Refrigerating appliance with a crisper drawer

Abstract

A refrigerating appliance (100) is proposed for storing food products to be preserved. The refrigerating appliance comprises: a cabinet (105) for enclosing components of the refrigerating appliance; an inner liner (110) provided within said cabinet and defining a fresh food storage compartment (115) adapted to store fresh food products to be preserved; a door (120) for selectively closing the fresh food storage compartment, the door being openable for accessing the fresh food storage compartment; a crisper drawer (200-500) housed in said fresh food storage compartment, the crisper drawer having a drawer body (205-505) for storing fruits and / or vegetables and a drawer cover (210-510) for covering the drawer body, the drawer body being slidable in and out the fresh food storage compartment relative to the drawer cover. The inner liner comprises inner liner portions (135;140,145) configured to house the crisper drawer in the fresh food storage compartment and comprising: a support structure (135) for supporting the drawer cover; a guiding structure (140) below the support structure, and a mounting prearrangement (145), below the support structure, for mounting telescopic sliding rails.

Description

[0001] TITLE: REFRIGERATING APPLIANCE WITH A CRISPER DRAWER

[0002] DESCRIPTION

[0003] Technical field

[0004] The present disclosure generally relates to the field of refrigerating appliances, for domestic or professional use. Particularly, the present disclosure relates to a refrigerating appliance comprising a crisper drawer.

[0005] Background art

[0006] The background of the present disclosure is hereinafter introduced with the discussion of techniques relating to its context. However, even when this discussion refers to documents, acts, artifacts and the like, it does not suggest or represent that the discussed techniques are part of the prior art or are common general knowledge in the field relevant to the present disclosure.

[0007] A refrigerating appliance is an electrical appliance in which a refrigerating cycle of compression, condensation, expansion, and evaporation is repeated using refrigerant, to store food products at a low temperature.

[0008] A refrigerating appliance typically comprises a fresh food storage compartment (also referred to as fridge compartment) adapted to store fresh food products to be preserved, and a door for selectively closing the fridge compartment.

[0009] In order to obtain varying humidity and / or temperature storage zones to enhance the preservation of different food products, separately enclosed storage regions may be provided within the fridge compartment.

[0010] For example, fruits and / or vegetables should be isolated from direct contact with air flows, such as flows of warm or relatively warm air (for example, ambient air entering the fridge compartment upon door opening), which could have spoilage effects, and / or flows of dry or relatively dry air (for example, cooling air from a freezer compartment), which could have desiccating effects.

[0011] In order to isolate fruits and / or vegetables to maintain correct humidity and / or temperature for as long as possible, specialized storage receptacles, referred to as crisper drawers, may be housed within the fridge compartment. Summary

[0012] The Applicant has realized that in a conventional refrigerating appliance provided with a crisper drawer, the crisper drawer is received in a region of the fridge compartment (hereinafter, crisper region) where a predefined coupling mechanism allowing the crisper drawer to be coupled to the fridge compartment is provided.

[0013] Since the coupling mechanism essentially determines how the user interacts with the crisper drawer ( / .e., a user interface of the crisper region), the provision of coupling mechanism that is predefined at design and / or manufacturing level of the refrigerating appliance, determines no or substantially no possibility of configuration or reconfiguration of the user interface of the crisper region.

[0014] On the on hand, the difficulty or impossibility of changing the configuration of the user interface of the crisper region could be inefficient for the refrigerating appliance manufacturer, in that the refrigerating appliance manufacturer could be compelled to adapt the production lines to different coupling mechanisms.

[0015] On the other hand, the difficulty or impossibility of changing the configuration of the user interface of the crisper region could be frustrating for a user, for example in that the user cannot upgrade the configuration of user interface from a basic (for example, cheaper) configuration (such as a default configuration with which the refrigerating appliance was purchased) to a more sophisticated and advanced configuration at a later time after the purchase.

[0016] In view of the above, the Applicant has devised a refrigerating appliance with a high configurability and reconfigurability of the user interface of the crisper region of the fridge compartment.

[0017] A simplified summary of the present disclosure is herein presented in order to provide a basic understanding thereof; however, the sole purpose of this summary is to introduce some concepts of the disclosure in a simplified form as a prelude to its following more detailed description, and it is not to be interpreted as an identification of its key elements nor as a delineation of its scope.

[0018] An aspect of the present disclosure relates to a refrigerating appliance.

[0019] According to an embodiment, the refrigerating appliance is suitable for storing food products to be preserved.

[0020] According to an embodiment, the refrigerating appliance comprises a cabinet for enclosing components of the refrigerating appliance.

[0021] According to an embodiment, the refrigerating appliance comprises an inner liner provided within said cabinet and defining a fresh food storage compartment adapted to store fresh food products to be preserved.

[0022] According to an embodiment, the refrigerating appliance comprises a door for selectively closing the fresh food storage compartment, the door being openable for accessing the fresh food storage compartment.

[0023] According to an embodiment, the refrigerating appliance comprises a crisper drawer housed in said fresh food storage compartment.

[0024] According to an embodiment, the crisper drawer has a drawer body for storing fruits and / or vegetables and a drawer cover for covering the drawer body.

[0025] According to an embodiment, the drawer body is slidable in and out the fresh food storage compartment relative to the drawer cover.

[0026] According to an embodiment, the inner liner comprises inner liner portions configured to house the crisper drawer in the fresh food storage compartment.

