REFRIGERATING DEVICE WITH AN ICE WATER DISPENSER

Abstract

A refrigeration appliance contains an ice water dispenser with a housing which is built into a wall or door of the refrigeration appliance and defines a dispenser niche for the introduction of a container for receiving ice and/or water. The ice water dispenser further has a dcor panel which defines a rear side of the dispenser niche where the rear side is visible from outside the refrigeration appliance. The ice water dispenser additionally has a retaining element which is arranged in the housing and is configured to engage with the dcor panel in such a way that the dcor panel is detachably mounted in the housing.

Claims

1. A refrigeration appliance, comprising: a door; a wall; and an ice water dispenser containing a housing being built into said wall or said door and defining a dispenser niche for an introduction of a container for receiving ice and/or water, and a dcor panel defining a rear side of said dispenser niche, said rear side being visible from outside the refrigeration appliance, said ice water dispenser further containing a retaining element disposed in said housing and configured to engage with said dcor panel such that said dcor panel is detachably mounted in said housing.

2. The refrigeration appliance according to claim 1, wherein said retaining element is configured as a ceiling element, which at least partly defines a ceiling section of said dispenser niche and is configured to engage with an upper edge of said dcor panel in such a way that said dcor panel is detachably mounted in said housing.

3. The refrigeration appliance according to claim 1, further comprising a further retaining element configured to engage with a lower edge of said dcor panel in such a way that said dcor panel is detachably mounted in said housing.

4. The refrigeration appliance according to claim 3, wherein said further retaining element having a rearward section which defines a key-shaped recess, which is configured to receive said lower edge of said dcor panel.

5. The refrigeration appliance according to claim 3, wherein said retaining element has at least one pretensioning element configured to pretension said dcor panel in a direction of said further retaining element.

6. The refrigeration appliance according to claim 5, wherein said pretensioning element has a spring element.

7. The refrigeration appliance according to claim 3, wherein: said ice water dispenser has a detachable drip shelf; and said further retaining element has a forward section disposed between a bottom section of said housing and said drip shelf.

8. The refrigeration appliance according to claim 7, wherein said forward section of said further retaining element engages form-lockingly with said bottom section of said housing.

9. The refrigeration appliance according to claim 7, wherein said further retaining element has an underside with a non-slip coating, such that said underside of said further retaining element is frictionally connected to said bottom section of said housing.

10. The refrigeration appliance according to claim 1, wherein said dcor panel at least partly conceals a rear section of said housing.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING

[0022] FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic, perspective view of a door of a refrigeration appliance with an ice water dispenser according to an embodiment variant of the invention;

[0023] FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a housing of the ice water dispenser according to an embodiment variant;

[0024] FIG. 3A is a perspective, detail view of an upper region of the housing of the ice water dispenser according to an embodiment variant;

[0025] FIG. 3B is a perspective, detail view of a lower region of the housing of the ice water dispenser according to an embodiment variant;

[0026] FIG. 4A is a perspective, detail view of a ceiling element of the ice water dispenser according to an embodiment variant;

[0027] FIG. 4B is a plan view of a detail of the ceiling element of the ice water dispenser according to an embodiment variant;

[0028] FIG. 5A is a perspective, detail view of an upper region of the ice water dispenser according to an embodiment variant without a dcor panel;

[0029] FIG. 5B is a perspective detail view of the upper region of the ice water dispenser according to an embodiment variant with a dcor panel installed;

[0030] FIG. 6 is a perspective, detail view of a lower region of the ice water dispenser according to an embodiment variant;

[0031] FIG. 7 is a perspective, detail view of a retaining element for holding the dcor panel of the ice water dispenser according to an embodiment variant;

[0032] FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of the lower region of the ice water dispenser according to an embodiment variant in cross section; and

[0033] FIG. 9 is a perspective, detail view of the lower region of the ice water dispenser according to an embodiment variant.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0034] Referring now to the figures of the drawings in detail and first, particularly to FIG. 1 thereof, there is shown a door 105 of a refrigeration appliance, into which is built an ice water dispenser 110 according to an embodiment variant. However, the ice water dispenser 110 can also be built into a wall of the refrigeration appliance.

