Patent Application
20150107285
The present disclosure related generally to refrigerator appliances, and more particularly to refrigerator appliances which include compartments in fresh food chambers for storing items at various temperatures and temperature ranges.
Generally, refrigerator appliances include a cabinet that defines a fresh food chamber for receipt of food items for storage. Many refrigerator appliances further include a freezer chamber for receipt of food items for freezing and storage. In many currently utilized refrigerator appliances, the freezer chamber is positioned below the fresh food chamber. Users of these refrigerator appliances must bend over to reach frozen food items stored in the freezer chamber. This can be detrimental and even painful to users with back issues, etc.
Additionally, many such presently known refrigerator appliances do not include areas which allow for storage of food items above the temperature of the fresh food chamber. Such storage areas may be desired for the storage of wine, certain vegetables, etc.
Accordingly, improved refrigerator appliances are desired. For example, refrigerator appliances which provide storage areas in the fresh food chamber for frozen items, and which provide storage areas in the fresh food chamber for items at higher temperatures including those above that of the fresh food chamber, would be advantageous. In particular, refrigerator appliances with storage areas that facilitate selective storage of frozen items and items at higher temperatures including those above that of the fresh food chamber would be advantageous.
Additional aspects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the following description, or may be apparent from the description, or may be learned through practice of the invention.
In accordance with one embodiment, a refrigerator appliance is disclosed. The refrigerator appliance includes a cabinet defining a fresh food chamber, and a door rotatably hinged to the cabinet for accessing the fresh food chamber, the door including an inner surface and an outer surface. The refrigerator appliance further includes a compartment defined in the inner surface of the door, the compartment defining an interior chamber and including a compartment door providing access to the interior chamber. The compartment is selectively operable at a first temperature below approximately 32 degrees Fahrenheit and a second temperature above approximately 40 degrees Fahrenheit.
In accordance with another embodiment, a refrigerator appliance is disclosed. The refrigerator appliance includes a cabinet defining a fresh food chamber and a freezer chamber, and a door rotatably hinged to the cabinet for accessing the fresh food chamber, the door including an inner surface and an outer surface. The refrigerator appliance further includes a compartment defined in the inner surface of the door, the compartment defining an interior chamber and including a compartment door providing access to the interior chamber. The compartment is in fluid communication with the freezer chamber and selectively operable at a first temperature below approximately 32 degrees Fahrenheit and a second temperature above approximately 40 degrees Fahrenheit.
These and other features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the following description and appended claims. The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.
A full and enabling disclosure of the present invention, including the best mode thereof, directed to one of ordinary skill in the art, is set forth in the specification, which makes reference to the appended figures, in which:
Reference now will be made in detail to embodiments of the invention, one or more examples of which are illustrated in the drawings. Each example is provided by way of explanation of the invention, not limitation of the invention. In fact, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. For instance, features illustrated or described as part of one embodiment can be used with another embodiment to yield a still further embodiment. Thus, it is intended that the present invention covers such modifications and variations as come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.
Refrigerator appliance 100 includes a cabinet or housing 120 defining an upper fresh food chamber 122 and a lower freezer chamber 124 arranged below the fresh food chamber 122 on the vertical direction V. As such, refrigerator appliance 100 is generally referred to as a bottom mount refrigerator. In the exemplary embodiment, housing 120 also defines a mechanical compartment (not shown) for receipt of a sealed cooling system (not shown). Using the teachings disclosed herein, one of skill in the art will understand that the present invention can be used with other types of refrigerators (e.g., side-by-sides) or a freezer appliance as well. Consequently, the description set forth herein is for illustrative purposes only and is not intended to limit the invention in any aspect.
Refrigerator doors 126 are rotatably hinged to an edge of housing 120 for accessing fresh food chamber 122. It should be noted that while two doors 126 in a “french door” configuration are illustrated, any suitable arrangement of doors utilizing one, two or more doors is within the scope and spirit of the present disclosure. A freezer door 130 is arranged below refrigerator doors 126, 128 for accessing freezer chamber 124. In the exemplary embodiment, freezer door 130 is coupled to a freezer drawer (not shown) slidably coupled within freezer chamber 124.
Operation of the refrigerator appliance 100 can be regulated by a controller 134 that is operatively coupled to a user interface panel 136. Panel 136 provides selections for user manipulation of the operation of refrigerator appliance 100 such as e.g., temperature selections, including those discussed herein, etc. In response to user manipulation of the user interface panel 136, the controller 134 operates various components of the refrigerator appliance 100. The controller may include a memory and one or more microprocessors, CPUs or the like, such as general or special purpose microprocessors operable to execute programming instructions or micro-control code associated with operation of refrigerator appliance 100. The memory may represent random access memory such as DRAM, or read only memory such as ROM or FLASH. In one embodiment, the processor executes programming instructions stored in memory. The memory may be a separate component from the processor or may be included onboard within the processor.