[0027] According to an embodiment, the inner liner portions comprise a support structure for supporting the drawer cover, a guiding structure below the support structure, and a mounting prearrangement, below the support structure, for mounting telescopic sliding rails.

[0028] According to an embodiment, the crisper drawer is selected among: a first crisper drawer having the respective drawer body configured to slide on or in the guiding structure; a second crisper drawer having the respective drawer cover configured to allow the respective drawer body to slidably hang under the drawer cover; a third crisper drawer having the respective drawer body configured to sit on the telescopic sliding rails and to move according to a sliding of the telescopic sliding rails.

[0029] According to an embodiment, the drawer body of the second crisper drawer is configured to hang on the respective drawer cover.

[0030] According to an embodiment, the drawer body of the second crisper drawer is configured to hang on and slide in receiving grooves of the respective drawer cover.

[0031] According to an embodiment, the drawer body of the second crisper drawer is configured to hang on telescopic sliding arms of the second drawer cover and is slidable relative to the drawer cover according to a sliding of the telescopic sliding arms.

[0032] According to an embodiment, the support structure comprises bearing bars for bearing the drawer cover from below.

[0033] According to an embodiment, the support structure comprises a retainer structure for retaining a rear end of the drawer cover.

[0034] According to an embodiment, the guiding structure comprises receiving seats for slidably receiving corresponding coupling regions of the drawer body of the first crisper drawer.

[0035] According to an embodiment, the coupling regions have a profile substantially matching a profile of the receiving seats.

[0036] According to an embodiment, the drawer body of the second crisper drawer is the same as the drawer body of the third crisper drawer.

[0037] According to an embodiment, the drawer cover of the second crisper drawer comprises one or more fastening members configured to be fastened to at least part of the mounting prearrangement to stably fix the drawer cover to the inner liner and avoid undesired movements of the drawer cover during sliding of the respective drawer body.

[0038] According to an embodiment, the mounting prearrangement is located between the support structure and the guiding structure.

[0039] According to an embodiment, the inner liner portions are provided at a lower region of the fresh food storage compartment.

[0040] According to an embodiment, at least part of the inner liner portions is formed on and / or hosted in inwardly protruding sidewalls of the inner liner.

[0041] Brief description of the annexed drawings

[0042] These and other features and advantages of the present disclosure will be made apparent by the following description of an exemplary and non-limitative embodiment thereof; for its better intelligibility, the following description should be read referring to the attached drawings, wherein:

[0043] Figure 1A shows a perspective view of a refrigerating appliance according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0044] Figure 1 B shows a portion of an inner liner of the refrigerating appliance of Figure 1A according to embodiments of the present disclosure, and Figures 2-5 show crisper drawers of the refrigerating appliance of Figure 1 A according to respective embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0045] Detailed description of exemplary embodiments

[0046] With reference to the drawings, Figure 1A shows a perspective view of a refrigerating appliance 100 according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0047] In the following, only features of the refrigerating appliance 100 that are deemed relevant for the understanding of the present disclosure will be discussed, with well-known features and / or obvious variants thereof that will be omitted for the sake of conciseness.

[0048] In the following, when one or more features are introduced by the wording “according to an embodiment”, they are to be construed as features additional or alternative or optional to any features previously introduced, unless otherwise indicated and / or unless there is evident incompatibility among feature combinations.

[0049] In the following, directional terminology (for example, upper, lower, top, bottom, lateral, front, rear, longitudinal, transverse, vertical) associated with the refrigerating appliance 100 will be used only in connection with their orientation in the figures, which is assumed as its orientation of use ( / .e., the orientation taken when the refrigerating appliance 100 is installed in the user premises). Therefore, directional terminology should be under no circumstances construed in absolute terms.

[0050] In the following, the directional terminology is referred to mutually orthogonal reference directions X, Y, and Z, denoted as longitudinal direction X, transverse direction Y, and vertical direction Z (the X-Y plane identifying, for example, a plane where the refrigerating appliance 100, in use, is intended to rest).

[0051] According to an embodiment, the refrigerating appliance 100 is configured to store food products to be preserved.

[0052] According to an embodiment, the refrigerating appliance 100 is a stand-alone refrigerating appliance. Anyway, the present disclosure equivalently applies to built-in refrigerating appliances.

[0053] According to an embodiment, the refrigerating appliance 100 comprises a cabinet 105 for enclosing components (not shown) of the refrigerating appliance 100. Examples of components of the refrigerating appliance 100 comprise, but are not limited to, a compressor, an evaporator, a condenser, and a fan.

[0054] According to an embodiment, the cabinet 105 is substantially parallelepiped-shaped.

[0055] According to an embodiment, the refrigerating appliance 100 comprises an inner liner 110 provided within the cabinet 105.

[0056] According to an embodiment, the inner liner 110 defines or delimits a refrigerating compartment, such as a fresh food storage compartment (hereinafter, fridge compartment) 115 adapted to store fresh food products to be preserved.

[0057] According to an embodiment, the fridge compartment 115 is delimited by walls of the inner liner 110, such as a rear wall 11 OR (e.g., parallel to the X-Z plane), opposite lateral walls 110LI,110L2 (e.g., parallel to the Y-Z plane), and top 110T and bottom 110s2 walls (e.g., parallel to the X-Y plane).

[0058] According to an embodiment, the refrigerating appliance 100 comprises a door 120 (shown in an open position) for selectively closing the refrigerating compartment 115, the door 120 being openable for accessing the fridge compartment 115 (in a closed position the door 120 facing the rear wall 11 OR of the inner liner 110.

