Refrigeration appliance with beverage dispenser and valve assembly for a container of the dispenser

Abstract

A refrigeration appliance, in particular domestic refrigeration appliance, has a heat-insulating housing, which surrounds a storage compartment for refrigerated goods and has at least one passage between the storage compartment and a dispenser recess disposed outside of the heat-insulating housing. A container-valve assembly is detachably installed in the storage compartment and projects through the passage. A cover for closing the dispenser recess is articulated at the housing.

Claims

1. A refrigeration appliance, comprising: a heat-insulating housing enclosing a storage compartment for refrigerated goods; a dispenser recess disposed outside said heat-insulating housing; a base plate having at least one opening formed therein defining an opening cross section, said base plate being disposed between said storage compartment and said dispenser recess; a container-valve assembly detachably installed in said storage compartment and projecting through said opening, said container-valve assembly including a container disposed on said base plate, a valve and an adapter section entirely filling said opening cross section; said valve including a base plate having an opening formed therein, a valve seat annularly extending about said opening, a closing element resting on said valve seat around said opening in a closed position and touching said valve seat in an open position, a spring biasing said closing element into said closed position, and a cap compressing said spring against said base plate; an operating paddle being a dual-armed lever installed in said dispenser recess below said base plate, said operating paddle serving to open said valve and fill a vessel with a beverage from said container; and a cover hinged to said housing and configured to selectively close said dispenser recess.

2. The refrigeration appliance according to claim 1, wherein: said housing has at least one clear-view window, through which a container of said container-valve assembly arranged in said storage compartment is visible; or at least one region of said container that faces the clear-view window is translucent; or said cover extends across said at least one clear-view window.

3. The refrigeration appliance according to claim 1, wherein: said cover is at least partially transparent; or said dispenser recess is accommodated in a door of the refrigeration appliance and said cover covers the entire door; or said container-valve assembly has an adapter section, which fills a cross-section of said opening.

4. The refrigeration appliance according to claim 1, wherein said container is inserted into a recess formed in an inner surface of said housing.

5. The refrigeration appliance according to claim 4, wherein said recess defines length, width and height directions of said recess, and said container fills said recess in said width direction.

6. The refrigeration appliance according to claim 1, wherein said container has a lid in an upper region and a valve is detachably installed on an outlet formed in a lower region of said container.

7. The refrigeration appliance according to claim 1, comprising a plurality of assemblies, each of said assemblies including a respective container and a respective outlet fluidically communicating with said respective container.

8. The refrigeration appliance according to claim 7, wherein said containers have flat side walls adjoining one another.

9. The refrigeration appliance according to claim 1 configured as a domestic refrigeration appliance.

10. The refrigeration appliance according to claim 1, wherein said closing element is configured to pivot about a pivot point and tilt between said closed position and said open position.

11. The refrigeration appliance according to claim 10, wherein said valve seat is formed in an adapter section, which has a screw thread for screwing to a container.

12. The refrigeration appliance according to claim 10, which comprises a pin that has one end that is fixedly connected to said closing element, extends through said opening and has a further end that faces away from said closing element and is disposed at said cap.

13. The refrigeration appliance according to claim 1, wherein said cap is detachably connected to said pin.

14. The refrigeration appliance according to claim 13, wherein said cap is screwed to said pin.

15. A refrigeration appliance, comprising: a heat-insulating housing enclosing a storage compartment for refrigerated goods; a dispenser recess disposed outside said heat-insulating housing; a base plate having at least one opening formed therein defining an opening cross section, said base plate being disposed between said storage compartment and said dispenser recess; a container-valve assembly detachably installed in said storage compartment and projecting through said opening, said container-valve assembly including a container disposed on said base plate, a valve and an adapter section entirely filling said opening cross section; said valve including a valve seat annularly extending about an opening, a closing element resting on said valve seat around said opening in a closed position and touching said valve seat in an open position, an actuation section projecting from said closing element in a flow direction of the beverage passing through said valve and at least one of a cup-shaped element having a passage in a cup base and being attached to said actuation section or a web extending around the valve seat and engaging in said cup-shaped element; an operating paddle being a dual-armed lever installed in said dispenser recess below said base plate, said operating paddle serving to open said valve and fill a vessel with a beverage from said container; and a cover hinged to said housing and configured to selectively close said dispenser recess.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING

(1) FIG. 1 shows a perspective external view of a door assembly of an inventive refrigeration appliance;

(2) FIG. 2 shows a horizontal section through the door assembly at the level of the beverage containers installed therein;

