System with a household appliance and a piece of furniture

Abstract

System (1) comprising a household appliance (3) with an appliance door (4) and a piece of furniture (6) with a receiving space (8) for the household appliance (3) and a furniture door (10) that can be moved back and forth between a closed position and an open position, wherein a receiving space opening (12) of the receiving space (8) with the household appliance (3) fully arranged therein is concealed by the furniture door (10) in the closed position of the furniture door (10) and in the open position of the furniture door (10) access to the receiving space (8) by a user of the system (1) is enabled by means of the receiving space opening (12), and wherein the furniture door (10) is arranged to transmit force to the appliance door (4), wherein the furniture door (10) is arranged on the appliance door (4) by means of an adjusting device (14) of the system (1), wherein the adjusting device (14) is designed such thatthat the furniture door (10) can be adjusted in at least one spatial direction relative to the appliance door (4) by means of the adjusting device (14) in an adjusting state of the adjusting device (14) and can be fixed in this position in a fixing state of the adjusting device (14), characterized in that the adjusting device (14) is designed such that the furniture door (10) can be adjusted in at least one spatial direction relative to the appliance door (4) by means of an electric motor of the system (1).

Description

The invention relates to a system comprising a household appliance and a piece of furniture of the type mentioned in the preamble of claim 1. Such systems are already known in the art in a multitude of embodiments. The known systems comprise a household appliance with an appliance door and a piece of furniture with a compartment for the household appliance and a furniture door that can be moved back and forth between a closed and an open position. In the closed position of the furniture door, the opening of the compartment containing the fully assembled household appliance is concealed by the furniture door. In the open position of the furniture door, the opening of the compartment allows access to the compartment by a user of the system. The furniture door is arranged to transmit force to the appliance door. For this purpose, the furniture door is usually screwed or glued to the appliance door. The attachment of a door leaf of a furniture door to the appliance door of a built-in household appliance, such as a refrigerator, freezer and dishwasher, is described, for example, in the documents DE 196 44 734 C1 and DE 10 2019 106 687 A1 as well as DE 10 2009 036 851 A1. The publications DE 100 12 631 A1 and DE 10 2012 208 258 A1 show the fine adjustment of the alignment of a furniture door. The invention thus faces the problem of improving a system comprising a household appliance and a piece of furniture. According to the invention, this problem is solved by a system with the features of claim 1. Advantageous embodiments and further developments of the invention are described in the following dependent claims. The advantage achievable with the invention is in particular that a system comprising a household appliance and a piece of furniture is improved in terms of ease of use when adjusting the furniture door. Due to the inventive design of the system, ease of use is significantly improved during the initial alignment of the appliance door and the attached furniture door with the rest of the system's furniture. Furthermore, the inventive adjustment device allows for subsequent adjustment of the appliance door and the attached furniture door with the rest of the system's furniture. Accordingly, improved assembly and readjustment of the inventive system are possible compared to the prior art. Both the initial setup and any subsequent readjustment are typically carried out on-site, i.e., during the installation of the inventive system at the end customer's premises.By means of the aforementioned adjustment options, it is therefore possible, for example, to realize gap dimensions relevant to the function of the system according to the invention and / or to the overall optical impression of the system according to the invention in the desired manner. In principle, the system according to the invention can be freely selected within wide suitable limits. For example, the household appliance can be a kitchen appliance, such as an oven, a coffee machine or the like, or a laundry treatment appliance, such as a washing machine, a tumble dryer or the like. An advantageous further development of the system according to the invention provides that the adjustment device is designed such that the furniture door can be adjusted relative to the appliance door in at least one spatial direction purely mechanically, preferably without tools. In this way, the system according to the invention can be implemented in a very simple and therefore robust manner. The preferred embodiment of this further development has the additional advantage that the adjustment of the furniture door relative to the appliance door is possible without the use of tools, for example, special tools. The system according to the invention provides that the adjustment device is designed such that the furniture door can be adjusted electromechanically relative to the appliance door in at least one spatial direction by means of an electric motor of the system. This significantly improves ease of use when adjusting the furniture door relative to the appliance door. A further advantageous embodiment of the system according to the invention provides that the adjustment device for adjusting the furniture door relative to the appliance door in at least one spatial direction has at least one joint, preferably a plurality of joints, wherein the at least one joint is movable in the adjustment state of the device and rigid in the fixed state of the device. In this way, the adjustment of the furniture door relative to the appliance door according to the invention is very easy to carry out in the adjustment state of the device, while the position of the furniture door thus adjusted relative to the appliance door is subsequently fixed in the fixed state of the device for future use of the system according to the invention.It can be provided that the adjustment device can be moved back and forth between the adjustment state and the fixed state, so that, after initial adjustment during assembly of the system according to the invention, subsequent readjustments of the furniture door relative to the appliance door are also possible on site. The aforementioned joint mobility and rigidity of the at least one joint can be achieved, for example, by means of a locking device of the adjustment device, wherein the locking device either locks the at least one joint, thus rendering it rigid, or releases it, thus rendering it movable. A central locking device is particularly advantageous, as it either completely blocks the adjustment device, thus placing it in the fixed state, or completely releases it, thus placing it in the adjustment state. An advantageous further development of the aforementioned embodiment of the system according to the invention provides that at least one of the at least one joint is designed as a joint head mounted in a joint socket, preferably that all joints of a plurality of joints are each designed as a joint head mounted in a joint socket. This allows the at least one joint to be implemented in a particularly simple, but also particularly functional manner for the present application. Another advantageous embodiment of the system according to the invention provides that the adjustment device for adjusting the furniture door relative to the appliance door in at least one spatial direction comprises at least one gear pair and / or at least one gear and a rack and / or at least one threaded rod and / or at least one cable pull. In this way, the system according to the invention