HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCE WITH A CAMERA AND A REINFORCEMENT PART CONNECTED THERETO, AND METHOD FOR MOUNTING THE CAMERA

Abstract

A household appliance includes a camera with a housing and a first electrical plug connector in the housing. A reinforcement part separate from the camera is configured for direct connection to the housing through a cutout in a wall of the appliance such that the housing and the reinforcement part are disposed on opposite sides of the wall. The reinforcement part has a second electrical plug connector for connection to the first electrical plug connector. The second plug connector is a separate component provided on the reinforcement part by a snap-fit connection and/or in the mounted state the first electrical plug connector is snap-fitted to the second electrical plug connector by a snap-fit connection and/or the housing of the camera is connected in the mounted final state to the reinforcement part by a screw connection. A mounting method for the camera is also provided.

Claims

1. A household appliance, comprising: a wall of the household appliance, said wall of the household appliance having opposite sides and a cutout; a camera having a housing and a first electrical plug connector disposed in said housing of said camera; a reinforcement part separate from said camera, said reinforcement part configured for direct connection to said housing of said camera through said cutout with said housing of said camera and said reinforcement part each disposed on a respective one of said opposite sides of said wall of the household appliance, said reinforcement part having a second electrical plug connector being a separate component configured for connection to said first electrical plug connector; and said reinforcement part having at least one of: a snap-fit connection of said second plug connector on said reinforcement part, or a snap-fit connection of said second plug connector to said first electrical plug connector in a mounted state, or a screw connection of said reinforcement part to said housing of said camera to in a mounted final state.

2. The household appliance according to claim 1, wherein: said reinforcement part has a contact plate for contact on said wall of the household appliance; said reinforcement part has a coupling unit protruding from said contact plate; and said coupling unit has a receiving slot in which said second plug connector is disposed and snap-fitted to said coupling unit by said snap-fit connection of said second plug connector on said reinforcement part.

3. The household appliance according to claim 2, wherein: said second plug connector has a housing; said receiving slot has a slot wall with an inner side; said snap-fit connection of said second plug connector on said reinforcement part has a snap-fit element integrated on said housing of said second plug connector; and said snap-fit connection of said second plug connector on said reinforcement part has a counter snap-fit element disposed on said inner side of said slot wall of said receiving slot.

4. The household appliance according to claim 1, wherein: said reinforcement part has a guide ramp; said second plug connector has a housing with a snap-fit element for snap-fitting to said first plug connector; said guide ramp pushes said snap-fit element out of a snap-fit position to prevent said snap-fit element of said second plug connector from being snap-fitted to said first plug connector in the mounted state.

5. The household appliance according to claim 1, wherein said reinforcement part has a widened front piece, said housing of said camera has a widened end piece into which said widened front piece of said reinforcement part is inserted, and said screw connection is provided in said widened end piece of said housing of said camera and in said inserted widened end piece of said reinforcement part.

6. The household appliance according to claim 5, wherein said camera and said reinforcement part form a configuration having a longitudinal axis, said second plug connector has a rear end, and said screw connection is disposed behind said rear end of said second plug connector in a direction of said longitudinal axis of said configuration.

7. The household appliance according to claim 1, which further comprises: a counter snap-fit element disposed on said first plug connector; said second plug connector having a housing with a snap-fit element for snap-fitting to said counter snap-fit element; and said snap-fit element and said counter snap-fit element forming said snap-fit connection of said second plug connector to said first electrical plug connector in the mounted state.

8. The household appliance according to claim 7, wherein no additional screw connection is provided to retain said housing of said camera on said reinforcement part.

9. The household appliance according to claim 7, wherein said housing of said camera has a release opening for receiving a tool from outside said housing of said camera for engaging and releasing said snap-fit connection of said second plug connector to said first electrical plug connector.

