Method for operating a domestic appliance and domestic appliance

Abstract

The invention relates to a household appliance (2) comprising a control unit (4), a treatment chamber (6), a door (10) pivotable between a closed position and an open position for closing a treatment chamber opening (12) of the treatment chamber (6) in its closed position and for accessing the treatment chamber (6) by means of the treatment chamber opening (12) in its open position, a drawer (14) arranged on the treatment chamber (6) for holding a separate accessory of the household appliance (2), wherein the drawer (14) can be moved back and forth between a retracted position, in which the drawer (14) is completely received in the treatment chamber (6), and an extended position, in which the drawer (14) is at least partially extended out of the treatment chamber (6), depending on an opening angle of the door (10), characterized in that the household appliance (2) has a drive device (16) connected to the control unit (4) via signal transmission.wherein the drive device (16) is designed such that the extension (14) can be automatically moved back and forth between its inserted position and its extended position by means of an electric motor (18) of the drive device (16) depending on the opening angle of the door (10). Furthermore, the invention relates to a system and a method for operating a household appliance (2).

Description

[0001] The invention relates to a household appliance according to the preamble of patent claim 1, a system with at least two household appliances of the same type and a method for operating a household appliance.

[0002] Such household appliances, methods for their operation, and systems are already known from the prior art in a variety of embodiments. EP 3 967 934 A1 discloses such a method according to the preamble of patent claim 1. For example, the other publications EP 0 147 815 A2 and DE 10 2011 051 669 A1, as well as DE 42 36 740 A1, disclose household appliances with drive devices for food supports.

[0003] The known household appliances comprise a control unit for controlling the household appliance, a housing, a treatment chamber arranged in the housing, a door which can be pivoted back and forth about a pivot axis between a closed position and an open position for closing a treatment chamber opening of the treatment chamber in its closed position and for accessing the treatment chamber via the treatment chamber opening in its open position, and a pull-out arranged on the treatment chamber for holding a separate accessory part of the household appliance, wherein the pull-out can be transferred back and forth in the open position of the door between an inserted position in which the pull-out is completely accommodated in the treatment chamber and an extended position in which the pull-out is at least partially extended out of the treatment chamber.

[0004] Further household appliances with a door that can be pivoted back and forth between the closed position and the open position about a pivot axis for closing a treatment room opening are known from the documents DE 10 2017 114 984 A1 and EP 0 521 251 B1.

[0005] The invention therefore addresses the problem of improving a method for operating a household appliance and a household appliance and thus, in particular, improving the convenience of operating the household appliance.

[0006] According to the invention, this problem is solved by a method for operating a household appliance having the features of patent claim 1 and a household appliance having the features of claim 4. Advantageous embodiments and further developments of the invention emerge from the following subclaims.

[0007] It is provided that a pull-out position of the pull-out depends on an opening angle of the door, in particular that the pull-out position of the pull-out, at least in a section between a closed position and an open position of the door, correlates with the opening angle of the door.

[0008] The advantage achievable with the invention lies in the fact that a household appliance, a system with at least two household appliances of the same type and a method for operating a household appliance are improved. Due to the inventive design of the household appliance, the system and the method for operating a household appliance, the operation of the household appliance, i.e. the ergonomics when operating the household appliance, is significantly improved. Firstly, the mechanical force required when pushing in and pulling out the pull-out drawer and a separate accessory part of the household appliance held on the pull-out drawer is eliminated. Secondly, the risk of injury to a user of the household appliance is significantly reduced because, for example, unlike when operating the pull-out drawer manually, the user does not come into unwanted contact with hot surfaces of the household appliance.Furthermore, the system according to the invention comprising at least two household appliances of the same type, which differ from one another, for example, only in their scaling, i.e. in their dimensions, enables a modular construction, so that the individual household appliance of the system according to the invention can be manufactured more cost-effectively, since identical drive devices can be used for the aforementioned plurality of household appliances of the same type.

[0009] In principle, the type, mode of operation, material, and dimensions of the household appliance according to the invention can be freely selected within wide, suitable limits. For example, the household appliance according to the invention can be an oven or other cooking appliance. However, it is also conceivable that the invention can be advantageously used with other types of household appliances. By way of example, reference is made here solely to dishwashers or refrigerators. Accordingly, the design of the separate accessory part of the household appliance held on the pull-out can also be freely selected within wide, suitable limits. For example, if the household appliance is designed as an oven or the like, the separate accessory part can be a baking tray or a wire rack.

[0010] An advantageous development of the household appliance according to the invention provides that the drive device has a sensor for directly or indirectly determining the opening angle of the door, wherein the electric motor of the drive device can be controlled depending on an output signal from the sensor. In this way, a direct correlation can be established between the opening angle of the door on one side and the movement of the drawer on the other side.