can be implemented in a structurally and technically simple and reliable manner, wherein the aforementioned structural elements are available on the market in a multitude of embodiments and, individually or in logical combinations, are suitable for a wide range of application scenarios, depending on the requirements of the individual case. A particularly advantageous embodiment of the system according to the invention provides that the adjustment device is arranged essentially at the center of gravity of a functional group formed by the appliance door and the furniture door. This places the adjustment device in a position particularly advantageous for its function, between the appliance door on one side and the furniture door on the other. A further advantageous embodiment of the system according to the invention provides that the adjustment device and a hinge device for the appliance door, for pivoting the appliance door to a rest of the household appliance, are designed and arranged in such a way that the cabinet door can be adjusted relative to the appliance door in at least two spatial directions by means of the combined use of the adjustment device and the hinge device. In this way, it is possible to adjust the cabinet door relative to the appliance door in at least two spatial directions in a particularly simple manner from a design and manufacturing perspective. This is because the aforementioned adjustment can be functionally divided between the adjustment device on one side and the hinge device on the other. Furthermore, another particularly advantageous embodiment of the system according to the invention provides that the adjusting device, or the adjusting device and the hinge device, is / are designed such that the furniture door can be adjusted relative to the appliance door in all three spatial directions by means of the adjusting device or by the combined use of the adjusting device and the hinge device. This makes the furniture door very flexibly adjustable relative to the appliance door, so that an initial adjustment, or an initial adjustment and subsequent readjustment of the alignment of the furniture door relative to the appliance door, can compensate for a multitude of misalignments of the furniture door relative to the appliance door. An embodiment of the invention is shown purely schematically in the drawings and is described in more detail below. Fig. 1 shows an embodiment of the system according to the invention in a partial, cutaway side view, and Fig. 2 shows the embodiment in a partial frontal view. Figures 1 and 2 show an embodiment of the system according to the invention purely by way of example. System 1 comprises a household appliance 3 with an appliance door 4 and a piece of furniture 6 with a receiving space 8 for the household appliance 3 and a furniture door 10 that can be moved back and forth between a closed position and an open position, wherein a receiving space opening 12 of the receiving space 8 with the household appliance 3 fully arranged therein is concealed by the furniture door 10 in the closed position of the furniture door 10 and in the open position of the furniture door 10 access to the receiving space 8 by means of the receiving space opening 12 by a user of system 1 (not shown), and wherein the furniture door 10 is arranged to transmit force to the appliance door 4. According to the invention, the furniture door 10 is arranged on the appliance door 4 by means of an adjustment device 14 of the system 1, wherein the adjustment device 14 is designed such that the furniture door 10 can be adjusted relative to the appliance door 4 in at least one spatial direction, namely in all three spatial directions, by means of the adjustment device 14 in an adjustment state and can be fixed in this position in a fixed state of the adjustment device 14. The possible adjustments of the spatial position of the furniture door 10 relative to the appliance door 4 by means of the adjustment device 14 are indicated by dashed lines in Figures 1 and 2. In principle, it is conceivable that the adjustment device is designed in such a way that the furniture door can be adjusted relative to the appliance door in at least one spatial direction purely mechanically, preferably without tools. In the present embodiment, however, the adjusting device 14 is designed such that the furniture door 10 is adjustable electromechanically in all three spatial directions relative to the appliance door 4, namely by means of at least one electric motor of system 1 (not shown). The adjusting device 14 has four joints (not shown) for adjusting the furniture door 10 relative to the appliance door 4 in all three spatial directions, wherein each of the joints is movable in an adjusting state of the adjusting device 14 and rigid in a fixed state of the adjusting device 14. The joints are each designed as a joint head mounted in a joint socket. The adjusting device 14 can, for the purpose of adjusting the furniture door 10 relative to the appliance door 4 in all three spatial directions, alternatively or additionally to the aforementioned joints, have at least one gear pair and / or at least one gear and rack and / or at least one threaded rod and / or at least one cable pull. In the present embodiment, the adjusting device 14 is essentially arranged at the center of gravity of a functional group formed by the appliance door 4 and the furniture door 10. See Fig. 1. The functioning of the system according to the invention, as described in the present embodiment, is briefly explained below with reference to Fig. 1 and Fig. 2. First, the household appliance 3 is installed in the receiving space 8 of the furniture 6 in a manner known to a specialist. Then, the furniture door 10 is connected to the appliance door 4 by means of the adjusting device 14, so that the furniture door 10 is attached to the appliance door 4 by means of the adjusting device 14. It is possible that, for example, due to unavoidable component and manufacturing tolerances, a gap may form between the furniture door 10 and a part of the furniture 6, which is either functionally and / or visually problematic. This means that the aforementioned gap, not shown, may, for example, impair the movement of the furniture door 10 from its closed to its open position and vice versa, and / or affect the overall visual appearance of the furniture 6, namely the furniture front visible to the user of system 1. This invention provides a solution. By means of the invention, it is now possible during the assembly of system 1 to correct the aforementioned gap as desired using the adjusting device 14 in its adjusted position, and subsequently to fix the furniture door 10 in its corrected position relative to the appliance door 4, and thus relative to the rest of the furniture 6, in the fixed position of the adjusting device 14. In the present embodiment, this can be carried out very flexibly, since the adjusting device 14 allows the furniture door 10 to be adjusted relative to the appliance door 4 in all three spatial directions. See also Figs. 1 and 2 with the arrows 16, which symbolize these adjustment options. Should it subsequently become necessary, i.e., after the aforementioned initial adjustment, to readjust the furniture door 10 located on the appliance door 4, the furniture door 10 can be adjusted relative to the appliance door 4 in the manner described above and fixed in the position then set. The invention is not limited to the present embodiment. See, for example, the relevant explanations in the introduction and in the description of the embodiment. In contrast to the described embodiment, it is also conceivable that the adjusting device and a hinge device of the appliance door for pivoting the appliance door on a rest of the household appliance are designed and arranged in such a way that the furniture door can be adjusted relative to the appliance door in at least two spatial directions by means of the joint use of the adjusting device and the hinge device.

