Refrigerator Dispenser Niche LED Layout for Shadow-Free Filling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional illuminating devices in refrigerator dispenser niches, such as incandescent and halogen bulbs, face challenges in providing sufficient lighting due to size constraints and heat issues, leading to difficulty in determining the fill level of vessels and potential shadows, which hinder accurate estimation.
Innovation Solution
The use of multiple LEDs with beam-forming optical elements arranged in a polygon pattern to minimize shadows and efficiently illuminate the niche, allowing for compact and safe integration, with a circuit board and cover piece design to simplify assembly and prevent light leakage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Illumination intensity
If conventional incandescent bulbs are used for illumination, then sufficient lighting output is achieved, but the bulb dimensions and heat generation make accommodation in the niche difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The single incandescent bulb is replaced by multiple LED elements arranged in a polygon. Each LED is a small, compact unit that can be easily accommodated in the niche. The segmentation into multiple small light sources provides sufficient overall illumination while avoiding the size and heat problems of a single large incandescent bulb.
Solution Approach 2:
The illumination system transitions from thermal emission (incandescent bulbs) to electroluminescence (LEDs). This parameter change in the lighting technology enables compact dimensions and reduced heat generation while maintaining or improving lighting output, allowing easy accommodation in the dispenser niche.
2Device complexity
If a single illuminating device is used in the niche, then device complexity is reduced, but shadows arise that render correct estimation of fill level difficult
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of a single light source, multiple LED elements are arranged in a polygon around the dispensing aperture. This segmentation into multiple distributed light sources illuminates the vessel from different directions, eliminating shadows and enabling accurate fill level estimation while keeping each individual LED component simple.
Solution Approach 2:
The illumination approach transitions from a single-point light source to a distributed array of light sources arranged in a polygonal configuration. This spatial distribution in multiple dimensions provides omnidirectional lighting that eliminates shadows and improves fill level visibility without significantly increasing system complexity.
3Illumination intensity
If halogen bulbs are used to achieve better light yield and compact dimensions, then lighting efficiency is improved, but high surface temperatures still make accommodation scarcely simpler
Solution Approach 1:
The lighting technology transitions from thermal emission (halogen bulbs) to electroluminescence (LEDs). This fundamental parameter change reduces operating temperature and surface heat generation while maintaining or improving light yield, allowing compact accommodation in the dispenser niche without thermal safety issues.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses multiple small, inexpensive LED elements instead of a single expensive halogen bulb. These LED elements have long operational lifetimes and can be easily replaced if needed, providing a cost-effective and thermally safe illumination solution for the dispenser niche.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This solution provides effective and shadow-free illumination, enabling accurate fill level estimation and safe integration of temperature-sensitive components, enhancing user experience and operational efficiency.
Implementation Method 1
the illuminating device of the dispenser niche is formed from a multiplicity of LEDs. As LEDs achieve higher levels of efficiency than thermal emitters, they heat their environment only to a minor extent even in the case of high luminous intensity
Implementation Method 2
To each LED a beam-forming optical element can expediently be assigned, in order to shape the cone of beams of the LEDs to match the form of the niche
Data Source
AI summary
A dispenser niche for a refrigerator is provided. The dispenser niche includes an illuminator to at least partially illuminate the niche. The illuminator has LEDs that are arranged on a common circuit board with first electrical contacts. A wall of the dispenser niche has second electrical contacts and a recess that receives the common circuit board in a single orientation. The first electrical contacts of the common circuit board and the second electrical circuits of the wall touch each other in the single orientation.