REFRIGERATOR

Abstract

A refrigerator, in particular a domestic refrigerator, has a body and a closure element, which jointly delimit a storage chamber. A seal is provided, which is arranged between the body and the closure element and which is at least partly arranged in a seal receptacle. The seal receptacle has a passage section for bypassing the seal. Accordingly, the passage section has at least two passage channels.

Claims

1-14. (canceled)

15. A refrigerator, comprising: a body; a closure element attached to said body, said body and said closure element jointly delimit a storage chamber, said closure element having a seal receptacle formed therein; a seal disposed between said body and said closure element and is at least partly disposed in said seal receptacle; and said seal receptacle having a passage section for bypassing said seal, said passage section having at least two passage channels.

16. The refrigerator according to claim 15, wherein said at least two passage channels are disposed at an angle relative to a longitudinal direction of said seal receptacle, wherein said angle is between 75 degrees and 105 degrees.

17. The refrigerator according to claim 15, wherein said at least two passage channels are delimited in each case by two side walls and a bottom wall.

18. The refrigerator according to claim 15, wherein said at least two passage channels are disposed in an immediate vicinity.

19. The refrigerator according to claim 15, wherein at least one of said passage channels has a width which corresponds to a maximum of twice a width of said seal receptacle.

20. The refrigerator according to claim 15, wherein said at least two passage channels run substantially parallel to one another.

21. The refrigerator according to claim 15, wherein cross-sections in a cutting plane perpendicular to a longitudinal direction of said seal receptacle through said at least two passage channels are at least substantially identical.

22. The refrigerator according to claim 15, further comprising a seal stop configured between said at least two passage channels.

23. The refrigerator according to claim 15, wherein one of said passage channels is configured at least in some sections inside a further one of said passage channels.

24. The refrigerator according to claim 15, wherein in a first operating state of said seal said at least two passage channels bypass said seal and in a second operating state of said seal one of said passage channels is partly or entirely blocked by said seal and another one of said passage channels bypasses said seal.

25. The refrigerator according to claim 15, wherein said passage section is configured integrally in a component containing said seal receptacle.

26. The refrigerator according to claim 22, wherein said seal stop is in contact with a section of said seal.

27. The refrigerator according to claim 15, wherein the refrigerator is a household refrigerator.

Description

[0029] Exemplary embodiments of the present invention are described with reference to the accompanying figures, in which:

[0030] FIG. 1 shows a simplified perspective view of a first exemplary embodiment of a household refrigerator;

[0031] FIG. 2 shows a view of an inner wall of a door of the household refrigerator according to FIG. 1;

[0032] FIG. 3 shows a detail of the inner wall according to FIG. 2;

[0033] FIG. 4 shows a sectional view through the household refrigerator according to FIG. 1; and

[0034] FIG. 5 shows a detail of an inner wall of a second exemplary embodiment.

[0035] Elements which are the same or functionally the same are provided with the same reference characters.

[0036] A simplified view of a household refrigerator 1 as an example of a refrigerator according to the invention which is a combined fridge-freezer and which is configured to receive foodstuffs is shown in FIG. 1. The household refrigerator 1 comprises a body 2 and two doors 3, 4 as closure elements. The doors 3, 4 are fastened in an articulated manner to the body 2 and serve for closing two storage chambers 5, 6. A front face 7 which is configured in two parts on the body and faces the doors 3, 4 serves as a stop surface for seals, not shown, which are fastened to the lower door 3 and the upper door 4 in a seal receptacle.

[0037] Both doors 3, 4 comprise an outer door wall and an inner door wall which together delimit a hollow space filled with insulating material. The seals are arranged in seal receptacles on the respective inner door walls.

[0038] The inner wall 8 of the door 4 is shown in FIG. 2. The three-dimensional view shows the surface 9 facing the storage chamber 6. The inner wall 8 consists of plastic material and is produced by thermoforming from a plastic blank. The inner wall 8 has two longitudinal members 10 which serve for fastening door trays, not shown. The inner wall 8 has a peripheral, in particular peripherally closed, seal receptacle 11. The seal receptacle 11 is formed by a groove 21 (see FIG. 3). The seal receptacle 11 has two vertically running sections 13, 14 and two horizontally running sections 15, 16. Each of the sections 13-16 runs in a linear manner. Each of the sections 13-16 has a main direction of extent, the respective section substantially extending along said main direction of extent, i.e. a longitudinal extent of the respective section 13-16 running in said main direction of extent. Thus the two vertical sections 13, 14 have vertically oriented longitudinal extents and the two horizontal sections 15, 16 have horizontally oriented longitudinal extents. The term vertical always refers to a household refrigerator which is positioned as intended.