[0059] According to an embodiment, the inner liner 110 defines or delimits a further refrigerating compartment, such as a freezer compartment adapted to store food products to freeze or to keep frozen (the freezer compartment being not visible in the figure as it is covered by a respective door 125 in the closed position and openable for accessing the freezer compartment).

[0060] As will be apparent from the following discussion, the principles of present disclosure may be applied to refrigerating appliances provided with any number of refrigerating compartments. However, for the sake of exposition ease, the present disclosure will make exemplary reference to the fridge compartment 115.

[0061] According to an embodiment, the refrigerating appliance 100 may comprise, within the fridge compartment 115, one or more accessories for the organized positioning of the food products to be refrigerated, such as one or more shelves, and / or one or more bottle-holder components, and / or one or more drawers.

[0062] According to an embodiment, the refrigerating appliance 100 comprises a crisper drawer housed in the fridge compartment 115.

[0063] For the purposes of the present disclosure, a crisper drawer is a drawer intended for keeping fruits and / or vegetables crisp, particularly for isolating fruits and / or vegetables from the remainder of the fridge compartment 115 to maintain correct humidity and / or temperature within it for as long as possible.

[0064] Although in the following explicit reference is made to a crisper drawer intended to be housed in a fridge compartment, the principles of present disclosure equivalently apply to drawers intended to store other food products and / or to drawers intended to be housed in other refrigerating compartments (such as a freezer compartment).

[0065] In Figure 1A, the crisper drawer is illustrated by means of a generic representation, and is denoted by the number references 200-500. Indeed, as better discussed in the following, the crisper drawer may be selected ( / .e., may be one) among a set of crisper drawers including, but not limited to, the exemplary crisper drawer 200 illustrated in Figure 2, the exemplary crisper drawer 300 illustrated in Figure 3, the exemplary crisper drawer 400 illustrated in Figure 4, the exemplary crisper drawer 500 illustrated in Figure 5, and crisper drawers resulting from the combination of two or more of the exemplary crisper drawers 200-500 and / or of variants thereof.

[0066] With reference also to Figure 1 B, it shows the inner liner 110 according to embodiments of the present disclosure. Particularly, Figure 1 B shows a section of the inner liner 110 located in a region of the fridge compartment 115 (hereinafter, crisper region) intended to receive or house the crisper drawer.

[0067] According to an embodiment, the crisper region is located in a lower region of the fridge compartment 115. Nonetheless, the principles of present disclosure equivalently apply to crisper regions located in different regions of the fridge compartment (for example, a top region of the fridge compartment and / or an intermediate region of the fridge compartment between the top and bottom regions).

[0068] According to an embodiment, the crisper region is delimited, along the longitudinal direction X, by inwardly protruding sidewalls 11 Osi, 110s2 of the inner liner 110. According to an embodiment, each sidewall 110si,110s2 is formed as a thickened zone of a respective lateral wall 110LI,110L2 (the sidewall 110si being not visible in the figure).

[0069] According to an embodiment, the inner liner 110 comprises portions of the inner liner 110 (hereinafter, functional portions) configured to house, within the fridge compartment 115 (particularly, in the crisper region thereof), any of the crisper drawers of the set of crisper drawers ( / .e., the exemplary crisper drawers 200-500 and crisper drawers resulting from the combination of two or more of the exemplary crisper drawers 200-500 and / or of variants thereof). As better understood from the following discussion, the functional portions allow an interchangeability among the crisper drawers of the set of crisper drawers; this results in a number of user interfaces of the crisper region (hereinafter, crisper region interfaces) that may be freely and easily configurable and reconfigurable by a user and / or by a manufacturer of the refrigerating appliance 100.

[0070] For the purposes of the present disclosure, the functional portions are portions of the inner liner 110 formed in a single piece construction with the remainder of the inner liner (for example, during a same injection molding process, a same compression molding process, a same blow molding process, or a same thermoforming process), and locally shaping the inner liner 110 to carry out specific functions (in the considered example, the functional portions carry out the function of housing respective crisper drawers).

[0071] According to an embodiment, the functional portions are formed on the lateral walls 110n, 110L2, the functional portions (or at least a part thereof) being for example formed on or hosted in the sidewalls 110si,110s2. In the following, whenever functional portions formed on the lateral walls 110n, 110L2 are cited, it is meant to encompass both embodiments in which the functional portions (or at least a part thereof) are formed directly on the lateral walls 110n, 110L2 and embodiments in which the functional portions (or at least a part thereof) are formed on the sidewalls 110si,110s2 (when provided).

[0072] According to an embodiment, the functional portions comprise a support structure 135 for supporting the drawer cover (e.g., one or more of the drawer covers of the crisper drawers of the set of crisper drawers).

[0073] According to an embodiment, the support structure 135 comprises bearing bars 135B for bearing the drawer cover from below.

[0074] According to an embodiment, the bearing bars 135B comprise a pair of bearing bars each one formed on a respective lateral wall 110LI,110L2 (the bearing bar formed on the lateral wall 110n being not visible in the figure).

[0075] According to an embodiment, the bearing bars 135B extend each one along the transverse direction Y.

[0076] According to an embodiment, the bearing bars 135B substantially extend each one from the rear wall 110R to a relevant extent (e.g., more than half) of the respective lateral wall 11 OLI, 110L2 along the transverse direction Y.

[0077] According to an embodiment, the support structure 135 comprises end-stroke members 135s.

