Built-in electrical household appliance and household appliance assembly and built-in furniture unit for a household appliance

Abstract

This invention relates to a built-in electrical household appliance (1), suitable for being housed inside a built-in furniture unit (2), the furniture unit comprising a lateral wall defining a surface (4) and a unit door (6) attached to said lateral surface (4) by means of hinges (10a, 10b). The appliance (1) comprises: a main body (12) defining a space for housing foods or objects, the main body having a side (13) suitable for being placed facing the lateral surface (4) when the electrical household appliance is housed in the furniture unit; a door (11) for access to the space and hinged on one of its sides to the main body (12) in such a manner as to rotate between an open position and a closed position and in such a manner as to present, in the closed position, a lateral edge (25) thereof facing the lateral surface (4), and being provided with attachment elements (26) suitable for permitting coupling to the unit door (6), in such a way that it is possible to open and close the door by moving the unit door (6). The appliance furthermore shows a distance between said lateral edge (25) of the door (11) and a plane containing an outer surface of said side (13) of the main body (12) there is a distance, in a direction perpendicular to said plane, of at least 5 mm, such that when the electrical household appliance (1) is housed in the furniture unit (2) the side (13) can be arranged adjacent to the lateral surface (4) while the hinges (10a, 10b) can be accommodated in a space between the door (11) and said lateral surface (4) of said furniture unit, and the door (11) has, along the lateral edge (25), at least one vertical chamfer (22) to avoid interference with the hinges (10a, 10b) when the door is operated.

Claims

1. An electrical household appliance (1), suitable for being housed inside a furniture unit (2), said furniture unit (2) comprising a lateral wall defining a lateral surface (4) and a unit door (6) attached to said lateral surface (4) by means of hinges (10a, 10b), said electrical household appliance (1) comprising: a main body (12) defining a space for housing foods or objects, said main body having a side (13); an appliance door (11) for access to the space and hinged on a side of the appliance door (11) to the side (13) of the main body (12) in such a manner as to rotate between an open position and a closed position, wherein in the closed position, a lateral edge (25) of the appliance door (11) faces a plane containing an outer surface of said side (13) of the main body (12), further wherein the appliance door (11) is provided with attachment elements (26), wherein: said lateral edge is spaced from said plane laterally inward from the outer surface of said side (13) of the main body (12), between said lateral edge (25) of the appliance door (11) and said plane there is a distance, in a direction normal to said plane, of at least 5 mm, and said appliance door (11), along said lateral edge (25), has at least one vertical chamfer (22).

2. The electrical household appliance (1) according to claim 1, wherein said distance is between 15 and 30 mm.

3. The electrical household appliance (1) according to claim 1, wherein a width of said main body (12) is greater than 540 mm.

4. The electrical household appliance (1) according to claim 1, wherein said at least one chamfer (22) extends vertically for a full height of said appliance door (11).

5. The electrical household appliance (1) according to claim 1, wherein said at least one chamfer (22) comprises at least two chamfers spaced apart from each other vertically and provided in a region of said hinges (10a, 10b).

6. The electrical household appliance (1) according to claim 1, wherein said appliance door (11) has on an inside thereof a gasket (19) for closure on said main body (12), and in that a total thickness of the appliance door including the gasket is between 40 and 60 mm.

7. The electrical household appliance (1) according to claim 6, wherein said total thickness is between 45 and 60 mm.

8. The electrical household appliance (1) according to claim 1, wherein said at least one vertical chamfer (22) comprises a flat surface that is transverse and non-orthogonal to said plane.

9. The electrical household appliance (1) according to claim 1, wherein said at least one vertical chamfer (22) comprises a flat surface that is transverse and non-orthogonal to a front surface of the appliance door (11).

