Gas cooking hob

Abstract

The invention relates to a gas cooking appliance with a housing and with a covering plate arranged spaced apart from the housing, an appliance internal space being thereby defined, in which a gas injector holder is mounted, which is fixed to the covering plate at a top of injector holder, and which gas cooking appliance has a positioning and fixing device arranged at a bottom of injector holder with at least a fixing screw screwed to the bottom of injector holder to fix the gas injector holder in a housing orifice and at least an engaging element fitting into a receiving element of the housing to position the gas injector holder relative to the housing. The fixing screw is fixed to the housing with a clip system, which is not provided to be demounted by traction but can be demounted when the fixing screw is unscrewed.

Description

[0001] The present invention relates to a gas cooking appliance with a housing and with a covering plate arranged spaced apart from the housing, an appliance internal space being thereby defined, in which a gas injector holder is mounted, which is fixed to the covering plate at a top of injector holder, and wherein the gas cooking appliance has a positioning and fixing device with at least a fixing screw screwed to a thread arranged in the bottom of injector holder to fix the gas injector holder in a housing orifice and at least an engaging element fitting into a receiving element of the housing to position the gas injector holder relative to the housing.

[0002] WO 2016071821 A1 describes a gas cooking appliance with a cooking hob housing, with a covering plate arranged spaced apart from the cooking hob housing, with a gas injector holder fixed to the covering plate, and with a positioning and fixing device to position the gas injector holder relative to an opening provided in the covering plate and to fix the gas injector holder to the cooking hob housing, wherein the covering plate is fixed to the cooking hob housing by means of the top of injector holder and the positioning and fixing device.

[0003] In view of this background, the object of the present invention is to provide an improved gas cooking appliance in relation to its repairability and assembly.

[0004] Therefore, a gas cooking appliance is proposed with a housing and with a covering plate arranged spaced apart from the housing, an appliance internal space being thereby defined, in which a gas injector holder is mounted, which is fixed to the covering plate at a top of injector holder, and wherein the gas cooking appliance has a positioning and fixing device with at least a fixing screw screwed to a thread arranged in the bottom of injector holder to fix the gas injector holder in a housing orifice and at least an engaging element fitting into a receiving element of the housing to position the gas injector holder relative to the housing. The fixing screw is fixed to the housing with a clip system, which is not provided to be demounted by traction but can be demounted when the fixing screw is unscrewed. This means that the injector holder is connected to the housing by means of the fixing screw, which is fixed to the housing with a clip system not provided to be demounted by traction, but the injector holder can be demounted when the fixing screw is unscrewed.

[0005] A ‘gas cooking appliance’ is understood to be a gas cooking hob provided to be fitted into a receiving opening in a kitchen worktop or a stove with an oven and a gas cooking hob integrated into a sole appliance. A ‘covering plate’ of the gas cooking appliance is understood to be the top plate of the appliance on which cooking is to take place and having a top surface external to the appliance on which gas burners and cooking vessel supports are usually arranged. The appliance can have one or several gas burners. The covering plate has openings through which the burners are connected with their respective injector holders, through which gas led through the gas collecting pipes flows in and is mixed with the air required for the combustion. The covering plate is joined at least over a part of its perimeter with at least a part of the perimeter of the housing, thereby defining an internal space in which a part of the functional elements of the appliance such as gas collecting pipes, gas taps and injector holders are arranged. The injector holders are fixed at their top to the covering plate and at their bottom to the housing and, to this, the injector holders have at their bottom a positioning and fixing device by means of which two functions can be simultaneously performed. On the one hand, the gas injector holder can be positioned relative to the housing and firmly fixed to the same and, in addition to this, the injector holder can be likewise positioned with respect to the covering plate, thereby correctly facing the opening. The positioning and fixing device has, in the housing, an orifice and a receiving element and, in the injector holder, it has a thread and an engaging element as well as a threaded screw screwed in the thread with its screw head pressed into the orifice and the engaging element connected with the receiving element, thereby defining a fixed position of the injector holder relative to the housing. The fixation of the injector holder to the housing is achieved by press fitting the screw into the orifice in such a manner that the screw remains locked in the same and cannot be pressed out or extracted by traction without damages and / or deformation in the housing or in the screw being caused. The screw can be unscrewed by accessing it from outside the appliance to easily demount the injector holder. Thus, a fixed or unmovable connection of the injector holder with the housing is achieved in a preferred manner. In this way, additional fixing elements to fix them can be dispensed with. In this manner, costs and complexity of the assembly and disassembly when the gas cooking appliance is manufactured or repaired are reduced and a quick assembly with no tools is possible.