(3) FIG. 3 shows a section through the door assembly at the level of a dispenser recess;

(4) FIG. 4 shows a view of the door assembly without container which is analogous to FIG. 1;

(5) FIG. 5 shows a perspective view of the door from its inner surface;

(6) FIG. 6 shows a section through a container-valve assembly; and

(7) FIG. 7 shows the valve of the container-valve assembly in the open position; and

(8) FIG. 8 shows a refrigeration appliance according to a second embodiment of the invention, with a cover in the open position.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(9) Referring now to the figures of the drawing in detail and first, particularly, to FIG. 1 thereof, there is shown a door assembly 1 and a housing shell 2, also referred to as a carcass 2, only shown partially, form a housing of a refrigeration appliance which surrounds a storage compartment for refrigerated goods. The door assembly 1 is pivotally hinged on the housing shell 2 about an axis 3.

(10) In the narrower sense the door assembly 1 comprises a door 4 which closes the storage compartment and a cover 5 which can be pivoted relative to the door 4 about the same axis 3. In the view in FIG. 1, the door 4 is shown largely concealed by the cover 5 or covered at the front.

(11) The cover 5 comprises a window glass 6 made of clear or tinted glass or plastic, here enclosed by a frame 7. The frame 7 may be non-transparent or in transparent or opaque. An upper strip of the frame 7 is L-shaped in the sectional view, with a limb 8 which extends vertically upwards from the window glass 6 and a limb 9 which is bent from an upper edge of the limb 8 toward the housing shell 2 and extends beyond an upper face of the door 4. Correspondingly a right strip of the frame comprises a limb 10 which extends from the right edge of the window glass 6 in the width direction of the door assembly 1 and a limb 11 bent toward the housing shell which is however divided into an upper and a lower half by a handle cutout 12. A center piece 13 of the handle cutout 12 extends from the edge into the limb 10.

(12) FIG. 2 shows a horizontal section through the door assembly 1 along a plane, which runs at the level of the handle cutout 12 just above the center piece 13. As is customary, the door 4 comprises fixed external and internal walls 14, 15, which are connected along their edges in order to form a cavity filled with heat-insulating foam 16. An opening into which an insulating glass pane 17 is inserted and which is tightly connected to the walls 14, 15 is cut here into the external and internal wall 14, 15 in each case. In a lateral face of the door 4, a laterally open gripping groove 18 is cut out and/or a gripping groove 18 is provided. The gripping groove 18 is delimited by a web 19 on its side facing the cover 5. The limb 10 of the cover projects laterally beyond the web 19 so that a user who engages in the handle cutout 12 at the level of the sectional plane in FIG. 2 gets hold of the limb 10 of the cover 5, but not automatically the web 19 of the door 4 as well, so if the user pulls the limb 10 towards himself, he pivots the cover 5 about the axis 3 but not the door 4.

(13) By pivoting (solely) the cover 5 about the axis 3, a dispenser recess 20, also referred to as a niche 20, which is cut out in a lower part of the door 4 and is shown in FIG. 3 in a horizontal section through the door assembly 1, becomes accessible.

(14) Conversely the edge of the limb 10 is flush with the web 19 at the level of the center piece 13, so that a user, who engages at the level of the center piece, reaches into the gripping groove 18 and thus pivots the entire door assembly 1 about the axis 3, and a storage compartment 21 for refrigerated goods in the inside of the housing shell 2 becomes accessible.

(15) FIG. 2 shows a sectional view of a number of beverage containers 22, which are accommodated in a recess 23 which is delimited by the insulating glass pane 17 and by faces of the internal wall 15 of the door 4 which are adjacent hereto and is open toward the storage compartment 21. The beverage containers 22 fill the recess 23 in the width direction in a substantially play-free manner. As apparent from FIG. 1, the beverage containers 22 are visible through the insulating glass pane 17 and the window glass 6. They can be provided with an inscription which identifies their contents and is visible through the glass panes 6, 17. The beverage containers 22 are preferably manufactured from a transparent plastic, so that the color and fill level of their contents are visible through the glass panes 6, 17.

(16) An operating paddle 45 is installed in the dispenser recess 20 below each beverage container 22, and serves to open a valve and to fill a vessel with beverage from the container 22 disposed there below, said vessel being pressed against the operating paddle 45 in the dispenser recess 20.

(17) FIG. 4 shows a view of the door assembly 1 from the same perspective as FIG. 1, however without the beverage containers 22, so that a base plate 24 of the recess 23, which would in any case be covered by the beverage containers 22, is visible through the insulating glass pane 17. The base plate 24 has an opening 25 to each beverage container 22, which connects the recess 23 with the dispenser recess 20 disposed there below.