[0039] The groove 21 and/or the seal receptacle 11 is configured to be open in the direction of the storage chamber 6. The groove 21 and/or the entire seal receptacle 11 is configured integrally in the inner wall 8 and serves for receiving and holding a seal, not shown.

[0040] A passage section 12 is formed in the detail which is shown for illustrative purposes in dashed lines. The passage section 12 serves for bypassing the seal, i.e. for the exchange of the air of the storage chamber 6 with the surroundings when the door is closed 4.

[0041] In FIG. 3 the detail shown in dashed lines in FIG. 2 is shown enlarged. In this exemplary embodiment the passage section 12 comprises four passage channels 17a, 17b, 17c, 17d. The passage channels 17a-17d are configured separately from one another and integrally in the inner wall 8. Each two adjacent passage channels 17a-17d are spaced apart and separated from one another by an individual seal stop 20a, 20b, 20c. The passage channels 17a-17d and the seal stops 20a-20c thus alternate with one another. Both the individual passage channels 17a-17d and the individual seal stops 20a-20c are configured in each case identically to one another.

[0042] The passage channels 17a-17d represent an expansion region of the seal receptacle 11, in particular of the groove 21. Each passage channel 17a-17d is formed by a groove which is open in the direction of the surface 9 and in each case has two side walls 18a, 18b, 18c, 18d and/or 19a, 19b, 19c, 19d and a bottom wall 22, 22b, 22c. The passage channels 17a-17d run parallel to one another, i.e. their respective longitudinal directions are also parallel to one another. The longitudinal directions 23 of the passage channels 17a-17d are at an angle of 90 degrees relative to a longitudinal direction 24 of the seal receptacle 11, i.e. the passage channels 17a-17d run transversely relative to the seal receptacle 11. The passage channels 17a-17d in each case have the same width 25. The width 25 is less than twice as large as a width 26 of the groove 21 of the seal receptacle 11 (see FIG. 4). The seal stops 20a-20c in each case have the same width 28 which substantially corresponds to the width 25 of the passage channels 17a-17d. The length 27 of the passage section 12 measured in the direction of extension, i.e. the longitudinal direction 24 of the seal receptacle 11, corresponds to the sum of the widths 25 and 28 of all of the passage channels 17a-17d and all of the seal stops 20a-20c. The length 27 of the passage section 12 in this exemplary embodiment is less than 10 cm.

[0043] Each seal stop 20a-20c has a receptacle 29a, 29b, 29c formed by a groove which runs parallel to the longitudinal direction 24 of the seal receptacle 11 and which is configured to receive a sealing foot 30 (see FIG. 4). Stop surfaces 31a, 31b, 31c adjoin the receptacles 29a-29c transversely to the longitudinal direction 24. These stop surfaces 31a-31c are configured to come into contact with sections of the seal (see FIG. 4). The receptacles 29a-29c and the stop surfaces 31a-31c prevent the seal from being pushed into the passage section 12 and thus, in particular, into the passage channels 20a-20c. In this exemplary embodiment, in the normal operating state contact is already present between the receptacles 29a-29c and the seal (sealing foot 30) and between the stop surfaces 31a-31c and the seal (stop lip 41).

[0044] Sections along a plane through the seal stops 20a-20c, which is located perpendicular to the longitudinal direction 24 of the seal receptacle 11, correspond to a section along a plane which is outside the passage section 12 and which is located perpendicular to the longitudinal direction 24 of the seal receptacle 11. In particular, as a result, an equally effective guidance and fastening of the seal is ensured by the receptacles 29a-29c and by the stop surfaces 31a-31c as is present outside the passage section 12.

[0045] FIG. 4 shows a section through the household refrigerator 1 along the cutting plane X located perpendicular to the longitudinal direction 24 of the seal receptacle 11 (FIG. 3) when viewed in a vertically upward direction. In FIG. 4 the door 4 is closed and closes the storage chamber 6 which is located substantially inside the body 2. The body consists of an internal container 32 and an outer wall 33 which together delimit a hollow space 35 filled with insulating material 34. The door 4 comprises an outer wall 36 in addition to the inner wall 8. The inner wall 8 and the outer wall 36 delimit a hollow space 38 filled with insulating material 37. The storage chamber 6 is substantially entirely sealed by a seal 39 relative to the surroundings 40 of the household refrigerator 1. In addition to the sealing foot 30 the seal 39 comprises a sealing lip 41 which bears against the inner wall 8 and a plurality of hollow chambers 42. A magnet 43 is arranged in one of the hollow chambers 42, said magnet ensuring that the seal 39 is attracted to the metal outer wall 33. The seal consists of rubber.

