REFRIGERATION DEVICE COMPRISING A WATER TANK

Abstract

A refrigeration device having a water tank with at least one wall surface and a bottom surface and a flat heating system that is arranged on the water tank, wherein the flat heating system extends at least partially over the bottom surface.

Description

The present invention relates to a refrigeration device comprising a water tank. Refrigeration devices such as refrigerators or freezers comprising such a water tank, which supplies a tap attached to the outside of the device with cooled drinking water, are enjoying increasing popularity with consumers.

The water in such a tank must never freeze, firstly because the expansion of the water associated with the freezing process could damage the tank and secondly because water cannot be tapped from a frozen tank. The water tank must therefore not have excessively close thermal contact with an interior if this can be cooled down to temperatures below 0° C.

Refrigeration devices are known, whereby attempts are made to fulfill this requirement, by the tank being embedded in a wall of the refrigeration device housing, so that it is surrounded by an insulating layer both outwardly and towards the interior. The ratio of the heat conductivities of these layers and the interior and ambient temperature determine the temperature which the contents of the tank adopt under stationary conditions. The problem nevertheless arises here in that the interior temperature and, to an even greater degree than this, also the ambient temperature are variable. A refrigeration device, which is designed for use in temperate zones, is not able to cool the tank contents to a satisfying degree when used in tropical environments. Conversely, there is the risk with a refrigeration device which supplies cold water in tropical environments to a satisfying degree, that the tank contents will freeze in temperate zones, in particular when used in an unheated room. Such a conventional refrigeration device can therefore not be manufactured uniformly for different climate zones. The manufacture of models, which differ proportionately to the insulation layer thickness on both sides of the water tank, requires an increased manufacturing outlay and also represents a significant restriction for the user if the device can only be used in a restricted range of ambient temperatures.

Furthermore, the need to insulate the water tank from the interior of the refrigeration device means that if fresh water flows out at ambient temperature after tapping water from the tank, it takes a very long time until this fresh water is cooled down.

The object of the present invention is to create a refrigeration device, which can be used in significantly variable ambient temperatures.

The object is achieved by a refrigeration device comprising a water tank having at least one side wall and a bottom surface, a flat heating system arranged on the water tank for preventing the tank contents from freezing and extending at least partially upwards across the bottom surface of the water tank, and in heat-conductive contact herewith. By the tank being thus heated from below, an efficient distribution of the heated water in the tank and thus an equal temperature distribution is ensured, so that the freezing of the tank contents can be reliably prevented. The bottom surface of the water tank is advantageously in complete heat-conducting contact with the flat heating system.

If the water tank is embedded in a housing wall of the refrigeration device, the bottom surface is generally considerably smaller than the side wall as a result of the restricted thickness of the housing wall. To ensure adequate heating, the heating system expediently also extends across the side wall and is in heat-conducting contact herewith.

The side wall provided with the heating system is preferably facing an exterior of the housing, so that it is insulated against an interior of the refrigeration device and from the tank and its contents.

A second side wall of the tank preferably borders a hollow space, which communicates with a cooled interior of the refrigeration device in order, if necessary, to enable an efficient cooling of the contents of the water tank.

To fasten the heating system, the water tank can be advantageously provided with clamping apparatuses. It is thus possible to dispense with gluing the heating system to the tank, since here, if it is not performed sufficiently accurately, the risk of air bubbles between the water tank and the heating system or wrinkling exists.

Close contact between a flexible heating system and the surface of the water tank can be ensured in a simple fashion if the surface of the water tank between two clamping projections is convex.

Further features and advantages of the invention result from the subsequent description of exemplary embodiments with reference to the appended figures, in which;

FIG. 1 shows a schematic cutout through an inventive refrigeration device comprising a water tank mounted in a niche of the door,

FIG. 2 shows a perspective view of the water tank,

FIG. 3 shows a detailed cutout of the water tank, and

FIG. 4 shows a second detailed cutout in accordance with a further developed embodiment.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic cutout through a refrigeration device comprising a water tank according to the present invention. The refrigeration device shown can be a freezer or the freezer part of a side-by-side combination device. The walls of the carcass 1 and door 2, which surround the interior 3 of the device, are realized in a manner known per se in each instance with a solid outer skin and inner skin which enclose the intermediate space foamed with insulating resin. The inner skin 4 of the door 2 is deep drawn in one piece from plastic and has a protrusion 5 protruding into the interior 3 in a central region. The outer skin is composed of an essentially flat front panel 6, which is shown here covered with a furniture plate 7, and is cut into a central window, and with an essentially square housing 8 which opens forwards and is injection molded from plastic, said housing 8 engaging in the protrusion 5 of the inner skin 4 and filling the window of the front panel 6. Two levels 9 on the bottom and top wall of the housing 8 arrange the niche formed in its interior into an inner region 10 and an outer region 11 which opens toward the front side of the device. The inner region 10 is essentially closed by a panel 12 which is inserted into the housing 8 from the front and rests against the level 9. A water tank 13 is accommodated in the inner region 10. Pipes 14 and/or 15 connect the water tank 13 to the drinking water network on the one hand and to a tap 16 on the other hand in the outer region 11 of the housing 8.

