can be to the left side wall 7, in front of the End of the left tube 21 are offset. By the electric motor 18 is placed in the opposite bracket 28 and the arm is inserted into the right tube 21, the opening of the door can be effectively supported even after changing the door stop.

REFERENCE NUMBERS

1 corpus

2 door / door leaf

3 front frame

4 storage room

5 hinge elements

6 axis

7. right side wall

8 base plate

9 base plate

10 bearing bush

1 1 basic body

12 narrow side

13 pressure plate

14 stop side

15 pestle 5

16 drive unit

17 engine room 17

18 electric motor

19 connecting rod

20 arm

21 pipe

22 thermal insulation material

23 wall

24 indentation

25 rejuvenation

26 recess

27 feet

28 bracket

29 magnetic seal

Claims

Refrigerating appliance, in particular household refrigerating appliance, with a body (1) and a hinged to the body (1) door leaf (2) defining a storage compartment (4), and arranged with at least one on the body (1), one between a rest position and a Active position movable plunger (15) having door opening aid, characterized in that the plunger (15) abuts on the way from the rest position into the operative position to an edge region of the door panel (2).

Refrigerating appliance according to claim 1, characterized in that the door opening aid in the body (1) is housed.

Refrigerating appliance according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the door leaf (2) provided with a heat-insulating filling body (1 1) and attached to the base body (1 1), in the direction of a pivot axis (6) of the door leaf (2) protruding pressure plate (13), and that the edge region, which abuts the plunger (15) is formed by the pressure plate (13).

Refrigerating appliance according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the plunger (15) is arranged at the level of a hinge element (5) connecting the door leaf (2) to the body (1).

Refrigerating appliance according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the plunger (15) is arranged centrally between two side walls (7) of the body (1).

Refrigerating appliance according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the plunger (15) adjacent to a hinge-distal side wall (7) of the body (1) is arranged.

Refrigerating appliance according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the door leaf (2) can be mounted either with the left or with the right stop on the body (1). Refrigerating appliance according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the door opening aid is electrically driven.

Refrigerating appliance according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the door-opening aid comprises a drive unit (16) accommodated in a machine room (17) of the carcass (1).

Refrigerating appliance according to claim 9, characterized in that the drive unit (16) comprises an electric motor (18) which is located on a far side of the door

Engine room (17) is arranged.

Refrigerating appliance according to claim 10, characterized in that the

Drive unit (16) comprises a connecting rod (19) extending through the

Engine room (17) extends.

Refrigerating appliance according to one of claims 9 to 1 1, characterized in that the plunger (15) with the drive unit (16) connecting arm (20) in a tube (21) is guided.

Refrigerating appliance according to claim 12, characterized in that the tube (21) is embedded in a thermal barrier coating (22) of the body (1).

Refrigerating appliance according to claim 12, characterized in that the tube (21) outside a thermal barrier coating (22) of the body (1).

15. Refrigerating appliance according to one of claims 12 to 14, characterized in that two tubes (21) adjacent to side walls (7) of the body (1) extend.