Refrigerator with a glass door

Abstract

A cooling appliance, in particular a household refrigerator, comprises a glass door (1) with two panes of glass (3, 4) and a spacer (5) for separating the two panes (4, 5). The spacer (5) has four sections, and the two panes (3, 4) and the spacer (5) enclose a space between the panes (6). The inner surface (7) of the spacer, facing the space between the panes (6), is spaced from an inner wall (12) of the usable space (8) along one or more of the four sections by a distance (A) of a maximum of 15 mm. Furthermore, the glass door (1) comprises a door frame having four interconnected frame elements.

Description

Field of invention

[0001] The invention relates to a refrigerator, in particular a household refrigerator, with a glass door. The glass door comprises a first glass pane and a second glass pane, with a space between the first and second glass panes. The glass door further comprises a spacer for separating the first and second glass panes. The spacer has a rectangular frame shape with four sections: a door handle section, a hinge section, a top section, and a bottom section. The spacer directly surrounds the space between the glass panes and has an inner surface facing the space between the glass panes. The refrigerator also comprises a compartment wall with an inner surface facing the compartment.

[0002] The invention also relates to a cooling appliance with a glass door which includes a rectangular door frame. background

[0003] Refrigerators for storing wine bottles often feature a glass door. This allows the user to view their wine collection even when the door is closed. For good thermal insulation, glass doors are typically fitted with double or triple glazing. Two panes of glass enclose a space between them filled with air or another gas, such as a noble gas. These gases have particularly low thermal conductivity and therefore provide excellent insulation. The absence of water vapor in the space between the panes also prevents unwanted condensation within the enclosed volume. Thermal insulation at the frame of the glass door is more challenging. If the thermal conductivity of the frame is too high, condensation will form there, which is undesirable. This problem is exacerbated by higher ambient humidity.A refrigerator intended for use in a tropical climate therefore requires a special design for the glass door frame.

[0004] US 2021 / 095915 shows a refrigerator with three side panels and a door, all of which have a large, transparent glass panel, allowing people to see inside the refrigerator from all sides. The door has double glazing on the inside and another pane of glass on the outside.

[0005] WO 2015 / 084792 shows a refrigerator with a glass door. The glass door comprises three panes of glass, which are spaced apart from each other by means of spacers.

[0006] JP H11 281236 shows a refrigerator with a door at the front. This door includes double glazing, which is fixed by a frame.

[0007] EP 1 842 016 shows a refrigerator with a door that is triple glazed.

[0008] JP 2005 323830 shows a refrigerator used in shops as a refrigerated display case. The glass panes are spaced apart by means of a spacer. The side walls of the refrigerator have a frame at the front against which the glass door abuts via the magnetic seal. Description of the invention

[0009] The task therefore arises to provide a cooling device, in particular a household refrigerator, which is designed to be as suitable as possible for tropical conditions.

[0010] This problem is solved by the subject matter of the first independent claim. Accordingly, a cooling appliance, in particular a household refrigerator, comprises a glass door with a first pane of glass and a second pane of glass. The glass door thus has at least two panes of glass, which ensures particularly good thermal insulation of the glass door. In other words, it is at least double glazing, in particular triple glazing.

[0011] The glass door also includes a spacer that separates the first and second panes of glass. The spacer has a rectangular frame with four sections: a door handle section, a hinge section, a top section, and a bottom section. Normally, when viewed from the front in its installed state, the top section corresponds to the upper, horizontal section of the spacer, and the bottom section corresponds to the lower, horizontal section. The door handle section is a vertical section of the spacer located on the side of the door where the door handle is positioned. The hinge section is the vertical section of the spacer opposite the door handle section, located where the door hinge connects the glass door to the rest of the refrigerator.The spacer is also often referred to as an edge seal.

[0012] Furthermore, the glass door includes a space between the first and second panes of glass. This space may contain air or another gas, particularly a noble gas.

[0013] The spacer closes the gap between the two panes of glass and maintains the distance between them. It thus directly frames the gap. The side of the spacer that is in contact with the gap is called the inner side of the spacer.

[0014] Furthermore, the refrigeration unit includes a storage compartment. The goods to be cooled, especially wine bottles, are stored in this compartment. The storage compartment is enclosed by a wall. This wall and the glass door enclose the storage compartment. The [unclear] facing the storage compartment, dhThe inward-facing side of the usable space wall is referred to as the inside of the usable space wall.

[0015] When the glass door is closed, the inner surface of the room wall and the inner surface of the spacer have a maximum distance of 15 mm from each other along the hinge section, and in particular along the door handle section and / or the ceiling section and / or the floor section. Specifically, the inner surface of the room wall and the inner surface of the spacer are arranged parallel to each other.