[0046] The sealing foot 30 has resilient lips 44, said sealing foot being anchored thereby in the receptacle 29a. Moreover, the seal 39 has a stop lip 45 which is resiliently supported on the stop surface 31a. For illustrative purposes the lips 44 and the stop lip 45 are shown in a non-deflected state and/or undeformed state.

[0047] As shown by the arrow 46, air flows from the surroundings 40 into the storage chamber 6 as soon as said storage chamber has a negative pressure relative to the surroundings 40. The air flows in this case through the passage channel 17a. The passage channel 17a (and/or the remaining passage channels 17b-17d) and thus the passage section 12, therefore, bypass the seal 39. When air flows into the storage chamber 6 the sealing lip 41 lifts up so that air may flow through below said sealing lip.

[0048] FIG. 5 shows a detail of a door of a second exemplary embodiment. A perspective view of a detail (an edge section) of an inner wall 8 is comparable with the view according to FIG. 3. The passage section 12 has in this exemplary embodiment three passage channels 47a, 47b, 47c. Two passage channels 47b, 47c are configured separately from one another and parallel to one another. These two passage channels 47b, 47c are arranged in a larger passage channel 47a. The width of the larger passage channel 47a substantially corresponds to the length 27 of the passage section 12. The width of the smaller passage channels 47b, 47c substantially corresponds to the width 26 of the groove 21.

[0049] The passage section 12 has sealing stops 48a, 48b, 48c which are configured to prevent the seal 39 from being pushed into the two smaller passage channels 47b, 47c. In the normal operating state, it is possible for air from the surroundings 40 to flow into the storage chamber 6 through all three passage channels 47a, 47b, 47c. However, for example in the temperature compensating operating state, if a significant negative pressure prevails in the storage chamber 6 relative to the surroundings 40 and the seal 39 is significantly compressed between the body 2 and the door, this seal may close the passage channel 47a in some sections or entirely. In this case, the sealing stops 48a, 48b, 48c ensure that the seal 39 is not pushed further into the passage section 12, in particular that the seal 39 is not pushed into the passage channels 47b, 47c. The negative pressure prevailing in the storage chamber 6 may be reduced by means of the two smaller passage channels 47b, 47c.

REFERENCE CHARACTERS

[0050] 1 Household refrigerator [0051] 2 Body [0052] 3 Door [0053] 4 Door [0054] 5 Storage chamber [0055] 6 Storage chamber [0056] 7 Front face [0057] 8 Inner wall [0058] 9 Surface [0059] 10 Longitudinal member [0060] 11 Seal receptacle [0061] 12 Passage section [0062] 13 Vertical section [0063] 14 Vertical section [0064] 15 Horizontal section [0065] 16 Horizontal section [0066] 17a, 17b, 17c, 17d Passage channel [0067] 18a, 18b, 18c, 18d Side wall [0068] 19a, 19b, 19c, 19d Side wall [0069] 20a, 20b, 20c Seal stop [0070] 21 Groove [0071] 22a, 22b, 22c, 22d Bottom wall [0072] 23 Longitudinal direction (passage channel) [0073] 24 Longitudinal direction (seal receptacle) [0074] 25 Width (passage channel) [0075] 26 Width (groove) [0076] 27 Length (passage section) [0077] 28 Width (seal stop) [0078] 29a, 29b, 29c Receptacle [0079] 30 Sealing foot [0080] 31a, 31b, 31c Stop surface [0081] 32 Internal container [0082] 33 Outer wall [0083] 34 Insulating material [0084] 35 Hollow space [0085] 36 Outer wall [0086] 37 Insulating material [0087] 38 Hollow space [0088] 39 Seal [0089] 40 Surroundings [0090] 41 Sealing lip [0091] 42 Hollow chamber [0092] 43 Magnet [0093] 44 Lip [0094] 45 Stop lip [0095] 46 Arrow [0096] 47a, 47b, 47c Passage channel [0097] 48a, 48b, 48c Seal stop