HOUSEHOLD DEVICE HAVING A DOOR AND ELECTRICAL CONTACTS IN THE REGION OF A DOOR GUIDE

Abstract

A household appliance includes a housing having a receiving space for food and a storage space disposed below the receiving space. A door for closing an opening of the receiving space of the housing is insertable into the storage place when the door is opened and includes at least one electrical consumer, a first electrical contact coupled to the electrical consumer, and a housing-side second electrical contact electrically coupled to the first electrical contact for supply of electrical energy to the consumer as a function of an operating position of the door. The door is guided into the storage space by a guide apparatus which has a housing-side horizontal guide slot arranged laterally in relation to the door in a side wall of the storage space. The second electrical contact is arranged adjacent to the guide slot in the side wall of the storage space.

Claims

1-12. (canceled)

13. A household appliance, comprising: a housing having a receiving space for food and a storage space disposed below the receiving space; a door for closing an opening of the receiving space of the housing, said door being configured for insertion into the storage place when the door is opened, said door including at least one electrical consumer, a first electrical contact coupled to the electrical consumer, and a housing-side second electrical contact electrically coupled to the first electrical contact for supply of electrical energy to the consumer as a function of an operating position of the door; and a guide apparatus configured to guide the door into the storage space, said guide apparatus having a housing-side horizontal guide slot arranged laterally in relation to the door in a side wall of the storage space, said second electrical contact being arranged adjacent to the guide slot in the side wall of the storage space.

14. The household appliance of claim 13, wherein the guide apparatus has a door-side guide path formed on a narrow edge side of the door in facing relation to the side wall of the storage space, said first electrical contact of the door being arranged in the guide path.

15. The household appliance of claim 14, wherein the guide path has a U-shaped cross section to define an arm wall, said first electrical contact being arranged in the arm wall of the guide path.

16. The household appliance of claim 14, wherein the first electrical contact is formed at a lower end of the guide path.

17. The household appliance of claim 13, wherein the first and the second electrical contacts are configured to make maximum contact when the door is closed.

18. The household appliance of claim 13, wherein the first electrical contact is rigid.

19. The household appliance of claim 13, wherein the second electrical contact is resilient.

20. The household appliance of claim 13, further comprising a housing-side hinge having a hinge rocker arranged rotatably on the housing, said hinge rocker having arranged thereon at least one guide element to engage in the guide path on the door so as to guide a lowering movement of the door.

21. The household appliance of claim 20, wherein the hinge rocker is configured for pivoting along a pivot path toward the side wall of the storage space and the second electrical contact, said second electrical contact being arranged in the pivot path of the hinge rocker.

22. The household appliance of claim 20, further comprising a decoupling element arranged on the hinge rocker and configured to automatically decouple a coupled state of the first electrical contact to the second electrical contact when the door is lowered into the storage space and the hinge rocker is pivoted along the pivot path.

23. The household appliance of claim 13, wherein the first and second electrical contacts are coated, at least in parts, with a metal.

24. The household appliance of claim 23, wherein the metal is gold or brass.

25. The household appliance of claim 13, wherein the second electrical contact is configured as an S-shaped strip.

Description

[0028] Exemplary embodiments of the invention are described in more detail below with reference to schematic drawings, in which:

[0029] FIG. 1 shows a front view of an exemplary embodiment of an inventive household appliance;

[0030] FIG. 2 shows a perspective view of a door of the household appliance from FIG. 1;

[0031] FIG. 3 shows an enlargement of a partial section of the door from FIG. 2;

[0032] FIG. 4 shows a perspective diagram of a storage space and further subcomponents of the household appliance;

[0033] FIG. 5 shows an enlargement of a partial section from FIG. 4;

[0034] FIG. 6 shows an enlarged partial diagram of the household appliance in the region of the door and the storage space with the door closed; and

[0035] FIG. 7 shows the diagram from FIG. 6 but with the door already partially open.

[0036] Identical elements and those of identical function are shown with the same reference characters in the figures.

[0037] FIG. 1 shows a front view of a household appliance 1, which is configured for the preparation of food and can be for example an oven or a steam cooking appliance or a microwave cooking appliance. The household appliance 1 comprises a housing 2, in which a muffle 3 is arranged, the walls 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 of which delimit a receiving space for food, in particular a cooking chamber 9.

[0038] The household appliance 1 also comprises a door 10, which is configured to close the front face of a loading opening in the muffle 3 and therefore also in the cooking chamber 9.

[0039] A storage space 11 is also configured in the housing 2 below the cooking chamber 9 and therefore also below the wall 6 of the muffle 3 configured as the base when viewed in the vertical direction and thus in the heightwise direction of the household appliance 1. The door 10, which can be lowered, can be inserted into this and stowed therein when opened. The door 10 can therefore be introduced into said storage space 11.

[0040] The door 10 also comprises at least one electrical consumer, with two electrical consumers 12 and 13 being arranged solely by way of example in respect of position and number in the door 10 in the exemplary embodiment, said electrical consumers 12 and 13 being light sources.

[0041] A guide apparatus 14 is also configured, comprising both door-side and housing-side elements, the door 10 being guided on its path into the storage space 11 and out of the storage space 11 by means of the guide apparatus 14.

[0042] The household appliance 1 also comprises at least one door-side first electrical contact 15, a further first electrical contact 16 being configured on the door side in the exemplary embodiment. These electrical contacts 15 and 16 can be or are coupled to the electrical consumers 12 and 13. A second electrical contact 17 and in the exemplary embodiment a further second electrical contact 18 are also configured on the housing side and therefore externally in relation to the door 10.

[0043] Provision is made for it to be possible for the second electrical contacts 17 and 18 to be electrically coupled to the first electrical contacts 15 and 16 to supply electrical energy to the consumers 12 and 13 as a function of an operating position of the door 10.