[0016] A small gap between the inner wall of the refrigerator compartment and the inner surface of the spacer means that, when the door is closed, the spacer is positioned as far in front of the wall as possible, rather than in front of the refrigerator compartment itself. This places the spacer in a location on the glass door that is in contact with an already well-insulated area of ​​the rest of the refrigerator, namely the wall of the refrigerator compartment. Since the spacer is a good conductor of heat compared to the gas in the space between the glass and the door, positioning it in front of the wall of the refrigerator compartment minimizes condensation on the glass door.

[0017] The interior wall of the usable space is a flat surface and extends as a flat surface over at least 10 cm, in particular at least 20 cm, in particular at least 30 cm, in the depth direction of the usable space.

[0018] The wall of the usable space, which is not part of the glass door, is less than 5 cm, in particular less than 3 cm, in particular less than 2 cm, away from the spacer.

[0019] In addition, a frame heating system can be provided in the wall of the usable space, which also supplies heat to the spacer.

[0020] In a particular embodiment, the spacer touches the sides of the first and second panes facing the space between the panes along the entire frame shape. The spacer is thus a component positioned between the two panes of glass.

[0021] Advantageously, the distance between the inside of the usable space wall and the inside of the spacer along the door handle side and / or along the hinge side is a maximum of 10 mm, in particular a maximum of 5 mm, in particular a maximum of 3 mm.

[0022] On the handle side, the spacer can be positioned particularly well at the edge of the glass door because there are no other elements besides the handle on this side. To ensure that the spacer can be positioned as close to the edge as possible on the hinge side, the door hinge must be positioned to save space.

[0023] The interior wall of the usable space is advantageously a flat surface extending along the entire depth and / or height of the space. Accordingly, the wall in front of which the spacer is positioned is not merely a simple door stop, but rather the entire wall, designed to provide insulation along its entire depth or height, thus insulating the spacer. The term "flat surface" refers to an essentially flat surface and does not preclude the presence of features for mounting shelves / shelf rails or lighting fixtures.

[0024] In particular, the wall of the usable space comprises an insulating layer, especially insulating foam or a vacuum insulation panel, wherein the insulating layer is arranged adjacent to the inside of the wall of the usable space, and / or is spaced less than 7 cm, in particular less than 5 cm, in particular less than 3 cm, from the spacer. The short distance between the spacer and the insulating layer ensures that the spacer is well insulated and that condensation on the glass door can be prevented as far as possible.

[0025] In particular, the refrigerator includes a glass door, the glass door being enclosed within a rectangular door frame. This frame has four interconnected frame elements. That is, the door frame is not a single piece, but consists of at least four frame elements.

[0026] Specifically, the four frame elements consist of two side elements, a top element, and a bottom element. This design has the advantage that the height of the glass door can be changed by replacing the side elements while retaining the top and bottom elements.

[0027] The two side elements are advantageously extruded profiles, especially made of plastic. Extruded profiles are bodies with a constant cross-section of any length. This makes it particularly easy to produce side elements of different lengths and to apply them to glass doors of varying heights. In a particular embodiment, the top and bottom elements are injection-molded parts.

[0028] The four frame elements can be conveniently connected by simply slotting them together. This allows for particularly easy assembly.

[0029] Also protected is a first cooling unit and a second cooling unit, wherein the two side elements of the first cooling unit and the two side elements of the second cooling unit are of different lengths, and the ceiling element and / or the floor element of the first cooling unit and the second cooling unit are identically designed.

[0030] This allows the number of components required to be reduced when manufacturing cooling units of different sizes, because the ceiling element and / or the floor element can be used for side elements of different lengths and thus for cooling units of different heights. Brief description of the drawings

[0031] Further embodiments, advantages, and applications of the invention will become apparent from the dependent claims and from the following description with reference to the figures. These figures show: Fig. 1: a refrigerator viewed from the front with a view of a glass door; Fig. 1 AA: a first sectional view of the Fig. 1; Fig. 1 BB: a second sectional view of the Fig. 1 ; Fig. 1 CC: a third sectional view of the Fig. 1 ; Fig. 1 DD: a fourth sectional view of the Fig. 1 ; Fig. 2 a glass door in an exploded view; and Fig. 3 a glass door compared to the glass door of the Fig. 2 shorter side elements in assembled state. Method for implementing the invention

[0032] The Fig. 1 This image shows a refrigerator designed for storing wine bottles, viewed from the front. The refrigerator is depicted as it would be installed in a built-in setting. The glass door (1) with a door handle is visible. 2. The glass door 1 can be opened by pulling on the door handle 2, causing the glass door 1 to rotate on hinges located on the right side of the glass door 1. The same applies to the refrigerator. Fig. 1The left side is designated as the handle side, the right side as the hinge side, the top side as the ceiling side, and the bottom side as the floor side. Handleless versions are equally possible.

