WO2005114075A1

WO2005114075A1 - Storage tray for a refrigerator

Info

Publication number: WO2005114075A1
Application number: PCT/EP2005/052237
Authority: WO
Inventors: Christoph Becke; Christian Hoisl
Original assignee: BSH Bosch und Siemens Hausgeräte GmbH
Priority date: 2004-05-17
Filing date: 2005-05-17
Publication date: 2005-12-01
Also published as: DE202004007923U1; RU2371649C2; RU2006139667A; CN100501286C; EP1751481A1; CN1954185A

Abstract

The invention relates to a storage tray, for material for cooling in a refrigerator, with an upper side (1) and a lower side (2), between which perforations (3) are arranged in a regular pattern and feet (6), extending from the underside (2).

Description

Description Storage plate for a refrigerator

The present invention relates to a tray for the storage of refrigerated goods in a refrigerator and arrangements that include such a tray in combination with a shelf or a pull-out box of a refrigerator.

The pull-out boxes and shelves of current refrigeration devices usually have moisture-proof shelves made of glass or plastic. Moisture that gets onto these shelves can come into contact with refrigerated goods on them, which promotes the growth of unwanted germs, particularly in the case of unpacked refrigerated goods such as vegetables. Some users try to avoid this, especially by lining the bottom of pull-out boxes with absorbent paper. However, this is not a completely satisfactory solution to the problem, since the paper can at most absorb small amounts of liquid and tends to distribute them, so that they are not reliably kept away from the surface of the stored goods. If the paper is not changed regularly, it can itself form a breeding ground for germs and thus promote the deterioration of food stored on it. There is therefore a need for a surface on which refrigerated goods can be stored hygienically and reliably protected from moisture.

The storage of round refrigerated goods that have no usable flat footprint in a refrigerator is generally problematic. To store eggs, special plastic inserts are generally used, on the top of which cups are formed in a dense arrangement, each of which is shaped to receive an egg. Such use is only to be used in exceptional cases for the storage of refrigerated goods other than eggs. Round containers such as bottles or beverage cans can only be stored horizontally if there is no compartment available that is at least as high as these containers. They tend to wrap around on a flat shelf, which makes the simultaneous use of such a shelf difficult for other refrigerated goods. In order to fix lying snaps in a refrigeration device, shelves have therefore been proposed which have a plurality of channels on the top into which a bottle or beverage can can be inserted in order to secure them against rolling around. Such a shelf is essentially only useful for storing bottles and other long cylindrical bodies. If it is not needed for this purpose, it takes up unnecessary space in the refrigerator; however, if a user removes it to otherwise use the space, it is usually not there to be placed back in the refrigerator when it is actually needed.

An object of the present invention is to provide a shelf for refrigerated goods create a hygienic, moisture-protected storage of perishable refrigerated goods.

A second object of the invention is to provide a storage plate for refrigerated goods, which is both suitable to secure round refrigerated goods against rolling away, and to store differently shaped refrigerated goods on them and which therefore remain in a refrigeration device without disturbing can, if it is not used for round refrigerated goods.

[006] The objects are achieved by a storage plate with the features of claim 1.

The openings arranged in a regular pattern each form depressions which are capable of receiving and securing round refrigerated goods, in particular of spherical or elipsoid-like shape, while the parts of the upper side which are present between the openings are able to do so are, e.g. Support refrigerated goods with a flat underside.

The protruding feet from the bottom keep this from a flat surface such as the floor space of a shelf or the bottom of a pull-out box on which the shelf rests, spaced so that moisture on the base cannot reach the refrigerated goods and instead by the space between the underside and the base and the openings through which air can reach the refrigerated goods from below.

[009] A particularly space-saving arrangement of the openings is obtained if each opening has six neighboring openings in the regular pattern.

Preferably, three openings each surround a closed field of the storage plate, the base area of which is preferably at least as large as that of an opening.

In order to secure approximately cylindrical chilled goods on the storage plate against rolling away, it is advantageous if a closed field of the storage plate, which is surrounded by several openings, is raised. The elevations of the closed fields are preferably flat tetrahedral. A preferred height is in the range between 1 and 10 mm.

Preferably, the openings are triangular, so that a spherical or spherical piece of refrigerated goods, such as an egg, which is accommodated in such an opening, touches the edges of the opening at three points, but that air passes through the refrigerated goods between the contact points the breakthrough can flow.

In order to also keep small-sized items of refrigerated goods from contact with the base, the openings preferably have side walls converging towards the underside. [014] In order to save material and weight, the underside of the storage plate can be hollowed out.

The underside can also be provided with stiffening ribs, which can also perform the function of the feet already mentioned.

Recesses arranged in parallel in ribs arranged in parallel allow long-cylindrical refrigerated goods to be safely stored on the storage plate which is turned upside down and has a longitudinal axis oriented transversely to the ribs.

Advantageously, the dimensions of the storage plate to that of a shelf or a pull-out box with which it is to be used in combination are adapted so that a small number of storage plates, preferably between 1 and 4, the footprint of the shelf or pull-out box fills.

Further features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description of exemplary embodiments with reference to the accompanying figures. Show it:

[019] FIG. 1 shows a perspective view from above of a first embodiment of the storage plate according to the invention;

[020] FIG. 2 shows a perspective view of the storage plate from FIG. 1 with the underside turned upwards;

3 shows a perspective view from above of a second embodiment of the storage plate;

Figure 4 is a front view of the tray of Figure 3; and

5 shows a section through the storage plate of FIG. 3 along the plane defined by the lines designated IV in FIG. 3.

