Patent Application
20110309065
The present invention relates to a regulator assembly which comprises a housing for accommodating at least two regulators, wherein the housing has receptacles formed therein, into which the regulators can be inserted from an open side of the housing. The present invention further relates to a stove comprising a regulator assembly.
Regulators of the above kind are widely used in stoves to allow an easy assembly of the stove. They have a housing which is provided with receptacles to accommodate the required number of regulators for the particular stove. The regulators are mounted in the receptacles to form pre-assembled units, which can then be easily mounted to the stove.
In the previous regulator assemblies the regulators are mounted to the housing by means of screws. Accordingly, each regulator needs to be exactly positioned so that the screws can be fitted into corresponding screw holes. When it is desired to alternatively mount different kinds of regulators in the housing, the housing has to be provided with screw holes fitted for all these regulators. Since usually the screw holes of different regulators are provided in different positions the number of screw holes needs to be comparatively high, even when the outer dimension of the regulators are identical.
Furthermore, the screws have to be mounted using a defined torque. If the torque is exceeded, the threaded portion of the screw or the corresponding screw hole can be damaged. In contrast, if the regulator is mounted with an insufficient torque, the regulator will wobble in the receptacle. A user who operates the regulator will feel the wobbling, which is not acceptable due to safety and quality restraints.
The screws can furthermore loosen due to thermal influences. Especially with the high temperatures generated in stoves, materials underlie high temperature oscillations. This leads to frequent expansion and shrinking of the housing and/or the screws and causes the screws to loosen.
Especially when the mounting portion of the housing for mounting the regulator is rather thin, the portion between the screw head and the threaded portion of the screw may be larger than the thickness of the mounting portion. In this case situations can occur in which the screw is already tightened up in the screw hole, but the screw head is not yet in tight contact to fix the regulator in the receptacle.
Accordingly it is an object of the present invention to provide a regulator assembly and a stove of the above mentioned kind, wherein the regulators can be easily mounted to the housings.
This object is solved by that each receptacle has associated thereto retaining elements, which are positioned to elastically engage side faces of the regulator to be inserted into the receptacle, so that the regulator is positioned and/or fixed in the receptacle. The object of the present invention is also solved by a stove with such a regulator assembly.
The basic idea of the invention is to position and resiliently hold the regulators in the housing by the retaining elements. In this way the regulators can be easily mounted by merely inserting them into the receptacles of the housing, where they are automatically fixed and positioned by retaining elements. Accordingly, the use of screws is not required. Moreover the retaining elements can be designed to hold regulators with varying dimensions, so that different regulators can be used without necessitating any modifications of the housing.
Additionally, a maintenance of the stove is improved since a regulator can be easily replaced.
Preferably each receptacle has associated thereto guiding elements, which guide the insertion of the regulators into the corresponding receptacle. In this way, the insertion of the regulators can be quickly and easily realised.
Furthermore, the guiding elements can be bevelled and provide tapered openings for the insertion of the regulators. Accordingly, the opening is wide at the open side of the housing, so that the regulator can be easily inserted and positioned in the corresponding receptacle. When the regulator is further pushed into the receptacle, the size of the opening reduces and the regulator is accurately guided along the bevelled guiding elements to its predetermined position.
According to a further embodiment the guiding elements and the retaining elements are positioned at different lateral sides of the respective receptacle. This allows an easy combination of guiding elements and retaining elements without interfering with each other.
Additionally, support elements can be provided for supporting a bottom of the regulators in the receptacles. The support elements provide abutment faces for supporting the regulators at predefined axial positions.
Further, at least one cable inlet can be provided for leading through at least one cable for electrically connecting through the regulators. Since the regulators need to be connected at least to a control or power cable for operation, these cables can be passed through the cable inlet in a convenient way.
In a further embodiment at least one vent hole, particularly one vent hole per calculator, is provided for cooling the regulators. Especially power regulators generate heat when being operated, and since the housing is usually rather small, the heat might easily be accumulated, which can lead to thermal damages of the housing or the regulator itself. This can be avoided by the vent holes, so that heat can be conveyed away.
Preferably, each receptacle has associated thereto at least one elastic element, which is supported between an outer wall of the stove and the corresponding regulator to urge the regulator into the receptacle. In other words according to this embodiment the regulator is pressed against the bottom of the receptacle by the resilient force of the elastic element, so that a proper axial position of the regulator in the receptacle is guaranteed.
