Beverage dispenser and refrigeration appliance with beverage dispenser
10663160 ยท 2020-05-26
Assignee
Inventors
- Denis Lux (Heidenheim, DE)
- Tobias Mayr (Bachhagel, DE)
- Elena Claass (Geislingen, DE)
- Andrea Fink (Gerstetten, DE)
- Jessica Dittmann, I (Herbrechtingen, DE)
- Armin Weber (Lauchheim, DE)
Cpc classification
F21Y2103/10
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
F21V33/0044
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
F25D23/126
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
F25D2331/804
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
F21Y2115/10
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
F25D23/04
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
F25D2327/001
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
B67D1/00
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
F25D2331/806
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
F21W2131/305
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
International classification
F21V33/00
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
B67D1/00
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
F25D23/12
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
F25D27/00
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
Abstract
A beverage dispenser has a housing enclosing a dispenser recess, at least one light inlet window for lighting the dispenser recess, a printed circuit board, on which a number of LEDs are arranged to feed light into the dispenser recess by way of the at least one light inlet window. The printed circuit board is mounted on the housing of the dispenser recess above an LED housing, which seals the light inlet window.
Claims
1. A beverage dispenser, comprising: a housing enclosing a dispenser recess and having at least one light inlet window formed in said housing enclosing said dispenser recess for lighting said dispenser recess; an LED housing sealing said at least one light inlet window, said LED housing having a plurality of light-emitting diodes (LEDs); a printed circuit board on which said plurality of LEDs are disposed for feeding light into said dispenser recess by way of said at least one light inlet window, said printed circuit board being mounted on said housing of said dispenser recess by said LED housing; at least one light guide including a transparent, light transmissive body disposed in said dispenser recess; an actuation lever molded from a transparent material; a socket for said actuation lever being mounted in said dispenser recess, said at least one light guide being held by said socket adjacent to said at least one light inlet window to distribute light from said LEDs; and said at least one light guide disposed to direct light into said actuation lever.
2. The beverage dispenser according to claim 1, wherein said LED housing is inserted into said light inlet window from a side facing away from said dispenser recess.
3. The beverage dispenser according to claim 1, wherein said LED housing and said housing of the beverage dispenser touch one another in a sealing manner on a flat surface.
4. The beverage dispenser according to claim 1, wherein said LED housing is molded as a single piece from a transparent material.
5. The beverage dispenser according to claim 4, wherein said LED housing contains lenses disposed in a beam path of said LEDs.
6. The beverage dispenser according to claim 1, wherein said housing is configured to mate with said LED housing in only a single orientation.
7. The beverage dispenser according to claim 1, wherein said LED housing and said printed circuit board have interacting contours, to allow said printed circuit board to be attached to said LED housing with a single orientation.
8. The beverage dispenser according to claim 1, wherein said actuation lever has a plate-shaped lever arm and a light outlet extending along an edge of said plate-shaped lever arm or is disposed at a central point of said plate-shaped lever arm.
9. The beverage dispenser according to claim 8, wherein said light outlet and a rough surface are opposite one another on two sides of said actuation lever.
10. The beverage dispenser according to claim 8, wherein said plate-shaped lever arm has a base plate and a fin projecting from said base plate, which extends from an end of said light guide to said light outlet.
11. The beverage dispenser according to claim 1, wherein said actuation lever has an opaque coating and a light outlet is formed by a gap in said opaque coating.
12. The beverage dispenser according to claim 11, wherein said opaque coating has an inner layer and outer layer, said inner layer being lighter than said outer layer.
13. The beverage dispenser according to claim 1, wherein said at least one light guide is disposed so as to light a beverage container disposed above said dispenser recess.
14. The beverage dispenser according to claim 1, wherein: said dispenser recess is open toward a front face of said housing; and said housing has a holder for at least one beverage container disposed above said dispenser recess.
