Household refrigeration appliance with interior lighting and method for producing the household refrigeration appliance

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10895416-B2
Application number	US-201916385704-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 16, 2019
Priority date	Apr 16, 2018
Publication date	Jan 19, 2021
Grant date	Jan 19, 2021

Abstract

A household refrigeration appliance has a heat-insulated body with an inner container, which delimits a coolable interior provided for storing foodstuffs, a refrigeration device for cooling the coolable interior, a door leaf for closing the coolable interior and interior lighting for the at least partial illumination of the coolable interior. The coolable interior is defined by two side walls and one rear wall of which the surfaces facing the coolable interior are formed by the inner container. The interior lighting has an at least semitransparent cover, a planar light guide with a first surface facing the inner container and a second surface facing the cover and at least one lighting device, which couples its light into the planar light guide so that the planar light guide is able to decouple the light from its second surface.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A household refrigeration appliance, comprising:
a heat-insulated body having an inner container, delimiting a coolable interior and provided for storing foodstuffs, said inner container defining said coolable interior having two side walls and one rear wall with surfaces facing said coolable interior;
a refrigeration device for cooling said coolable interior;
a door leaf for closing said coolable interior; and
interior lighting for at least partial illumination of said coolable interior, said interior lighting having an at least semitransparent cover, a planar light guide with a first surface facing said the inner container and a second surface facing said semitransparent cover and at least one lighting device, said lighting device being a printed circuit board with a plurality of LEDs disposed adjacent to one another, said lighting device coupling light thereof into said planar light guide so that said planar light guide is able to decouple the light from said second surface, said interior lighting further having a carrier plate with which said interior lighting is fixed on said rear wall on a surface facing said coolable interior of said inner container, said carrier plate having a frame with a raised edge disposed beyond said printed circuit board in a direction away from said planar light guide, said semitransparent cover is fixed to said raised edge and covers said printed circuit board, and said first surface of said planar light guide rests on a surface of said carrier plate facing away from said inner container so that said planar light guide is clamped between said semitransparent cover and said carrier plate.

2. The household refrigeration appliance according to claim 1 ,
further comprising an adhesive and said semitransparent cover is fixed on said frame of said carrier plate by means of said adhesive; and
wherein said frame has at least one first groove formed therein in which said adhesive for fixing said semitransparent cover on said frame is disposed.

3. The household refrigeration appliance according to claim 2 , wherein said frame has at least one second groove formed therein and provided to accommodate excess of said adhesive, which is pressed out of said first groove into said second groove during the fixing of said cover to said frame.

4. The household refrigeration appliance according to claim 1 , further comprising:
at least one shelf for storing of the foodstuffs disposed in said coolable interior; and
a holding device fixed on said rear wall for fixing said at least one shelf, said carrier plate, said planar light guide and said semitransparent cover each have a corresponding opening formed therein through which said holding device protrudes.

5. The household refrigeration appliance according to claim 4 , wherein in a region of said corresponding opening of said carrier plate, said carrier plate has a raised wall with a further edge on which said semitransparent cover rests.

6. The household refrigeration appliance according to claim 5 , wherein said semitransparent cover is adhesively fixed on said further edge.

7. The household refrigeration appliance according to claim 1 ,
further comprising an air duct that extends at least partially within said rear wall, and is coupled to said refrigeration device and terminates with a duct opening in said coolable interior; and
wherein said carrier plate, said planar light guide and said semitransparent cover each have a further opening formed therein and corresponding to said duct opening so that air cooled by said refrigeration device is able to pass through said air duct, said duct opening and said further opening into said coolable interior.

8. The household refrigeration appliance according to claim 7 , wherein in a region of said further opening of said carrier plate, said carrier plate has a raised wall with a further edge on which said cover rests.

9. The household refrigeration appliance according to claim 8 , wherein said semitransparent cover is adhesively fixed on said further edge.

10. The household refrigeration appliance according to claim 1 , wherein:
said carrier plate has a first duct in which said printed circuit board with said LEDs is disposed, and said first duct is disposed on said carrier plate such that said LEDs of said first printed circuit board are able to couple the light into a first side of said planar light guide.

11. The household refrigeration appliance according to claim 10 ,
further comprising an electric cable;
wherein said printed circuit board is connected to said electric cable for at least indirect contact connection to said LEDs of said first printed circuit board;
wherein said carrier plate has a wall;
wherein said first duct is delimited at one of its ends by said wall of said carrier plate and has an open end at its other end, said electric cable is guided through said open end of said first duct; and
wherein said interior lighting has a sealing plug, which closes said open end of said first duct and/or that said cover contains a semitransparent region through which the light decoupled from said planar light guide is able to pass at least partially and a region surrounding said semitransparent region, which is opaque to light, extends to edges of said semitransparent cover and completely overlaps said LEDs of said printed circuit board.

12. The household refrigeration appliance according to claim 1 , wherein said carrier plate has a lighting device receiving duct formed therein, said lighting device being disposed in said lighting device receiving duct.

13. The household refrigeration appliance according to claim 12 , wherein said lighting device receiving duct is defined by an inner surface terminating at said surface of said carrier plate facing away from said inner container and by an outer surface extending beyond said surface of said carrier plate facing away from said inner container to said frame.

14. A method for producing a household refrigeration appliance, which comprises the following method steps of:
disposing a planar light guide on a carrier plate of an interior lighting so that a first surface of the planar light guide rests on a surface of the carrier plate facing away from an inner container of a body of the household refrigeration appliance, the inner container defining a coolable interior;
disposing a printed circuit board, with a plurality of LEDs disposed adjacent to one another, on a side of the planar light guide for coupling light into the planar light guide;
fixing a semitransparent cover on a raised edge of a frame of the carrier plate, the raised edge disposed beyond the printed circuit board in a direction away from the planar light guide, the semitransparent cover clamping the planar light guide between the cover and the carrier plate and the cover covering the printed circuit board; and
fixing the interior lighting on a rear wall of the inner container so that the carrier plate is fixed on a surface facing the coolable interior on the inner container.

15. The method according to claim 14 , which further comprises:
providing the frame with at least one first groove and at least one second groove formed therein;
fixing the cover on the raised edge of the carrier plate by the following method substeps:
disposing an adhesive in the first groove;
pressing the cover against the frame in order to affix the cover to the frame with the adhesive for the fixing, wherein the cover is pressed against the frame until the adhesive is completely cured; and
accommodating in the second groove excess adhesive that is pressed out of the first g

Assignees

• Bsh Hausgeraete Gmbh

Inventors

• Weber Armin
• Mayr Tobias
• Hirschbolz Andreas

Classifications

• F21Y2115/10

  Light-emitting diodes [LED] · CPC title

• G02B6/0073

  Light emitting diode [LED] · CPC title

• G02B6/0088

  of the light guide or other optical sheets in the package · CPC title

• F21V33/0044

  Household appliances, e.g. washing machines or vacuum cleaners · CPC title

• G02B6/0065

  Manufacturing aspects; Material aspects · CPC title