Claims

System (1) comprising a household appliance (3) with an appliance door (4) and a piece of furniture (6) with a receiving space (8) for the household appliance (3) and a furniture door (10) that can be moved back and forth between a closed position and an open position, wherein a receiving space opening (12) of the receiving space (8) with the household appliance (3) fully arranged therein is concealed by the furniture door (10) in the closed position of the furniture door (10) and in the open position of the furniture door (10) access to the receiving space (8) by a user of the system (1) is enabled by means of the receiving space opening (12), and wherein the furniture door (10) is arranged to transmit force to the appliance door (4), wherein the furniture door (10) is arranged on the appliance door (4) by means of an adjusting device (14) of the system (1), wherein the adjusting device (14) is designed such thatthat the furniture door (10) can be adjusted in at least one spatial direction relative to the appliance door (4) by means of the adjusting device (14) in an adjusting state of the adjusting device (14) and can be fixed in this position in a fixing state of the adjusting device (14), characterized in that the adjusting device (14) is designed such that the furniture door (10) can be adjusted in at least one spatial direction relative to the appliance door (4) by means of an electric motor of the system (1). System according to claim 1, characterized in that the adjustment device is designed such that the furniture door is adjustable relative to the appliance door in at least one spatial direction purely mechanically, preferably without tools. System (1) according to one of claims 1 or 2, characterized in that the adjusting device (14) for adjusting the furniture door (10) relative to the appliance door (4) in at least one spatial direction has at least one joint, preferably a plurality of joints, wherein the at least one joint is movable in the adjusting state of the adjusting device (14) and rigid in the fixed state of the adjusting device (14). System (1) according to claim 3, characterized in that at least one of the at least one joint is designed as a joint head mounted in a joint socket. System (1) according to claim 3, characterized in that all joints of a plurality of joints are each designed as a joint head mounted in a joint socket. System (1) according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the adjusting device (14) for adjusting the furniture door (10) relative to the appliance door (4) in at least one spatial direction has at least one gear pair and / or at least one gear and rack and / or at least one threaded rod and / or at least one cable pull. System (1) according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the adjusting device (14) is arranged substantially at a center of gravity of a functional group formed from the appliance door (4) and the furniture door (10). System according to one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the adjusting device and a hinge device of the appliance door for pivoting the appliance door on a remainder of the household appliance are designed and arranged in such a way that the furniture door can be adjusted relative to the appliance door in at least two spatial directions by means of the common use of the adjusting device and the hinge device. System (1) according to one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the adjusting device (14) or the adjusting device and the hinge device is / are designed such that the furniture door (10) can be adjusted in all three spatial directions relative to the appliance door (4) by means of the adjusting device (14) or by joint use of the adjusting device and the hinge device.

Images