[0006] In a preferred embodiment, the fixing screw has a screw axis, which is screwed in a thread of the bottom of injector holder, a screw neck and a screw head rounded to facilitate the insertion into the housing orifice having a bigger diameter than the screw neck. A ‘rounded screw head’ is understood to be a head that can be from spherical to lenticular in such a manner that insertion into the orifice is facilitated.

[0007] Furthermore, the orifice can have a perimeter with a bigger diameter than the biggest diameter of the screw head and at least three elastic lugs extend from the perimeter and into the orifice, whose ends delimit an orifice diameter smaller than the biggest diameter of the screw head. Due to this, lugs can bend outwards due to the pushing of the screw head and return to their original position when the biggest diameter of the head has passed.

[0008] The screw can be screwed into the thread in such a manner that the head protrudes from the bottom of injector holder. The insertion of the same into the orifice is thereby facilitated. Furthermore, the ends of the lugs surround the screw neck in such a manner that the injector holder is locked in the housing. And the lugs are preferably oriented towards outside the appliance internal space in such a manner that they prevent the injector holder from moving backwards unless a force much higher than the assembly force is exerted and the housing gets damaged. Therefore, its demounting consists in unscrewing the screw. This facilitates the repairability of the appliance by the technical service, since it can be mounted again without being damaged.

[0009] In a preferred embodiment, the receiving element of the housing is a groove or through-hole and the engaging element is a protuberance of the bottom of injector holder, which is inserted into the groove or the through-hole. This is a simple manner to provide the positioning and fixing device with a simplified and low-cost positioner of the injector holder relative to the housing.

[0010] Furthermore, if one of the engaging elements protrudes from the gas injector holder to a greater extent than the screw head in the direction towards the housing, during the assembly of the injector holder moving towards the housing, the first thing the assembler will have to do is to position the engaging element into the receiving element. Subsequently, he / she will insert the screw head into the orifice, thereby leaving the injector holder properly positioned and fixed in the housing. Depending on the size of the injector holder, it might be advantageous that the positioning and fixing device has at least a fixing screw and at least two engaging elements, so that it stays positioned and fixed without any problems.

[0011] It is also provided that the gas injector holder is made in one piece of cast aluminium, so that the engaging elements and the position of the thread, which will be processed in a later production step, can be obtained in one piece.

[0012] Preferably, the housing has a connecting part comprising the at least one orifice and the at least one receiving element and the connecting part is inserted into the appliance internal space in such a manner that neither the screw head nor the end of the engaging element protrudes from a housing external surface. Thus, the housing made of a sheet has a shaping forming the connecting part that is inserted into the appliance internal space and, in this way, with the injector holder being installed, neither the screw nor the engaging element protrudes beyond the housing external surface. The housing external surface is the lowest surface of the appliance and, if it needs to rest on another surface during the installation or uninstallation of the same, neither the screw head nor the engaging element will contact said surface. This is easily realisable when the housing is made of a metal sheet.

[0013] The invention can be applied in a gas cooking appliance with all types of a covering plate, but it is particularly interesting when the covering plate is a glass, ceramic or glass-ceramic plate, since the correct positioning of the injector holder favours the reduction of stresses in the connection between the top of injector holder and the covering plate and, therefore, the risk of breakage. And, preferably, the top of injector holder is fixed, in particular screwed, to the covering plate.

[0014] The gas cooking hob is explained subsequently more in detail by means of preferred embodiments, making reference to the attached figures.

[0015] FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a gas cooking appliance;

[0016] FIG. 2 shows a perspective and exploded view of the gas cooking appliance from FIG. 1;

[0017] FIG. 3 shows a perspective schematic view of an injector holder arranged on the housing;

[0018] FIG. 4 shows a schematic side section of the injector holder fixed to the housing according to FIG. 3;

[0019] FIG. 5 shows a perspective schematic view from the bottom of injector holder;

[0020] FIG. 6 shows a perspective schematic view of the connecting area of the housing with the orifices and receiving elements of the positioning and fixing device from the appliance internal space of the gas cooking appliance of the invention;

[0021] FIG. 7 shows a perspective schematic view of the connecting area of the housing with the orifices and receiving elements of the positioning and fixing device from outside the gas cooking appliance; and

[0022] FIG. 8 shows a perspective schematic view of the positioning and fixing device from outside the gas cooking appliance.

