Patent Application
20220395112
Not Applicable
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The disclosure relates to refrigerator device and more particularly pertains to a new refrigerator device for facilitating contents in a refrigerator to be visible without opening the refrigerator. The device includes electrochromic doors which can be actuated into a translucent condition to facilitate an interior of the refrigerator to be visible. Additionally, the device includes a pair of carousels for storing perishable items in the refrigerator.
The prior art relates to refrigerator devices including a refrigerator that has translucent doors for viewing contents of the refrigerator without opening the refrigerator. The prior art discloses a variety of refrigeration units that include various means of wireless communication with a user. Additionally, the prior art discloses a variety of refrigerators that have various means of electronically identifying contents of the refrigerator. In no instance does the prior art disclose a refrigerator with electrochromic doors and which includes a pair of carousels for storing food.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a refrigerator to facilitate the perishable items to be stored. A pair of carousels is each of the carousels is rotatably integrated into the refrigerator to support perishable food items. A pair of doors is each of the doors is hingedly coupled to the refrigerator for opening and closing the refrigerator. Moreover, each of the doors is comprised of an electrochromic material thereby facilitating the doors to be alternatively opaque or translucent. In this way the doors facilitate contents of the refrigerator to be visible without opening the doors.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.
The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:
With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to
As best illustrated in
The refrigerator 12 has a dividing wall 30 extending between the top side 20 and the bottom side 22 of the outer wall 16 to define a first portion 32 and a second portion 34 of the interior of the refrigerator 12. Additionally, the divider is centrally positioned on the front side 18. A pair of shelves 36 is each positioned within the refrigerator 12 and each of the shelves 36 extends between the dividing wall 30 and a respective one of the first lateral side 24 and the second lateral side 26 of the outer wall 16 of the refrigerator 12. Each of the shelves 36 is spaced from the bottom side 22 of the outer wall 16 to define a drawer space 38 between the shelves 36 and the bottom side 22. A pair of drawers 40 is each slidably positioned within the refrigerator 12 to contain perishable items 13. Each of the drawers 40 is positioned in the drawer space 38 beneath a respective one of the shelves 36.
A pair of carousels 42 is provided and each of the carousels 42 is rotatably integrated into the refrigerator 12. Each of the carousels 42 has a plurality of trays 44 integrated into the carousels 42 and each of the trays 44 support perishable items 13. Moreover, each of the trays 44 is independently rotatable with respect to each other. Each of the carousels 42 includes a pole 46 extending between a respective one of the shelves 36 and the top side 20 of the outer wall 16 of the refrigerator 12. Additionally, the pole 46 associated with each of the carousels 42 is centrally positioned in a respective one of the first portion 32 and the second portion 34 of the interior of the refrigerator 12.
The pole 46 associated with a respective one of the carousels 42 extends through a top surface 48 and a bottom surface 50 of each of the trays 44 associated with the respective carousel 42. Moreover, the trays 44 associated with the respective carousel 42 are spaced apart from each other and are distributed along the pole 46 associated with the respective carousel 42. Each of the trays 44 has a lip 52 extending upwardly from the top surface 48 and the lip 52 on each of the trays 44 extends around a full perimeter of the trays 44 to inhibit the perishable items 13 from sliding off of the trays 44.
Each of the carousels 42 includes a plurality of motors 54 that is each is coupled to the pole 46. Each of the motors 54 engages the bottom surface 50 of a respective one of the trays 44 on the pole 46. Respective ones of the motors 54 rotate the respective tray about the pole 46 when the respective motors 54 are turned on. Each of the motors 54 may comprise an electric motor or the like and each of the motors 54 may include a bearing 55 for supporting the weight of the respective tray 44. A control circuit 56 is provided and the control circuit 56 is integrated into the refrigerator 12. The control circuit 56 is electrically coupled to the cooling unit 28 and the control circuit 56 is electrically coupled to each of the motors 54.
A pair of doors 58 is each hingedly coupled to the refrigerator 12 for opening and closing the refrigerator 12. Each of the doors 58 is positioned on the front side 18 of the outer wall 16 of the refrigerator 12 and each of the doors 58 is aligned with a respective one of the first portion 32 and the second portion 34 of the interior of the refrigerator 12. Each of the doors 58 is comprised of an electrochromic material thereby facilitating the doors 58 to be alternatively opaque or translucent. In this way the doors 58 facilitate contents of the refrigerator 12 to be visible without opening the doors 58. An electronic lock 59 may be integrated into the pair of doors 58 and the electronic lock 59 may be electrically coupled to the control circuit 56. The electronic lock 59 may lock the doors 58 closed at predetermined times of day.
