Electrical household appliance

Abstract

The invention relates to an electrical household appliance comprising a display and / or control unit (1) which has at least one functional element (11) configured to provide a display and / or control function, wherein the display and / or control unit (1) is configured to be mechanically moved between a viewing position (6) in which it is visible and / or operable for a user (5) of the household appliance and a concealed position (7) in which it is inaccessible to the user (5), so that the display and / or control unit (1) is only temporarily accessible to the user (5).

Description

The invention relates to an electric household appliance. In particular, the invention relates to an electrical household appliance having a display and / or operating unit.For aesthetic reasons, household electrical appliances, in particular in kitchens, are being installed more and more frequently than fully integrated solutions behind furniture fronts. Possibilities for accommodating display and / or operating units in an ergonomically expedient manner in such an arrangement are therefore low. Furthermore, operating situations can exist in the case of the electrical domestic appliances, the display and / or operating units of which cannot be seen or are not or are difficult to reach because of certain situations. This is the case, for example, when the appliance door is open, when the display and / or operating unit is installed in the appliance door, as can be the case, for example, with a dishwasher or a coffee machine. The opened appliance door is usually located in a position which does not allow a user to read and / or operate in an ergonomically favorable position.The invention thus addresses the problem of providing an electrical household appliance with a readily accessible and at the same time non-noticeable display and / or operating unit.According to the invention, this problem is solved by an electrical household appliance having the features of claim 1. Advantageous embodiments and further developments of the invention are evident from the dependent claims explained below.The advantages which can be achieved with the invention consist, in addition to a temporary, required provision of the display and / or operating unit, for example automatically and / or as a function of an operating and / or device state, in the fact that, depending on the arrangement of the display and / or operating unit realized in this way, good and ergonomic accessibility of the display and / or operating unit is possible, even if, for example, a device door of the electrical domestic appliance is opened. When not in use, the display and / or operating unit is not visible and does not influence the device optics in an undesired manner, which is advantageous, for example, for electrical household appliances having a particularly minimalistic design. The display and / or operating unit can thus be provided there and at a point in time when it is just needed, and otherwise remains hidden from a user of the electrical household appliance.The invention relates to an electrical household appliance having a display and / or operating unit which has at least one functional element which is in each case designed to provide a display and / or operating function, wherein the display and / or operating unit is designed to be mechanically moved under the control of the electrical household appliance between a viewing position in which it is visible and / or operable to a user of the household appliance and a hiding position in which it is inaccessible to the user, such that the display and / or operating unit is only temporarily accessible to the user.The invention is based on the basic idea of realizing the request with respect to a temporarily easily accessible display and / or operating unit by a mechanically displaceable element which is provided to the user as a function of a display and / or operating situation or else disappears completely invisibly. The mechanically movable display and / or operating unit can be a unit which can be moved out in any device state or which is alternatively available only in certain situations, for example when the device door is open. The latter is advantageous, for example, in the case of a display and / or operating unit arranged in the interior of an electrical household appliance, for example of a coffee machine.By means of the display and / or operating unit, feedbacks such as status displays and display messages and also user inputs can be carried out individually according to the operating situation without having to leave and / or interrupt the context of currently carried out operating steps. The display and / or operating unit allows ergonomic and elegant reachability without being visible or even having an interfering effect during normal operation of the electrical household appliance in which no interaction is required, so that an aesthetic design of the electrical household appliance can be achieved. The display and / or operating unit can be supplemented and expanded in a simple manner with further functions, for which temporary use is likewise advantageous with the simultaneous possibility of complete disappearance in the case of non-use. These are, for example, lighting elements, in particular for lighting the opened appliance door, sensor elements, cameras, etc.In a preferred embodiment, the display and / or operating unit is coupled to a movable component of the electrical household appliance, which has an opening function for exposing at least a part of an interior of the electrical household appliance. For example, the movable component is a door or a flap of the electrical household appliance. The display and / or operating unit can therefore preferably be integrated into already present elements of the electrical household appliance.The movable component is preferably a door opening and / or door closing unit for opening and closing at least a part of the interior space, and the display and / or operating unit is integrated into a mechanical component of the door opening and / or door closing unit. The display and / or operating unit is preferably integrated into a door actuator. The door actuator part extended by the display and / or operating unit can move out of the electrical household appliance depending on the display and / or operating situation in order to provide the user with visual feedback and / or an input possibility. This embodiment is advantageous, for example, in the case of an electrical domestic appliance in the form of a dishwasher.The display and / or operating unit can be integrated at various positions in the electrical household appliance. For example, the display and / or operating unit can be integrated into an upper, middle or lower appliance region depending on an appliance type, with respect to an operationally installed position of the electrical household appliance.In a preferred embodiment, the display and / or operating unit is designed as a separate unit removable from the electrical household appliance. The separately removable unit preferably has an energy store in order to provide an autonomous energy supply. The