10. An assembly (30) comprising an electrical household appliance (1) and a furniture unit (2) for built-in electrical household appliances, in which said furniture unit (2) is provided with a housing (3) for said electrical household appliance (1), said housing (3) extending between a first and a second lateral surface (4, 5) opposed to each other and between a unit door (6) attached to said first lateral surface (4) by means of unit hinges (10a, 10b) and a back surface (7) opposite said unit door (6), and wherein said electrical household appliance (1) comprises: a body (12) provided with a first and a second lateral wall (13, 14) respectively facing said first and said second lateral surface (4, 5) of said housing (3), and an appliance door (11) hinged to said body (12) so as to be rotatable between a closed position in which said appliance door (11) is alongside said body (12) along a line of closure (20) and an open position, said appliance door (11) being attached to said unit door (6) so as to be able to be pulled between said closed position and said open position, said appliance door (11) being hinged to said body (12) of said electrical household appliance (1) by means of appliance hinges (24a, 24b) that are separate from said unit hinges (10a, 10b), wherein said body (12) occupies in said housing (3) a space directly between said unit hinges (10a, 10b) and said back surface (7), and in that said appliance door (11) is configured in such a manner that between said appliance door and said first lateral surface (4) there is defined at least one empty space (21) for housing said unit hinges (10a, 10b).

11. The assembly (30) according to claim 10, wherein a lateral edge (25) of said appliance door (11) facing towards said unit hinges (10a, 10b) has a chamfer (22) in order to avoid interference between said appliance door and said hinges (10a, 10b) during rotation between said closed position and said open position.

12. The assembly (30) according to claim 11, wherein said appliance hinges (24a, 24b) comprises a pair of appliance hinges (24a, 24b) placed at opposite ends of said lateral edge (25), said pair of appliance hinges (24a, 24b) protruding with respect to said chamfer (22).

13. The assembly (30) according to claim 11, wherein said chamfer (22) extends along said lateral edge (25) from one to the other of said pair of appliance hinges (24a, 24b).

14. The assembly (30) according to claim 10, wherein said electrical household appliance (1) has a maximum width greater than 540 mm.

15. The assembly (30) according to claim 10, wherein said appliance door (11) is hinged to said body (12) so as to be rotatable about a hinge axis (Y) and a distance between said hinge axis (Y) and said line of closure (20) is greater than 90% of an overall dimension of said unit hinges (10a, 10b) along said first lateral surface (4).

16. The assembly (30) according to claim 15, wherein said hinge axis (Y) is spaced apart from said line of closure (20) to such a degree as to prevent interference between said body (12) and said appliance door (11) during rotation between said closed position and said open position.

17. The assembly (30) according to claim 10, wherein in the closed position, said appliance door (11) occupies a space directly between said unit hinges (10a, 10b) and said second lateral surface (5).

18. The assembly (30) according to claim 10, wherein said appliance hinges (24a, 24b) comprises a pair of appliance hinges (24a, 24b) placed at opposite sides of said appliance door (11), further wherein said unit hinges (10a, 10b) are located vertically between said pair of appliance hinges (24a, 24b).

19. The assembly (30) according to claim 10, wherein said appliance hinges (24a, 24b) are spaced from said unit hinges (10a, 10b).

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) This and the other advantages of the invention will be clearer from the detailed description of a preferred but not exclusive example of implementation which follows, for illustrative and not limitative purposes with reference to the attached drawings in which:

(2) FIGS. 1 and 2 are two axonometric exploded views of a built-in appliance and of a furniture unit for housing this appliance of a first and second type, according to the prior art,

(3) FIG. 3 is an axonometric partially sectional view of an assembly according to this invention consisting of a built-in appliance and a related built-in furniture unit, with the door of the appliance closed and the unit door of the furniture unit decoupled from the appliance door and open, for ease of representation;

(4) FIG. 4 is a perspective view on an enlarged scale of Detail IV of FIG. 3,

(5) FIG. 5 shows a front view of the assembly of FIG. 3;

(6) FIGS. 6 and 7 are two sectional view of the assembly of this invention, respectively taken along the lines of sections VI-VI and VII-VII of FIG. 5.

PREFERRED WAY OF IMPLEMENTING THE INVENTION

(7) With reference to the attached figures from 3 to 7, a built-in appliance of the known type with the name sliding is denoted in its entirety with 1.

