Door and household appliance comprising a door

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10480850-B2
Application number	US-201615567643-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 12, 2016
Priority date	May 26, 2015
Publication date	Nov 19, 2019
Grant date	Nov 19, 2019

Abstract

The invention relates to a door for closing a cavity ( 3 ) included in a chassis ( 2 ) of a household or kitchen appliance ( 1 ), the door ( 10 ) comprising a first electrical component that can be releasably electrically coupled with a second electrical component comprised within the chassis ( 3 ) of the household or kitchen appliance ( 2 ) in the closed state of the door ( 10 ) by first coupling means ( 20 ), said first coupling means ( 20 ) comprising a first contact section ( 21 ) arranged at the door ( 10 ) for releasable interaction with corresponding second contact section ( 22 ) arranged at said chassis ( 3 ), wherein said first contact section is configured such that in the closed state of the door ( 10 ) an electrical contact is established between said first and second contact sections ( 21, 22 ) and said electrical contact is opened when opening the door ( 10 ), wherein the first contact section ( 21 ) is arranged at a removable door portion ( 11 ) and the door ( 10 ) comprises second coupling means ( 30 ) are provided for releasable electrical coupling of the first contact section ( 21 ) with the first electrical component.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A household appliance comprising a chassis having a cavity therein and a door coupled to said chassis and being removable therefrom without tools, said door being configured to reversibly close said cavity; a first electrical component disposed in or on said door and a second electrical component disposed in or on said chassis; first coupling means for establishing an electrical connection between said first and second electrical components in a closed state of said door; said first coupling means comprising a first contact section on said door and a second contact section on said chassis, said first and second contact sections being releasably electrically coupled to one another when said door is in the closed state and being separated when said door is in an opened state; at least one of said first and second contact sections comprising a spring-loaded contact and/or a compression connector; said door comprising a door frame, a glass pane mounted in the door frame and a removable cap coupled to the door frame and being removable therefrom in order to disassemble the door without tools, wherein removal of said cap provides access to said glass pane for cleaning purposes; said first contact section being located on said removable cap at a location adjacent an upper edge of said door when the cap is assembled to the door frame; said door further comprising second coupling means for releasably electrically coupling said first electrical component to said first contact section when said cap is assembled to said door frame, said second coupling means comprising a third contact section on the removable cap that is electrically connected to said first contact section, and a fourth contact section on the door frame that is electrically connected to said first electrical component, said third and fourth contact sections being releasably electrically coupled to one another when said removable cap is properly assembled to said door frame, at least one of said third and fourth contact sections comprising a spring-loaded contact and/or a compression connector.

2. The household appliance according to claim 1 , wherein the first electrical component comprises an electrical sensor or an electrical driven component and the second electrical component comprises a power board or a control unit of the household or kitchen appliance.

3. The household appliance according to claim 1 , wherein the first and second contact sections and the third and fourth contact sections, respectively, form a pair of matching contact sections that comprise an electrical connector of compression type or sliding type.

4. The household appliance according to claim 1 , wherein the first contact section is arranged close to one of two upper corners of the door.

5. The household appliance according to claim 1 , wherein one of the first and second contact sections comprises a spring-loaded contact and/or a compression connector, and wherein the other of the first and second contact sections comprises a fixed electrically conductive contact area.

6. The household appliance according to claim 1 , wherein the third and fourth contact sections are adapted to be brought into electrical contact by a sliding movement when the removable cap is assembled at the door.

7. The household appliance according to claim 1 , wherein the glass plane is an inner glass pane that comprises an upper edge which can be covered by said removable cap in the mounted state of the inner glass pane.

8. The household appliance according to claim 7 , wherein the removable cap is arranged adjacent to or on an upper edge of a front glass pane of the door.

9. The household appliance according to claim 8 , comprising two door columns fixed at opposite sides in lateral regions of the front glass pane on a cavity-facing side thereof wherein the inner glass pane can be attached to the two door columns, wherein the removable cap is removably connected to the two door columns.

10. The household appliance according to claim 1 , wherein the first and/or second coupling means comprise at least one plunger and at least one contact sleeve providing a cavity for receiving the plunger, wherein the plunger comprises a conical or tapered free end which is received in the cavity of the contact sleeve, and/or wherein the first and/or second coupling means comprise at least one plunger and at least one contact strip.

11. The household appliance according to claim 10 , wherein the plunger is spring-loaded.

12. The household appliance according to claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first, second, third and fourth contact sections is at least partially integrated in a plastic housing made of Polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), liquid crystal polymer (LCP) or Polyphthalamide (PPA) including glass fibres (HTN), wherein said housing is mounted at the chassis or the door.

13. The household appliance accord to claim 1 , wherein the household appliance is an oven for preparing food.

14. The household appliance according to claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first and second electric component is comprised in an upper region of the door or the chassis, wherein the door is pivotally connected to the chassis of the household or kitchen appliance about a horizontal axis at its lower edge region or about a vertical axis at one of its lateral edge regions.

15. The appliance according to claim 1 , wherein contact surfaces of said first, second, third and fourth contact sections are plated with a high-conductivity coating selected from the group consisting of Au, Ag, Cu, Ni, Rh and Pt.

16. The appliance according to claim 1 , wherein:
one of said first and second contact sections comprises a first tapered electrical contact and the other of said first and second contact sections comprises a first contact sleeve comprising a first cavity adapted to receive a free end of said first tapered electrical contact; and
one of said third and fourth contact sections comprise a second tapered electrical contact and the other if said third and fourth contact sections comprises a second contact sleeve comprising a second cavity adapted to receive a free end of said second tapered electrical contact.

Assignees

• Electrolux Appliances AB

Inventors

• Ivanovic Branko
• Schmidt Rudolf
• Hildner Dietmar
• Luckhardt Christoph

Classifications

• F25D27/005 Primary

  combined with control means · CPC title

• F25D23/02

  Doors; Covers (F25D23/08 takes precedence {locks or fastenings E05B65/0042}) · CPC title

• F24C15/028

  Stoves doors · CPC title

• F24C15/008

  Illumination for oven cavities · CPC title

• F25D2400/22

  Cleaning means for refrigerating devices · CPC title