(18) An intermediate wall 26 which delimits the recess 23 from the storage compartment 21 projects on a rear edge of the base plate 24. A door tray 27 is suspended on the internal wall 15 on each side of the intermediate wall 26.

(19) FIG. 5 shows a view of the inner surface of the door assembly 1 which faces the storage compartment 21. The beverage containers 22 are received vertically in the recess 23 with sufficient play, so that they can be lifted, if applicable tilted, in the recess 23, and removed from the recess 23 across the intermediate wall 26.

(20) To facilitate the insertion and removal of substantially square beverage containers 22 from the recess 23, each of these can be provided with a handle 28 on its rear facing the intermediate wall 26, such as shown in FIG. 5, in the form of a projection which extends across the entire width of the beverage container 22 and which is hollow on its underside in order to allow the user's fingers to engage therein.

(21) FIG. 6 shows a vertical section through one of the beverage containers 22 and a valve 29, which is connected to the beverage container 22 pertaining to the container-valve assembly 30. The beverage container 22 comprises a square container lower part 31 formed from preferably clear plastic, the open top side of which is closed by a lid 32. The lid 32 seals here by a projection of the lid 32 engaging in the container lower part 31 and resting in a frictionally engaged manner on the inner surfaces of its walls.

(22) An outlet nozzle 33 is molded in one piece to the bottom of the container lower part 31, which, if the beverage container 22 is installed in the recess 23 and rests on the base plate 24, engages in the opening 25 thereof. The outlet nozzle 33 has an external thread, to which an adapter section 34 of the valve 29 is screwed. The diameter of the adapter section 34 is dimensioned such that it fills the entire cross-section of the opening 25 and thus keeps the relatively warm air in the dispenser recess 20 away from the bottom of the container lower part 31 and thus minimizes the transfer of heat from this air to the contents of the beverage container 22.

(23) The adapter section 34 has a base plate 35, which covers the lower end of the outlet nozzle 33 and the contents of the beverage container 22 are present on its top side in the screwed-on state. A pin 37 extends through a central opening 36 in the base plate 35. A cap 38 is screwed onto the top end of the pin 37 and a helical spring 39 is elastically compressed between the cap 38 and the top side of the base plate 35. A circular disk-shaped closing element 40 is fastened to a middle section of the pin 37, said closing element being held in a tightly compressed manner against a valve seat 41 on the lower side of the bottom plate 35 by the voltage of the helical spring 39 all around the opening 36. The valve seat 41 is annularly surrounded by a web 42 which projects downward from the base plate 35.

(24) The lower end of the pin 37 forms an actuation section 58, on the lower end of which a cup-shaped element 43 is fastened. In the installed state, the element 43 projects from above into the dispenser recess 20. A passage for drawn-off contents of the container 22 is formed on the bottom of the element 43. The passage, if applicable formed from a number of individual openings, lies outside of the sectional plane in FIG. 6 and is therefore not visible; a drip edge 59 which surrounds the passage can be seen however. A wall 44 of the element 43 which surrounds the bottom overlaps vertically with the web 42, but neither touches the web 42 nor the base plate 35, so that it does not prevent the closing element 40 from tilting into the open position. The diameter of the cup-shaped element 43 is not larger than that of the adapter section 34, so that if the container 22 is empty, the complete container-valve assembly 30 can be lifted until the element 43 is disposed in the recess 23 and can be removed herefrom in the direction of the storage compartment 21.

(25) The operating paddle 45 likewise shown sectionally in FIG. 6 forms an arm of a dual-armed lever which can be pivoted about an axis 46 perpendicular to the sectional plane counter to the force of a resetting spring. A second arm 47 of the lever is molded and dimensioned in order, if the operating paddle 45 is deflected by way of a counter-pressing vessel, to press laterally against the cup-shaped element 43. If in such cases the element 43 is deflected, the pin 37 tilts about a pivotal point 60 on the valve seat 41 and the closing element 40 detaches, as shown in FIG. 7, away from the pivotal point 60 of the valve seat 41. The valve 29 is now open. The web 42 ensures that liquid passing through cannot escape laterally out of the valve 29 between the base plate 35 and the top edge of the cup-shaped element 43, but instead collects in the cup-shaped element 43 and flows out into the vessel via this passage.