[0023] In the figures, the same elements or having the same function are provided with the same reference numerals, unless otherwise indicated.

[0024] FIG. 1 shows a gas cooking appliance 1 in the form of a gas cooking hob provided to be fitted into a receiving opening in a kitchen worktop. The gas cooking hob 1 can be a part of a household appliance and comprises a cooking hob housing 30 and a covering plate 20 arranged spaced apart from the cooking hob housing 30. The covering plate is also called top plate. The covering plate 20 is a metal, glass, ceramic or glass-ceramic plate.

[0025] In the appliance top, the gas cooking hob 1 has a covering plate 20 on which three gas burners 2 and two cooking vessel supports 3 are mounted. The covering plate 20 is connected at its bottom with the housing 30, thereby defining the appliance internal space 10, in which a part of the functional elements of the appliance such as the gas collecting pipes, the gas taps and the injector holders are arranged. Also the gas knobs 5 are arranged on the covering plate 20, so that the user can control the gas taps arranged in the appliance internal space 10 under the covering plate 20.

[0026] FIG. 2 shows a perspective of the same gas cooking hob 1 from FIG. 1 in a schematic exploded representation in which the external components are separate and the three gas burners 2 and both cooking vessel supports 3 are shown spaced away from the covering plate 20. The covering plate 20 has openings 21 to which the gas injector holders 40 are joined at the top of injector holder 41 from the appliance internal space 10. Inside each gas injector holder 40 there is at least one gas injector 6 into which gas flows being channelled by the gas collecting pipes and in which it is mixed with the air required for the combustion to take place. This gas-air mixture flows from the gas burners 2 placed on their respective gas injector holders 40 in an operating position like the one shown in FIG. 1 and the cooking vessel supports 3 are arranged on the gas burners 2 and rest on the covering plate 20.

[0027] FIG. 3 shows the housing 30 of the gas cooking appliance 1 and a part of the appliance internal space 10 in which a gas injector holder 40 is arranged. The gas injector holder 40 is connected at its bottom of injector holder 42 to the housing 30 in the connecting part 35 of the housing 30. The gas collecting pipe 4 is also shown, which is connected to the gas injector holder 40 through which gas is fed up to the injectors 6 and from these into the gas injector holder 40. The gas injector holder 40 has a top of injector holder 41 with which it is connected to the opening 21 at the inner face of the covering plate 20.

[0028] FIG. 4 shows a side section of a detail of the gas cooking appliance 1 of the invention in the area of the gas injector holder 40. In the section, it is shown how the gas injector holder 40 is fixed inside the appliance internal space 10 to the covering plate 20 at the top of injector holder 41 through the opening 21 and to the housing 30 at the bottom of injector holder 42 in its connecting part 35 by means of the positioning and fixing device 50. The positioning and fixing device 50 has a thread 56 made in the bottom of injector holder 42 on which a screw axis 53 of the fixing screw 51 is screwed. The screw head 55 extends through the housing 30 via the orifice 31 having lugs 32 locked on the screw neck 54, which block the displacement of the gas injector holder 40 towards the appliance internal space 10. The positioning and fixing device 50 also has on the bottom of injector holder 42 two engaging elements 52 fitted into corresponding receiving elements 33 of the housing 30. The movement of the gas injector holder 40 is thereby limited inside the appliance internal space 10. Inside the gas injector holder 40 there is an injector 6 into which gas flows through the gas collecting pipe 4. The connecting part 35 of the housing 30 is inserted into the appliance internal space 10 in such a manner that neither the screw head 55 nor the receiving elements 33 protrudes from the plane formed by the housing external surface 34.

[0029] FIG. 5 shows a perspective view of the bottom of the gas injector holder 40 with a part of the positioning and fixing device 50 of the gas cooking appliance 1 of the invention. At the bottom of injector holder 42 there are three engaging elements 52 and three threads 56 into one of which a fixing screw51 is screwed and from which its screw head 55 protrudes.

[0030] FIG. 6 shows the housing 30 from FIG. 3 without the gas injector holder 40 being mounted. Therefore, in the connecting part 35 of the housing 30, the receiving elements 33 and the orifice 31 with its lugs 32 slightly bent towards outside the housing 30 can be seen.

