U.S. patent application number 12/085810 was filed with the patent office on 2009-09-03 for refrigerating device.
This patent application is currently assigned to BSH Bosch und Siemens Hausgerate GmbH. Invention is credited to Sebastian Knoll, Karl-Friedrich Laible.
Application Number | 20090217698 12/085810 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 37734415 |
Filed Date | 2009-09-03 |
United States Patent
Application |
20090217698 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Knoll; Sebastian ; et
al. |
September 3, 2009 |
Refrigerating Device
Abstract
A refrigerating device which comprises a heat-insulated body and
a door which is joined thereto and which defines an inner chamber.
According to the invention, at least one decorative plate is
mounted on the door and which extends the door in the vertical
direction.
Inventors: |
Knoll; Sebastian; (Munchen,
DE) ; Laible; Karl-Friedrich; (Langenau, DE) |
Correspondence
Address: |
BSH HOME APPLIANCES CORPORATION;INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY DEPARTMENT
100 BOSCH BOULEVARD
NEW BERN
NC
28562
US
|
Assignee: |
BSH Bosch und Siemens Hausgerate
GmbH
Munchen
DE
|
Family ID: |
37734415 |
Appl. No.: |
12/085810 |
Filed: |
October 17, 2006 |
PCT Filed: |
October 17, 2006 |
PCT NO: |
PCT/EP2006/067488 |
371 Date: |
March 20, 2009 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
62/449 |
Current CPC
Class: |
F25D 2500/02 20130101;
F25D 2400/18 20130101; F25D 23/02 20130101; A47F 3/0434
20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
62/449 |
International
Class: |
F25D 23/02 20060101
F25D023/02 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Nov 30, 2005 |
DE |
10 2005 057 135.2 |
Claims
1-5. (canceled)
6. A refrigeration appliance comprising: a heat-insulated body
having an interior; a door; the door connected to the body thereby
enclosing the interior; at least one decor panel; the decor panel
being fitted on the door thereby extending the door in a vertical
direction.
7. The refrigeration appliance as claimed in claim 6, wherein the
body includes a top face; the decor panel extending the door upward
over the top face of the body.
8. The refrigeration appliance as claimed in claim 6 further
including a base segment; the body resting on the base segment; the
decor panel extending the door downward to the level of the base
segment.
9. The refrigeration appliance as claimed in claim 6, wherein the
door is transparent on at least one part of its surface.
Description
[0001] The present invention relates to a refrigeration appliance,
in particular the structural requirements for a pleasing design of
the front face of the appliance, when it is set up together with
adjacent other appliances or units.
[0002] Conventionally refrigeration appliances are usually
manufactured either as freestanding appliances or built-in
appliances. In the case of freestanding appliances, purchasers
generally do not expect the design of such appliances to pick up
features of surrounding units or appliances. In contrast built-in
appliances are generally fitted in recesses provided for them and
covered by a panel, the design features of which correspond to
those of adjacent unit doors.
[0003] Large-format refrigeration appliances cannot be built easily
into units. Such appliances can for example be set up between two
kitchen cabinets and covered with a panel, which picks up the
design features of the adjacent cabinets. However this requires the
functionality of the refrigeration appliance not to be impeded by
the total coverage of its door.
[0004] A problem therefore arises in particular in the case of
refrigeration appliances with a transparent door, for example in
the case of bottle storage cabinets. An attached decor panel, even
if it is in the form of a frame around a window aperture, always
restricts the visibility of the content of the bottle storage
cabinet. Also the height of the upper and lower moldings of such a
frame is predetermined by the height of the top and bottom of the
body of the refrigeration appliance, so that such moldings
generally do not match the different manufacturer-specific heights
of the horizontal edges of adjacent unit doors in a harmonious
manner. It would be possible to attach a door to a standard model
of a refrigeration appliance body, the height of said door being
tailored to the dimensions of kitchen units, with which the
appliance is to be combined. But producing a plurality of door
models in differing heights, each matching the dimensions of the
kitchen units of different manufacturers, involves a very high
level of outlay and expense. Also with such a door it would be
necessary in each instance to provide non-transparent regions at
the top and bottom, of a height that differed from model to model,
to conceal the top and bottom of the body of the refrigeration
appliance and in some instances part of the base region, on which
the body rests, since these parts should not be visible through the
transparent parts of the door.
[0005] The object of the present invention is therefore to create a
refrigeration appliance, which is suitable for setting up adjacent
to units made by different manufacturers, whilst still picking up
their design elements, without it being necessary to cover the door
completely.