(8) According to the preferred example shown in the figures and described herein, this invention is applicable to a built-in refrigerator. In general, however, this invention is suitable for application to any appliance that may be housed in a furniture unit and with a door that may be attached to a door of said furniture unit, such as for example dishwashers or others. Therefore, the term appliance is intended in its broadest sense. As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the appliance 1 comprises a body 12 within which a compartment is defined for storing food or objects, and a door 11 provided with a gasket 19 that is, for example, a perimetric seal.

(9) The appliance 1 can be housed within a furniture unit 2 of a known type (FIGS. 3 and 4), constructed for example in wood or plastic, with which it forms an assembly 30. In particular, the appliance is placed within a housing 3 of the furniture unit 2 with a substantially parallelepiped shape being extended between a first and second lateral surface 4, 5 opposite each other (defined by the furniture unit's respective lateral walls), between a front unit door 6 and a back surface 7 (FIG. 6) opposite the unit door 6 and between a base surface 8 (FIG. 4) and a top surface 9 (FIG. 3), also opposing each other. The top and/or back walls may also not be present in alternative examples of this invention not depicted. If the appliance has no back wall, back surface means the surface that connects the end side of the lateral surfaces 4 and 5 parallel to the unit door 6 when closed, whereas top surface means the surface that connects the end side of the lateral surfaces 4 and 5 parallel to the base 8.

(10) The surfaces 4, 5, 7, 8 and 9 and the unit door 6 are oriented so that when the furniture unit 2 is installed resting on a floor P, the lateral surfaces 4, 5, the unit door 6 and the back surface 7 are oriented according to the respective vertical perpendicular planes to the floor P, whereas the base surfaces 8 and the top 9 are oriented according to parallel horizontal planes to the floor P. With respect to the furniture unit 2, a depth direction is defined, perpendicular to the back surface 7 and a width direction, perpendicular to the lateral surface 4, 5.

(11) The unit door 6 is attached to the first lateral surface 4 using a system of hinges for furniture units 10a, 10b of a known type, applied to the first lateral surface 4, to allow the movement of the unit door 6 between a first closed position (FIGS. 5, 6 and 7) and a second open position (FIGS. 3 and 4). The hinges 10a, 10b are preferably of the quadrilateral type, i.e. with four axes of rotation, to allow a roto-translational movement of the unit door, with elliptic type trajectories. For ease of description and representation, said complex motion will subsequently be equivalent to a simple rotation around a single axis, denoted with an X. The X axis is spaced from the lateral surface 4.

(12) In the figures, the number of hinges shown is equal to two; however a different number of hinges can be used.

(13) Considering the hinges used today for these applications, the overall dimensions of each hinge 10a, 10b along the first lateral surface 4 (i.e. along the aforementioned direction of depth), starting from the edge of the unit door 6, is typically between 20 and 70 mm, in particular between 50 and 65 mm, while the space occupied by each hinge 10a, 10b in the direction perpendicular to the first lateral surface 4 (i.e. along the aforementioned width direction) is typically between 10 and 20 mm, in particular between 16 and 18 mm.

(14) The unit door 6 may be attached with a sliding coupling with the door 11 of the appliance 1 to pull it between the opened and closed position so that the user can open and close the appliance 1 by using e.g. a handle (not shown) of the unit door 6. The coupling between the unit door 6 and the door 11 is in itself conventional for built-in sliding type appliances and is therefore not described in detail.

(15) The body 12 of the appliance 1 comprises a first and second lateral wall (or side) 13, 14 (FIGS. 3, 6 and 7) respectively, likely to face the first and second lateral surface 4, 5 of the housing 3, when the appliances is placed in the latter. The body 12 is furthermore provided with a back wall 15 (FIG. 6), likely to face the back surface 7 of the furniture unit 2 when the appliance 1 is placed in the housing 3, as well as a lower wall 18 (FIG. 7) and an upper wall (not visible in the figures).

(16) The door 11 is preferably provided with a lower plate 16 and an upper plate 17 (FIGS. 3 and 4), which function as coupling elements, respectively likely to face said base 8 and top surfaces 9 of the housing 3.