15. A refrigeration appliance, comprising: a heat-insulating wall; and a beverage dispenser, containing: a housing enclosing a dispenser recess and having at least one light inlet window formed in said housing enclosing said dispenser recess for lighting said dispenser recess, said housing being let into said heat-insulating wall; an LED housing sealing said at least one light inlet window, said LED housing having a plurality of light-emitting diodes (LEDs); a printed circuit board on which said plurality of LEDs are disposed for feeding light into said dispenser recess by way of said at least one light inlet window, said printed circuit board is mounted on said housing of said dispenser recess by said LED housing; at least one light guide including a transparent, light transmissive body disposed in said dispenser recess; an actuation lever molded from a transparent material; a socket for said actuation lever being mounted in said dispenser recess, said at least one light guide being held by said socket adjacent to said at least one light inlet window to distribute light from said LEDs; and said at least one light guide disposed to direct light into said actuation lever.
Description
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING
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DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
(17) Referring now to the figures of the drawings in detail and first, particularly to
(18) The door assembly 1 contains a door 4 in the narrower sense, which closes the storage compartment, and a cover 5, which can pivot about the same axis 3 relative to the door 4. In the view in
(19) The cover 5 contains a window pane 6 made of clear or tinted glass or plastic, in this instance bordered by a non-transparent frame 7. An upper bar of the frame 7 is L-shaped in cross section, with one leg 8 extending vertically upward from the window pane 6 and one leg 9 extending beyond an upper flank of the door 4 at an angle from an upper edge of the leg 8 to the carcass 2. A right bar of the frame similarly contains one leg 10 extending from the right edge of the window pane 6 in the widthwise direction of the door assembly 1 and one leg 11 at an angle to the carcass, which is divided into an upper and lower half by a handle cutout 12. A center piece 13 of the handle cutout 12 extends from the edge into the leg 10.
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(21) Pivoting just the cover 5 about the axis 3 gives access to a dispenser recess 20, which is cut out of a lower part of the door 4 and shown in
(22) In contrast at the level of the center piece 13 the edge of the leg 10 is flush with the web 19, so that a user gripping at the level of the center piece engages in the handle groove 18 and therefore pivots the entire door assembly 1 about the axis 3, giving access to a storage compartment 21 for chilled goods in the interior of the carcass 2.
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(24) An actuation lever 24 is mounted below each beverage container 22 in the dispenser recess 20, serving (in a manner explained in more detail below) to open a valve 25 on the lower face 22 of the beverage container 22 arranged above it, when a vessel is pushed against the actuation lever 24 in the dispenser recess 20, and to fill the vessel with beverage from the container 22.
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(26) The beverage containers 22 are essentially box-shaped. They each comprise a container lower part 30 made of preferably clear plastic, its open upper face being closed by a lid 31 and the valve 25 being mounted on its lower face.
(27) The valves 25 and the actuation lever 24 are visible through the opening 28 in
(28)
(29) In
(30) An extended cutout 84 is provided on the rear face of the LED housing 58 to hold the printed circuit board 34.
(31) A tab 85 at one longitudinal end of the surface 83 and one or more screw bosses 86 are molded on the rear wall 32 to fasten the LED housing 58. The LED housing 58 has a projecting lug 87 at one longitudinal end, which can engage in the tab 85. Drilled holes 88, 89 complementing the screw bosses 86 are positioned on the LED housing 58 and the printed circuit board 34 in such a manner that they only overlap with the screw bosses 86 when the lug 87 is inserted in the tab 85 and the printed circuit board 34 has the correct orientation, in this instance with a supply cable 90 going out from an end of the printed circuit board 34 opposite the lug 87, in the cutout 84.
(32) To ensure that incorrect positioning of the printed circuit board 34 in the LED housing 58 is identified and corrected before any attempt to screw both to the rear wall 32, the cutout 84 can be asymmetrical in such a manner that the printed circuit board 34 can only be attached in the cutout 84 with a single orientation. Such asymmetry can be formed for example by pins 91 of the LED housing 58 engaging in the cutout 84 and holes 92 in the printed circuit board 34 receiving the pins 91; it can however also be achieved in that a cutout 93 for the supply cable 90 going out from a front face of the printed circuit board 34 is only formed at one point on the LED housing 58, allowing the supply cable 90 to leave the LED housing 58.
(33) This ensures that the printed circuit board 34 can only be mounted on the housing 26 with one orientation, in which, when the dispenser is fitted in the door 4, the supply cable 90 is long enough to reach a supply connection in the door 4 that complements the plug-type connector 94 at its free end.