[0006] The object is achieved in that at least one decor panel,
which extends the door in a vertical direction upward and/or
downward, is fitted on the door of the refrigeration appliance.
[0007] A decor panel, which extends the door upward above the upper
face of the body allows the apparent height of the appliance to be
tailored to the height of adjacent units, which are higher than the
upper face of the body of the appliance.
[0008] A decor panel, which extends the door downward to the level
of the base segment, allows the device to be combined with units,
which for their part have a base segment, whose height is lower
than that of the base segment of the refrigeration appliance.
[0009] Further features and advantages of the invention will emerge
from the description which follows of an exemplary embodiment with
reference to the accompanying figures, in which:
[0010] FIG. 1 shows a perspective, partially exploded, view of an
inventive refrigeration appliance set up next to a cabinet, to
whose design it is tailored,
[0011] FIG. 2 shows a partial section through the door of the
refrigeration appliance according to a first embodiment; and
[0012] FIG. 3 shows a schematic partial section through the door
according to a second embodiment.
[0013] The refrigeration appliance shown in FIG. 1 has a body 1,
which in the known manner has a solid outer shell joined together
from metal sheets, a drawn plastic inner container and an
intermediate space filled with insulating material between the
outer shell and the inner container. The body 1 rests on a base
segment 2, in which parts of the refrigeration unit of the
appliance, for example a compressor and condenser, can be
accommodated or which essentially serves solely as an air duct to
supply cooling air by way of a ventilation grille 3 to
refrigeration unit parts, which are accommodated in a rear recess
of the body 1.
[0014] A door 5 connected to the body 1 by way of multilink hinges
4 comprises an insulating glass pane of a type known per se, which
is set into a frame 6 joined together from four profile elements 7.
Through the insulating glass pane inside the body 1 vertically
stacked bottle supports 18 are visible, respectively comprising a
number of channel-type trays connected by front and rear cross
supports to hold a bottle on its side.
[0015] The structure of the door is shown in FIG. 2. The profile
elements 7 forming the frame 6 are hollow profiles of roughly
rectangular cross-section. A stud 8 protruding from a corner of the
hollow profile serves as a support for the insulating glass pane 9.
Studs 10, 11 protruding from two other corners define a groove, in
whose undercuts a plastic extruded profile 12 is hooked. One arm 13
of the extruded profile holds the insulating glass pane 9
elastically against the stud 8, at the same time shielding the
aluminum profile element 7 from cold air from the interior of the
body 1. A magnetic seal 14 is latched in a groove 15 of the
extruded profile 12.
[0016] An alternative structure of the door 5 is shown
schematically in FIG. 3. Here the insulating glass pane 9 is made
of two glass plates 16, 17 of different sizes, the outer plate 16
being larger than the inner plate 17 and forming the entire front
face of the door 5. A metal profile element 7, of which four are
joined together to make a frame, on which the hinges act, is
adhered to the rear face of the outer glass plate 16. Adhered or
latched to the profile element 7 is a plastic extruded profile 12,
which, like the one in FIG. 2, serves to shield the metal profile 7
from the interior and to support the magnetic seal.
[0017] With both the door structure in FIG. 2 and the one in FIG. 3
the dimensions of the door 5 are essentially predefined by the
front face of the body 1 facing the door 5. To allow the appearance
of the refrigeration appliance to be tailored to a unit 20 adjacent
to it, angle pieces 21 are secured to the horizontal profile
elements 7, being provided so that decor panels 22 and/or 23 can be
fitted vertically from arms of the angle pieces 21 protruding from
the frame 6.
[0018] The decor panels 22, 23 are made of the same material as the
adjacent doors 24, 25 of the unit 20 and are like the doors 24, 25
in the design of their surfaces, edges, etc. These decor panels 22,
23 can be manufactured by the manufacturer of the unit 20 in the
required dimensions with little outlay, so that the upper decor
panel 22 for example, when fitted in the position shown here as a
broken outline, has an upper edge that is higher than the upper
face of the body 1 and is flush with the upper edge of the door 24
and the decor panel 23 has a lower edge that is flush with the
lower edge of the door 25.
[0019] The decor panel 22 conceals a top segment of the body 1
above the upper edge of the door 5, in which an evaporator chamber
for example is concealed, which cools the interior of the body 1 by
means of circulated air. It is therefore also expediently present
in the case of a refrigeration appliance standing alone, for which
it is not necessary to tailor the height of the door to adjacent
units.
[0020] The presence of the lower decor panel 23 allows the base
segment 2 to be manufactured in a height necessary to accommodate
required components of the refrigeration unit therein, which may be
different from the height of a base region 26 of the adjacent unit
20.
* * * * *