[0078] According to an embodiment, the end-stroke members 135s comprise a pair of endstroke members each one formed at a corner of a respective lateral wall 110LI,110I_2, in correspondence of a rear end of a respective bearing bar 135B (the end-stroke member formed at the corner of the lateral wall 110n being not visible in the figure), thereby advantageously preventing the drawer cover to abut against the rear wall 11 OR and damage it.

[0079] According to an embodiment, each end-stroke member 135s defines, together with the rear end of the respective bearing bar 135B, a bracket or clamp or retainer structure for retaining a rear end of the drawer cover.

[0080] According to an embodiment, the functional portions comprise a guiding structure 140.

[0081] According to an embodiment, the guiding structure 140 is located below the support structure 135.

[0082] According to an embodiment, the guiding structure 140 comprises a pair of lower guides 140L each one formed on a respective lateral wall 110LI,110L2, and a pair of upper guides 140u each one formed on a respective lateral wall 110n , 110L2 (the lower 140L and upper 140u guides formed on the lateral wall 11 OLI being not visible in the figure).

[0083] According to an embodiment, the guiding structure 140 defines seats (hereinafter, receiving seats) 140s for slidably receiving corresponding coupling regions of a drawer body (as better discussed in the following). According to an embodiment, each pair of lower 140L and upper 140u guides defines or delimits a respective receiving seat 140s ( / .e., a receiving seat 140s associated with or formed on the lateral wall 110n, and a receiving seat 140s associated with or formed on the lateral wall 1101.2) for receiving a corresponding coupling region of the drawer body (as better discussed in the following).

[0084] The receiving seats 140s advantageously provide a secure and cheap fit that keeps the crisper drawer in place during sliding, even when it is fully loaded.

[0085] According to an embodiment, the guiding structure 140 (particularly, the lower guides 140L) provide a barrier between the drawer body and the bottom wall 110B of the inner liner 110, thus preventing scratches and damage that could occur if the drawer body were to slide directly on the bottom wall 110B. According to an embodiment, the functional portions comprise a mounting prearrangement 145 for mounting telescopic sliding rails (not visible in this figure) to the inner liner 110. As better discussed in the following, the mounting prearrangement 145 may also cooperate with the drawer cover to improve a stability of the coupling between the drawer cover and the inner liner 110.

[0086] According to an embodiment, the mounting prearrangement 145 is located between the support structure 135 and the guiding structure 140.

[0087] According to an embodiment, the mounting prearrangement 145 comprises hollows (for example, blind hollows) for fastening (for example, by screwing or fitting or snap-fitting) corresponding fastening members (for example, fastening members of the telescopic sliding rails or fastening members of the drawer cover, as better discussed in the following). According to an embodiment, the mounting prearrangement 145 comprises one or more (for example, two) hollows 145H formed on the lateral wall 110n of the inner liner 110 and one or more (for example, two) hollows 145H formed on the lateral wall 110L2 of the inner liner 110.

[0088] According to an embodiment, the hollows 145H are in the form of recessed regions of the inner liner 110, extending, along the longitudinal direction X, from respective internal faces of the lateral walls 110LI,110L2 of the inner liner 110. According to an embodiment, as visible in Figure 1 B for the hollows 145H formed in the lateral wall 110n of the inner liner 110, the hollows 145H are in the form of recessed regions of the inner liner 110, protruding, along the longitudinal direction X, from respective external faces (opposite to the internal faces) of the lateral walls 110LI,110L2 of the inner liner 110, a depth of the hollows 145H ( / .e., an extent of the hollows 145H along the longitudinal direction X) being substantially defined by an extent of the recessed regions between the internal and external faces of the lateral walls 110n, 110L2 of the inner liner 110.

[0089] With reference to Figure 2, it shows a perspective view of a crisper drawer 200 according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0090] According to an embodiment, the crisper drawer 200 comprises a drawer body 205 for storing fruits and / or vegetables, and a drawer cover 210 for covering the drawer body 205, the drawer body 205 being slidable relative to the drawer cover 210.

[0091] According to an embodiment, the drawer body 205 is substantially parallelepipedshaped. According to an embodiment, the drawer body 205, or at least part thereof, may be made of, or comprise, plastic and / or glass and / or metal materials.

[0092] According to an embodiment, the drawer body 205 comprises a rear wall 205R (e.g., parallel to the X-Z plane and facing, in use, the rear wall 11 OR of the inner liner 110), lateral walls 205n ,205L2 (e.g., parallel to the Y-Z plane and respectively facing, in use, the lateral walls 110n, 110L2 of the inner liner 110), a bottom wall 205B (e.g., parallel to the X-Y plane and facing, in use, the bottom wall 110B of the inner liner 110), and a front wall 205F, the drawer body 205 being closed from above by the drawer cover 210.

[0093] According to an embodiment, the front wall 205F of the drawer body 205 acts as (or comprises) a handle of the drawer body 205 for allowing the user to move the drawer body 205 in and out the fridge compartment 115.

[0094] According to an embodiment, the drawer body 205 is configured to slide on or in the guiding structure 140.

[0095] According to an embodiment, the drawer body 205 is configured to sit on the lower guides 140L.

[0096] According to an embodiment, the drawer body 205 is configured to slide in the receiving seats 140s defined or delimited by the lower 140L and upper 140u guides.

[0097] According to an embodiment, the drawer body 205 comprises coupling regions 215 having a profile substantially matching a profile of the receiving seats 140s.