electrical household appliance preferably also has a communication module. The display and / or operating unit and the communication module are preferably configured and configured to communicate bidirectionally and wirelessly. This allows the user to remotely operate the electrical household appliance by means of the display and / or operating unit and / or to allow the feedback to be displayed. Therefore, the separately removable unit, which is provided to the user, for example, either by motor or which moves out of the electrical household appliance under pressure by means of a spring mechanism, can be used as a cordless display and / or operating unit. The communication with the electrical household appliance, in particular its control unit, can be provided, for example, by means of IR (infrared) or radio, and the energy supply can be provided, for example, by means of integration of an energy storage such as battery, battery, capacitor, etc., or also inductively or by means of a piezoelectric element or the like.When not in use, this display and / or operating unit can then be inserted again into a receptacle of the electrical household appliance provided for it, in order to remain there and to enable, for example, a charging process of the energy store. In this case, the display and / or operating unit also does not necessarily have to be removed for use; it is equally possible to display and / or operate in a state moved out of the electrical domestic appliance with a subsequent return and / or push of the display and / or operating unit.In a preferred embodiment, the display and / or operating unit has, in addition to the at least one functional element, at least one further functional element which is designed to provide at least one further function. The at least one further functional element is preferably designed as an illumination element, sensor element and / or as a camera. An additional function is provided by the further functional element. As a result, the display and / or operating unit can additionally be used for a further application, for example an illumination application, for example illumination of an open device door, a sensor application, such as, for example, gesture operation, a camera application or the like.Preferably, the display and / or operating unit is mechanically movable in any state of the electrical household appliance between the viewing position and the hiding position. As a result, the display and / or operating unit can be provided to the user at any time independently of a device state. In this way, the handling of the display and / or operating unit by the user is simplified.Alternatively preferably, the display and / or operating unit is mechanically movable between the viewing position and the hiding position depending on a state of the electrical household appliance. As a result, the display and / or operating unit can be provided to the user only when he interacts or has interacted with the electrical household appliance in order to use it. This makes it possible to avoid an undesired provision of the display and / or operating unit.Preferably, a path length between the viewing position and the hiding position can be set by the user. It is advantageous if the path length of the route to be moved of the display and / or operating unit out of the electrical household appliance can be individually adjusted. If, for example, a display and / or operating unit is moved out of the upper region of the electrical household appliance, for example of a dishwasher, if necessary, it is expedient to be able to adapt the distance which is actually to be moved to an installation situation, for example an individual protrusion of an external component arranged above the electrical household appliance, such as a work plate or another component. For this purpose, servo motors can be provided in the electrical household appliance, for example, which allow a reproducible and positionally accurate method. However, a spring, gas spring and / or damper or the like and a corresponding triggering mechanism can also be provided, which make possible a manual method and / or actuation and / or a mechanically driven process without current.In a preferred embodiment, the display and / or operating unit has a plurality of functional elements which are arranged next to one another in a plan view of a user on the display and / or operating unit. As a result, the path length is kept relatively small, so that the display and / or operating unit does not have to move as far out of the electrical household appliance and thus less influences or even interferes with the user.Alternatively, the display and / or operating unit can have a plurality of functional elements which are arranged one behind the other in a plan view of a user on the display and / or operating unit. Combinations of the two above arrangement variants of the functional elements are also possible. If the display and / or operating unit has a plurality of further functional elements, these can also be arranged next to one another and / or one behind the other. For the additional use of further functional elements such as lighting, sensors, a camera or the like, an elongated display and / or operating unit that can be moved out and has further functional elements arranged one behind the other can be advantageous.The electrical household appliance is preferably designed as a washing machine, washer-dryer, dryer, dishwasher, oven, coffee machine, pizza oven, heat drawer, vacuum drawer, dialog cooker, microwave, refrigerator, freezer, wine cabinet, steam cooker and / or extractor hood.A mechanism and / or a drive of the display and / or operating unit can be realized in any manner. The drive of the display and / or operating unit is preferably effected by motor. The drive can be provided, for example, by means of a combination of toothed rack, toothed wheel, gear mechanism, etc., or by means of a worm drive or by means of an eccentric mechanism or by means of a sliding rod / pull rod or by means of a Bowden cable or the like.A direction of travel can be straight out of a device body of the electrical household appliance or else in the form of a pivoting out or a rotational movement. The travel directions relative to a surface of the electrical household appliance can be straight, e.g. perpendicular to the two axes of the surface and / or oblique.The display and / or operating unit can have any design and / or arrangement: basically all known technologies come into consideration as functional elements, such as, for example, short-stroke buttons, membrane keyboards, resistive operating elements, capacitive operating elements, piezoelectric operating elements, inductive operating elements, optical operating elements, etc. Due to the low operating force, the small size and the simple possibility of backlighting operating elements, capacitive touch operating elements are suitable for the display and / or operating unit.The functional element can be provided as a pure display element, as a pure operating element or as a combination of both possibilities. In addition to display elements such as backlit texts and / or symbols, individual light