[0011] An advantageous development of the aforementioned embodiment of the household appliance according to the invention provides that the door is pivotably mounted on the housing by means of a hinge, and the sensor is designed as a sensor operatively connected to the hinge, preferably as a displacement sensor. This allows the sensor technology to be implemented in a particularly simple manner in terms of design and manufacturing. This applies in particular to the preferred embodiment of this development. Instead of a displacement sensor, an angle sensor can also be used.

[0012] A further advantageous development of the household appliance according to the invention provides that the electric motor of the drive device is designed as a DC motor whose direction of rotation can be reversed by electrical polarity reversal. Such electric motors are particularly well suited for the conceivable applications and can be controlled very simply. Of course, the motor can also be designed as an AC motor with two coils.

[0013] According to the system according to the invention, an advantageous development of the method according to the invention provides that the method is designed in such a way that adaptation of the drive device to a plurality of household appliances of the same type but different in their scaling is possible only by means of the method.

[0014] A further advantageous development of the method according to the invention provides that a movement of the pull-out is coordinated with the pivoting movement of the door in such a way that the pull-out and the separate accessory part of the household appliance held on the pull-out are moved collision-free relative to the door in all operating states of the household appliance, preferably that when the door is transferred from its closed position to its open position, the transfer of the pull-out from its inserted position to its extended position starts with a first time delay relative to a start of the pivoting movement of the door and / or that when the pull-out is transferred from its extended position to its inserted position, the transfer of the door from its open position to its closed position starts with a second time delay relative to a start of the movement of the pull-out, particularly preferably,that the transfer of the pull-out from its inserted position to its extended position and vice versa takes place in at least three speed sections that immediately follow one another, with a speed in the first and third speed sections being lower than a speed in the second speed section. In this way, proper function of the pull-out and thus of the household appliance according to the invention is ensured in every operating state of the household appliance according to the invention. This applies particularly to the preferred and, in particular, to the particularly preferred embodiment of this development. Furthermore, the particularly preferred embodiment of this development offers the further advantage that, in addition to the aforementioned functional reliability, the pull-out can also be moved at a relatively high speed.

[0015] Another advantageous development of the method according to the invention provides that the method is designed in such a way that a blockage and / or an overload of the pull-out and / or the door is automatically detected during their respective movement by means of the drive device and, depending on this, the aforementioned movement of the pull-out and the door is automatically stopped. Preferably, this automatic detection takes place by measuring the current consumed by the electric motor. This, on the one hand, significantly increases the safety of a user of the household appliance according to the invention during the automatic movement of the pull-out and / or the door and, on the other hand, effectively prevents damage to the drive device and the pull-out and / or the door moved thereby.

[0016] An embodiment of the invention is shown purely schematically in the drawings and is described in more detail below. It shows Figure 1 shows an embodiment of the household appliance according to the invention in a partial, sectioned side view, with the door in its closed position, Figure 2 shows the embodiment in an analogous representation to Fig. 1 , with the door in its open position and Figure 3 a comparison of the movement of the pull-out and the movement of the door, each as a function of time.

[0017] In the Fig. 1 bis 3 an embodiment of the household appliance according to the invention for carrying out the method according to the invention is shown purely by way of example.

[0018] The household appliance 2 is designed as a household oven and comprises a control unit 4 for controlling the household appliance 2, a housing (not shown), a treatment chamber 6 arranged in the housing and designed as a cooking chamber, a Fig. 1 shown closed position and one in the Fig. 2 shown opening position about a pivot axis 8 pivotable door 10 for closing a treatment room opening 12 of the treatment room 6 in its closed position and for accessing the treatment room 6 by means of the treatment room opening 12 in its open position and a pull-out 14 arranged on the treatment room 6 for holding a separate accessory part, not shown, of the household appliance 2, wherein the pull-out 14 depending on an opening angle of the door 10 between a in the Fig. 1 shown insertion position, in which the pull-out 14 is completely accommodated in the treatment space 6, and one in the Fig. 2 shown pull-out position, in which the pull-out 14 is at least partially extended from the treatment room 6, can be moved back and forth.

[0019] According to the invention, the household appliance 2 has a drive device 16 connected to the controller 4 for signal transmission. The drive device 16 is designed such that the drawer 14 can be automatically moved back and forth between its inserted position and its extended position by means of an electric motor 18 of the drive device 16, depending on the opening angle of the door 10. In the present embodiment, the electric motor 18 of the drive device 16 is designed as a DC motor whose direction of rotation is reversible by electrical polarity reversal.

[0020] The drive device 16 further comprises a sensor 20 for indirectly determining the opening angle of the door 10, wherein the electric motor 18 of the drive device 16 can be controlled as a function of an output signal from the sensor 20. The door 10 is pivotally mounted on the housing by means of a hinge 22, and the sensor 20 is designed here as a sensor operatively connected to the hinge 22, namely such that the sensor 20 is designed as a displacement sensor.

