Refrigeration Appliance Having A Divided Storage Space

Abstract

A refrigeration appliance, particularly a domestic refrigeration appliance, has a storage space surrounded by a thermally-insulating housing. The storage space is divided by at least one horizontal panel into an upper part and a lower part. One of the parts is divided by at least one vertical wall into two adjacent compartments. An air channel for exchanging air between an evaporator chamber and at least one first compartment extends in the vertical wall.

Claims

1-15. (canceled)

16. A refrigeration appliance, comprising: a thermally-insulating housing enclosing a storage space; at least one horizontal panel dividing said storage space into an upper part and a lower part; a vertical wall disposed to divide one of said upper or lower parts into two adjacent compartments; and said vertical wall being formed with an air channel for exchanging air between an evaporator chamber and at least one of said two adjacent compartments.

17. The refrigeration appliance according to claim 16, wherein said vertical wall is formed with air through-openings distributed on a flank of said vertical wall in a depth direction.

18. The refrigeration appliance according to claim 17, wherein at least one of said air through-openings is formed on each flank of said vertical wall.

19. The refrigeration appliance according to claim 16, wherein said housing has a rear wall and wherein a passage between said air channel of said vertical wall and a channel extending in said rear wall of said housing is formed on a rear edge of said vertical wall facing said rear wall.

20. The refrigeration appliance according to claim 17, wherein said air through-openings are substantially arranged in a front half of said vertical wall.

21. The refrigeration appliance according to claim 16, wherein an edge of said vertical wall bears against said at least one horizontal panel and an opposing edge of said vertical wall bears against a horizontal wall of said housing.

22. The refrigeration appliance according to claim 16, comprising a drawer in at least one of said adjacent compartments.

23. The refrigeration appliance according to claim 16, wherein said air channel formed in said vertical wall is a first air channel and said vertical wall is formed with a second air channel for exchanging air between the evaporator chamber and a second of said adjacent compartments.

24. The refrigeration appliance according to claim 23, comprising a controlling element disposed in a wall of said housing for selectively effecting an air flow in said first air channel or said second air channel.

25. The refrigeration appliance according to claim 23, wherein said first and second air channels are offset vertically to one another in said vertical wall.

26. The refrigeration appliance according to claim 16, wherein said vertical wall contains an insulating material layer.

27. The refrigeration appliance according to claim 26, wherein said insulating material layer comprises two insulating bodies, each forming one side of said at least one air channel.

28. The refrigeration appliance according to claim 27, wherein said insulating bodies are of the same shape.

29. The refrigeration appliance according to claim 16, wherein an outer skin of said vertical wall comprises two shell parts fastened together along edges thereof, each shell part forming one of two flanks of said vertical wall.

30. The refrigeration appliance according to claim 29, wherein one of said shell parts is formed with a groove and the other said shell part is formed with a tongue engaging in said groove.

31. The refrigeration appliance according to claim 15, configured as a domestic refrigeration appliance.

Description

[0021] Further features and advantages of the invention are disclosed in the following description of exemplary embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0022] FIG. 1 shows a schematic section through a refrigeration appliance according to a first embodiment of the invention;

[0023] FIG. 2 shows an exploded perspective view of components of a vertical wall of the refrigeration appliance of FIG. 1;

[0024] FIG. 3 shows a cross section through the vertical wall;

[0025] FIG. 4 shows a horizontal section through the body of the refrigeration appliance of FIG. 1; and

[0026] FIG. 5 shows a detail of the refrigeration appliance in an enlarged perspective view.

[0027] The domestic refrigeration appliance shown in section in FIG. 1 is a combi-appliance, two internal chambers 2, 3 being formed in the thermally-insulating housing 1 thereof. The lower internal chamber 2 is divided by a partition wall 4 into a freezer compartment 5 and an evaporator chamber 6 which is arranged between the freezer compartment 5 and a rear wall 7 of the housing 1 above a machine space niche 8. The evaporator chamber 6 contains an evaporator 9 and a fan, not shown in the Fig., which blows air cooled on the evaporator 9 into the freezer compartment 4 and via a channel 10 extending in the rear wall 7 into the upper internal chamber 3.

[0028] The upper internal chamber 3 is divided by a removable horizontal panel 11 into an upper part 12 and a lower part 13. The panel 11 is supported on the side walls of the housing 1 and extends over substantially the entire depth of the internal chamber 3, from the rear wall 7 to just before the inner face of a door 19.