10. The household appliance according to claim 1, wherein: said reinforcement part has a widened front piece; said housing of said camera has a widened end piece into which said widened front piece of said reinforcement part is inserted; and said widened end piece of said housing of said camera and said widened front piece of said reinforcement part form guides through which said first and second plug connectors are automatically joined together upon fitting said housing of said camera onto said reinforcement part.

11. The household appliance according to claim 1, wherein: said reinforcement part has a coupling unit extending through said cutout in said wall of the household appliance for coupling said reinforcement part disposed on one side with said camera disposed on an opposite side of said wall of the household appliance in the mounted state; and said housing of said camera has a rear edge resting on said wall of the household appliance in the mounted state.

12. The household appliance according to claim 1, wherein said housing of said camera has an end facing away from said reinforcement part and an elongated housing slot disposed at said end facing away from said reinforcement part.

13. The household appliance according to claim 12, wherein said elongated housing slot is an arc segment.

14. The household appliance according to claim 1, wherein the household appliance is a household refrigeration appliance.

15. A method for mounting a camera on a wall of a household appliance, the method comprising: providing a wall of the household refrigeration appliance; providing a camera with a housing and a first electrical plug connector disposed in the housing of the camera; providing a reinforcement part separate from the camera, the reinforcement part configured for direct connection to the housing of the camera through a cutout in the wall of the household refrigeration appliance; positioning the housing of the camera and the reinforcement part on opposite sides of the wall of the household refrigeration appliance; providing the reinforcement part with a second electrical plug connector being a separate component configured for connection to the first electrical plug connector; and at least one of: using a snap-fit connection to snap-fit the second plug connector on the reinforcement part, or using a snap-fit connection to snap-fit the first electrical plug connector to the second electrical plug connector, or using a screw connection to connect the housing of the camera to the reinforcement part in a mounted final state.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING

[0040] FIG. 1A is a diagrammatic, perspective view of a household appliance;

[0041] FIG. 1B is an exploded, perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of a configuration according to the invention of a camera with a reinforcement part;

[0042] FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the configuration according to FIG. 1B in the assembled state;

[0043] FIG. 3 is an exploded, perspective view of subcomponents of the configuration according to FIG. 1B;

[0044] FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the components according to FIG. 3 in the assembled state;

[0045] FIG. 5 is a fragmentary, perspective, sectional view of the configuration shown in FIG. 4;

[0046] FIG. 6 is a fragmentary, perspective, sectional view of subcomponents of the configuration according to FIG. 1B in the assembled state;

[0047] FIG. 7 is a diagrammatic, sectional view of subcomponents of an exemplary embodiment of a configuration according to the invention;

[0048] FIG. 8 is a diagrammatic, sectional view through an assembled configuration according to the invention with the components according to FIG. 7; and

[0049] FIG. 9 is a sectional view through a subregion of a further exemplary embodiment of a configuration according to the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0050] Referring now in detail to the figures of the drawings, in which the same or functionally identical elements are provided with the same reference characters, and first, particularly, to FIG. 1A thereof, there is seen a diagrammatic representation of a household appliance which in this case is a household refrigeration appliance 1. The household refrigeration appliance 1 has a housing 37. A receiving chamber 38 for receiving foodstuffs is provided in the receiving chamber 38. The receiving chamber 38 can be a refrigerator compartment or a freezer compartment. The receiving chamber 38 is delimited by walls of an inner container 39 of the household refrigeration appliance 1. The household refrigeration appliance 1 also has a door 40. The door 40 is disposed pivotably on the housing 37 for closing the receiving chamber 38. The door 40 has a wall 41, which is an inner paneling. The household refrigeration appliance 1 has a configuration 1A.