(26) The position of the pivotal point 60 on the valve seat 41 is not defined by the design of the valve 29, but instead only by the direction in which the element 43 is pressed to the side. The correct functioning of the valve 29 is therefore not dependent on the degree to which it is screwed onto the outlet nozzle 33; it functions in each orientation and can therefore always be screwed to the precise degree required for a tight connection on the outlet nozzle 33.

(27) If the empty container 22 has been removed, it can be dismantled into individual parts with fewer hand movements and can be easily cleaned in a dishwasher. On the valve 29, once it has been unscrewed from the container lower part 31 the cap 38 can be unscrewed from the pin 37, whereupon the pin 37 together with the closing element 40 detaches from the adapter section 34 and all surfaces which come into contact with the beverage are exposed for rinsing purposes. The cup-shaped element 43 can also be unscrewed from the pin 37, in order to facilitate access to the interior of the cup-shaped element 43 which is largely closed during use by the closing element 40.

(28) Compared with the foam layer of the door 3, the openings 25 in the base plate 24, which extend through the foam layer, also unavoidably form a weak point in the thermal insulation here, this is only of little consequence in the case of the inventive refrigeration appliance since the cover 5 prevents air from being freely exchanged between the dispenser recess 20 and the environment of the refrigeration appliance and for this reason, if the cover 5 is not pivoted on both sides, in order to access the dispenser recess 20, ultimately establishes a significantly lower temperature than that in the environment.

(29) In order to achieve as large a temperature difference as possible between the dispenser recess 20 and the environment, the cover 5 itself can be provided with a foamed heat-insulating layer 48 (see FIG. 2, 3), and the window glass 6 can be embodied according to the insulating glass pane as a dual- or multi-compartment glazing with heat-insulating gas filling between the glass plates. Furthermore, analogously to a conventional magnetic seal 49 between the door 4 and housing shell 1, a seal 50, preferably fastened to the inner surface of the cover 5, can also be provided, which, when the cover 5 is in the closed position, is clamped all around the dispenser recess 20 between the cover 5 and the door 4 and thus prevents any air from being exchanged between the dispenser recess 20 and the environment by way of a gap 51 between the cover 5 and door 4.

(30) FIG. 8 shows a perspective view of a refrigeration appliance according to a second embodiment of the invention. Here the housing of the refrigeration appliance also comprises a door assembly 1 comprising a door 4 and cover 5, as well as a housing shell 2. Here the cover 5 is a rectangular flat plate, preferably made from safety glass, which conceals the door 4 in the closed position. In a central region 52, the plate is transparent, so that when the cover is in the closed position, the insulating glass pane 17 and the dispenser recess 20 are visible through the central region 52. An edge region 53 can be provided with a non-transparent coating, which hides mountings 54 in the closed position for instance, by way of which the cover 5 is connected to the door 4. The seal 50, if present, is adhered to the inner surfaces of the coating of the edge region 53.

(31) Here the lateral edge 55 of the cover which faces away from the mountings 54 is straight. A gripping groove 18 is formed in a face 56 of the door 4 which is positioned behind the edge 55 in the closed position, and a web 19, which extends between the gripping groove 18 and the front side of the door 4, is interrupted in a middle section 57. If a user grips around the edge 55 at the level of this middle section 57, he is not able to take hold of the door 4 and he is therefore only able to open the cover 5. If by contrast he grips above or below the middle section 57 about the edge 55, he is not able to take hold of the rear of the cover 5 because it is concealed by the web 19. In this case, his fingers are only able to grip behind the web 19 in the gripping groove 18, and the entire door assembly is pivoted away from the housing shell 2.

(32) 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 Housing shell, carcass 3 Axis 4 Door 5 Cover 6 Window glass 7 Frame 8 Limb 9 Limb 10 Limb 11 Limb 12 Handle cutout 13 Center piece 14 External wall 15 Internal wall 16 Cavity 17 Insulating glass pane 18 Gripping groove 19 Web 20 Dispenser recess, niche 21 Storage compartment 22 Beverage container 23 Recess 24 Base plate 25 Opening 26 Intermediate wall 27 Door tray 28 Handle 29 Valve 30 Container-valve assembly 31 Container lower part 32 Cover 33 Outlet nozzle 34 Adapter section 35 Base plate 36 Opening 37 Pin 38 Cap 39 Helical spring 40 Closing element 41 Valve seat 42 Web 43 Cup-shaped element 44 Wall 45 Operating paddle 46 Axis 47 Arm 48 Heat-insulating layer 49 Magnetic seal 50 Seal 51 Gap 52 Central region 53 Edge region 54 Mounting 55 Edge 56 Face 57 Middle section 58 Actuation section 59 Drip edge 60 Pivot point