[0029] In the view of FIG. 1 the channel 10 terminates at an outlet 14 below the panel 11; however the channel could also be extended upwardly beyond the panel 11 and comprise a plurality of outlets below and above the panel 11.

[0030] The lower part 13 in the width direction of the housing 1 is divided by a vertical wall 15viewed from the frontinto a right-hand and left-hand compartment. The edges of the vertical wall 15 bear closely against the panel 11, a base 16 of the interior 3 and the rear wall 7; a channel 17 recessed in the interior of the vertical wall 15indicated in FIG. 1 by dotted linesadjoins the outlet 14. In the right-hand flank of the wall 15 facing the observer in FIG. 1, a plurality of air through-openings 18 are formed via which the channel 17 discharges into the right-hand compartment.

[0031] The cold air flowing into the right-hand compartment via the channel 17 flows between the front edge of the panel 11 and the door 19 into the upper part 12 of the internal chamber 3, finally returning to the evaporator chamber 6 via an air through-opening 21 adjacent to the top wall 20 of the internal chamber 3 and a channel 22 extending in a side wall of the housing 1.

[0032] In the construction shown in FIG. 1, the upper part 12 is always warmer than the lower part 13, since cold air is only able to reach the upper part 12 via the lower part; if the upper region 12 is intended to be temperature-controlled as a normal refrigeration compartment, the lower region 13 is suitable as a chiller compartment. In an alternative embodiment in which the channel 10 also has outlets above the panel 11, both parts 12, 13 may also be temperature-controlled to be approximately the same.

[0033] The channel 17 in the vertical wall 15 may comprise air through-openings 18 on both flanks of the wall 15, in order to cool the left-hand and right-hand compartment of the lower part 13. By means of a preferred embodiment and as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, above the channel 17 and parallel thereto a second channel 23 extends through the wall 15, said second channel being supplied via a second outlet 14 of the channel 10, and each channel 17, 23 has air through-openings 18 only on one of the two flanks of the wall 15.

[0034] As is clear in particular in FIG. 2, the wall 15 is substantially made up of four components, two identical insulating bodies 24, 24 made of thermally-insulating material such as expanded polystyrene, and two shell parts 25, 26 made of solid plastics. The shell parts 25, 26 have in each case a planar base panel 27 which in each case forms one of the flanks of the wall 15, the air through-openings 18 being cut out therefrom, surrounded by a peripheral web 28. On a lower rear corner 29, the shell parts 25, 26 are truncated or rounded off, so as to be adapted to the generally rounded transition between the rear wall 7 and the base 16 on a deep-drawn internal container, so that the lower and rear portions of the web adjacent to the corner 29 are able to bear closely against the base 16 and/or the rear wall 7. In the rear portion of the web 28, in each case two passages 30 are formed on both shell parts 25, 26, said passages being aligned with the channels 17, 23.

[0035] The insulating bodies 24, 24 in each case have the shape of flat rectangular blocks, two horizontally extending grooves 31, 32 being recessed in the main surfaces thereof facing one another. The upper groove 31 of the insulating body 24 has on its base a plurality of through-passages 33 which are aligned with the air through-openings 18 in the upper half of the shell part 25. The insulating body 24 differs from the insulating body 24 merely by its orientation; both are able to be transferred into one another by a 180 rotation about a horizontal axis 34, so that each channel 17 and/or 23 is defined in one insulating body by the groove 31 and in the other insulating body by the groove 32. Accordingly, in the insulating body 24 the groove 32 and the through-passages 33 are located in the lower half so that they are aligned with the air through-openings 18 of the shell part 26 arranged in the lower half of the base panel 27.

[0036] In a similar manner to the wall 15, the panel 11 may comprise a thermally-insulating panel received in a protective housing in order to insulate the upper and lower part 12, 13 of the internal chamber 3 from one another.

[0037] FIG. 3 shows by means of a cross section various further optional structural details of the wall 15. One of these details is the depth of the grooves 31, 32. The groove 31 is deeper than the groove 32 so that the channels 17, 23 in each case are separated from the flank of the wall 15 into which they lead by a thinner layer of insulating material than from the opposing flank.

[0038] Moreover, in each case one of the grooves, in this case the groove 32, is bordered by a rib 35 and the respective other groove 31 is bordered by a recess 36 which is complementary to the rib 35. Since in the assembled state of the wall 15, the walls 37 of the rib 35 and the recess 36 which are parallel relative to the direction of extent are in contact with one another, the channels 17, 24 are sealed all around.