[0044] FIG. 2 shows a perspective view of the door 10. The door 10 comprises a plate-type base part 19, with a door-side guide path being configured on each of its opposing vertical narrow faces or strip-type edges 10a and 10b. Said guide path 20 is configured as U-shaped in cross section and therefore in a section in the x-z plane. Provision is made here for the first electrical contact 16 to be arranged on, in particular embedded in, an arm 20a facing the cooking chamber 9 when the door 10 is in the closed state, as shown in an enlarged partial section I in FIG. 2. This first electrical contact 16 is therefore configured at a lower end 10c of the door 10 in the exemplary embodiment.

[0045] FIG. 4 shows a perspective diagram of a subregion of the housing 2 in the region of the storage space 11. Said storage space 11 has lateral vertical storage space side walls 11a and 11b and also comprises a storage space base 11c. A guide slot 21 is configured in each of the storage space side walls 11a and 11b, forming components of the guide apparatus 14.

[0046] FIG. 4 shows exemplary hinges 22 and 23, which are coupled to the door 10 so that the pivot movement of the door 10 as it opens and closes and the lowering movement or displacement of the door 10 into the storage space 11 or out of the storage space 11 are guided. To this end the hinge 22 comprises a hinge rocker 22a, on which two guide rollers 22b and 22c are arranged in a rotatably supported manner by way of example. The hinge rocker 22a can also be pivoted about a horizontal axis, said horizontal axis running parallel to roller axes of the rollers 22b and 22c.

[0047] The guide slots 21 are configured laterally in relation to the door 10 in a horizontal direction and therefore in the x direction of the household appliance 1.

[0048] Provision is also made for the housing-side second electrical contacts 17 and 18 to be arranged adjacent to, in particular above, the respective guide slots 21 in the storage space side walls 11a and 11b.

[0049] Provision is made in the exemplary embodiment for the first electrical contacts 15 and 16 to be rigid and for the second electrical contacts 17 and 18 to be configured as resilient.

[0050] As shown already in FIG. 4 and also in FIG. 5, which shows an enlarged partial diagram of the section II in FIG. 4, the hinges 22, 23 move with their hinge rockers 22a essentially in vertical planes and thus in y-z planes when the door 10 is opened or closed and therefore pivoted. This produces a pivot path, which extends in particular in the y-z plane. The hinge rocker 22a is thus arranged such that it can be pivoted along such a pivot path toward the storage space side wall 11b and thus also toward the second electrical contact 17, which is in particular fastened there, the second electrical contact 17 being arranged in the pivot path of the hinge rocker 22.

[0051] In the exemplary embodiment a decoupling element 24 is arranged on the hinge rocker 22a and can be used to produce the coupled state of the first electrical contact 15 to the second electrical contact 17 automatically, when the hinge rocker 22a moves on said pivot path and therefore also crosses and makes contact mechanically with the second electrical contact 17. This happens when the door 10 is lowered into the storage space 11 and the hinge rocker 22a is pivoted along the pivot path as it does so, decoupling the hitherto coupled state of the electrical contacts 15 and 17 on the path into the storage space 11. The opposite side is correspondingly configured with the embodiment of a hinge rocker of the hinge 23 and the contacts 16 and 18 there.

[0052] FIG. 6 shows a partial diagram in the section in the y-z plane of the household appliance 1 in the region of the door 10 and the storage space 11. In FIG. 6 the door 10 is fully closed. When the door 10 is in this closed state, the electrical contacts 15 and 17 are in maximum contact with one another and therefore both the mechanical and the resulting electrical contact are achieved. As also shown in particular in FIG. 5 and the following FIG. 7, in one preferred embodiment provision is made for the housing-side electrical second contacts 17 and 18 to be configured as S-shaped.

[0053] The contacts 15 to 18 are also coated, at least in parts, with gold or brass or the like.

[0054] Based on the diagram in FIG. 6, when the door 10 is opened, the hinge rocker 22a also performs a pivot movement, as shown in FIG. 7. The opening of the door 10 and the resulting pivot movement cause the decoupling element 24 to reach and make mechanical contact with the second housing-side electrical contact 17 in the pivot path as the pivot movement of the door 10 continues and the hinge rocker 22a therefore also moves along the pivot path and the further movement and opening of the door 10 cause said second electrical contact 17 to be pushed to the side and the contact between the electrical contacts 15 and 17 to be canceled or released. Said decoupling element 24 pushes the slot contact or the slot contact spring or the second electrical contact 17 to be pushed out of the movement region of the door 10 and hinge 22 so the latter can continue its pivot movement.

LIST OF REFERENCE CHARACTERS

[0055] 1 Household appliance [0056] 2 Housing [0057] 3 Muffle [0058] 4 Wall [0059] 5 Wall [0060] 6 Wall [0061] 7 Wall [0062] 8 Wall [0063] 9 Cooking chamber [0064] 10 Door [0065] 10a Strip-type edge [0066] 10b Strip-type edge [0067] 10c Lower end [0068] 11 Storage space [0069] 11a Vertical storage space side wall [0070] 11b Vertical storage space side wall [0071] 11c Storage space base [0072] 12 Electrical consumer [0073] 13 Electrical consumer [0074] 14 Guide apparatus [0075] 15 First electrical contact [0076] 16 Further first electrical contact [0077] 17 Second electrical contact [0078] 18 Further second electrical contact [0079] 19 Base part [0080] 20 Guide path [0081] 20a Arm [0082] 21 Guide slot [0083] 22 Hinge [0084] 22a Hinge rocker [0085] 22b Guide roller [0086] 22c Guide roller [0087] 23 Hinge [0088] 24 Decoupling element