(17) With respect to the appliance 1 a depth direction perpendicular to the back wall 15 and a width direction perpendicular to the lateral walls 13, 14; these directions are respectively aligned with the width and depth directions of the furniture unit 2 when the appliance is placed in the housing 3.

(18) The lateral walls 13, 14, the back wall 15 and the lower 18 and upper walls (not shown) define an internal volume of the body 12 that can be closed using the door 11. The door 11 is hinged at the ends of the lower 16 and upper 17 plates turned towards the lateral side 4 of the housing 3, to the body 12 able to rotate around a pivot axis Y (FIG. 3).

(19) FIGS. 3 and 4 show, for a better view of the different parts, the door 11 and the unit door 6 decoupled from them (in particular, with the door 11 in the closed position and the unit door 6 in the open position). Indeed, between the appliance door 11 and the unit door 6, in a definitive configuration of the assembly, there are attachment elements with sliding coupling 26 (FIG. 3), that allows the door 11 to be pulled when the unit door 6 is moved by the user according to the sliding coupling concept of the prior art. In FIGS. 5 to 7, however, the door 11 and the unit door 6 are arranged in the closed position. In its closed position, door 11 is drawn closer to the body 12 along a closure line 20 (shown in FIG. 6), along which, in the design variant in which the appliance is comprised of a refrigerator, is advantageously provided with the gasket 19, e.g. made of PVC or thermoplastic material to enable the appliance 1 to seal.

(20) To prevent interference between the body 12 and the door 11 during rotation of the same door between the closed and open positions, it is important that the hinge axis Y of the door 11 is spaced from the closure line 20. With reference to FIG. 7 (where the distances are not to scale) the distance of the Y axis from the closure line 20, indicated by D1, is conveniently greater than the distance of the Y axis from the X axis, denoted by D2.

(21) The hinge of the door 11 to the body 12 of the appliance 1 is obtained by using a pair of hinges for appliances 24a, 24b (FIGS. 3, 4), in itself conventional and therefore not described in detail, placed, for example, at the ends of the lower 16 and upper 17 plates of door 11. As in the case of the hinges of the furniture unit 2, the door 11 may be hinged to the body 12 of the appliance 1 using an arbitrary number of hinges.

(22) As shown in FIG. 6, the body 12 is dimensioned so that the overall dimension L1 of the body 12 in the housing 3 along the abovementioned depth direction (i.e. the length of the sides 13, 14 of the body 12) is less than or equal to the distance L2 of the hinges for furniture units 10a, 10b from the back surface 7. Thus, by placing the appliance 1 toward the back of the housing 3 (i.e. so that the back wall 15 almost touches the back surface 7), the body 12 will occupy a portion of space not occupied by the hinges 10a, 10b and specifically the portion of space between the back surface 7 and the hinges for furniture units 10a, 10b (in the depth direction). In this way, the lateral wall 13 will face a portion of the side surface 4 not occupied by the hinges 10a, 10b, thus avoiding the presence of the hinges 10a, 10b between the lateral wall 13 and the lateral surface 4. The body 12 can therefore be dimensioned to occupy substantially all the available distance between the lateral surfaces 4, 5, i.e. its width may be made equal to the distance between the lateral surfaces 4, 5 less a given quantity necessary to guarantee a minimum span between the appliance 1 and the lateral walls 4, 5 in order to facilitate the insertion of the appliance 1 into the housing 3 (similar to that which occurs in the door-on-door appliances). Consequently, the width of the body 12 (i.e. the maximum width of the appliance 1) may be greater than the distance between the hinges for furniture units 10a, 10b and the second lateral surface 5.

(23) In practice, for a built-in furniture unit 2 with a nominal width of 600 mm in which a housing 3 with a width equal to 560 mm is typically provided, it is possible to install a sliding type of appliance 1 with a width well over 540 mm, preferably even greater than 550 mm, for example equal to 556 mm. Therefore, due to this invention it is possible to construct a furniture unit-appliance assembly 30 in which the appliance is the sliding type and has the same maximum dimensions that a door-on-door type of appliance would have in the same furniture unit.

