DE20213655U1 - cooling unit - Google Patents

Description

GRÜNECKER KII\Jk.£l ^# C*EY

&'SWAN HOUSES

LAW FIRM

GKS & S MAXIMILIANSTRASSE 58 D-80538 MUNICH GERMANY

LAWYERS

MUNICH

DR. HELMUT EICHMANN

GERHARD BARTH

DR. ULRICH BLUMENRÖDER, LL. M.

CHRISTA NIKLAS-FALTER

DR. MAXIMILIAN KINKELDEY, LL.M.

DR. KARSTEN BRANDT

MICHAEL J. FRANKE, LLM.

UTE STEPHANI

DR. BERND ALLEKOTTE, LL.M.

DR. ELVIRAPFRANC, LLM.

KARIN LOCHNER

BABETT ERTLE

YOUR REF.

OUR REF.

G4728-80/hp

PATENT ATTORNEYS EUROPEAN PATENT ATTORNEYS

MUNICH

DR. HERMANN KINKELDEY

PETER H. JAKOB

WOLFHARD MEISTER

HANS HILGERS

DR. HENNING MEYER-PLATH

ANNE EHNOLD

THOMAS SCHUSTER

DR. KLARA GOLDBACH

MARTIN AUFENANGER

GOTTFRIED KLITSCH

DR. HEIKE VOGELSANG-WENKE

REINHARD KNAUER

DIETMAR KUHL

DR. FRANZ-JOSEF ZIMMER

BETTINA K. REICHELT

OR. ANTON K. PFAU

DR. UDO WEIGELT

RAINER BERTRAM

JENS KOCH, M.S. {U of PA) M.S.

BERND ROTHAEMEL

DR. DANIELA KINKELDEY

DR.

THOMAS W. LAUBENTHAL

DR. ANDREAS KAYSER

DR. JENS HAMMER

DR. THOMAS EICKELKAMP

PATENT ATTORNEYS EUROPEAN PATENT ATTORNEYS

BERLIN

PROF. DR. MANFRED BÖNING

DR. PATRICK ERK, MS (MIT)

COLOGNE

DR. MARTIN DROPMANN

CHEMNITZ MANFRED SCHNEIDER

OF COUNSEL PATENT ATTORNEYS

AUGUST ÖRÜNECKER DR. GUNTER BEZOLD DR. WALTER LANGHOFF

DR. WILFRIED STOCKMAIR (-1996)

DATE

04.09.02

Electrolux Home Products Corporation N.V. Belgistracastraat17

1930Zaventem

Belgium

COOLING DEVICE

(GK 3)+!49 89.22:02 87Ü

*ti

GRÜNeCKER KINKELDEY JE.L

STOCKMAiR & JSi

MAXIMILIAN STREET 58 (4

O-80538 MUNICH ht'tpV/wvIw'gru'nlcker.de

GERMANY e-mail: postmaster@grunecker.de

DEUTSCHE BANK MUNICH No. 17 51734 BLZ 700 700 SWIFT: DEUT DE MM

COOLING DEVICE

The present invention relates to a refrigerating appliance of an improved type, which is equipped with a separate pull-out drawer, for preserving bottles, cans, beverage containers, etc. in a refrigerated environment.

In the prior art, refrigeration appliances are known, in particular household refrigeration appliances, which are equipped with devices and accessories suitable for accommodating or containing a large number of bottles or beverage containers of various types inside the refrigerating compartment.

The most common solutions are those in which such bottles are stored in compartments inside the door; their accessibility is optimal, and the cooling temperature is usually suitable for a wide range of preserved drinks.

However, due to the constant increase in the number of different types of drinks and also due to the fact that living spaces are becoming smaller and smaller and there is almost no possibility of having bright rooms or pantries, it is becoming more and more necessary to store bottled drinks and drinks that are used more often during the day directly in household refrigerators that are found in every kitchen.

However, this habit does not take into account the fact that the space available inside the door of the domestic refrigerator is low; furthermore, this space is not used efficiently because bottles of different heights have to be placed on the same shelf, so the distance to the shelf above must allow the highest bottle to be placed. The consequence is that the space available between the lowest bottle and the shelf above remains used.

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Furthermore, different temperatures are required for the storage of different drinks; for example, red wines should have a storage temperature above 16°, whereas dry white wines should not be stored above 12° and sparkling wines should be stored at a temperature of around 6-8°.

Non-alcoholic beverages are preferably stored as cold as possible, but of course at a temperature above freezing.

However, because the temperature inside the refrigerator is approximately constant, it is also obvious that all these different types of drinks cannot be stored optimally; in addition, there is the disadvantage described above that the available space is used inefficiently.

It would therefore be desirable, and it is also an object of the present invention, to provide a refrigerator, preferably a household refrigerator, which is equipped with at least one food compartment and an evaporator, as well as with a further space or compartment where containers of different sizes and for different drinks can be stored, so that the available space can be used as efficiently as possible and the different drinks can be stored at correspondingly different temperatures.

Furthermore, such a device should be simple, feasible and competitive in terms of both design and use using available technologies; in particular, it should use the same cold source that is used to cool the food.

These objectives are achieved with a particular refrigerating appliance equipped with one or more drawers or pull-out compartments; both variants are described below as examples with reference to the figures, the present invention not being limited to these examples or embodiments.