(34) A number of lenses 59 are formed in the LED housing 58. In the example shown here there are three groups of lenses 59, to match the number of beverage containers 22. Each group contains four lenses 59. When the printed circuit board 34 has been fitted in the LED housing 58, each lens 59 is located opposite one of the LEDs (not visible in
(35) In the exemplary embodiment in
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(37) The actuation lever 24 is shown in a rest position in
(38) As shown clearly in
(39) A number of fins 45 project from an upper narrow face 44 of the socket 36, with light guides 47, 48 attached to their ends. Each light guide 47, 48 has an inlet window 49, which is opposite one of the LEDs 35 on the printed circuit board 34. After the inlet window 49 the light guides 47, 48 are oriented perpendicular to the rear wall 32 or to the printed circuit board 34 and the LEDS 35 thereon, in order to receive as much of the light emitted from the LEDs predominantly perpendicular to the printed circuit board 34 as possible. Their ends facing away from the rear wall 32 are curved downward in the case of the light guides 47 and upward in the case of the light guides 48, to deflect the light in the direction of the first lever arm 38 in one instance and in the direction of the holder 29 and the beverage containers 22 arranged therein in the other instance.
(40) In the example in
(41) In the simplest instance the light guides 47, 48 are rods made of homogeneous transparent plastic and injection molded as a single piece with the fins 45 and the socket 36. In such an instance an observer cannot see that the socket 36 is also made of transparent plastic, as the socket 36 is completely concealed behind the actuation lever 24 in the interior of the dispenser recess 20. Light losses by way of the fins 46 cannot then be avoided completely, but they can be kept small if the fins 46 are narrow.
(42) Lower loss light guides 47, 48 could be formed by bundles of optical fibers, to which the fins 46 and the socket 36 are injected molded.
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(44) A lens 59 is located opposite every LED 35 of the printed circuit board 34 in a projection of the LED housing 58, bringing together the outgoing light, which is only bundled to a minor degree by the LED 35, and feeding it bundled into one of the light guides 47, 48. The lenses 59 each project beyond the front face of the LED housing 58 into the light inlet windows 33 but do not fill them completely, so that the position of the LED housing 58 on the rear wall 32 can be adjusted within certain limits if required before it is screwed into place.
(45) The actuation lever 24 is injection molded from transparent plastic and coated with an opaque coating 50 on at least one face, in this instance the outer face facing the dispenser recess 20. The lever arm 39 of the actuation lever 24 is hollow; the upper and lower faces 39, 39 of the lever arm 39 are each formed by a wall 52 and 53, which enclose a hollow space 51. The light guide 47 extends in the hollow space 51, without touching its upper and lower wall 52 and 53. To form a light outlet 46, by way of which the light from the LEDs 35 passes into the dispenser recess 20, a gap 54 is formed in the opaque coating 50 on the lower wall 53, opposite an outlet window 55 of the light guide 47, so that essentially all of the light leaving the light guide 47 strikes the outlet window 55 and illuminates the outer face of the lever arm 38 below and, if present, a vessel pushed against the lever arm 38.
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(48) Light passing through the gap 54 in the upper wall 52 strikes the lower face of the container 22 above it and is reflected back by this into the dispenser recess 20 or is diffused into the container 22.
(49) The transparent coating of the walls 52, 53 is of the same thickness over the entire extent of the gap 54 in
(50) As also shown in
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(52) Light guides 47, 48 made of clear plastic opposite the lenses 59 of the LED housing 58 are connected by webs 61 to form a single molded part 60. The light guides 47, 48 comprise inlet windows 49 facing one of the LEDs 35 or one of the lenses 59 and outlet windows 55 aligned alternately upward and downward. In order to deflect light passing by way of the inlet windows 49 into the light guides 47, 48 to the outlet window 55, the light guides 47, 48 can have totally reflecting planar surfaces 62 between inlet and outlet.
(53) The socket 36 is a hollow, roughly box-shaped molded part made of plastic, which is open at its rear face facing the rear wall 32 of the dispenser recess in the mounted state. Opposing depressions 64 are formed on side flanks 63 of the socket 36, holding journals (not visible in the figure) of the actuation lever 24 and thus determining an axis 37, about which the actuation lever 24 can pivot relative to the socket 36.