A hollow space 17 is located between a rear of the approximately square water tank 13 and a rear wall of the housing 8. Several passages 18, of which only one can be seen in the cutout in FIG. 1, connect the hollow space 17 to the interior 3. A control element (not shown in FIG. 1), like for instance a flap or a fan, is arranged on at least one of these passages 18, said control element enabling the circulation of air between the hollow space 17 and the interior 3 to be restricted to a minimum if the water temperature notified by a sensor attached the tank 13 is low enough and/or allows or drives air circulation, if after the inflow of fresh water into the tank 13, the water temperature in the tank 13 is above the desired value.

An automatic ice maker 19 and a storage container 20, in which the icemaker 19 outputs frozen ice cubes, is located in the interior 3. An output opening of the storage container 20 is above a shaft 21, which extends through the wall of the door 2, and opens into the housing 8 on the ceiling of the outer region 11. A container placed in the outer region 11 can be filled both with cold water from the tank 13 and also with ice cubes from the storage container 20.

FIG. 2 shows a perspective view of the water tank 13, seen from its front side facing the niche 11. The water tank 13 is essentially square by design. It is essentially composed of a flat shell 22, which forms a front wall 23, a bottom surface 24, a ceiling 25 and side walls 26 of the tank 13, and a rear wall 28, which is welded to a collar 27 of the shell 22 which runs around the bottom surface 24, ceiling 25 and side walls 26. Inlet and outlet connections 29, 30 protrude from the upper edge of the front wall 23. A bag 31 made of plastic foil is welded to one of the side walls 26 adjacent to the outlet connection 30, said bag being provided to accommodate a temperature sensor inserted from above in order to detect the water temperature in the tank 1.

The tank 13 is sealed by a flat welding, designated in FIG. 4 by 39, between the collar 27 and the rear wall 28.

Two brackets 32 are molded on the front wall 23, said brackets holding a foil heating system 33 against the wall 23 using pressure. The foil heating system extends across the larger part of the front wall 23 and the bottom surface 24 until reaching the vicinity of the collar 27, where it is held by further brackets (not shown in this view). By the foil heating system 33 extending beyond the lower edge of the wall 23 which protrudes across an imaginary connecting plane between the upper and lower brackets, it is held in close contact with the shell 22 over its entire surface.

To be able to comfortably insert the foil heating system 33 into the brackets 32 and hold the same continuously, an upper and a lower edge of the foil heating system 33, as shown by way of example in FIG. 3 with the aid of a cutout through the upper edge region of the foil heating system 33, is wrapped around a rigid rod-type beading 34. This beading 34 provides the otherwise flexible foil heating system 33 with the necessary rigidity in order to be inserted into the bracket 32 and provides for a continuous hold by means of a form-fit connection. The bracket 32 which is elastically braced by the beading 34 from the wall 23 simultaneously exerts an upwardly directed traction on the foil heating system 33, so that this is held under tension and rests closely against the surface of the tank 13.

The anchorage of the lower edge of the foil heating system 33 to the bottom surface 24 can take place with the aid of brackets which are similar to the brackets 32. FIG. 4 shows a type of anchorage which is modified in this respect. The edge of the foil heating system 33 is also wrapped around a rod-type beading 34 here. The circumferential collar 27 of the shell 22 is lengthened outwards by an angled web 36 in each instance so that a groove 35 results on the front of the collar 27, which receives the beading 34. The rear wall 28 is provided with a circumferential web 37, which supports a projection 38 protruding from each side of the web 36 and partially closes the groove 35. The web 37 and projection 38 function together as a bracket, which holds the beading 34 and thereto the lower edge of the foil heating system 33 in the groove 35.

It is conceivable to anchor an upper edge of the foil heating system in an arrangement which is mirror-symmetrical relative to the representation in Fig. between the ceiling 25 and the rear wall 28 of the tank 13. In this case, the section of the foil heating system which extends across the ceiling 25 is expediently free of heat conductors, since heat released on the bottom surface 24 and the front wall 23 transmits significantly more efficiently to the contents of the tank 13.

Claims

1-8. (canceled)

9. A refrigeration device, comprising: a water tank with at least one wall surface and a bottom surface; anda flat heating system arranged on the water tank, wherein the flat heating system extends at least partially over the bottom surface.

10. The refrigeration device of claim 9, wherein the flat heating system completely covers the bottom surface.

11. The refrigeration device of claim 9, wherein the water tank is embedded in a housing wall of the refrigeration device, and wherein the flat heating system extends over the wall surface.

12. The refrigeration device of claim 11, further comprising a housing, wherein the wall surface of the water tank faces an exterior of the housing.

13. The refrigeration device of claim 11, wherein a hollow space borders a second wall surface of the water tank, the hollow space communicating with a cooled interior of the refrigeration device.

14. The refrigeration device of claim 13, wherein the hollow space is an air duct into which cold air that is forcibly circulated in the interior flows.

15. The refrigeration device of claim 9, wherein the water tank supports clamping projections to which the flat heating system is fastened.

16. The refrigeration device of claim 12, wherein the flat heating system is flexible, and wherein an area of the water tank is convex between two of the clamping projections.