[0098] According to an embodiment, the coupling regions 215 comprise a coupling region provided at lateral wall 205LI of the drawer body 205, and a coupling region (not visible) provided at the lateral wall 205L2 of the drawer body 205.

[0099] According to an embodiment, the coupling regions 215 of the drawer body 205 are configured to fit the receiving seats 140s of the guiding structure 140, so as to allow slidable housing of the crisper drawer 200 within the fridge compartment 115. Thus, upon installation of the crisper drawer 200, i.e., when the crisper drawer 200 is received in the fridge compartment 115, a crisper region interface is obtained in which the drawer body 205 is slidable on (i.e., abutting on) the inner liner 110 relative to the drawer cover 210 in a guided manner.

[0100] According to an embodiment, the coupling regions 215 protrude from the respective lateral walls 205LI,205L2 of the drawer body 205 along the longitudinal direction X: thus, when the crisper drawer 200 is housed in the fridge compartment 115, a gap between the lateral walls 205LI,205I_2 of the drawer body 205 and the lateral walls 110LI,110L2 of the inner liner 110 is formed, which prevents scratches and damages of the drawer body 205 during its sliding.

[0101] According to an embodiment, the coupling regions 215 are formed in a single piece with the drawer body 205.

[0102] According to an embodiment, the drawer cover 210 comprises a flat or substantially flat cover plate 21 OP. According to an embodiment, the cover plate 21 OP, or at least part thereof, may be made of, or comprise, plastic and / or glass and / or metal materials.

[0103] According to an embodiment, the cover plate 21 OP is adapted (e.g., shaped and / or sized) to be borne, i.e., supported, at respective lateral edges thereof, by the bearing bars 135B of the support structure 135.

[0104] According to an embodiment, the cover plate 21 OP is adapted (e.g., shaped and / or sized) to be retained, at the rear end thereof, between the end-stroke member 135s and the bearing bars 135B of the support structure 135.

[0105] According to an embodiment, the drawer cover 210 comprises, e.g., at a front region of the cover plate 21 Op, a manual or automatic humidity control arrangement 220 configured to control the humidity in the crisper drawer 200.

[0106] According to an embodiment, upon installation of the crisper drawer 200, the drawer body 205 and the drawer cover 210 are spaced apart from one another by a vertical distance along the vertical direction Z. Without losing generality, the vertical distance may be high enough to avoid friction between the drawer body 205 and the drawer cover 210 during sliding of the drawer body 205, and low enough to avoid air draughts in and out the crisper drawer 200 which could result in temperature and / or humidity changes within the crisper drawer 200.

[0107] With reference to Figure 3, it shows a perspective and exploded view of a crisper drawer 300 according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0108] According to an embodiment the crisper drawer 300 comprises a drawer body 305 for storing fruits and / or vegetables, and a drawer cover 310 for covering the drawer body 305, the drawer body 305 being slidable relative to the drawer cover 310.

[0109] According to an embodiment, the drawer body 305 is substantially parallelepipedshaped.

[0110] According to an embodiment, the drawer body 305, or at least part thereof, may be made of, or comprise, plastic and / or glass and / or metal materials. According to an embodiment, the drawer body 305 comprises a rear wall 305R (e.g., parallel to the X-Z plane and facing, in use, the rear wall 11 OR of the inner liner 110), lateral walls 305LI,305L2 (e.g., parallel to the Y-Z plane and respectively facing, in use, the lateral walls 110n, 110L2 of the inner liner 110), a bottom wall 305B (e.g., parallel to the X-Y plane and facing, in use, the bottom wall 11 OB of the inner liner 110), and a front wall 305F, the drawer body 305 being closed from above by the drawer cover 310.

[0111] According to an embodiment, the front wall 305F of the drawer body 305 acts as (or comprises) a handle of the drawer body 305 for allowing the user to move the drawer body 305 in and out the fridge compartment 115.

[0112] According to an embodiment, the drawer body 305 is configured to slidably hang under the drawer cover 310.

[0113] According to an embodiment, the drawer body 305 is configured to hang on the drawer cover 310 (as better discussed in the following).

[0114] According to an embodiment, the drawer cover 310 comprises a flat or substantially flat cover plate 31 OP.

[0115] According to an embodiment, the cover plate 31 OP is adapted (e.g., shaped and / or sized) to be bore, at respective lateral edges thereof, by the bearing bars 135B.

[0116] According to an embodiment, the cover plate 31 OP is adapted (e.g., shaped and / or sized) to be retained, at the rear end thereof, between the end-stroke member 135s and the bearing bars 135B of the support structure 135.

[0117] According to an embodiment, the drawer cover 310 comprises opposite lateral fins 310FI,310F2 downwardly protruding, along the vertical direction Z, in correspondence of the lateral edges of the cover plate 31 OP. According to an embodiment, the lateral edges of the cover plate 31 OP protrude, along the longitudinal direction X, with respect to the respective lateral fins 310FI,310F2 to such an extent to allow coupling of the drawer cover 310, particularly of the cover plate 31 OP, with the support structure 135.

[0118] Without losing generality, the lateral fins 310FI,310F2 may be formed in a single piece with the cover plate 31 Op. Without losing generality, the drawer cover 310 (such as one or more among the cover plate 31 OP and the lateral fins 310FI,310F2) may be made of, or comprise, glass and / or plastic and / or metal materials.

[0119] According to an embodiment, each lateral fin 31 OFI ,310F2 extends, along the transverse direction Y, substantially from a rear end of the cover plate 31 OP to a front end of the cover pate 31 OP.

