FREEZER DEVICE OR REFRIGERATOR/FREEZER COMBINATION

Abstract

The invention relates to a freezer device or refrigerator/freezer combination having a freezer compartment with an ice cube compartment (10) which has an ice cube maker (50) and a pan-shaped ice cube drawer (10) for collecting the ice cubes. The ice cube drawer (10) has a two-part design and comprises a main drawer (30) and a secondary drawer (40). The front panel (34) of the main drawer (30) comprises an insert opening (36), and the secondary drawer (40) is inserted into the main drawer (30) through said insert opening (36).

Claims

1. A freezer unit or a refrigerator/freezer combination having a freezer compartment with an ice cube compartment that has an ice cube maker and a tray shaped ice cube drawer for collecting the ice cubes, characterized in that the ice cube drawer is designed in two parts and comprises a main drawer and a secondary drawer, with the front plate of the main drawer having a push-in opening and the secondary drawer being pushed into the main drawer through this push-in opening.

2. A freezer unit or refrigerator/freezer combination in accordance with claim 1, characterized in that at least one pair, and preferably a plurality of pairs of guides disposed above one another, of guide are provided for the secondary drawer at the side walls of the main drawer at guides.

3. A freezer unit or refrigerator/freezer combination in accordance with claim 2, characterized in that the guides are support webs that project inwardly from the side walls of the main drawer.

4. A freezer unit or refrigerator/freezer combination in accordance with one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the dimensions of the front plate of the secondary drawer correspond to the dimensions of the push-in opening.

5. A freezer unit or refrigerator/freezer combination in accordance with one of the preceding claims, characterized in that both the front plate of the main drawer and the front plate of the secondary drawer have a handle contour.

6. A freezer unit or refrigerator/freezer combination, characterized in that the secondary drawer has no handle contour and/or no side walls and/or no rear wall.

7. A freezer unit or refrigerator/freezer combination in accordance with one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the push-in opening starts directly at the base of the main drawer.

8. A freezer unit or refrigerator/freezer combination in accordance with one of the claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the push-in opening starts at a distance from the base of the main drawer; and in that a railing is provided that extends from the base of the main drawer to the lower margin of the push-in opening.

9. A freezer unit or refrigerator/freezer combination in accordance with one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the ice cube drawer comprises a closure plate that is held such that it can be reversibly displaced in the level of the front plates between an open position in which it releases the push-in opening and a closed position in which it covers the push-in opening.

10. A freezer unit or refrigerator/freezer combination in accordance with one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the ice cube drawer only extends over a part region of the width of the freezer compartment.

11. A freezer unit or refrigerator/freezer combination in accordance with one of the preceding claims, characterized in that storage drawers for storing frozen goods are additionally provided below and/or above the ice cube drawer in the freezer compartment, with the heights of the storage drawers preferably corresponding to a whole number fraction and further preferably to half the height of the ice cube drawer.

Description

[0024] Further details and advantages of the invention result from the embodiments described in the following with reference to the Figures. There are shown in the Figures:

[0025] FIG. 1: a freezer unit known from the prior art with an ice cube drawer and a plurality of storage drawers;

[0026] FIG. 2: a sectional view of the ice cube compartment of such a freezer unit;

[0027] FIG. 3: a variant of the freezer unit shown in FIG. 1 in which the ice cube drawer extends over two levels;

[0028] FIG. 4: sectional views of the ice cube compartment of an embodiment of a freezer unit in accordance with the invention; and

[0029] FIG. 5: sectional views of the ice cube compartment of a further embodiment of a freezer unit in accordance with the invention.

[0030] A plurality of sectional views of a first embodiment of an ice cube compartment 10 in accordance with the invention that comprises an ice cube drawer 20 and an ice cube maker 50 are shown in FIGS. 4a-d. The ice cube maker 50 is arranged at the lower side of an upper storage shelf 11 that bounds the ice cube compartment 10 at the upper side. It projects from there into the inner space of the ice cube drawer 20.

[0031] The ice cube maker 50 comprises a parallelepiped shaped module housing 51 in which an ice cube tray 52 rotatably supported about a horizontal axis and an electric motor for its rotation are received. The module housing 51 is open at the upper side and at the lower side so that water can move from above from a supply line 54 into the ice cube tray 52 from above and the finished ice cube can move downwardly from the ice cube tray 52 into the ice cube drawer 20 arranged beneath the ice cube maker 50. The side walls of the module housing 51 are also open so that the air exchange between the interior of the module housing 51 and the environment is promoted, which permits an improved heat exchange and promotes a freezing of the ice cubes.