[0051] FIG. 1B shows, in an exploded representation, an exemplary embodiment of a configuration 1a. The configuration 1a is constructed for mounting on a wall 2 of the household appliance, in particular of the household refrigeration appliance 1. The wall 2 can be the wall 41 or can be a wall of the inner container 39. The configuration 1a has a camera 3. The camera 3 has a housing. The housing is formed in this case in several pieces. In one exemplary embodiment, it has an elongated, straight housing slot or a housing channel 4. In the exemplary embodiment, the housing also has an arc segment 5. The arc segment 5 is constructed for joining to the housing slot 4. In particular, a snap-fit connection is provided in this case. The elongated housing slot or the housing channel 4 has a longitudinal axis A. The connection to the arc segment 5 is provided on a front end 4a of the housing slot 4 facing away from the wall 2. This elongated housing channel 4 is constructed to have a rectangular cross section. It can however also have a different shape. As can be seen, the housing channel 4 is embodied with a widened end piece 4c on a rear end 4b which faces toward the wall 2 in the mounted state. In this context, the widening is provided downward when viewed in the height direction. A funnel-like shape is therefore realized in the rear region of this elongated housing channel 4.

[0052] In one exemplary embodiment, the camera 3 also has an anti-fog element 6. In particular, this is a film. In one exemplary embodiment, the camera 3 also has a terminating element 7. This terminating element 7 is provided for receiving a module 8. The module 8 has a circuit board. In particular, the camera also has optical components as well as an image sensor.

[0053] Furthermore, a flexible printed circuit board 9 of the camera 3 is provided. This PCB 9 connects the module 8 to a further module 10 of the camera 3. This further module 10 has a circuit board 11. Furthermore, the module 10 also has in particular a first electrical plug connector 12.

[0054] In one exemplary embodiment, provision can be made for the housing of the camera 3 to have the two components 4 and 5. In a further exemplary embodiment, however, provision can be made for the housing of the camera 3 to have only the elongated housing channel 4. One or the other embodiment may be advantageous, depending on the positioning of the configuration 1a in the household refrigeration appliance. The arc or arcuate segment 5 is advantageous in particular if specific angles occur when the door of the household refrigeration appliance is opened. In particular, in this case the comprehensive recording of the receiving chamber of the household refrigeration appliance must also still be enabled.

[0055] The camera 3 can be disposed on the wall 40 of the household refrigeration appliance. It can however also be disposed on the inner container 39, which delimits the receiving chamber 38 for food. The receiving chamber 38 is to be recorded with the camera 3.

[0056] Furthermore, the configuration 1a has a reinforcement part 13. The reinforcement part 13 is separate from the camera 3. In one exemplary embodiment, the reinforcement part 13 is an integral component. It can be formed in particular from plastic. In one exemplary embodiment, the reinforcement part 13 has a contact plate 14. It also has a coupling unit 15. The coupling unit 15 is disposed in such a way that it protrudes from the contact plate 14. In one exemplary embodiment, the coupling unit 15 has a receiving slot 16. This receiving slot 16 is provided in particular for receiving a second electrical plug connector 17.

[0057] In one exemplary embodiment, the reinforcement part 13, in particular the coupling unit 15, has an in particular widened front piece 18. This widened front piece 18 is in particular complementary to the widened end piece 4c of the elongated housing slot 4, if this widening is present there.

[0058] Furthermore, a screw 19 is also already shown in FIG. 1b for one exemplary embodiment. The screw 19 is provided to produce a screw connection of the camera 3 to the reinforcement part 13. A cover 20 is also shown. This cover 20 is used to cover the screw 19 when the screw is screwed in.

[0059] FIG. 2 shows the configuration 1a in the assembled state.

[0060] FIG. 3 shows subcomponents of the configuration 1a. The wall 2 is shown. This wall 2 has a cutout 2a. In the mounted state, the reinforcement part 13 extends with the coupling unit 15 through this cutout 2a, as can be seen also in the assembled state according to FIG. 4. The contact plate 14, on the other hand, rests on a rear side 2b of the wall 2. The rear side 2b is also shown. As can furthermore be seen in FIG. 3, the second plug connector 17 is embodied with a first snap-fit element 21. This snap-fit element 21 is embodied in particular to be integral or one-piece with a housing 22 of the second electrical plug connector 17. In this regard, it is disposed on the side of the housing 22 in terms of orientation. In particular, it is provided that a second snap-fit element 23 is part of the second plug connector 17. This second snap-fit element 23 is embodied in particular to be integral or one-piece with the housing 22. The second snap-fit element 23 is disposed on an underside and is embodied in particular on a front region of the housing 22 to be integral therewith. The two snap-fit elements 21 and 23 are thus oriented in different spatial directions with regard to their sprung effect. In this regard, the first snap-fit element 21 is disposed in a sprung manner in a horizontal plane, in particular in the width direction (x-direction). The second snap-fit element 23 is disposed in a sprung manner in the height direction (y-direction).