[0039] In one of the shell parts, in this case the shell part 25, the web 28 on its edge remote from the base panel, is slightly reduced in size so that it defines a peripheral groove 38 together with the insulating body 24, a tongue 39 which protrudes over the edge of the web 28 of the shell part 26 engaging therein. The edges may be provided with latching means which engage in one another, such as for example openings 40 or recesses on the shell part 25 and projections 41 on the shell part 26 engaging in the openings 40, in order to connect together the shell parts 25, 26 in the assembled state in a positive and fixed manner.

[0040] FIG. 4 shows a horizontal section through the refrigeration appliance of FIG. 1 level with the lower channel 17. The two compartments to the left and right of the vertical wall 15 in this case are denoted by 42, 43 and in each case contain a drawer 44. In the rear wall the channel 10 may be seen in section, the channels 17, 23 being supplied thereby with cold air from the evaporator.

[0041] In the simplest case, the channel 10 is free of adjustable elements which control the distribution of the cold air. Thus due to the symmetrical construction of the wall 15 the same amount of cold air is allotted to each compartment 42, 43 and when the compartments 42, 43 are of the same size the same operating temperature is set in both compartments. This operating temperature is not adjustable independently of that of the upper part 12.

[0042] FIG. 5 shows the channels 10, 17 according to a further developed embodiment, partially in perspective and partially in section, wherein an element 45 controlling the distribution of cold air is arranged in the channel 10. The channel 10 in this case is cylindrical and the element 45 controlling the distribution of cold air comprises two portions 46, 47 which are circular arc-shaped in cross section and which are rotatable about an axis 48 which is concentric to the channel 10. The lower portion 46 is shown in FIG. 5 in a position in which the lower air outlet 14 is open toward the channel 17shown cut away. The upper outlet 14 to the channel 23not shownis shown in dotted lines in FIG. 5; said upper outlet is blocked by the portion 47. In the position shown, therefore, only the compartment 43 to the right of the wall 15 is cooled. By a rotation by ca. 90 counterclockwise, the upper air outlet 14 is also opened, so that the channel 23 is also supplied and both compartments 42, 43 are cooled at the same time. A further rotation by 90 closes the lower outlet 14 and after a further 90 rotation both outlets 14 are closed. Since each compartment 42, 43 may be specifically cooled separately, therefore, different storage temperatures may be set in both compartments 42, 43 and optionally controlled by temperature sensors arranged on the compartments 42, 43.

[0043] If the channel 10 extends upwardly beyond the panel 11 to the outlets in the upper part 12, then it is possible in this latter position to cool solely the upper part 12 and thus to control the temperature both of this upper part and the compartments 42, 43 independently of one another.

[0044] In production, the wall 15 with the two channels 17, 23 is not more costly than the variant mentioned in the introduction with a single channel which is open toward both compartments 42, 43, but has the advantage that it may be used both in a refrigeration appliance without a controlling element 45 and in an appliance with such an element.

[0045] The length of the edge of the wall 15 is predetermined by the depth of the housing 1 and the distance of the panel 11 from the base 16. Therefore the same wall 15 may be used in different models of refrigeration appliances with different housing widths, including those in which the upper internal chamber is not closed by a single door 19 but by two doors articulated on the opposing side walls of the housing 1.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMERALS

[0046] 1 Housing [0047] 2 Internal chamber [0048] 3 Internal chamber [0049] 4 Intermediate wall [0050] 5 Freezer compartment [0051] 6 Evaporator chamber [0052] 7 Rear wall [0053] 8 Machine space niche [0054] 9 Evaporator [0055] 10 Channel [0056] 11 Panel [0057] 12 Upper part [0058] 13 Lower part [0059] 14 Outlet [0060] 15 Wall [0061] 16 Base [0062] 17 Channel [0063] 18 Air through-opening [0064] 19 Door [0065] 20 Top wall [0066] 21 Air through-opening [0067] 22 Channel [0068] 23 Channel [0069] 24 Insulating body [0070] 25 Shell part [0071] 26 Shell part [0072] 27 Base panel [0073] 28 Web [0074] 29 Corner [0075] 30 Passage [0076] 31 Groove [0077] 32 Groove [0078] 33 Through-passage [0079] 34 Axis [0080] 35 Rib [0081] 36 Recess [0082] 37 Wall [0083] 38 Groove [0084] 39 Tongue [0085] 40 Opening [0086] 41 Projection [0087] 42 Compartment [0088] 43 Compartment [0089] 44 Drawer [0090] 45 Controlling element [0091] 46 Portion [0092] 47 Portion [0093] 48 Axis