[0120] According to an embodiment, each lateral fin 310FI,310F2 comprises, at an internal face thereof facing, in use, the lateral wall 305LI,305L2 of the drawer body 305, a respective groove (hereinafter, receiving grooves) 310GI,310G2 (the receiving groove 31 OGI being not visible in the figure), extending along the transverse direction Y, and adapted to slidable receive corresponding coupling regions of the drawer body 305 (as better discussed in the following).

[0121] According to an embodiment, each lateral fin 310FI,310F2 (or, more generally, the drawer cover 310) comprises, e.g., at an external face thereof opposite the internal face, one or more fastening members configured to be fastened to the mounting prearrangement 145 (or to a part thereof) to stably fix the drawer cover 310 to the inner liner 110 and avoid undesired movements of the drawer cover 310 during sliding of the drawer body 305.

[0122] According to an embodiment, the fastening members comprises one or more pegs 310PG (for example, one peg 310PG associated with each lateral fin 31 OFI, 310F2).

[0123] According to an embodiment, each peg 310PG outwardly protrudes from the drawer cover 310 (such as from a respective lateral fin 310FI,310F2), along the longitudinal direction X, and is adapted to be fitted (e.g., snap-fitted) into a respective hollow 145H of the mounting prearrangement 145.

[0124] According to an embodiment, the pegs 310PG are retractable pegs, so as to allow easy mounting and dismounting operations of the drawer cover 310 to the mounting prearrangement 145.

[0125] Although in the foregoing explicit reference has been made to a drawer cover provided with lateral fins, this should be not construed limitatively. Indeed, in alternative embodiments, not shown, and to which the following discussion also applies, the lateral fins may be omitted, and the receiving grooves may be formed in the cover plate 31 Op. Therefore, in the following, whenever receiving grooves of the drawer cover are cited, it is meant to encompass both embodiments in which the receiving grooves are formed on the lateral fins, and embodiments in which the receiving grooves are formed on the cover plate.

[0126] According to an embodiment, the drawer body 305 is configured to hang on and slide in the receiving grooves (such as the receiving grooves 310GI,310G2) of the drawer cover 310.

[0127] According to an embodiment, the drawer body 305 comprises, at top edges of the respective lateral walls 305LI,305L2, coupling regions 315i, 3152 (for example, substantially in the form of beams, thus referred to as coupling beams in the following) adapted to be slidably received in the receiving grooves 31 OGI ,310G2, respectively, of the drawer cover 310.

[0128] According to an embodiment, the coupling beams 315i , 3152 have a profile substantially matching a profile of the respective receiving grooves 310GI,310G2.

[0129] According to an embodiment, the receiving grooves 310GI,310G2 and the coupling beams 315i, 3152 are shaped and sized such that, upon installation of the crisper drawer 300, the drawer body 305 and the drawer cover 310 are spaced apart from each other by a vertical distance along the vertical direction Z. Without losing generality, the vertical distance may be high enough to avoid friction between the drawer body 305 and the drawer cover 310 during sliding of the drawer body 305, and low enough to avoid air draughts in and out the crisper drawer 300 which could result in temperature and / or humidity changes within the crisper drawer 300.

[0130] According to an embodiment, the coupling beams 315i, 3152 protrude from the respective lateral walls 305LI,305L2 along the longitudinal direction X, which results in a longitudinal distance between the lateral walls 305LI,305L2 of the drawer body 305 and the lateral walls 110LI,110L2 of the inner liner 110: in use, this longitudinal distance prevents scratches and damages of the drawer body 305 during its sliding.

[0131] According to an embodiment, the crisper drawer 300 comprises, e.g., at a front region of the drawer cover 310, a manual or automatic humidity control arrangement 320 configured to control the humidity in the crisper drawer 300.

[0132] According to an embodiment, upon installation of the crisper drawer 300, a crisper region interface is obtained in which the drawer body 305 is slidable relative to the drawer cover 310 hanging on the drawer cover 310.

[0133] With reference to Figure 4, it shows a perspective and exploded view of a crisper drawer 400 according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0134] According to an embodiment, the crisper drawer 400 has many similarities with the crisper drawer 300. For this reason, elements or parts of the crisper drawer 400 that correspond ( / .e., that are same or similar) to elements or parts of the crisper drawer 300, are denoted by similar references, and their explanation (including features, effects, advantages and variants) will not be repeated for the sake of conciseness. Particularly, the references of the elements or parts of the crisper drawer 400 are differentiated from the references of the corresponding elements or parts of the crisper drawer 300 by the first digit.

[0135] According to an embodiment, the crisper drawer 400 has a drawer body 405 for storing fruits and / or vegetables, and a drawer cover 410 for covering the drawer body 405, the drawer body 405 being slidable relative to the drawer cover 410.

[0136] According to an embodiment, the drawer body 405 comprises a rear wall 405R, lateral walls 405LI,405L2, a bottom wall 405B, and a front wall 405F, the drawer body 405 being closed from above by the drawer cover 410.

[0137] According to an embodiment, the front wall 405F of the drawer body 405 acts as (or comprises) a handle of the drawer body 405 for allowing the user to move the drawer body 405 in and out the fridge compartment 115.

[0138] According to an embodiment, the drawer body 405 is configured to slidably hang under the drawer cover 410.

[0139] According to an embodiment, the drawer body 405 is configured to hang on the drawer cover 410.