[0061] Provision is made for this second plug connector 17, which can also be referred to as a socket, to be snap-fitted directly to the reinforcement part 13. In particular in this regard, a snap-fit connection 24 (FIG. 4) is provided between the snap-fit element 21 and a counter snap-fit element 25 (FIG. 5). As can also be seen in FIG. 4, in this mounted state the second electrical plug connector 17 is received in the receiving slot 16. The receiving slot 16 is delimited in the upward direction by a slot wall 26 and in the downward direction by a slot wall 27. Furthermore, lateral slot walls 28 and 29 (FIG. 5) are also formed.

[0062] As shown in FIG. 5, which shows a perspective sectional view along the section line V-V in FIG. 4, the snap-fit element 21 is snap-fitted to the counter snap-fit element 25. The snap-fit connection 24 is thus formed.

[0063] In the mounting method of the configuration 1a, this submodule is mounted separately as shown in FIG. 3 to FIG. 5. The camera 3 is mounted independently thereof. In this case, the first electrical plug connector 12 is also installed with the circuit board 11 inside the elongated housing channel 4. Once the camera 3 has been assembled in this regard, then in a further mounting step the mounting of the camera 3 on the reinforcement part 13 can take place. To this end, the camera 3 is introduced from a front side 2c (FIG. 3) of the wall. As can be seen in FIG. 4, the coupling unit 15 extends through the cutout 2a and is thus also present on the front side 2c of the wall 2. The contact plate 14 rests in particular over its entire surface directly on the rear side 2b of the wall 2.

[0064] FIG. 6 shows a perspective sectional representation of the mounted state of the configuration 1a. Subcomponents are shown therein. In particular, for the sake of clarity, the coupling unit 15 of the reinforcement part 13 is not shown therein. The already coupled and thus plugged-together first electrical plug connector 12 and second electrical plug connector 17 are shown therein.

[0065] In this exemplary embodiment, no provision is made for a snap-fitting connection between the first electrical plug connector 12 and the second electrical plug connector 17. For this reason, the second snap-fit element 23 of the second electrical plug connector 17 is not snap-fitted to the first electrical plug connector 12 with a counter snap-fit element of the first electrical plug connector 12. In this case, the two electrical plug connectors 12 and 17 are only inserted into one another. It can also be seen that the elongated housing channel 4 rests with a rear edge 4d directly on the front side 2c of the wall 2.

[0066] In the exemplary embodiment shown therein, a screw connection 30 (FIG. 8) is provided to fasten the camera 3 to the reinforcement part 13. This screw connection 30 includes the single screw 19, which is screwed in from below in a screw boss 31 in the coupling unit 15. In this context, the widened end piece 4c has a hole through which the screw 19 is guided. Provision can be made in an exemplary embodiment for the screw 19, once fully screwed in, to be covered with a cover 36.

[0067] Provision is made in an exemplary embodiment for the housing of the camera 3, in particular the elongated housing channel 4, to have a release opening 32 (FIG. 6). This release opening 32 is a through-hole. It is formed in the region of the second snap-fit element 23.

[0068] In this way, in a further exemplary embodiment in which no screw connection 30 and thus no screw 19 is present but instead in which the two electrical plug connectors 12 and 17 are connected directly by way of a further snap-fit connection, it is possible to engage through the release opening 32 with a tool and release this snap-fit connection between the plug connectors 12 and 17.

