Patent Application
20060090498
Refrigerators with in-door water dispensers are known in which the dispenser is accessible from an exterior of the refrigerator, and is able to selectively dispense chilled liquid water or ice. In order to permit the dispenser to work, a water conduit must extend from the refrigerator cabinet to the door. Typically this is done with a conduit that is routed along an area close to a hinged side of the pivotally openable door so that the conduit will not be readily visible or exposed to a great degree when the door is opened.
Refrigerator doors may be attached to the cabinet in either a right-hand opening position, with the hinge arranged along the right edge of the door, or a left-hand opening position, with the hinge arranged along the left edge of the door. In order to switch a refrigerator door from a right-hand opening position to a left-hand opening position, when an in-door water dispenser is present, the routing of the water supply conduit, and usually control or power wires, must be changed. This usually requires that the door interior be opened up so that the in-door dispenser may be accessed to allow disconnection of the conduit and wiring at the dispenser. This may involve a substantial effort on the part of an appliance owner, and could result in the improper reassembly of the door.
It would be an improvement in the art if there were an arrangement provided which would permit changing the swing of a door without requiring that the interior of the door be opened, and which would permit all changes to be performed from the front of the appliance.
The present invention provides an arrangement which permits changing the swing of an appliance door without requiring that the interior of the door be opened to access an in-door apparatus, and which would permit all changes to be performed from the front of the appliance.
In an embodiment of the invention, an appliance cabinet is provided with at least one openable door having a hinge at a pivoting edge of the door to allow the door to open about the pivoting edge. An endcap is secured to an edge of the door adjacent to the pivoting edge. A first conduit extends from an in-door apparatus to an end within the endcap. A second conduit extends from within the cabinet to an end exterior of the cabinet and within the endcap. An end connector is provided to receive the ends of the first and second conduits. The hinge is movable from the pivoting edge of the door to an opposite edge of the door. The second conduit is arranged to exit from either adjacent one corner or adjacent an opposite corner of the cabinet to be adjacent to the pivoting edge. In this arrangement, the two conduits are joinable within the endcap at the end connector to form a continuous conduit.
The present invention provides an arrangement which permits changing the swing of an appliance door without requiring that the interior of the door be opened to access an in-door apparatus, and which would permit all changes to be performed from the front of the appliance. The invention may be used on a wide variety of appliances, where “appliance” is understood in its broadest sense to include not only powered appliances such as refrigerators, freezers, ovens, dishwashers, etc., but also unpowered appliances including cabinets and other objects having pivotally openable doors. In order to discuss the present invention in terms of a particular appliance, the invention is shown as being embodied in a refrigeration appliance with an in-door water dispenser, however, it should be understood that the invention is not limited to use in refrigerators or only with water dispensers.
In
A hinge connection 28 is provided at a pivoting edge 30 of the door 24 to allow the door to pivotally open about the pivoting edge of the door. As will be discussed below, this hinge connection 28 may be provided along any edge of the door 24, and may be movable to an opposite edge of the door. Although the drawings show only an arrangement where the hinge connection 28 is located along the vertical right and left edges, they may also be provided along the top or bottom edges in some appliances.
An endcap 32 is secured to an edge 34 of the door 24 adjacent to the pivoting edge 30 of the door 24. In the embodiment illustrated, the endcap 32 is removably secured to the bottom edge 34 of the door 24, however, it could also be positioned at the top edge in some appliances. Also, when the hinge connection 28 is located along the top or bottom edge, the endcap 32 would be located along either the right or left edge of the door 24.
An in-door apparatus 36, shown here as a water dispenser, is positioned in the door 24 and may be accessible from an exterior of the cabinet 22. Other apparatus may be used with the present invention including other types of dispensers and other apparatus that are not dispensers. Generally the types of apparatus which would utilize the present invention are those that require some type of communication with the cabinet 22, such as for transmission of fluids, electrical power, signals utilizing the electromagnetic spectrum, including sound waves, or similar types of communication needs.
In the embodiment illustrated, a first water conduit 38 extends from the in-door water dispenser 36 to an end connector 44 (
Again, in the embodiment illustrated, a second water conduit 42 extends from within the cabinet 22 to the end connector 44 exterior of the cabinet adjacent to the pivoting edge 30 of the door 24 and within the endcap 32. As with the first conduit 38, the second conduit 42, in some embodiments may not be used for transporting water, but may be used for transporting any number of different things, as described above. The end connector 44 may be a single piece that each conduit 38, 42 is attached to, or may be formed in two pieces that have a compatible connection arrangement to each other. The end connector 44 may be located at a wide range of positions within the endcap 32, not necessarily limited to a position adjacent to the pivoting edge 30 of the door 24.
The hinge connection 28 is selectively movable from the pivoting edge 30 of the door 24 to an opposite edge 46 of the door to permit the door to be alternatively opened from one edge or an opposite edge. As mentioned above, the illustrated embodiment shows the hinge connection 28 originally being positioned along the right vertical edge, so it could be moved to the left vertical edge. In some appliances, the door 24 may be hinged along the top or bottom edge, and would be movable to the opposite, or bottom or top edge, respectively.