[0140] According to an embodiment, the drawer body 405 is configured to hang on telescopic sliding rails 425 of (for example, mounted on) the drawer cover 410 (only one telescopic sliding rail being visible in the figure). For the purpose of the present disclosure, a telescopic sliding rail is a mechanism comprising nested sections that can slide into one another thereby allowing the in and out movement of the drawer body coupled thereto.

[0141] According to an embodiment, upon installation of the crisper drawer 400, a crisper region interface is obtained in which the drawer body 405 hangs on the drawer cover 410 and is slidable relative to the drawer cover 410 according to a sliding of the telescopic sliding rails of the drawer cover 410.

[0142] According to an embodiment, the drawer body 405 comprises, attop edges of the lateral walls 405LI,405L2, coupling beams 415i, 4152 each one configured to be coupled to a respective telescopic sliding rail 425. According to an embodiment, each coupling beam 415i, 4152 comprises (e.g., at bottom surfaces thereof) one or more (for example, two) coupling recesses 430R configured to receive respective one or more (for example, two) coupling protrusions 425P of the telescopic sliding rail 425 (the coupling protrusions 425P being for example provided at an upper portion of the telescopic sliding rails 425). According to an embodiment, the coupling beams 415i, 4152 of the drawer body 405 have the same profile as the coupling beams 315i, 3152 of the drawer body 305, thus the coupling beams 415i, 4152 are also adapted to be slidably received in the receiving grooves 31 OGI ,310G2 of the drawer cover 310. Therefore, in this embodiment, the drawer body 405 may also be used in association with the drawer cover 305: indeed, in the exemplary considered embodiments, the drawer body 405 differs from the drawer body 305 essentially for the presence of the coupling recesses 430R in the coupling beams 415i, 4152, and the coupling recesses 430R do not affect the sliding effect of the coupling beams 415i , 4152 into the receiving grooves 310GI,310G2 of the drawer cover 310. The use of a same drawer body for obtaining both the crisper region interface of Figure 3 and the crisper region interface of Figure 4, makes configurability and reconfigurability of the crisper region interface simpler and cheaper for the user (in that no dedicated drawer body for each crisper region interface has to be bought).

[0143] According to an embodiment, the drawer cover 410 comprises a flat or substantially flat cover plate 41 OP.

[0144] According to an embodiment, the drawer cover 410 comprises opposite lateral fins 410FI,410F2 downwardly protruding, along the vertical direction Z, in correspondence of the lateral edges of the cover plate 41 OP.

[0145] According to an embodiment, each lateral fin 410FI,410F2 comprises, at an internal face thereof facing, in use, the lateral wall 405LI,405L2 of the drawer body 405, a respective mounting support 410MI,410M2 adapted to mount a respective telescopic sliding rail 425 on it, and hence to the drawer cover 410 (the mounting support 41 OMI being not visible in the figure). According to an embodiment, each telescopic sliding rail 425 comprises, e.g. at a lower portion thereof, a mounting structure (not shown) adapted to mount the telescopic sliding rail 425 to the respective mounting support 410MI,410M2.

[0146] According to an embodiment, each lateral fin 410FI,410F2 comprises, e.g., at an external face thereof opposite the internal face, one or more fastening members configured to be fastened to the mounting prearrangement 145 (or to a part thereof) to stably fix the drawer cover 410 to the inner liner 110 and avoid undesired movements of the drawer cover 410 during sliding of the drawer body 405.

[0147] According to an embodiment, the fastening members comprises one or more pegs 410PG each one outwardly protruding from a respective lateral fin 410FI,410F2, along the longitudinal direction X, and adapted to be fitted (e.g., snap-fitted) into a respective hollow 145H of the mounting prearrangement 145.

[0148] According to an embodiment, the mounting supports 410MI,410M2 are fixedly attached to the respective lateral fins 410FI,410F2, the mounting supports 410MI,410M2 being for example formed in a single piece construction with the respective lateral fins 410FI,410F2.

[0149] In alternative embodiments, not shown, the mounting supports 410MI,410M2 may be removably attached to the respective lateral fins 410FI,410F2. In these embodiments, the drawer cover 410 may be further provided with receiving grooves (such as the receiving grooves 310GI,310G2 of the drawer cover 310) for slidably receiving the coupling beams 415i, 4152, thus obtaining a drawer cover that, with a few and simple operations by the user ( / .e., the attaching or detaching operations of the mounting supports 410MI,410M2 and of the telescopic sliding rails 425), may be used for obtaining both the crisper region interface of Figure 3 and the crisper region interface of Figure 4.

[0150] According to an embodiment, the crisper drawer 400 comprises, e.g., at a front region of the drawer cover 410, a manual or automatic humidity control arrangement 420 configured to control the humidity in the crisper drawer 300.

[0151] With reference to Figure 5, it shows a perspective and exploded view of a crisper drawer 500 according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0152] According to an embodiment, the crisper drawer 500 has the respective drawer body configured to sit on telescopic sliding rails (and to move according to a sliding of the telescopic sliding rails) that are mounted on the mounting pre-arrangement 145 rather than on the drawer cover (thus, the drawer body is hanged on the inner liner 110 rather than on the drawer cover).

[0153] According to an embodiment, upon installation of the crisper drawer 500, a crisper region interface is obtained in which the drawer body hangs on the inner liner 110 and is slidable relative to the drawer cover according to a sliding of the telescopic sliding rails.

