EP0675332A2 - Refrigerator with shelves for goods to be cooled - Google Patents

Abstract

The inside wall (3) of the door (1) features a number of parallel slots (4) with dovetail edges for retention of the hooks (15, 16) on the back of trays (14) holding refrigerated prods. The slots are closed and enlarged at their ends and incorporate grooves (5, 6) along their length, the lower edges (9) of which are interrupted over a length corresp. to that of the hooks for ease of insertion. The hooks are firm enough to prevent the trays from being tipped out. <IMAGE>

Description

The invention relates to a refrigerator according to the preamble of the first claim.

In a known cooling device of this type (DE-GM 77 27 326), the door inner wall is equipped with several parallel and horizontally running guide grooves, which end and are closed at both ends in front of the relevant side edge of the door inner wall. The guide grooves have undercuts at predetermined intervals, which are formed as depressions in the deep-drawn guide grooves. The guide grooves are thus partially shaped in the manner of dovetails with upwardly and downwardly directed undercut grooves for the engagement of adapted latching hooks which are arranged on the back of shell-like refrigerated goods racks with height spacings adapted to the undercut grooves. The upward latching hook is rigid and the latching hook engaging downward into the lower undercut groove can be elastically deformed such that after hooking the upper latching hook into an upper undercut groove, the lower latching hook is deflected towards the upper latching hook over a run-up slope so that it over the lower undercut flank slides away and can fall into the lower undercut groove. In practical operation, it can be seen that with the dimensional tolerances that occur in plastics processing, there is a safe intervention Snap snap connection is not guaranteed. In addition, there is a risk that the elastically deformable lower locking hook, which must support the weight of the possibly loaded refrigerated goods shelf, will be permanently bent upward as a result of material fatigue. As a result, the refrigerated goods shelf loses its secure hold.

The invention has for its object to take measures in a refrigerator according to the preamble of the first claim, by means of which a reliable permanent holding of a refrigerated goods shelf in a guide groove is ensured and the insertion such as removal or special effort can be carried out.

This object is achieved according to the invention by the characterizing features of the first claim.

In one embodiment of a cooling device according to the invention, by shortening at least the flank of a lower undercut groove over a limited area, the possibility is created of continuing to insert the refrigerated goods shelf from the front into the relevant guide groove or guide grooves, wherein an overpressing of a latching connection is no longer necessary . The undercut grooves extend over the entire remaining length of the guide grooves, so that the locking hooks can be inserted laterally into the uncut part of the undercut guide grooves after insertion into the open section. It is then not necessary to open the guide grooves on the end face through the side edge of the inner door shell sloping towards the outside of the door, which can lead to a reduction in door stability. In addition, the upward and downward facing locking hooks on the refrigerated goods shelf can be rigid, so that a deformation during operation that leads to a Reduce the secure bracket can be avoided. The guide groove can be open at both ends for the frontal use of refrigerated goods racks, so that refrigerated goods racks can be inserted into guide grooves from opposite sides. This is expedient if a refrigerated goods shelf extends in height into the displacement range of a refrigerated goods shelf pushed into another guide groove. The relevant refrigerated goods shelves can then be removed from the associated guide groove without mutual interference if necessary. If only the lower undercut edge is open, when inserting a refrigerated goods shelf, its upward hook is hooked into the upper undercut groove when the refrigerated goods shelf is tilted upwards, after which the lower latching hook is also pivoted into the guide groove by lowering the front edge of the refrigerated goods shelf. If the one-sided tilting up of the refrigerated goods shelf is to be avoided, then both the upper and the lower undercut flank are expediently opened for the engagement of the associated latching hooks. In this case, it is expedient to mount the latching hooks arranged at different heights offset from one another in the direction of displacement and also to offset the open sections of the undercut flanks accordingly. It is also advantageous to have at least one of the guide grooves extend only from an edge region of the door wall over part of the wall width in order to keep a wall region free of refrigerated goods shelves into which tall objects such as bottles and the like can protrude, refrigerated goods shelves arranged below the shortened guide grooves are to be parked.

The invention is explained in more detail below on the basis of the basic representations of exemplary embodiments.

Fig. 1

eine Ansicht auf die Türinnenseite einer Kühlschranktür mit engen Führungsnuten für Kühlgutablagen,

Fig. 2

eine Ansicht auf die Türinnenseite einer Kühlschranktür mit weiten Führungsnuten für Kühlgutablagen,

Fig. 3

eine Teilansicht eines Seitenschnitts durch die Tür nach Fig.1,

Fig. 4

die Teilansicht eines Seitenschnitts durch eine Tür gemäß Fig. 2 und

Fig. 5

einen horizontalen Schnitt durch eine Tür in Höhe einer Führungsnut.

Show it:

Fig. 1

a view of the inside of a refrigerator door with narrow guide grooves for refrigerated goods racks,

Fig. 2

a view of the inside of a refrigerator door with wide guide grooves for refrigerated goods racks,

Fig. 3

2 shows a partial view of a side section through the door according to FIG. 1,

Fig. 4

the partial view of a side section through a door according to FIG. 2 and

Fig. 5

a horizontal section through a door at the level of a guide groove.