[0033] The construction of glass door 1 is shown using section view AA of the Fig. 1 The glass door 1 comprises a first glass pane 3, which is arranged on the front of the glass door 1, and a second glass pane 4, which is arranged on the inside of the glass door 1. The two glass panes 3 and 4 are separated from each other by means of a spacer 5. The spacer 5 is arranged between the two glass panes 3 and 4 and touches the respective inside surfaces 3a, 4a of the two glass panes 3 and 4. 4. In the case of triple glazing, two spacers 5 are required. The middle pane is preferably positioned centrally.

[0034] The spacer 5 and the two glasses 3 and 4 enclose a space between the glasses. 6. This glass cavity 6 is filled with a transparent medium, for example, dry air or a noble gas. The spacer 5 directly surrounds the glass cavity 6. dh It is in direct contact with the medium poured into the space between the glass panes 6. The side of the spacer 5 that faces the space between the glass panes and is therefore in contact with the poured medium is referred to as the inner side of the spacer 7.

[0035] The spacer 5 extends along the entire circumference of both glasses 3 and 4. It forms a rectangular frame shape, as indicated by a dashed line in the Fig. 1The rectangular spacer 5 is shown schematically. It comprises four sections, namely a door handle section 5a, a hinge section 5b, a ceiling section 5c and a floor section 5d.

[0036] The glass door 1 closes off a storage compartment 8 intended for refrigerated items, which is bounded by a storage compartment wall 9. The storage compartment 8 is thus completely enclosed by the storage compartment wall 9 and the glass door 1. A magnetic door seal 11 is provided at the contact surface 10 between the glass door 1 and the storage compartment wall 9. This ensures that the transition from the glass door 1 to the storage compartment wall 9 is thermally insulated as effectively as possible. The side of the storage compartment wall 9 facing the storage compartment 8 is referred to as the interior side 12 of the storage compartment wall. The storage compartment wall 9 includes an insulating layer 17 adjacent to the interior side 12 of the storage compartment wall, which consists of insulating foam. Alternatively, the insulating layer could also be a vacuum insulation panel or a composite of a vacuum insulation panel and insulating foam. Furthermore, the interior wall 12 of the usable space is a flat surface which extends along the entire depth T of the usable space 8.

[0037] It is clearly visible that the spacer 7 is positioned primarily in front of the interior wall 9 and thus as close as possible to the edge 1a of the glass door 1. The inner surface of the spacer 7 is therefore only 2 mm away from the inner surface 12 of the interior wall by a distance A. If the distance A were greater, the spacer 5 would overlap more with the interior space 8 and less with the interior wall 9. In such a case, condensation would preferentially form on the outer surface of the first glass 1, specifically at the location where the spacer 5 is positioned, in a humid climate. This is because the spacer 5 would create a thermal bridge between the humid environment and the cold interior space 8, keeping the outer surface 3b of the first glass 3 particularly cold and thus causing condensation to form.

[0038] In the present design, such condensation is prevented or at least reduced due to the small distance A. Since the spacer 5 is positioned largely directly in front of the interior wall 9, it forms only a very minor thermal bridge between the interior space 8 and the surroundings. In other words, the thermal bridge of the spacer 5 is insulated by the interior wall 9. Furthermore, a frame heater 16 can be placed in the interior wall 9, which allows a moderate heat input to the magnetic door seal 11 and consequently to the spacer 5.

[0039] Furthermore, the distance E between the spacer 5 and the insulation layer 17 is only 22 mm, and the distance F between the spacer 5 and the wall of the usable space 9 is only 11.5 mm. These short distances also contribute to ensuring that the spacer 5 is insulated as effectively as possible and that it does not form a thermal bridge between the usable space 8 and the humid environment.

[0040] In the sectional view AA of the Fig. 1 The distance A between the inner side of the spacer 7 and the inner side of the usable room wall 12 is shown along the door handle section 5a of the spacer 5. Sectional views BB, CC, and DD illustrate the respective distances along the hinge section 5b, along the ceiling section 5c, and along the floor section 5d. The respective distances are B = 4 mm, C = 14 mm, and D = 9 mm.The two glasses 3 and 4, the inner side of the spacer 7 and the inner side of the usable space wall 12 are each marked with reference numbers for better understanding.