The controller 134 may be positioned in a variety of locations throughout refrigerator appliance 100. In the illustrated embodiment, the controller 134 may be located within the door 126. In such an embodiment, input/output (“I/O”) signals may be routed between the controller and various operational components of refrigerator appliance 100. In one embodiment, the user interface panel 136 may represent a general purpose I/O (“GPIO”) device or functional block. In one embodiment, the user interface 136 may include input components, such as one or more of a variety of electrical, mechanical or electro-mechanical input devices including rotary dials, push buttons, and touch pads. The user interface 136 may include a display component, such as a digital or analog display device designed to provide operational feedback to a user. The user interface 136 may be in communication with the controller via one or more signal lines or shared communication busses.
Referring now to
As shown, a compartment 160 may be defined in a door 126, such as in the inner surface 150 of the door 126. The compartment 160 may advantageously, as discussed herein, be configured to contain various items at a wide variety of temperatures, as selected by a user. The compartment 160 may define an interior chamber 162 therein in which such items may be placed, and may further include a compartment door 164 which may provide access to the interior chamber 162. For example, the door 164 may be rotatably hinged to an edge of compartment 160 for accessing the chamber 162, or may otherwise be connected to the compartment 160, door 126, etc., such that the door 164 may be movable between open and closed positions. In a closed position, as shown in
In general, the compartment 160 and various components thereof, including the chamber 162 and door 164, may be insulated to reduce heat exchange between the compartment 160 and, for example, the fresh food chamber 122. Due to the insulation which encloses insulated compartment 160, the temperature within insulated chamber 162 can be maintained at a variety of levels different from the temperature in the fresh food chamber 122.
Compartment 160 is selectively operable at various temperatures and temperature ranges, including temperatures below and above freezing. In exemplary embodiments, the compartment 160 thus facilitates use with both frozen foods, etc. at below freezing temperatures, as well as food items such as wines, vegetables, etc. which require above freezing temperature which, in some cases, may even be above the temperature of the fresh food chamber 122.
Thus, a compartment 160 according to the present disclosure may be selectively operable at a first temperature below approximately 32 degrees Fahrenheit and a second temperature above approximately 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Further, in some embodiments, the first temperature may be below approximately 0 degrees Fahrenheit, the second temperature may be between approximately 40 degrees Fahrenheit and approximately 60 degrees Fahrenheit, and the compartment 160 may further be selectively operable at a third temperature between approximately 33 degrees Fahrenheit and approximately 38 degrees Fahrenheit. Still further, it should be understood that compartment 160 may be selectively operable at any number of various temperatures and/or temperature ranges as desired or required per application. For example, in some embodiments, the first temperature may be between approximately 0 degrees Fahrenheit and approximately—10 degrees Fahrenheit, the second temperature may be between approximately 42 degrees Fahrenheit and approximately 48 degrees Fahrenheit, the third temperature may be between approximately 33 degrees Fahrenheit and approximately 38 degrees Fahrenheit, and the compartment 160 may further be selectively operable at a fourth temperature between approximately 52 degrees Fahrenheit and approximately 58 degrees Fahrenheit. Various food items may advantageous be stored in compartment 160 at the various temperatures or temperature ranges. For example, frozen items may be stored in compartment 160 when selectively operated at a first temperature, cold beverages may be stored in compartment 160 when selectively operated at a third temperature, white wine may be stored in compartment 160 when selectively operated at a second temperature, and red wine may be stored in compartment 160 when selectively operated at a fourth temperature.
Various components may be utilized to facilitate the wide temperature ranges selectively available in the compartment 160. For example, in one embodiment, compartment 160 may be in fluid communication with the freezer chamber 124. As shown, in
As shown in
As further shown in
Additionally or alternatively, with regard to temperatures above the temperature of the freezer chamber 124 and/or the fresh food chamber 122, may be facilitated through heat transfer from ambient exterior to the refrigerator appliance 100 to the interior chamber 162 of the controller 134.
Referring again briefly to
This written description uses examples to disclose the invention, including the best mode, and also to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the invention, including making and using any devices or systems and performing any incorporated methods. The patentable scope of the invention is defined by the claims, and may include other examples that occur to those skilled in the art. Such other examples are intended to be within the scope of the claims if they include structural elements that do not differ from the literal language of the claims, or if they include equivalent structural elements with insubstantial differences from the literal languages of the claims.