[0021] Furthermore, the drive device 16 is designed such that the drive device 16 is suitable for a plurality of household appliances of the same type, wherein the individual household appliances of the same type differ from one another in their scaling. Accordingly, the Fig. 1 and 2The illustrated household appliance 2 according to the present embodiment is one of these household appliances of the same type, with which this household appliance 2 forms a system according to the invention. The other household appliances of these household appliances of the same type differ from the household appliance 2 only in their size, i.e., their dimensions. The drive device 16 can also be used in an identical manner in all other household appliances of the aforementioned plurality of household appliances of the same type in the system.

[0022] The functioning of the household appliance according to the invention and the method according to the invention according to the present embodiment are explained below with reference to Fig. 1 bis 3 explained in more detail.

[0023] Initially, the household appliance 2 is in an operating state according to the Fig. 1 The door 10 is in its closed position and the drawer 14 is in its retracted position. The opening angle of the door 10 is 0°.

[0024] During the automatic transfer of the door 10 from its closed position to its open position, initiated by a user (not shown), the opening angle of the door 10 increases continuously from 0° to 90°. See the Fig. 1 bis 3 in a synopsis. The respective opening angle of the door 10 is automatically determined by means of the sensor 20 and continuously forwarded to the controller 4 in the respective output signal of the sensor 20. By means of the controller 4, the electric motor 18 of the drive device 16 is controlled as a function of the output signal of the sensor 20 applied to the controller 4 and correlating to the opening angle of the door 10 in such a way that the electric motor 18 moves the pull-out 14 and thus a separate accessory (not shown) held by the pull-out 14 and designed as a baking tray from the Fig. 1 shown insertion position successively into the position shown in the Fig. 2 The user can now access the separate accessory in an ergonomically simple manner. For example, the user can remove the accessory, namely the baking tray, from the pull-out 14 or place a food item (not shown) on the accessory held on the pull-out 14. The door 10 is then automatically moved from its open position to its closed position. Analogous to the above explanations, the respective opening angle of the door 10 is automatically detected by the sensor 20 and the pull-out 14 with the separate accessory held on it is moved from its extended position to its inserted position depending on the output signal of the sensor 20 applied to the control 4.

[0025] The movements of the pull-out 14 are coordinated with the pivoting movements of the door 10 during its above-mentioned transfers in such a way that the pull-out 14 and the separate accessory part of the household appliance 2 held on the pull-out 14 are moved collision-free relative to the door 10 in all operating states of the household appliance 2, wherein when the door 10 is transferred from its closed position to its open position, the transfer of the pull-out 14 from its inserted position to its extended position starts with a first time delay relative to a start of the pivoting movement of the door 10, and that when the pull-out 14 is transferred from its extended position to its inserted position, the transfer of the door 10 from its open position to its closed position starts with a second time delay relative to a start of the movement of the pull-out 14,and wherein the transfer of the drawer 14 from its inserted position to its extended position and vice versa in the present embodiment takes place in at least three speed sections immediately following one another, wherein a speed in the first and third speed sections is lower than a speed in the second speed section. See the , Fig. 3 , in which a path-time diagram of the drawer 14 is shown in the upper image plane and an opening angle-time diagram of the door 10 is shown in the lower image plane. As can be seen from the Fig. 3 As can also be seen, the individual speed sections flow seamlessly into one another. However, it is also conceivable that in other embodiments, the curve corresponding to the movement of the extension is designed in a more stepped, i.e., more angular, manner.

[0026] Instead of an automatic pivoting movement of the door, other embodiments of the invention may provide for the door to be moved manually by the user. It should be noted that in this case, the transfer of the drawer from its extended position to its retracted position can only be initiated at the earliest at the same time as the pivoting movement of the door to transfer the door from its open position to its closed position.

[0027] Furthermore, the method in the present exemplary embodiment is designed in such a way that adaptation of the drive device 16 to the aforementioned plurality of household appliances of the same type but different in their scaling is possible solely by means of the method. See also the relevant above explanations.

[0028] Furthermore, the method is designed in such a way that a blockage and / or an overload of the pull-out 14 and / or the door 10 is automatically detected during their respective movement by means of the drive device 16 and, depending thereon, the aforementioned movement of the pull-out 14 and the door 10 is automatically stopped, wherein this automatic detection takes place by means of a measurement of the current consumed by the electric motor 18.