Each of the doors 58 is electrically coupled to the control circuit 56. Additionally, each of the doors 58 has touch sensing capabilities. In this way each of the doors 58 can detect when a user touches the doors 58. Moreover, the control circuit 56 actuates each of the doors 58 into a translucent condition when the doors 58 are touched. In this way the user can see the contents of the refrigerator 12 by simply touching a door, rather than opening the door. Thus, the overall efficiency of the refrigerator 12 is improved by reducing the number of time that the doors 58 will be open. Additionally, each of the doors 58 is in a normally opaque condition. A pair of handles 60 is each coupled to an outer surface 62 of a respective one of the doors 58 for gripping, and each of the handles 60 is vertically oriented on the respective door 58.
A touch screen 64 is coupled to a respective one of the doors 58 such that the touch screen 64 is accessible to a user. The touch screen 64 is in communication with the cooling unit 28 and each of the carousels 42 to control operational parameters of the cooling unit 28 and the carousels 42. Additionally, the touch screen 64 is electrically coupled to the control circuit 56. The touch screen 64 displays icon indicia, menu indicia and word indicia to facilitate controlling operational parameters of the cooling unit 28 and the carousel unit. Each of the motors 54 associated with each of the carousels 42 is independently actuatable with the touch screen 64 to facilitate specific perishable items 13 to be accessible to the user. The touch screen 64 may comprise a liquid crystal display or other type of electronic touch screen.
A decay sensor 66 is integrated into the refrigerator 12 and the decay sensor 66 is in fluid communication with the interior of the refrigerator 12. The decay sensor 66 senses specific organic compounds associated with decaying perishable items 13. In this way the decay sensor 66 can sense when perishable items 13 in the refrigerator 12 have begun to decay. The decay sensor 66 is electrically coupled to the control circuit 56 and the control circuit 56 receives a decay input when the decay sensor 66 senses the specific organic compounds. The decay sensor 66 may be an electronic chemical sensor that is designed to sense various compounds released by the decomposition of organic material.
A label scanner 68 is integrated into the refrigerator 12 to scan labels on the perishable items 13 in the refrigerator 12 for determining an expiration date of the perishable items 13. The label scanner 68 is electrically coupled to the control circuit 56 such that the control circuit 56 receives the expiration dates. The label scanner 68 may be an optical scanner, a laser scanner or other type of electronic scanner that is capable of reading product labels. A transceiver 70 is integrated into the refrigerator 12, the transceiver 70 is electrically coupled to the control circuit 56 and the transceiver 70 is in wireless communication with a personal electronic device 72. The personal electronic device 72 may be a smart phone or the like. The transceiver 70 may comprise a radio frequency transceiver and the transceiver 70 may employ Bluetooth communication protocols.
The transceiver 70 broadcasts a decay alert to the personal electronic device 72 when the control circuit 56 receives the decay input. In this way the transceiver 70 can alert the user that perishable items 13 have begun to decay. The transceiver 70 broadcasts an expiration alert to the personal electronic device 72 when the expiration date of any perishable item has passed. In this way the transceiver 70 can alert the user that a perishable item has expired. The control circuit 56 might include an electronic memory 74 that stores operational software, such as a shopping list compiler to automatically create a shopping list based on expiration dates of the perishable items 13 in the refrigerator 12.
A power cord 76 is coupled to and extends away from the refrigerator 12 and the power cord 76 is electrically coupled to the control circuit 56. The power cord 76 has a distal end 78 with respect to the refrigerator 12 and a male plug 80 is electrically coupled to the distal end 78. The male plug 80 can be plugged into a female electrical outlet 82.
In use, either of the doors 58 is touched to actuate the doors 58 into the translucent condition. In this way the contents of the refrigerator 12 can be viewed without opening the doors 58. Additionally, the touch screen 64 can be manipulated to rotate selected trays 44 to view all of the contents of the refrigerator 12. The personal electronic device 72 receives alerts when decaying food is detected or when an expiration date of food in the refrigerator 12 has passed. In this way the user is notified to remove the decaying or expired food from the refrigerator 12. Additionally, the personal electronic device 72 may receive a shopping list that includes the expired food items to facilitate the user to purchase replacement food items.
With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.
Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.