[0035] The refrigeration appliance can be e.g. a combined fridge-freezer which, in addition to the door 105, has a refrigeration appliance body on which the door 105 is mounted in order to allow closure of an opening of a refrigeration zone of a refrigeration appliance interior (alternatively referred to simply as refrigeration zone) that is defined by a refrigeration appliance body 6. The refrigeration appliance body defines a refrigeration appliance outer wall and a refrigeration zone wall. The refrigeration zone wall contains a wall upper side, a wall rear side, a first wall longitudinal side, a second wall longitudinal side and a wall lower side, the wall sides delimiting the refrigeration zone of the refrigeration appliance.

[0036] The refrigeration appliance can in a known manner contains one or more refrigerant circuits, each of which has a refrigerant evaporator, refrigerant compressor, refrigerant condenser and/or throttle organ. The refrigerant evaporator is a heat exchanger in which the liquid refrigerant is evaporated after expansion by absorbing heat from the medium to be cooled (e.g. air). The refrigerant compressor is a mechanically operated component which sucks refrigerant vapor from the refrigerant evaporator and outputs it at a higher pressure to the refrigerant condenser.

[0037] The refrigeration appliance can be designed to generate ice and/or iced water and deliver this via the ice water dispenser 110. The refrigeration appliance can have a water tank for this purpose, the water tank being accommodated in the interior of the refrigeration appliance or in a heat-insulating wall of the refrigeration appliance, for example. An ice delivery mechanism and optionally a crushing unit are components of automatic ice maker which is already known and therefore not described in detail here, and which can be arranged in the interior of the refrigeration appliance.

[0038] As illustrated in FIG. 1, the ice water dispenser 110 defines a dispenser niche 114 in the appliance door 105, in which a user can place a glass, beaker or similar container in order to obtain ice and/or cooled water, e.g. in the form of crushed ice. For this purpose, the ice water dispenser 110 in a known manner contains an output opening 115 for the ice or the cooled water, the output opening 115 being formed at the ceiling of the dispenser niche 114, and an actuating element 111 in the form of an actuating paddle. In a known manner, a user can activate the ice water dispenser 110 by pressing a glass, beaker or similar container against the actuating paddle 111. In order to allow the user to select cooled water and/or ice, the ice water dispenser 110 in the embodiment variant illustrated in FIG. 1 also has a control panel 113, which is connected in a known manner to a control unit of the refrigeration appliance. The control panel 113 allows a user to select an operating mode of the ice water dispenser 110. Depending on the selected operating mode, the control unit can trigger a valve in a water feed line and/or an ice transport mechanism, possibly in conjunction with a crushing unit.

[0039] The ice water dispenser 110 further contains a housing 120, which defines at least the side walls of the dispenser niche 114, and a cover 117 of a drip shelf 124, which defines the bottom section of the dispenser niche 114. The rear side of the dispenser niche 114 is defined by a dcor panel 119, which is arranged in the housing 120 in such a way that it can be removed as described in detail below.

[0040] FIG. 2 shows a perspective overall view of the housing 120 of the ice water dispenser 110. FIGS. 3A and 3B respectively show perspective detail views of the upper and lower regions of the housing 120 of the ice water dispenser 110. The ice water dispenser 110 contains a ceiling element 121 which is so configured and arranged in the housing 120 as to define at least partly the ceiling section of the dispenser niche 114. The ceiling element 121 is also referred to as middle deck. The housing 120 can be an injection molded housing containing a single part or multiple parts and made of plastics material.

[0041] FIGS. 4A and 4B show detail views of the ceiling element 121 of the ice water dispenser 110, specifically a perspective view and a view essentially from above. It can be seen from FIGS. 4A and 4B that the ceiling element 121 has pretensioning elements 123a, 123b in the form of spring elements 123a, 123b at the rear side thereof. The operation of the spring elements 123a, 123b is described below with additional reference to FIGS. 5A and 5B, which show perspective detail views of the upper region of the ice water dispenser 110 with the ceiling element 121 fastened in the housing 120. In this case, FIG. 5A shows the upper region of the ice water dispenser 110 when the dcor panel 119 is withdrawn, while FIG. 5B shows the upper region of the ice water dispenser 110 when the dcor panel 119 is installed. It can be seen from FIGS. 5A and 5B that the spring elements 123a, 123b are deflected resiliently from their starting position (see FIG. 5A) upwards (FIG. 5B) by the dcor panel 119 and consequently exert a pretension or return force on the dcor panel 119. This function can also be provided by pretensioning elements 123a, 123b in the form of wedges, ribs and/or resilient foamed elements, for example. The ceiling element 121 therefore defines a retaining element which is designed to engage with the dcor panel 119 in such a way that the dcor panel 119 is detachably mounted in the housing 120, this being advantageous for the cleaning of the ice water dispenser 110 in particular.