[0031] FIG. 7 shows in detail the connecting part 35 of the housing 30 from FIG. 6 but in a view from outside the gas cooking appliance 1 in which the receiving elements 33 and the orifice 31 with its lugs 32 slightly bent towards outside the housing 30 can be seen.

[0032] Finally, FIG. 8 shows another view of the connecting part 35 of the housing 30 from FIG. 7, in which the screw head 55 protrudes from the orifice 31 and the lugs 32 surround the screw neck 54, thereby preventing it from moving backwards through the orifice 31. The engaging elements 52 can be also seen being inserted into their corresponding receiving elements 33. In the shown embodiments, the receiving elements 33 are made as through-holes, but they could be shaped just by stamping on the housing 30, and the engaging elements are inserted, or the receiving elements could be stamped on the housing 30 and inserted into the appliance internal space 10 and connected into engaging elements made as notches in the bottom of injector holder 42.REFERENCE NUMERALS1 gas cooking appliance

[0034] 2 gas burner

[0035] 3 cooking vessel support

[0036] 4 gas collecting pipe

[0037] 5 gas knob

[0038] 6 injector

[0039] 10 appliance internal space

[0040] 20 covering plate

[0041] 21 opening

[0042] 30 housing

[0043] 31 orifice

[0044] 32 lugs

[0045] 33 receiving element

[0046] 34 housing external surface

[0047] 35 connecting part

[0048] 40 gas injector holder

[0049] 41 top of injector holder

[0050] 42 bottom of injector holder

[0051] 50 positioning and fixing device

[0052] 51 fixing screw

[0053] 52 engaging element

[0054] 53 screw axis

[0055] 54 screw neck

[0056] 55 screw head

[0057] 56 thread

Claims

1-12. (canceled)13. A gas cooking appliance, comprising:a housing;a covering plate arranged spaced apart from the housing to define an appliance internal space;a gas injector holder mounted in the appliance internal space and fixed to the covering plate at a top of the gas injector holder;a positioning and fixing device arranged at a bottom of the gas injector holder;a fixing screw screwed to the bottom of the gas injector holder to fix the gas injector holder in a housing orifice;a clip system designed to fix the fixing screw to the housing, the clip system designed such that the clip system cannot be demounted by traction but is capable of being demounted when the fixing screw is unscrewed; andan engaging element fitting into a receiving element of the housing to position the gas injector holder relative to the housing.

14. The gas cooking appliance according to claim 13, wherein the fixing screw includes a screw axis which is screwed in a thread of the bottom of the gas injector holder, a screw neck, and a screw head rounded to facilitate insertion into the housing orifice, said screw head defined by a diameter which is bigger than a diameter of the screw neck.

15. The gas cooking appliance according to claim 14, wherein the housing orifice has a perimeter of a diameter which is bigger than a biggest diameter of the screw head, the gas cooking appliance further comprising at least three elastic lugs extending from the perimeter and into the housing orifice, said at least three lugs having ends which delimit an orifice diameter smaller than the biggest diameter of the screw head.

16. The gas cooking appliance according to claim 15, wherein the at least three lugs are oriented towards outside the appliance internal space.

17. The gas cooking appliance according to claim 14, further comprising at least five lugs having ends which delimit the housing orifice and which surround the screw neck.

18. The gas cooking appliance according to claim 17, wherein the at least five lugs are oriented towards outside the appliance internal space.

19. The gas cooking appliance according to claim 13, wherein the receiving element of the housing is a groove or through-hole, and wherein the engaging element is a protuberance of the bottom of the gas injector holder, which protuberance is inserted into the groove or the through-hole.

20. The gas cooking appliance according to claim 13, further comprising a plurality of said engaging element, at least one of the plurality of said engaging element protruding from the gas injector holder to a greater extent than the screw head in a direction towards the housing.

21. The gas cooking appliance according to claim 13, wherein the positioning and fixing device comprises the fixing screw and at least two of said engaging element.

22. The gas cooking appliance according to claim 13, wherein the gas injector holder is made in one piece of cast aluminium.

23. The gas cooking appliance according to claim 13, wherein the housing comprises a connecting part designed to include the housing orifice and the receiving element, said connecting part being inserted into the appliance internal space in such a manner that neither the screw head nor an end of the engaging element protrudes from a housing external surface.

24. The gas cooking appliance according to claim 13, wherein the housing is made of a metal sheet.

25. The gas cooking appliance according to claim 13, wherein the covering plate is a glass, ceramic or glass-ceramic plate.

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