elements, for example dots or similar shapes or displays, can be provided. The display elements can be based on all known technologies, for example light guides with LED (light-emitting diode), LED (light-emitting diode), OLED (organic light-emitting diode), LCD (liquid crystal display), TFT (thin-film transistor), E-ink (electronic ink) etc.Contacting and / or energy supply of the display and / or operating unit is possible by means of an electrical and / or optical connection in various ways, for example by means of flex cables, ribbon cables, flat conductors, etc., which are suitable for changing mechanical bending loads, spiral cables or the like, which are suitable for changing mechanical bending loads, inductive (contactless) energy and / or data transmission, optionally in combination with an energy store, such as a rechargeable battery, capacitor or the like, individual conductors or the like, which are suitable for changing mechanical bending loads, electrical sliding contacts, rigid light conductors, for example for operating and / or display purposes, flexible light conductors, for example for operating and / or display purposes, which are suitable for changing mechanical bending loads.Some exemplary embodiments of the invention are illustrated purely schematically in the drawings and are described in more detail below. It is schematic and not to scale: FIG. 1 is a partial cross-sectional view of a household appliance according to a first embodiment; FIG. 2 is a partial plan view of the household electric appliance shown in FIG. 1 ; FIG. 3 is a partial side view of the electric household appliance shown in FIG. 1 ; FIG. 4 is a partial perspective view of the household electric appliance shown in FIG. 1 ; and FIG. 5 shows a perspective view of an electrical household appliance according to a second embodiment.FIG. 1 shows a partial cross-sectional view of a household appliance according to a first embodiment. The electrical household appliance has a housing body with a housing wall 3 and a display and / or operating unit 1 and is arranged below an external component 4 in the form of a furniture or work plate. The display and / or operating unit 1 is arranged in an upper part of the electrical household appliance and is movable over a path length L, so that it can be moved out of the electrical household appliance.FIG. 2 shows a partial plan view of the household appliance shown in FIG. 1, wherein the external component 4 is omitted for the sake of clarity. The display and / or operating unit 1 has at least one functional element 11-here purely by way of example four functional elements 11 which are shown pictorially in the display and / or operating unit 1. Each functional element 11 is designed to provide a display and / or operating function. The display and / or operating unit 1 is designed to be moved mechanically under the control of the electrical household appliance between a viewing position 6, in which it is visible and / or operable by an only partially visible user 5 of the electrical household appliance, and a hiding position 7, in which it is inaccessible by the user 5, so that the display and / or operating unit 1 is only temporarily accessible to the user 5. In FIG. 2, the display and / or operating unit 1 is in the viewing position 6. The functional elements 11 are arranged next to one another in a plan view of the user 5 on the display and / or operating unit 1.FIG. 3 shows a partial side view of the household appliance shown in FIG. 1. In FIG. 3, the display and / or operating unit 1 is in the viewing position 6. the electrical domestic appliance has a movable component 2 which is a door opening and / or door closing unit for opening and closing at least part of the interior of the electrical domestic appliance, i.e. an appliance door. The movable component 2 of the electrical household appliance is open. The display and / or operating unit 1 located in the viewing position 6 has a further functional element 12, such as an illumination or sensor element, which is designed to emit or receive rays 16, such as light for providing illumination or further electromagnetic radiation or sound waves, for example in conjunction with a sensor / camera application, when activated.FIG. 4 shows a perspective partial view of the electrical household appliance shown in FIG. 1, wherein the external component 4 and an upper wall of the electrical household appliance are omitted for the sake of clarity. In FIG. 4, the display and / or operating unit 1 is in the viewing position 6. The control unit 10 is assigned a data transmission and / or energy supply unit 9 in the form of a transmission / reception coil of an inductive energy or data transmission. The display and / or operating unit 1 has a further data transmission and / or energy supply unit 13 in the form of a transmission / reception coil of an inductive energy or data transmission. If the display and / or operating unit 1 furthermore has an energy store, such as a rechargeable battery, it can be designed as a separate removable component which is designed to communicate wirelessly and bidirectionally with the electrical household appliance via communication modules such as the data transmission and energy supply units 9, 13. The electrical connection by means of contactless inductive transmission to the device electronics in the form of the control unit 10 is purely exemplary and can also be realized by means of cables, electrical sliding contacts, light guides or the like.FIG. 5 shows a perspective view of an electrical household appliance according to a second embodiment. The electrical household appliance shown in FIG. 5 corresponds to the electrical household appliance shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, with the difference that the display and / or operating unit 1 is coupled to the movable component 2 of the electrical household appliance, which has the opening function for exposing at least part of an interior of the electrical household appliance, and the display and / or operating unit 1 is integrated into a mechanical component of the door opening and / or door closing unit. It is integrated into the door actuator of the electrical household appliance. The movable component 2 has a part 14 of a door closing mechanism, while the display and / or operating unit 1 forms a further part 15 of the door closing mechanism. Furthermore, in contrast to the data transmission and energy supply units shown in FIG. 4, the data transmission and energy supply unit 9 is embodied purely by way of example as a flex conductor. In contrast to the illustration in FIG. 2, the functional elements 11 are also arranged one behind the other in a plan view of the user (not illustrated) on the display and / or operating unit 1.List of reference charactersL path length 1 display and / or operating unit 2 component 3 housing wall 4 external component 5 user 6 viewing position 7 hiding position 9 data transmission and energy supply unit 10 control unit 11 functional element 12 further functional element 13 further data transmission and energy supply unit 14 part of a door closing mechanism 15 further part of the door closing mechanism 16 beams

