RU2258876C2 - Door shelf for refrigerator and refrigerator with door shelf - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: cooling or freezing equipment, particularly refrigerators.

SUBSTANCE: door shelf has at least one the first section of full width and at least one the second section of lesser width in comparison with the first one. The first and the second sections are arranged one after another along door shelf length. The second section width is less than half of that of the first one. Refrigerator has case and door comprising the first shelf and the second shelf formed as described above. The second shelf is installed over the first one.

EFFECT: increased product storage space.

8 cl, 5 dwg

Description

Technical field

This invention relates to a refrigerator and a shelf for installation on the inside of a refrigerator door.

State of the art

Doors of refrigerators, especially household ones, are usually equipped with door shelves on the inside, of which at least the lowest is intended for bottles with drinks and other large vessels. The distance to the overlying shelf is determined by the highest vessel stored on such a shelf.

In recent years, soft drinks bottles with a capacity of 1.5 and 2 liters, significantly higher than ordinary glass bottles, the capacity of which usually lies in the range from 0.5 to 1 liter, have been increasingly used for soft drinks. If these plastic bottles have to be stored together with other smaller bottles on the same shelf, the space is uneconomical, since the distance to the overlying shelf should be sufficient to easily insert the largest bottle, although only a few bottles on the bottle shelf have this the size.

To mitigate this problem, refrigerators have developed doors with a central longitudinal beam that allows you to install door shelves, the width of which does not exceed half the width of the door, to the right and left of the central beam at different heights. However, this solution, described, for example, in patent document DE-GM 9014463, is not entirely satisfactory, since the central beam itself takes up a place that can no longer be used for storing refrigerated products.

Disclosure of invention

The objective of the invention is therefore to create a door shelf and a refrigerator equipped with such a shelf, which make possible intensive use of the available space for storing products.

This problem according to the invention is solved in particular by means of a door shelf for a refrigerator, which consists of at least one section of full depth and at least one section of lesser depth that follow each other along the length of the door shelf.

This door shelf can be mounted on the inside of the refrigerator door at a shorter vertical distance from the underlying bottle shelf than the height of the tallest bottles mounted on the bottle shelf. Indeed, if under the door shelf proposed in the invention a high bottle is placed under a section with a shallower depth, then the neck of this bottle may pass by a section with a shallower depth and rise above it. This section with less depth can be used to store small items, such as tubes. In this way, approximately the same density of the door shelves in height is achieved as with a door with a central beam, but with the additional advantage that at the level of the necks of tall bottles an additional storage space is formed in the form of a section of lesser depth.

In order to ensure a stable, tipping-proof position of the tall bottles on the bottle shelf, the depth of the section with less depth should preferably be less than half the depth of the section with full depth, which typically corresponds to the depth of the bottle shelf.

It is desirable that the door shelf be made as a single unit and sections of the door shelf with different depths are separated by a partition. Such a partition increases the stability of the door shelf and prevents its deflection under load.

As another measure to increase stability, it is advisable to provide a horizontal stiffener. Preferably, such a horizontal stiffener closes the partition from above.

The problem is further solved by means of a refrigerator with a case and a door, with a second door shelf of the type described above being installed on the door above the first door shelf for bottles.

List of drawings

Other features and advantages of the invention result from the following description of exemplary embodiments with reference to the accompanying figures. The drawings depict:

figure 1. - a perspective drawing of a door shelf according to a first embodiment of the invention;

figure 2. - a cutout in the door shelf of FIG. 1 in the plane designated II-II in FIG. 1;

figure 3. - a perspective drawing of the second shelf proposed by the invention;

figure 4. - view of the part of the inner side of the refrigerator door with installed door shelves;

figure 5. - option door shelf.

The implementation of the invention

The door shelf 11 shown in FIG. 1 consists of two sections 1, 2, which are basically in the form of a box open at the top. Section 1 has a “full” depth, i.e. its depth is sufficient to install a regular 1.5-liter or 2-liter plastic bottle for drinks. The depth of the second section 2 is less than half the depth of the first section, preferably 30-40% of this depth. This allows you to install in the door shelf of full depth, located under the shown door shelf and located on the same side of the door, a large bottle for drinks, the neck of which will be at the level of section 2, and this section will not touch the bottle and violate its stable position.