[0032] The ice cube drawer 20 is pushed into the freezer compartment of a unit in accordance with the invention. It is of a two part design and comprises a main drawer 30 and a secondary drawer 40 that is pushed into the main drawer 30.

[0033] The main drawer 30 is formed as a tray and has a base 31, two side walls 32, a rear wall 33, and a front plate 34. The front plate 34 and the side walls 32 extend over the full height of the main drawer 30. The rear wall 33 is a little lower so that it can be pulled through below the ice cube maker 50 on a pulling out of the main drawer 30. The side walls 33 are guided by guides not shown in any more detail at the inner unit container or at a suitable intermediate wall of the unit so that the main drawer 30 can be pulled as a whole in the depth direction of the unit. A handle contour 35 is provided at the upper side of the front plate 34 and a user can grip into it to pull the drawer out.

[0034] The ice cube compartment 10 can be bounded at the lower side by a lower storage shelf not shown in any more detail at in the Figures. The base 31 of the main drawer 30 can optionally lie on such a lower storage shelf alternatively or additionally to the fastening at lateral guides.

[0035] A large area push-in opening 36 whose width corresponds to the total width of the front plate 34 and that extends in the vertical direction, starting from the upper edge of a low railing 37 of the front plate 34, upwardly up to approximately the center of the front plate 34 is provided in the front plate 34 of the main drawer 30.

[0036] The secondary drawer 40 is pushed into the push-in opening 36 from the front. The secondary drawer 40 is likewise formed as a tray and likewise has a base 41, two side walls 42, a rear wall 43, and a front plate 44. The front plate 44 is considerably higher than the side walls 42 and the rear wall 43. The secondary drawer 40 has the same depth or a depth smaller by only a wall thickness and the same width or a width smaller by only a wall thickness than the main drawer 30 so that it extends up to the rear wall 33 of the main drawer in the completely pushed in state and the base 41 of the secondary drawer 40 completely covers the base 31 of the main drawer 30. The front plate 44 of the secondary drawer 40 is dimensioned such that it fits exactly into the push-in opening 36 in the front plate 34 of the main drawer 30.

[0037] A total of three peripheral sets of support rails 38 on which the base 41 of the secondary drawer 40 can be placed are provided at the inner sides of the side walls 32 and at the rear wall 33 of the main drawer. The vertical spacing between the adjacent rails approximately corresponds to the height of the side walls 42 and of the rear wall 43 of the secondary drawer 40 so that a guidance for the secondary drawer 40 is formed by the encompassing of the side walls 42 between adjacent sets of support rails 38. The secondary drawer 40 can in this manner be pulled in total out of the main drawer 30 in the depth direction of the unit. The sets of support rails 38 are all arranged in that vertical region of the main drawer 30 over which the push-in opening 36 extends. The secondary drawer can thus be pushed into the main drawer 30 at different vertical positions as can be seen from the representations of FIGS. 4a-c.

[0038] As can be recognized in FIG. 4d, the secondary drawer 40 can also be completely removed from the main drawer 30. To be able to cover the push-in opening and to be able to use the main drawer 30 independently as an ice cube drawer 40, a closure plate 39 is provided that is held behind the front plate 34 of the main drawer 30 and can be pushed downwardly with a removed secondary drawer 40 into a closed position in which it covers the push-in opening 36.

[0039] A plurality of sectional views of a further embodiment of an ice cube compartment 10 in accordance with the invention that is largely similar to the ice cube drawer shown in FIGS. 4a-d are shown in FIGS. 5a-d.

[0040] A decisive difference can be found in a lack of a railing 37, whereby the push-in opening 36 in this embodiment extends, starting from the base 31 of the main drawer 30, up to approximately into the center of the front plate 34 of the main drawer 30 and is thus somewhat higher than in the embodiment in accordance with FIGS. 4a-d. The front plate 44 of the secondary drawer 40 is accordingly also somewhat higher in this embodiment than in the embodiment in accordance with FIGS. 4a-d. The bottommost push-in position of the secondary drawer 30 is thus formed by placing the secondary drawer 40 at the base 31 of the main drawer. The sets of support rails 38 and their positioning remain unchanged so that ultimately an additional push-in position of the secondary drawer results. On the other hand, a closure plate 39 is lacking in this embodiment so that the main drawer 30 cannot be used independently.