[0154] According to an embodiment, the telescopic sliding rails of the crisper drawer 500 are the telescopic sliding rails 425 of the crisper drawer 400. According to an embodiment, the telescopic sliding rails 425 are mounted to the mounting prearrangement 145, for example through corresponding fastening members (not shown) of or associatable with the telescopic sliding rails 425 and adapted to mounted (e.g., by screwing or fitting or snap-fitting) to the mounting prearrangement 145 (for example, the hollows 145H) formed on the lateral walls 110LI,110L2 of the inner liner 110.

[0155] Without losing generality, the telescopic sliding rails of the crisper drawer 500 may be different from the telescopic sliding rails 425 of the crisper drawer 400, the telescopic sliding rails of the crisper drawer 500 being for example telescopic sliding arms (not shown) having constructional features specifically designed to make their mounting to the mounting prearrangement 145 easier and / or more efficient, and / or having no constructional features specifically designed for their mounting to the drawer cover (such as the mounting structure adapted to mount the telescopic sliding rail 425 to the respective mounting support 41 OMI, 410M2 of the drawer cover 410).

[0156] According to an embodiment, the drawer body of the crisper drawer 500 is the drawer body 405 of the crisper drawer 400, and the drawer cover of the crisper drawer 500 is the drawer cover 210 of the crisper drawer 200. This further increases the degree of configurability and reconfigurability of the crisper region interface with no or reduced additional costs.

[0157] Naturally, in order to satisfy local and specific requirements, a person skilled in the art may apply to the disclosure described above many logical and / or physical modifications and alterations. More specifically, although the disclosure has been described with a certain degree of particularity with reference to preferred embodiments thereof, it should be understood that various omissions, substitutions and changes in the form and details as well as other embodiments are possible. In particular, different embodiments of the disclosure may even be practiced without the specific details (such as the numeric examples) set forth in the preceding description for providing a more thorough understanding thereof; on the contrary, well-known features may have been omitted or simplified in order not to obscure the description with unnecessary particulars.

[0158] *****

Claims

CLAIMS1. A refrigerating appliance (100) for storing food products to be preserved, the refrigerating appliance comprising: a cabinet (105) for enclosing components of the refrigerating appliance; an inner liner (110) provided within said cabinet and defining a fresh food storage compartment (115) adapted to store fresh food products to be preserved; a door (120) for selectively closing the fresh food storage compartment, the door being openable for accessing the fresh food storage compartment; a crisper drawer (200-500) housed in said fresh food storage compartment, the crisper drawer having a drawer body (205-505) for storing fruits and / or vegetables and a drawer cover (210-510) for covering the drawer body, the drawer body being slidable in and out the fresh food storage compartment relative to the drawer cover; wherein the inner liner comprises inner liner portions (135; 140, 145) configured to house the crisper drawer in the fresh food storage compartment and comprising: a support structure (135) for supporting the drawer cover; a guiding structure (140) below the support structure, and a mounting prearrangement (145), below the support structure, for mounting telescopic sliding rails, and wherein the crisper drawer is selected among: a first crisper drawer (200) having the respective drawer body (205) configured to slide on or in the guiding structure (140); a second crisper drawer (300;400) having the respective drawer cover (310;410) configured to allow the respective drawer body (305;405) to slidably hang under the drawer cover; a third crisper drawer (500) having the respective drawer body (505) configured to sit on the telescopic sliding rails and to move according to a sliding of the telescopic sliding rails.

2. The refrigerating appliance (100) according to claim 1 , wherein the drawer body (305; 405) of the second crisper drawer (300;400) is configured to hang on the respective drawer cover (310;410).

3. The refrigerating appliance (100) according to claim 2, wherein the drawer body (305) of the second crisper drawer (300) is configured to hang on and slide in receiving grooves (310GI,310G2) of the respective drawer cover (310).

4. The refrigerating appliance (100) according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the drawer body (405) of the second crisper drawer (400) is configured to hang on telescopic sliding arms of the second drawer cover (410) and is slidable relative to the drawer cover (410) according to a sliding of the telescopic sliding arms.

5. The refrigerating appliance (100) according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the support structure (135) comprises bearing bars (135B) for bearing the drawer cover (21 fl- 510) from below.

6. The refrigerating appliance (100) according to claim 5, wherein the support structure (135) comprises a retainer structure (135B, 135s) for retaining a rear end of the drawer cover (210-510).

7. The refrigerating appliance (100) according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the guiding structure (140) comprises receiving seats (140s) for slidably receiving corresponding coupling regions (215) of the drawer body (205) of the first crisper drawer (200).

8. The refrigerating appliance (100) according to claim 7, wherein the coupling regions (215) have a profile substantially matching a profile of the receiving seats (140s).

9. The refrigerating appliance (100) according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the drawer body (305;405) of the second crisper drawer (300; 400) is the same as the drawer body of the third crisper drawer (500).

10. The refrigerating appliance (100) according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the drawer cover (310;410) of the second crisper drawer (300;400) comprises one or more fastening members (310PG;410PG) configured to be fastened to at least part of the mountingprearrangement (145) to stably fix the drawer cover to the inner liner (110) and avoid undesired movements of the drawer cover during sliding of the respective drawer body (305;405).11 . The refrigerating appliance (100) according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the mounting prearrangement (145) is located between the support structure (135) and the guiding structure (140).

12. The refrigerating appliance (100) according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the inner liner portions (135;140,145) are provided at a lower region of the fresh food storage compartment (115).

13. The refrigerating appliance (100) according to any of the preceding claims, wherein at least part of the inner liner portions (135; 140, 145) is formed on and / or hosted in inwardly protruding sidewalls (110si,110s2) of the inner liner (110).

Images