The elastic elements are especially useful when the regulator assembly is arranged with the open side of the housing facing to a lateral side of the stove. In this case gravity does not drag the regulators into the receptacles, and it is even more important to reliably urge the regulators into the receptacle by the pressure exerted from the elastic elements. Accordingly, tilting of the regulators in the receptacles is avoided independent from the orientation of the housing.
Furthermore, in a manner known per se each regulator can comprise a protruding operating element, which extends through a corresponding hole in the outer surface of the stove. The operating element is usually a shaft, which is operated by a knob, mounted onto the shaft. In this case the corresponding elastic element can be ring shaped and surround the operating element.
Advantageously the elastic elements may be fixed in the corresponding holes in the outer wall and preferably, the elastic elements are provided as gaskets for sealing the gaps between the operating elements and the corresponding holes. In this way the position of the operating elements is secured against radial forces in respect to the holes. Also foreign matter will be prevented from entering the stove, since the gap between the hole, the elastic element and the operating element is closed.
Furthermore, the elastic elements can comprise plain bearing surfaces, which rest on the regulators. In this embodiment the elastic elements exert homogeneously pressure on the regulators to urge them into the receptacles.
Finally, the elastic elements can be made of silicon. This material is flexible and resistible to mechanical influences, so that the material characteristics can be maintained over a long operation time.
The detailed configuration, figures and advantages of the present invention will become apparent in the course of the following description with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Below, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the figures. In the figures, like parts or portions are denoted by like reference numbers, and redundant description will be omitted.
The regulator assembly 3 comprises a housing 5 and four regulators 6 and is fixed in a rectangular recess 7 of the base structure 1.
The housing 5 comprises four receptacles 8 for accommodating the regulators 6. The receptacles 8 are open towards the upper side 9 of the housing 5 and have associated thereto retaining elements 10, which are arranged and positioned to elastically engage side faces of the regulators 6 to be inserted.
The receptacles 8 have further associated thereto bevelled guiding elements 11, which provide tapered openings for guiding the insertion of the regulators 6 into the receptacles 8. The cross section of the openings increases towards the open side 9 of the housing 5.
The axial end of the receptacles 8 is defined by support elements 12, which form the bottom of the receptacles 8 and an axial abutment face for the regulators 6.
The retaining elements 10 on the one hand and the guiding elements 11 on the other hand are positioned at different sides of the receptacles 8. Specifically the retaining elements 10 are provided between the receptacles 8, whereas the guiding elements 11 are positioned along the outer walls 13A, 13B, 13C, 13D of the housing 5.
The housing 5 further comprises one cable inlet 14, which is provided in the rear wall 13A of the housing 5. Electric contacts 15 of the regulators 6 can be connected by a cable (not shown), which passes through the cable inlet 14, to the cooking zones 2 for actuating them.
Vent holes 16 are provided along one side wall 13B of the housing 5 and correspond each to one receptacle 8. Ambient air may enter through the vent holes 16 into the housing 5 to reduce the temperature of the regulators 6 when in operation.
The regulators 6 are provided with protruding operating elements 17 in the form of shafts, which extend through corresponding through holes 18 in the cover plate 4. Knobs (not shown) are mounted on the shafts 17 to operate the regulators 6.
Each receptacle 8 has associated thereto one elastic element 19, which is made of silicon and provided in a ring shaped form. The elastic element 19 is positioned around the shaft 17 and supported between the cover plate 4 and the corresponding regulator 6. Thereby, the elastic element 19 urges the regulator 6 into the housing 5. The upper part of the elastic element 19 extends into the corresponding through hole 18, where it is securely fixed by lips 20, which extend from the hole 18 to both sides of the cover plate 4. The elastic elements 19 thereby seal the gaps between the shaft 17 of the regulator 6 and the corresponding hole 18.
The elastic element 19 comprises protruding portions 21, which provide a plane bearing surface which rest on the regulators 6. By means of the protruding portions 21 the regulator 6 is evenly urged into the receptacle 8.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 08020947.1 | Dec 2008 | EP | regional |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/EP2009/007660 | 10/27/2009 | WO | 00 | 9/9/2011 |