[0042] As described above, the dcor panel 119 defines a rear side of the dispenser niche 114, the rear side being visible from outside the refrigeration appliance. As described below, particularly in connection with FIGS. 6 to 9, the ice water dispenser 110 also contains a further retaining element 125 which is arranged in the housing 120 and is so configured as to engage with a lower edge of the dcor panel 119. In order to achieve this, a rearward section 125a of the further retaining element 125 can define a key-like recess, which is configured to receive the lower edge of the dcor panel 119 in the form of a groove. By virtue of the previously described function of the pretensioning elements 123a, 123b of the ceiling element 121, the dcor panel 119 is pretensioned in the direction of the further retaining element 125 in accordance with an embodiment variant.

[0043] In addition to the rearward section 125a, the further retaining element 125 can also have a forward section 125b as illustrated in FIG. 7, for example. In this case, the forward section 125b of the further retaining element 125 can be arranged between a bottom section 120a of the housing 120 and the drip shelf 124 (see FIG. 8). The forward section 125a of the further retaining element 125 can engage positively with the bottom section 120a of the housing 120. For example, the forward section 125b of the further retaining element 125 can be slotted into the bottom section 120a of the housing 120 as illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 8. Alternatively or additionally, an underside of the further retaining element 125 can be provided with a non-slip coating 127, such that the underside of the further retaining element 125 is frictionally connected to the bottom section 120a of the housing 120. In further alternative embodiment variants, the fixing of the further retaining element to the housing 120 can be achieved by means of Velcro strips, magnets, snap-in hooks, screw connections and/or push-push fasteners.

[0044] In order to withdraw the dcor panel 119 from the housing 120, a user merely has to first lift the drip shelf 124 together with the cover 117, whereby the further retaining element 125 becomes visible to the user. The user can then free the further retaining element 125 together with the dcor panel 119. To this end, the user can free the further retaining element 125 from the bottom section 120a of the housing 120 and/or push the dcor panel further in the direction of the pretensioning elements 123a,b of the ceiling element 121, in order to be able to free the dcor panel 119 from the further retaining element 125.

[0045] According to embodiment variants, the dcor panel 119 can consist of metal such as stainless steel, copper or aluminum, for example. The dcor panel 119 can also consist of glass or ceramic and may be printed, engraved and/or laser marked. The dcor panel 119 may be printed with a photograph or designed to receive a photograph. In an embodiment variant, the dcor panel 119 at least partly conceals a rear section 120b of the housing 120. Alternatively, the dcor panel 119 may conceal a section of the door 105 of the refrigeration appliance in the event that the housing 120 has no rear section 120b.

[0046] Any of the features explained and illustrated in connection with individual embodiment variants of the invention may be variously combined in the inventive subject matter in order concurrently to realize their advantageous effects.

[0047] The scope of the present invention is established by the claims and is not restricted by the features explained in the description or shown in the figures.

[0048] The following is a summary list of reference numerals and the corresponding structure used in the above description of the invention: [0049] 105 Refrigeration appliance door [0050] 110 Ice water dispenser [0051] 111 Actuating element [0052] 113 Control panel [0053] 114 Dispenser niche [0054] 115 Output opening [0055] 117 Cover [0056] 119 Dcor panel [0057] 120 Housing [0058] 120a Bottom section [0059] 120b Rear section [0060] 121 Ceiling element [0061] 123a, b Spring elements [0062] 124 Drip shelf [0063] 125 Further retaining element [0064] 125a Rearward section [0065] 125b Forward section [0066] 127 Non-slip coating