[0041] The Figs. 2 and 3 show glass door 1 with a view to the rear, dh on the side facing the usable space 8. The glass door 1 comprises a rectangular door frame 13, the first glass 3, the second glass 4 and the frame-shaped spacer. 5. The door frame 13 has four interconnected frame elements, namely a ceiling element 13a, a floor element 13b and two side elements 13c.

[0042] The two side elements 13c are designed as extruded plastic profiles, dh They have an identical cross-section along their entire length. The ceiling element 13a and the floor element 13b are injection-molded plastic parts.

[0043] The ceiling element 13a and the floor element 13b each have extensions 14 on their sides, which can be inserted into openings 15 in the side elements 13c. This allows the four elements of the door frame 13 to be fitted together.

[0044] The Fig. 3 shows a glass door 1, which, in comparison to glass door 1 of the Fig. 2 shorter side elements 13c. However, the ceiling element 13a and the floor element 13b are not present in the glass doors 1 of the Figs. 2 and 3 identically designed. This simplifies the production of glass doors of different heights 1, because the ceiling element 13a and the floor element 13b are always identical and only the length of the side elements 13c needs to be adjusted.

[0045] While preferred embodiments of the invention are described in the present application, it should be clearly pointed out that the invention is not limited to these and can also be carried out in other ways within the scope of the following claims.

Claims

1. Refrigerator, in particular a domestic refrigerator, comprising a glass door (1) having - a first pane of glass (3) and a second pane of glass (4), - a spacer (5) for spacing the first pane of glass (3) and the second pane of glass (4) apart from each other, wherein the spacer (5) has a rectangular frame shape with four sections, a door handle section (5a), a hinge section (5b), a top section (5c) and a bottom section (5d), - a glass space (6) formed between the first glass pane (3) and the second glass pane (4), wherein the spacer (5) directly frames the glass space (6) and has a spacer inner side (7) facing the glass space (6), and the refrigerator further comprises a usable space wall (9) with a usable space wall inner side (12) facing a usable space (8), characterised in that the usable space wall inner side (12) and the spacer inner side (7) have a mutual distance (B) of at most 15 mm, wherein the usable space wall inner side (12) is a flat surface and extends as a flat surface over at least 10 cm in the depth direction of the usable space (8), wherein the usable space wall (8), which is not part of the glass door (1), is spaced less than 5 cm from the spacer (5).

2. Refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the spacer (5) contacts the sides (3a, 4a) of the first glass pane (3) and the second glass pane (4) facing the glass space (6) along the entire frame shape.

3. Refrigerator according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the distance (A) along the door handle side (5a) is a maximum of 10 mm, in particular a maximum of 5 mm, in particular a maximum of 3 mm.

4. Refrigerator according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the distance (B) along the hinge side (5b) is a maximum of 10 mm, in particular a maximum of 5 mm, in particular a maximum of 3 mm.

5. Refrigerator according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the usable space wall inner side (12) is a flat surface and extends as a flat surface - along the entire depth of the usable space (8), and / or - along the entire height of the usable space (8).

6. Refrigerator according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the interior wall (9) comprises an insulation layer (17), in particular an insulation foam and / or a vacuum insulation panel.

7. Refrigerator according to claim 6, wherein the insulation layer (17) is arranged adjacent to the usable space wall inner side (12).

8. Refrigerator according to claim 6 or 7, wherein the insulation layer (17) is spaced less than 7 cm, in particular less than 5 cm, in particular less than 3 cm, from the spacer (5).

9. Refrigerator according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the usable space wall inner side (12) extends as a flat surface over at least 20 cm, in particular at least 30 cm, in the depth direction of the usable space (8).

10. Refrigerator according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the usable space wall (8), which is not part of the glass door (1), is spaced less than 3 cm, in particular less than 2 cm, in particular less than 1.8 cm, from the spacer (5).

11. Refrigerator according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the glass door (1) comprises a rectangular door frame (13), and the door frame (13) has four interconnected frame elements (13a, 13b, 13c).

12. Refrigerator according to claim 11, wherein the four frame elements (13a, 13b, 13c) are two side elements (13c), a top element (13a) and a bottom element (13b).

13. Refrigerator according to claim 12, wherein the two side elements (13c) are extruded profiles.

14. Refrigerator according to claim 12 or 13, wherein the top element (13a) and the bottom element (13b) are injection-moulded parts.

15. A first refrigerator according to one of claims 11 to 14 and a second refrigerator according to one of claims 11 to 14, wherein - the two side elements (13c) of the first refrigerator and the two side elements (13c) of the second refrigerator are of different lengths, and - the top element (13a) and / or the bottom element (13b) of the first refrigerator and the second refrigerator are identically designed.

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