Fig. 1 shows a perspective view of a particular embodiment of the refrigerating appliance according to the present invention, equipped with a pull-out drawer which is however still closed;

Fig. 2 shows the refrigerator from Fig. 1, but with the drawer open;

Fig. 3 shows a semi-frontal view of the device from Fig. 2, but without the doors of the cooling compartments;

Fig. 4 shows the important internal features of a device according to the invention;

Fig. 5 and 6 respectively show a further perspective view of another embodiment of a device according to the invention, respectively with closed and opened doors.

Referring to the figures, a refrigeration appliance according to the invention comprises an external cabinet 1 with at least one front door 2 and a front pull-out drawer 3.

This has a large number of inclined supports 4 in its interior, which are oriented parallel and from front to back.

These inclined supports have the same width as the drawer and have a groove or recess 5 along their entire length so that the cylindrical containers mounted on the inclined supports cannot fall down on their own.

Of course, these inclined supports 4 can also be arranged horizontally, whereby an inclined position is preferred for the best possible preservation of certain beverages, such as wine bottles.

Inclined supports have the further advantage of providing a low temperature space in the lower triangular compartment 20 of the drawer for storing small containers such as cans, small bottles and preserves, thus ensuring optimum use of the available space.

Of course, when closed, the drawer slides between two inner, vertical side walls of the refrigerator, so that the drawer itself and its contents are completely isolated from the rest of the appliance.

A prerequisite for better accessibility of the drinks is that the pulled-out drawer is open on at least one side so that its use is simplified, whereby preferably both sides of the drawer should be fully accessible, as shown in the figures.

In order to create compartments with different storage temperatures inside the drawer, a number of separating elements 6 and 7 are used which have a similar structure to the inclined beams and are arranged parallel to them; however, these separating elements have a greater width than these inclined beams, so that when the drawer is closed or pushed shut, these separating elements, together with the side walls, create compartments between which exchange is practically impossible.

The creation of a plurality of separate compartments also requires their separate cooling; for this purpose, a line or pipe 8 is preferably used between the zone around the evaporator 9 and these compartments separated by the separation elements.

This line 8 has a plurality of openings or nozzles 10, 11 and 12 which correspond to the separate differently cooled compartments; on the opposite side, the line 8 has an extraction device 13 which opens into the space around the evaporator 9.

For the circulation of the cooled air generated by the evaporator, a suitable ventilation device is used between the evaporator and the suction device 13, which is not shown in the figures.

For the recirculation of the cool air from the three separate compartments, three separate return lines 14, 15 and 16 are used, each equipped at one end with an air extraction opening 17, 18 and 19 and at the other end with openings 17a, 18a and 19a each, which open into the vicinity of the evaporator 9.

The operation of the device according to the invention is therefore clear and as follows:

The air cooled by the evaporator is blown through the pipe 8 into the separate compartments; there it circulates freely and therefore cools the drinks stored therein. Finally, the air flows back to the evaporator through the return pipes 14, 15 and 16.

In order to create different cooling temperatures in the separate compartments, different means are possible to control the flow of the duct 8 in correspondence with the different nozzles: for example, it is possible to vary the diameter of the duct in the different parts, or one can select the size of the nozzles 10, 11 and 12 or even the length of the parts of the duct so as to vary the fluid dynamic resistance of the cool air. It is also possible to create a combination of these different solutions, and it is also possible to use other solutions which are obvious to the person skilled in the art.

Referring to Figures 4 and 5, a particular embodiment of the device according to the invention is described which has two pull-out drawers; in the embodiment shown in Figures 4 and 5, the drawers are pa-

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arranged parallel and side by side, although this is not essential for the invention.

It will not be difficult at all for the specialist to adapt the cooling systems described above to the separate compartments.

Claims (8)

1. A refrigerator or freezer, particularly for domestic use, comprising at least one compartment for preserving foodstuffs and a cooling evaporator ( 9 ), characterized in that it comprises one or more front-removable drawers ( 3 ) which are open on at least one side and contain means suitable for supporting beverage containers. 2. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that said means comprise a plurality of parallel supports ( 4 ) oriented from front to back and formed with a longitudinal groove or recess ( 5 ). 3. Device according to claim 2, characterized in that these supports ( 4 ) are oriented obliquely with respect to the horizontal plane. 4. Device according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the volume defined by each pull-out drawer is divided by a plurality of separating elements ( 6 , 7 ) suitable for creating in this volume a plurality, preferably three, of separate compartments with different temperatures. 5. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that in correspondence with the front lower edge of the drawer a compartment is provided which is suitable for storing small containers, preferably in an inclined position. 6. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that means are present which are suitable for moving an air flow from the evaporator ( 9 ) to these compartments and back to this evaporator. 7. Cooling device according to claim 7, characterized in that these means contain the following parts:
at least one line ( 8 ) from the area around the evaporator ( 9 ) to these compartments;
a plurality of openings ( 10 , 11 , 12 ) provided in said duct in correspondence with the respective separate compartments. 8. Cooling device according to claim 7, characterized in that between these separate compartments and the environment around the evaporator, corresponding return lines ( 14 , 15 , 16 ) are arranged, each of these lines being designed with corresponding openings ( 17 , 18 , 19 ) in correspondence with the separate compartments and with corresponding openings ( 17a , 18a , 19a ) in the environment around the evaporator ( 9 ).