To increase the bending stiffness of the door shelf under load, at the junction of sections 1, 2, a partition 3 is provided that connects the front walls 4, 5 of sections 1, 2 facing the inside of the refrigerator with the integral rear wall 6 common to both sections, which adjoins to the mounted door shelf the inside of the refrigerator door. The partition 3 on one side prevents lateral displacement of the rear wall 6 under the action of a bending load, and on the other hand serves as a support for the front wall 5 of section 2 with a shallower depth.

In order to ensure maximum rigidity of the partition 3 with respect to the bending load created by the horizontal forces acting from the front wall 5, the partition 3 ends at the top with a stiffener 7, as shown in detail in FIG. 2.

The bottom opening 8 at the outer longitudinal end of section 2 with a shallower depth, as well as the corresponding, not visible on the figure, recess at the opposite end of section 1 with full depth serve for hanging the door shelf on the tabs 9 (see figure 4) mounted on vertical bars 10 on the inner side of the door at regular intervals to allow hanging door shelves at different heights.

In the example shown in FIG. 1, both sections 1, 2 have the same length, so that the partition 3 in the installed door shelf extends approximately in the middle of the door. This separation is advisable with a compact refrigerator, when the length of each section 1, 2 is approximately equal to the two diameters of large bottles for drinks. Of course, other proportions are possible, as shown in FIG. Here, the length of section 1 with full depth refers to the length of section 2 with a shallower depth of about 3: 1, so that one large bottle can be installed on a shelf lying under section 2 with a shallower depth.

Figure 4 presents a perspective drawing of a part of a refrigerator door with a door shelf 11 made in accordance with the invention. Another door shelf 12, the same depth along the entire length, is installed in the lower part of the door. Large bottles can be installed on the right half of this shelf 12 under section 2 with a shallower depth, while compact containers, such as tetrapacks, are best placed on the left, under section 1 with full depth.

Obviously, the door shelf according to the invention is not limited to two sections, the depth of each of which is unchanged. For example, there may be two sections with full depth and one section located between them with a smaller depth, so that large bottles on the underlying shelf can be installed in the middle, i.e. in an easily accessible place, regardless of whether the door opens to the right or left.

It is also possible to reduce the depth of section 2 with a smaller depth to almost zero, so that such a shelf can be installed below the neck of a large bottle mounted on the underlying shelf.

Another possibility is to make the front wall 5 of section 2 with a smaller depth, beveled downwards, which will allow the door shelf to be mounted at the level of the beginning of the neck of the bottles installed below. With this modification of the section with less depth, it is possible, as shown in FIG. 5, to remove or reduce the bottom of the section, for example, to enable the vertical insertion of tubes.

Claims (8)

1. A door shelf for a refrigeration device, such as a refrigerator or the like, in which at least one section (1) has a full depth and at least one section (2) has a shallower depth, and which follow each other after another along the length of the door shelf (11), characterized in that the depth of the section (2) with lesser depth is less than half the depth of the section (1) with full depth. 2. The door shelf according to claim 1, characterized in that the sections (1,2) of the door shelf (11) are at least substantially the same length. 3. The door shelf according to claim 1, characterized in that the sections (1,2) of the door shelf (11) have different lengths. 4. The door shelf according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the door shelf (11) is made as a single unit. 5. The door shelf according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the sections (1, 2) are box-shaped and separated by a partition (3). 6. The door shelf according to claim 5, characterized in that the partition (3) has a horizontal stiffener (7). 7. The door shelf according to claim 6, characterized in that the stiffener (7) overlaps the partition (3) from above. 8. A refrigerator with a body and a door on which a first door shelf (12) is installed, characterized in that it comprises a second door shelf (11), as claimed in one of the preceding paragraphs, which is mounted above the first door shelf (12).

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