[0069] FIG. 7 shows a diagrammatic side view of the exemplary embodiment according to FIGS. 6 and 8 with the screw connection to subcomponents. In this case, a guide ramp 33 is indicated diagrammatically on the reinforcement part 13. During the mounting of the second electrical plug connector 17 on the reinforcement part 13, when the second electrical plug connector 17 is guided in a linear manner into this receiving slot 16, this second snap-fit element 23 is pressed upward by this guide ramp 33 as indicated by an arrow P. This position is retained in the mounted final state of the second electrical plug connector 17. This position is such that a counter snap-fit element 34 present on the first electrical plug connector 12 (FIG. 9) cannot snap-fit to this snap-fit element 23. In this exemplary embodiment, no direct snap-fitting between the two electrical plug connectors 12 and 17 is therefore provided in the mounted final state. Instead, provision is then made only for the single screw connection 30 in this case. The housing of the second plug connector 17 can be used as an identical part in configuration variants which either have this screw connection 30 or instead have a snap-fit connection 35.

[0070] For an exemplary embodiment in which the single screw connection 30 is provided to connect the camera 3 and the reinforcement part 13 in a retaining manner, the second plug connector 17 can also be provided without the snap-fit element 23 and the guide ramp 33 can be dispensed with.

[0071] In a further exemplary embodiment, as shown in the sectional representation in FIG. 9, the mechanical connection between the plug connectors 12 and 17 is implemented by way of a snap-fit connection 35. The snap-fitted state between the snap-fit element 23 and the counter snap-fit element 34 is shown therein.

[0072] In this exemplary embodiment, no screw connection 30 is present. The mechanical connection between the camera 3 and the reinforcement part 13 is implemented in this case only by way of the retaining snap-fit connection 35.

[0073] During mounting, the fully mounted camera 3, as already described above, is guided toward the wall 2 in a linear manner in the direction of the already pre-mounted reinforcement part 13. In this case, the components, namely the elongated housing channel 4 and the coupling unit 15, are guided into one another. A guidance is also achieved in this regard by way of the widened pieces 18 and 4c which are preferably present. A blind joining is thus implemented. With this blind joining, a mechanical and electrical connection of the electrical plug connectors 12 and 17 is automatically achieved. No additional mounting effort is then subsequently required with regard to the plug connectors 12 and 17.

[0074] The following is a summary list of reference numerals and the corresponding structure used in the above description of the invention: [0075] 1 Household refrigeration appliance [0076] 1a Configuration [0077] 2 Wall [0078] 2a Cutout [0079] 2b Rear side [0080] 2c Front side [0081] 3 Camera [0082] 4 Housing slot [0083] 4a Front end [0084] 4b Rear end [0085] 4c End piece [0086] 4d Rear edge [0087] 5 Arc segment [0088] 6 Anti-fog element [0089] 7 Terminating element [0090] 8 Module [0091] 9 Printed circuit board [0092] 10 Module [0093] 11 Circuit board [0094] 12 Plug connector [0095] 13 Reinforcement part [0096] 14 Contact plate [0097] 15 Coupling unit [0098] 16 Receiving slot [0099] 17 Plug connector [0100] 18 Front piece [0101] 1 Screw [0102] 20 Cover [0103] 21 Snap-fit element [0104] 22 Housing [0105] 23 Snap-fit element [0106] 24 Snap-fit connection [0107] 25 Counter snap-fit element [0108] 26 Slot wall [0109] 27 Slot wall [0110] 28 Slot wall [0111] 29 Slot wall [0112] 30 Screw connection [0113] 31 Screw boss [0114] 32 Release opening [0115] 33 Guide ramp [0116] 34 Counter snap-fit element [0117] 35 Snap-fit connection [0118] 36 Cover [0119] 37 Housing [0120] 38 Receiving space [0121] 39 Inner container [0122] 40 Door [0123] 41 Wall [0124] x Width direction [0125] y Height direction [0126] A Longitudinal axis