A door 1 of a cabinet-shaped cooling device, in particular a refrigerator, consists of an outer door shell and an inner door shell 2 drawn or injection molded from plastic, the space between the outer shell and the inner shell preferably being foamed with thermal insulation. In the door interior wall surface 3 facing the cooling space, a plurality of guide grooves 4 are formed, which run parallel and one above the other in a horizontal direction and which, in the manner of dovetails, have undercut grooves 5, 6 directed upwards and downwards. The guide grooves 4 end at a distance from the vertical narrow edge strips 7 of the inner door shell 2, which are angled towards the outer door shell, and as a result are not interrupted and ensure optimum stability. The guide grooves 4 are open at their lateral ends, for which purpose the upper and lower undercut edges 8 and 9 of the undercut flanks 5, 6 are omitted to the bottom. The top and the The lower opening edge 10, 11 of this groove extension is thus at a distance from one another which corresponds to the distance between the base 12 or 13 of the upper and the lower undercut groove.

In particular, cup-shaped or bowl-shaped refrigerated goods shelves are to be fixed on the guide grooves 4, which have at least one upward and one downward latching hook 15, 16 on their rear wall 14.1 facing the door wall 3. The latching hook 15 bent upward in the operating position engages behind the upper sloping rear flank 8 of the upper guide groove 5 and the latching hook 16 bent downward engages the upwardly extending undercut flank 9 of the lower undercut groove 6. The width of the latching hooks 15, 16 measured in the direction of displacement is so as large as the corresponding width between the opening edges 10, 11. In the area of the opening edges 10, 11, the refrigerated goods shelf 14 with its latching hooks 15, 16 can thus be inserted in a horizontal plane into the area of the guide grooves 4. By laterally shifting into the guide grooves 4, the locking hooks 15, 16 then come into engagement with the respective flanks 8, 9 of the associated guide grooves 4, so that the refrigerated goods shelf 14 is secured against tipping over as against accidental swiveling. The locking hooks 15, 16 are designed as rigid elements and are dimensioned solely for the carrying and holding function.

The lowering of the undercut flanks 8, 9 is possible at both ends of the guide grooves 4 in question and facilitates the insertion of refrigerated goods shelves 14 of different heights, which extend into the displacement path of another refrigerated goods shelf 14. However, it is also sufficient to provide only one extension 10, 11, which is provided in particular at one end of the guide groove 4 in question. It is also sufficient if only that the lower undercut edge 9 is lowered because the upper latching hook 15 can then be hooked into the upper undercut groove 5, while the lower latching hook 16 can be pivoted into the guide groove 4 in the region of the opening undercut edge 9 in the region of the opening edge 11. By laterally shifting the refrigerated goods shelf 14, the locking engagement occurs again with the lower undercut flank 9.

1 and 3, narrow guide grooves 4 are formed in the vertical direction. The height of the rear wall 14.1 and the height spacing of the associated latching hooks 15, 16 are dimensioned such that the latching hooks 15, 16 engage in different guide grooves 4. In the embodiment according to FIGS. 2 and 4, the width of the guide groove 4 is dimensioned in the height direction so that both latching hooks 15, 16 engage in the same guide groove 4. The distance between the respective base 12 and 13 of this wide groove can correspond to the distance between the base 11 of the upper groove and the base 12 of the next lower groove of the embodiment according to FIG. 3. The refrigerated goods shelves 14 can therefore be used unchanged in both versions.

In order to ensure that there is sufficient space for setting high refrigerated goods containers such as bottles or the like, at least one guide groove 4.1 can only extend over part of the wall width from an edge region of the door wall 3, as shown in FIG. 2. The shortened guide grooves 4.1 are in particular above the lowermost refrigerated goods shelf, into which bottles and the like are usually placed.

It is also possible to arrange the latching hooks 15, 16 arranged at different heights offset from one another in the direction of displacement. Then be appropriate the associated lowered sections 10, 11, in which the relevant undercut flanks 10, 11 are omitted, are arranged in a correspondingly offset manner in order to keep the lowered areas as small as possible and to keep the usable length of the guide grooves as large as possible.

Claims (6)

Fridge with preferably a plurality of guide grooves arranged in parallel one above the other, formed in an inner wall, in particular the door inner wall, which have in the manner of dovetails upward and downward-facing undercut grooves for the engagement of adapted latching hooks provided one above the other on refrigerated goods shelves and which are closed at their ends are characterized in that the guide grooves (4) are provided with undercut grooves (5, 6) along their length, of which, however, at least one undercut flank (9) has a width corresponding to the associated latching hook (16) to the bottom (12) is omitted. Refrigerator according to claim 1, characterized in that the latching hooks (15, 16) on the refrigerated goods shelf (14) are rigid. Refrigerator according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the guide groove (4) is open at both ends for the frontal use of refrigerated goods racks (14). Refrigerator according to claim 1 or one of the following, characterized in that the undercut grooves (5, 6) are open both on the bottom and on the top undercut flank (10, 11). A refrigerator according to claim 4, characterized in that the latching hooks (15, 16) arranged at different heights are offset from one another in the direction of displacement and that the open sections (10, 11) of the upper and lower undercut flanks (8, 9) correspond to the offset of the Locking hooks (15, 16) are offset. Refrigerator according to claim 1 or one of the following, characterized in that at least one guide groove (4.1) extends from an edge region of the door wall (3) only over part of the wall width.

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