Claims

Electrical household appliance, having a display and / or operating unit (1) which has at least one functional element (11) which is in each case designed to provide a display and / or operating function, wherein the display and / or operating unit (1) is designed to be moved mechanically under the control of the electrical household appliance between a viewing position (6) in which it is visible and / or operable by a user (5) of the household appliance and a hiding position (7) in which it is inaccessible to the user (5), so that the display and / or operating unit (1) is only temporarily accessible to the user (5).The electric household appliance according to claim 1, characterized in that the display and / or operating unit (1) is coupled to a movable component (2) of the electric household appliance, which has an opening function for exposing at least a part of an interior of the electric household appliance.Electrical household appliance according to claim 2, characterised in that the movable component (2) is a door opening and / or door closing unit for opening and closing at least a part of the interior space and the display and / or operating unit (1) is integrated into a mechanical component of the door opening and / or door closing unit.Electrical household appliance according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterised in that the display and / or operating unit (1) is formed as a separate unit removable from the electrical household appliance.Electrical household appliance according to claim 4, characterised bya communication module, wherein the display and / or operating unit (1) and the communication module are configured and configured to communicate bidirectionally and wirelessly in order to allow the user (5) to wirelessly operate the electrical household appliance by means of the display and / or operating unit (1).Electrical household appliance according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the display and / or operating unit (1) comprises, in addition to the at least one functional element (11), at least one further functional element (12) which is designed to provide at least one further function which is preferably designed as a lighting element, sensor element and / or as a camera.Electrical household appliance according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the display and / or operating unit (1) can be moved mechanically between the viewing position (6) and the plugging position (7) in each state of the electrical household appliance or in that the display and / or operating unit (1) can be moved mechanically between the viewing position (6) and the plugging position (7) depending on a state of the electrical household appliance.Electrical household appliance according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that a path length (L) between the viewing position (6) and the hiding position (7) can be adjusted by the user (5).Electrical household appliance according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the display and / or operating unit (1) has a plurality of functional elements (11), which are arranged next to one another or one behind the other in a plan view of a user (5) on the display and / or operating unit (1).Electric household appliance according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that it is designed as a washing machine, washer-drier, drier, dishwasher, oven, coffee machine, pizza oven, heat drawer, vacuumer drawer, dialog cooker, microwave, refrigerator, freezer, wine cabinet, steam cooker and / or extractor hood.

Images