(24) To install the appliance 1 in the furniture unit 2, a procedure is necessary according to a method which comprises a first phase of inserting the body 12 in the housing 3 when it does not have hinges for furniture units 10a, 10b and of the door 6; a second phase for applying the hinges for furniture units 10a, 10b to the first lateral surface 4; a third phase to attach the door 6 to the hinges for furniture units 10a, 10b; and fourth phase of attaching the unit door 6 to the appliance door 11 with a coupling attachment.

(25) Preferably, the thickness of the door 11, including the overall dimensions of the hinges 10a, 10b along the first lateral surface 4 (in the abovementioned depth direction), so that the door 11 ends up approximately extended around the closure line 20 to the hinging axis Y. In current refrigerators the thickness of the door, including the seal, is approximately 37 mm. The thickness of the door (including the seal), according to this invention, is preferably between 40 and 60 mm, still more preferably between 45 and 60 mm.

(26) According to the other design variants not represented, the door 11 may however have different thicknesses, possibly lower than the overall dimensions of the hinges 10a, 10b along the first lateral surface 4 (in the abovementioned depth direction).

(27) Preferably, in order to create this condition, the distance of the hinging Y-axis from the closing line 20 is substantially equal to the overall dimensions of the hinges for the furniture units 10a, 10b along the first lateral surface 4 or more than 90% of these overall dimensions.

(28) The door 11 is shaped so that between it and the first surface 4 an empty space 21 is defined (see FIG. 6) for housing the hinges for furniture units 10a, 10b. This space 21 is obtained either by making the door 11 concave with respect to the side 13, either constructing a chamfer 22 on the lateral edge 25 toward the hinges 10a, 10b, in particular on the front part of this edge, as shown in FIG. 6.

(29) To this end, the door 11 is dimensioned so that its width is less than the width of the body 12, and in particular less than the distance between the hinges for furniture units 10a, 10b and according to the lateral surface 5. In particular, while the minimum distance between the lateral edge 25 of the door and a plane containing the external surface of the side 13 (or the surface of the side 13 facing the lateral surface 4 of the furniture unit 2), and typically between 1 and 5 mm, according to this invention this distance is greater than 5 mm, in particular between 5 and 30 mm, preferably between 15 and 30 mm).

(30) The chamfer 22 delimits the space 21 in correspondence of an area of operation of the moving parts of the hinges 10a, 10b. In particular, because the hinges 10a, 10b have a protruding portion (having, in the part attached to the furniture unit 2, a substantially L-shaped profile), the chamfer 22 is used to avoid interference between the door 11 and this more protruding portion, especially in the rotation phase of the door 11.

(31) The chamfer 22 may have a flat shape, or another shape, e.g. concave. In addition, the chamfer 22 may be continuous or may be located only at the hinges 10a, 10b. In other words, the chamfer 22 may be constructed along the entire height of the lateral edge 25 from one hinge to the other for appliances 24a, 24b (i.e. from one plate 16 to the other 17 as shown in FIGS. 3, 4), or only in areas of the lateral edge 25 which face the hinges 10a, 10b. Therefore, the lateral edge 25 may also have a sharp edge in the area not occupied by the hinges 10a, 10b, and a chamfer located, similar to the chamfer 22, in the area occupied by the hinges 10a, 10b. However, any other shape that allows the housing of the hinges 10a, 10b of the furniture unit 2 is covered in the invention.

(32) This invention allows one to obtain an appliance 1 and a built-in appliance and furniture unit assembly 30 in which the body 12 of the appliance is more extended in width than the bodies of the sliding type of appliances. This increased width may allow one to design an appliance with a thicker layer of insulation and/or a greater internal volume for the allocation of food and drink.

(33) Any loss of volume corresponding to the fact of having reduced the depth of the body 12 to not interfere with the hinges of the furniture units 10a, 10b may be compensated by digging out more space within the thickness of the door 11. This results thus in both advantages of the overall dimensions of the door-on-door type and cost advantages of the sliding type.

(34) The invention thus solves the problem reported in reference to the cited prior art, resulting at the same time in further advantages, including that of being able to use appliances of constant width although constructed according to two different types, with the obvious advantage of being able to use a greater number of components on one or on the other type of appliances indifferently.