The second water conduit 42 is selectively arranged to exit from either adjacent one corner 50 or adjacent an opposite corner 52 of the cabinet 22 to be adjacent to the pivoting edge of said door, regardless of where it is moved to.
The first water conduit 38 and the second water conduit 42 are joinable by means of the end connector 44 within the endcap 32 to form a continuous leak-tight water conduit from within the cabinet 22 to the in-door water dispenser 36.
In the particular embodiment illustrated, the in-door water dispenser 36 includes a dispenser housing 54 mounted in the door 24. In this embodiment, the dispenser housing 54 is foamed-in-place within the door 24 to provide enhanced insulation and simplified construction of the door. In other embodiments, a separate housing may not be present with the in-door apparatus 36, and insulation, foamed-in-place or not, may not be used or required.
In the illustrated embodiment, a hollow conduit 56 extends from the dispenser housing 54 to the bottom edge 34 of the door 24, where the endcap 32 is located. Such a conduit 56 permits the foamed-in-place operation to occur before the remainder of the assembly process occurs. The hollow conduit 56 is sized to receive the first water conduit 38 therethrough. The hollow conduit 56 may also be sized to receive electrical wires therethrough. In other embodiments, the hollow conduit 56, if used, should be sized to receive whatever conduits, including wires, are extending between the cabinet 22 and the in-door apparatus 36.
In some embodiments, the endcap 32 may be formed of a plastic material. This is particularly useful where the door 24 is formed with a face or edge that is non-planar, such as a contoured door that has a front face that is convex. As shown in
The endcap 32 may also include clips 61 for holding the water conduits 38, 42, as well as any wires or other conduits, in place. If the endcap 32 is made of plastic, the clips 61 may be formed integrally with the endcap. The configuration of the clips 61 should be adjusted to accommodate whatever conduits are being held. The clips 61 should also be spaced apart to allow for the water conduit end connector 44 or other fittings and wire connectors to be received therebetween, if such connectors and fittings are utilized.
In the illustrated embodiment, the second water conduit 42 has a first portion 64 with a length sufficient to permit the second water conduit to exit from one corner 52 of the cabinet 22 and extend into the endcap 32. The second water conduit 42 also includes a second portion 66 selectively connectable to the first portion 64. The second portion 66 has a length sufficient to permit the second water conduit 42 to exit from the opposite corner 52 of the cabinet 22 and extend into the endcap 32.
As an example, as illustrated, the dispenser appliance 20 may be manufactured as a right hand swing model. As such, the wires and water conduit 38 will be routed in the recessed channel 58 within the endcap 32 towards the right hinge side of the appliance as shown in
This design allows the user to reverse the door swing in a manner that is consistent with the door reversal process for doors without dispensers. There will be no need for the user to disassemble any of the dispenser components in order to reverse or remove the door 24. All of the water and wiring connections can be made at the front of the appliance 20.
A particular in-door water dispenser 36 which may be used with the endcap 32 arrangement of the present invention is illustrated in
A power supply electronic control board 81 is in communication with the user interface electronic control board 80. A water dispenser solenoid valve 82 may be operated by the power supply electronic control board 81.
In the illustrated embodiment, mounted in the exterior door 24, the dispenser housing 70 has the purpose of containing the bezel 78 and paddle 72 in the correct location and locating the toggle 74 at a fixed position. In the 2-board electronic control system, the user interface board 80 interacts with the user. This control board 80 displays user feedback through LEDs 83 and receives user input through switches 85 and communicates with the power supply board 81. This board 81 has the purpose of supplying power to and communicating with the user interface board 80, operating water dispenser valve 82, and monitoring an ice maker valve 84 and door switch 86. The 2-board electronic control system interacts with the toggle 74, bezel 78, and water dispenser solenoid valve 82, as well as interacts with the paddle 72 through the toggle. The toggle 74 is attached directly to the dispenser housing 70 in a fixed position, but can move in an opposing manner to transfer the paddle movement to actuate the microswitch 76, which is mounted on a backside of the user interface board 80. The user interface board 80 is mounted in the bezel 78, which is attached directly to the dispenser housing 70. The paddle 72 is located within the bezel 78, allowing movement horizontally to actuate the toggle 74.
Water is dispensed when the user presses the paddle 72, which moves in a horizontal manner to actuate the toggle 74. This in turn actuates the microswitch 76 by moving in a horizontally opposite manner. The microswitch 76 is mounted on the backside of the user interface board 80, which then communicates to the power supply board 81 to tell it to activate the water dispenser solenoid valve 82. The power supply board 81 then activates the water dispenser solenoid valve 82 for a length determined by the continued communication request received from the user interface board 80. The user interface board 80 will continue the communicated request to the power supply board 81 as long as the paddle 72 is depressed, actuating the microswitch 76. When the user releases the paddle 72, the toggle 74 will rotate back to its original position releasing the microswitch 76. The user interface board 80, in turn will communicate to the power supply board 81 to deactivate the water dispenser solenoid valve 82. The power supply board 81 will then deactivate the water dispenser solenoid 82.
As is apparent from the foregoing specification, the invention is susceptible of being embodied with various alterations and modifications which may differ particularly from those that have been described in the preceding specification and description. It should be understood that we wish to embody within the scope of the patent warranted hereon all such modifications as reasonably and properly come within the scope of our contribution to the art.