(54) The depressions 64 are each located at the end of a groove 65, which extends horizontally over the flanks 63 from a front face 66 of the socket 36, so the actuation lever 24 can easily be latched to the socket 36 from the front, by first introducing its journals into the grooves 65 and pushing them to the rear therein, until they latch into the depressions 64.
(55) In proximity to its upper end the socket 36 has a through hole 67, through which the center light guide 47 of the molded part 60 extends in the assembled state. The side flanks 63 of the socket 36 each run between the center light guide 47 and the two outer light guides 47 and each have a horizontal indentation 68. The indentations 68 receive horizontal segments of the webs 61 in the assembled state, thereby securing the molded part 60 in a vertical direction.
(56) A groove 69 extends vertically downward from the through hole 67 in the socket 36.
(57) Two cutouts 72 are formed in an upper wall 70 of the socket 36 from an edge 71 facing the rear wall 32 of the dispenser recess, holding the outlet windows 55 of the light guides 48 in such a manner that their surfaces are flush.
(58) The actuation lever 24 comprises a first lever arm 38 projecting into the dispenser recess above the axis 37 and a second lever arm 39 extending downward at an angle. The second lever arm 39 contains a base plate 73 and fins 74 projecting from a side of the base plate 73 facing the rear wall 32. When the actuation lever 24 is mounted on the socket, two of the fins 74 engage around the flanks 63 of the socket 36 and support the journals engaging in its cutouts 64. A further of the fins 74 is held in the groove 69. Slit-type light outlets 46 are formed on a front face of the base plate 73 opposite the fins 74.
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(61) An upper edge of the base plate 73 and an upper end 75 of the center fin 74 are located opposite the outlet window 55 of the center light guide 47, so that most of the light leaving there is received by the fin 74 molded from clear plastic and conducted downward along the fin 74 in the lever arm 39. An edge of the fin 74 facing away from the base plate 73 is roughened by a grooved contour. Edges 82 of this grooved contour extend parallel to the axis 37 and at right angles to the diffusion direction of the light in the fins 74, so that light striking facets 76 delimited by the edges 82 is reflected in the direction of the base plate 73, thereby favoring the egress of the light by way of light outlet 46 (below the notch shown in
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(64) In
(65) Like
(66) The following is a summary list of reference numerals and the corresponding structure used in the above description of the invention: 1 Door assembly 2 Carcass 3 Axis 4 Door 5 Cover 6 Window pane 7 Frame 8 Leg 9 Leg 10 Leg 11 Leg 12 Handle cutout 13 Center piece 14 Outer wall 15 Inner wall 16 Hollow space 17 Insulating glass pane 18 Handle groove 19 Web 20 Dispenser recess 21 Storage compartment 22 Beverage container 22 Lower face of beverage container 23 Recess 24 Actuation lever 25 Valve 26 Housing 27 Front face 28 Opening 29 Holder 30 Container lower part 31 Lid 32 Rear wall 33 Light inlet window 34 Printed circuit board 35 LED 36 Socket 37 Axis 38 First lever arm 39 Second lever arm 39 Upper face of second lever arm 39 Lower face of second lever arm 40 Notch 41 Finger 42 Screw boss 43 Cutout 44 Narrow face 45 Fin 46 Upper light outlet 46 Lower light outlet 47 Light guide 48 Light guide 49 Inlet window 50 Coating 51 Hollow space 52 Upper wall 53 Lower wall 54 Gap 55 Outlet window 56 Journal 57 Side wall 58 Housing 59 Lens 60 Molded part 61 Web 62 Planar surface 63 Side flank 64 Depression 65 Groove 66 Front face 67 Through hole 68 Indentation 69 Groove 70 Upper wall 71 Edge 72 Cutout 73 Base plate 74 Fin 75 Upper end 76 Facet 77 Coating 78 Outer layer 79 Inner layer 80 Side wall 81 Fin 82 Edge 83 Surface 84 Cutout 85 Tab 86 Screw boss 87 Lug 88 Drilled hole 89 Drilled hole 90 Supply cable 91 Pin 92 Hole 93 Cutout 94 Plug-type connector 95 Tab 96 Latching lug