[0029] Due to the inventive design of the household appliance 2, the system, and the method for operating a household appliance 2, the operation of the household appliance 2, i.e. the ergonomics when operating the household appliance 2, is significantly improved. Firstly, the mechanical force required when inserting and removing the pull-out drawer 14 and a separate accessory part of the household appliance 2 held on the pull-out drawer 14 is eliminated. Secondly, the risk of injury to the user of the household appliance 2 is significantly reduced because, for example, unlike when manually operating the pull-out drawer 14, the user does not come into unwanted contact with hot surfaces of the household appliance 2.Furthermore, the system explained above, comprising at least two household appliances of the same type, which differ from one another, for example, only in their scaling, i.e. in their dimensions, enables a modular construction, so that the individual household appliance of the system according to the invention can be manufactured more cost-effectively, since identical drive devices can be used for the aforementioned plurality of household appliances of the same type.

[0030] In contrast to the exemplary embodiment, it can be provided, for example, that the respective speed in the individual speed sections for the movement of the pull-out can be pre-adjusted by the user within reasonable and suitable limits. Accordingly, the user can individualize the method according to the invention within the aforementioned limits, thus further improving the ease of use of the household appliance according to the invention.

Claims

1. Method for operating a domestic appliance (2), wherein the domestic appliance (2) comprises a control means (4) for controlling the domestic appliance (2), a housing, a processing chamber (6) arranged in the housing, a door (10) pivotable back and forth about a pivot axis (8) between a closed position and an open position for closing a processing chamber opening (12) of the processing chamber (6) in its closed position and for accessing the processing chamber (6) via the processing chamber opening (12) in its open position, a pull-out (14) arranged on the processing chamber (6) for mounting a separate accessory part of the domestic appliance (2), wherein the pull-out (14) can be transferred back and forth in the open position of the door (10) between a slide-in position, in which the pull-out (14) is completely accommodated in the processing chamber (6), and a pulled-out position, in which the pull-out (14) is at least partially protruding out of the processing chamber (6), wherein the domestic appliance (2) has a drive device (16) connected to the control means (4) in a signal-transmitting manner, wherein a pulled-out position of the pull-out (14) depends on an opening angle of the door (10), wherein the drive device (16) is designed such that, depending on the opening angle of the door (10), the pull-out (14) can be automatically transferred back and forth between its slide-in position and its pulled-out position by means of an electric motor (18) of the drive device (16), wherein the pull-out (14) is automatically transferred back and forth between its slide-in position and its pulled-out position by means of the electric motor (18) of the drive device (16) depending on the opening angle of the door (10), characterised in that the pulled-out position of the pull-out (14), at least in a portion between a closed position and an open position of the door (10), correlates with the opening angle of the door (10), the movement of the pull-out (14), when transferring the pull-out (14) from its slide-in position to its pulled-out position and vice versa, takes place in at least three speed stages which immediately follow one another, wherein the pull-out (14) is moved at a lower speed in the first and third speed stage than in the second speed stage.

2. Method according to claim to the preceding claim, wherein a movement of the pull-out (14) is coordinated with the pivoting movement of the door (10) in such a way that the pull-out (14) and the separate accessory part of the domestic appliance (2) mounted on the pull-out (14) are moved collision-free relative to the door (10) in all operating states of the domestic appliance (2), preferably that when the door (10) is transferred from its closed position to its open position, the transfer of the pull-out (14) from its slide-in position to its pulled-out position starts with a first time delay relative to a start of the pivoting movement of the door (10) and / or that when the pull-out (14) is transferred from its pulled-out position to its slide-in position, the transfer of the door (10) from its open position to its closed position starts with a second time delay relative to a start of the movement of the pull-out (14).

3. Method according to claim to the preceding claim, wherein the method is suitably designed in such a way that a blockage and / or an overload of the pull-out (14) and / or the door (10) is automatically detected when they are each moved by means of the drive device (16) and, depending thereon, the aforementioned movement of the pull-out (14) and the door (10) is automatically stopped, preferably that this automatic detection takes place by means of a measurement of the current consumed by the electric motor (18).

4. Domestic appliance (2) which is arranged and designed to carry out the method according to any of the preceding claims.

5. Domestic appliance (2) according to the preceding claim, wherein the drive device (16) has a sensor (20) for directly or indirectly determining the opening angle of the door (10), wherein the electric motor (18) of the drive device (16) can be controlled depending on an output signal of the sensor (20).

6. Domestic appliance (2) according to the preceding claim, wherein the door (10) is pivotally mounted on the housing by means of a hinge (22) and the sensor (20) is designed as a sensor (20) operatively connected to the hinge (22), preferably that the sensor (20) is designed as a displacement or angle sensor.

7. Domestic appliance (2) according to any of the three preceding claims, wherein the electric motor (18) of the drive device (16) is designed as a direct current motor, the direction of rotation of which is reversible by electrical polarity reversal.

8. Domestic appliance (2) according to any of the four preceding claims, wherein the domestic appliance (2) is designed as a cooking appliance in which the processing chamber (6) is a cooking chamber.

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