REFRIGERATION APPLIANCE WITH AN ICE MAKER
A refrigerator includes an ice maker arranged in an interior compartment, and an illuminant integrated into a housing of the ice maker that illuminates a part of the interior compartment above the ice maker.
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The present invention relates to a refrigeration appliance, in particular a domestic refrigeration appliance with an integrated automatic ice maker.
Refrigeration appliances of this type generally have a niche in a door, in which a container can be set and a passage running through the wall of the niche, through which passage pieces of ice can be dispensed out of the ice maker into the container without a door having to be opened Since the niche is to be arranged at a height which can be reached comfortably by a user and the ice maker has to reach inside the refrigeration appliance up to the passage in order to be able to dispense ice, it generally forms a block in the interior compartment, which divides the interior compartment into an upper and a lower subarea. If internal illumination is arranged in the upper subarea, the ice maker casts shadows over the lower subarea. This problem is particularly serious in the case of refrigeration appliances with a narrow interior compartment, the width of which is essentially completely filled by the ice maker. Narrow interior compartments of this type appear in particular in the case of freezer parts in side-by-side combination refrigeration appliances.
The attachment of two lamps, one for the upper and one for the lower subarea, is unsatisfactory, since this significantly complicates the assembly of the refrigeration appliance. There is thus a need for a refrigeration appliance comprising an ice maker arranged in the interior compartment thereof, with which the interior compartment can be illuminated satisfactorily both above and also below the ice maker in a manner which is simple and requires minimal assembly effort.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONAn objective is achieved in a refrigeration appliance comprising an ice maker arranged in an interior compartment by an illuminant, which illuminates a part of the interior compartment disposed above the icemaker, being integrated into the housing of the icemaker. There is therefore no need to assemble the illuminant and/or an housing into the interior compartment itself and to route an electrical supply of the illuminant through the housing walls of the refrigeration appliance. At the same time, electrical supply lines in the ice maker can be used to supply the illuminant, and/or a string of lines supplying the icemaker which is routed through the housing can be augmented by the lines needed to operate the illuminant with minimal additional costs and without increasing the assembly outlay.
According to a preferred embodiment, a vertical light channel is embodied on the housing and the illuminant is arranged on the light channel in order to radiate upward and downward.
The space required to accommodate the illuminant can be provided in the simplest of cases in the direct vicinity of the ice reservoir.
A cut-out accommodating the illuminant is preferably formed on an exterior of the ice reservoir.
This cut-out can be formed as a reflector in order to improve the light efficiency.
To achieve a symmetrical illumination of the subareas on the one hand but however to avoid central attachment of the illuminant, which could impair the function of the ice maker, on the other hand, two illuminants are preferably arranged in a mirror-symmetrical fashion in respect of each other on opposite sides of the housing of the ice maker.
It may also be expedient to provide light-emitting diodes as illuminants, since the space requirement thereof is very minimal and they can therefore be inserted relatively easily into different points in the ice maker housing.
In particular, light-emitting diodes for radiating upward and downward can be arranged both on the upper side and also on the lower side of the ice maker.
Further features and advantages of the invention result from the following description of exemplary embodiments with reference to the appended figures, in which;
The ice maker 3 includes a tray 7, which can be pivoted about an axis which runs at right angles to the sectional plane in
If pieces of ice develop in the cavities of the tray 7, the control circuit switches on an electrical heater in the tray 7, in order to thaw out the surface of the pieces of ice and to render them moveable and the motor pivots the tray 7 so that the pieces of ice fall out of the hollow molds or are pressed out over a stationary branch of the distributor 8 which extends across a hollow mold and slide into the reservoir 11 above the sloping upper side of the wall 12.
A vertical shield plate 19 rises above a rear edge of the cover plate 17. It allows the cover plate 17 to be used to accommodate refrigerated goods by preventing them from protruding beyond the rear edge of the cover plate 17 and hindering the operational movement of the tray 7. The shield plate 19 is held in a pivotable fashion on the upper ends of the arms 16 and can be folded up in order to enable access to the tray.
The side walls 15 of the lower housing part 10 are connected along their lower edges by means of a transparent base plate 20.
According to a second embodiment of the invention,
Claims
1. A refrigerator comprising:
- an ice maker arranged in an interior compartment; and
- an illuminant integrated into a housing of the ice maker that illuminates a part of the interior compartment above the ice maker.
2. The refrigerator of claim 1, further comprising a vertical light channel on the housing and wherein the illuminant is arranged on the light channel in order to radiate upward and downward.
3. The refrigerator of claim 1, wherein the ice maker comprises an ice reservoir and the illuminant is adjacent to the ice reservoir.
4. The refrigerator of claim 3, wherein an exterior of a wall surrounding an ice supply includes a cutout that accommodates the illuminant.
5. The refrigerator of claim 4, wherein the cutout comprises a reflector.
6. The refrigerator of claim 1, wherein the illuminant comprises two illuminants symmetrically positioned on opposite sides of the housing of the ice maker.
7. The refrigerator of claim 1, wherein the illuminant comprises light-emitting diodes.
8. The refrigerator of claim 7, wherein the light-emitting diodes are on an upper side and on a lower side of the housing of the ice maker.
Type: Application
Filed: Aug 4, 2009
Publication Date: Mar 4, 2010
Applicant: BSH BOSCH UND SIEMENS HAUSGERÄTE GMBH (Munich)
Inventors: Songtao Lu (Chuzhou), Matthew Ricket (New Bern, NC), Alexander Rupp (Chuzhou), Zhong Yang (Anhui), Lisheng Zhang (Chuzhou)
Application Number: 12/534,910
International Classification: F25D 27/00 (20060101); F25C 5/18 (20060101);