1 shows a view of the top 1 of a storage plate according to the invention. The shelf is provided with a plurality of triangular openings 3, which are arranged in a regular pattern. The pattern is conceptually obtained by paving the top 1 with equilateral triangles, some of which are shown by way of example as a dotted outline 4, and forming an opening 3 in every second triangle 4. In the pattern obtained in this way, each opening has 3 that are not on one Edge of the plate lies, six nearest neighbors, and three openings 3 each surround a triangle 4 which is not broken.

On two opposite longitudinal edges 5 of the support plate, downwardly projecting ribs 6 are formed, which overlap to a certain extent on the adjacent transverse edges 7 and act as feet, which keep the underside of the support plate spaced from a flat base, not shown in the figure. This allows air to circulate between - the underside of the support plate and the base, and no condensed water can collect. Of course, in contrast to the figure, the ribs 6 could also be interrupted one or more times in order to Exchange between the gap between the bottom 2 of the support plate and the environment also along the longitudinal edges 5.

The distance between the centers of adjacent openings 3 is slightly larger than the diameter of a large chicken egg, so that the tray can be ordered tightly with eggs by inserting one into each opening 3. The edge length of the triangular openings 3 is a few millimeters smaller than this distance, so that the proportion of the openings 3 in the total area of the upper side 1 is significantly smaller than half. The comparatively large flat surfaces on the upper side 1 facilitate the use of the storage plate for storing refrigerated goods with a flat standing surface, so that no valuable cooling space has to remain unused if the storage plate is not completely covered with eggs or the like.

FIG. 2 shows a perspective view of the storage plate from FIG. 1 with the underside 2 facing upward. The ribs 6 projecting upwards in the perspective of this figure can be seen on the longitudinal edges 5. Parallel to these are two rows formed by openings 3 more ribs 9. These ribs 9 rise just as far above the underside 2 as the ribs 6, i.e. in the position shown in FIG. 1, they also support the storage plate, so that, even if it is made of a material of low strength per se, it is able to carry a large load.

[028] In parallel with the longitudinal edges 5, four circular segment-shaped recesses 10 are formed in the ribs 9. In each of these recesses 10, a long cylindrical body, such as a snap, can be inserted and thus secured against rolling away. The shelf has two different uses: with the top 1 facing upwards, the storage of refrigerated items with a spherical shape or a flat base, and, with the bottom 2 facing up, the lying storage of cylindrical items to be refrigerated.

3 shows, in a perspective analogous to FIG. 1, a second embodiment of the storage plate according to the invention. The openings 3 and their arrangement are the same as in the storage plate of FIG. 1. It differs from the embodiment of FIG. 1 in that its top side 1 is not flat between the openings 3, but rather a survey between three openings 3 11, which is approximately of a flat tetrahedral shape. The tetrahedral shape is not exactly realized; because the tip of the tetrahedron is capped and replaced by a small triangle 12, which is between 1 and 10 mm higher than the surface surrounding the tetrahedron 11, and the edges of the tetrahedron are flattened into flat strips 13. The triangular side faces 14 of the elevations 11 adjacent to the breakthrough, each facing an opening 3, can each serve as contact surfaces for supporting a spherical piece of refrigerated goods, the latter Diameter is too large to be able to engage in the openings 3. If such large spherical pieces of refrigerated goods are stored on the storage plate, the diameter of which is greater than the distance between two adjacent openings 3, then the openings 3, which are the nearest neighbors of an opening 3 occupied by such a refrigerated body, can be left free. The storage plate is therefore not only suitable for securing spherical chilled items against rolling away, because of their diameter is smaller than the distance between two openings 3, but also if their diameter is up to twice this value or even more.

Another possibility of using the storage plate of FIG. 3 is the lying storage of refrigerated goods with a roller-like shape and a diameter of a few centimeters, such as root vegetables. As the frontal view of FIG. 4 shows, the elevations 11 arranged in mutually offset rows form a corrugated surface profile in which a cylindrical refrigerated goods body 15 with a longitudinal axis parallel to the viewing direction of the figure is secured against rolling away by being supported on the elevations 11 of different rows. Depending on the dimensions of the storage plate and the refrigerated goods, it may also be useful to place them with a longitudinal axis parallel to the longitudinal edge 5 or obliquely, for example along the line A from FIG. 3.

To save weight and material, the storage plate of the embodiment of FIG. 3 is not like that of FIGS. 1 and 2 solid, but hollowed out on their underside, as the section of FIG. 5 shows. The shape of the ribs 6, 9 and the openings 3, including the inner sides 16 tapering towards the lower side 2 and the rounding 17 at the transition from the inner sides 16 to the upper side 1, is the same as in the embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2.

Claims

Expectations

Storage plate for refrigerated goods, with an upper side (1) and a lower side (2), between which openings (3) arranged in a regular pattern are formed, and with feet (6) protruding from the underside (2).

Storage plate according to claim 1, characterized in that in the regular pattern each opening (3) has six neighboring openings (3).

Storage plate according to claim 2, characterized in that three openings (3) surround a closed field of the storage plate, the base of which is at least as large as that of an opening (3).

Storage plate according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that in each case a plurality of openings (3) surround a closed field of the storage plate, and that the closed field is raised.

[005] Storage plate according to claim 4, characterized in that the elevations (11) of the closed fields are tetrahedral.

Storage plate according to claim 4 or 5, characterized in that the height of the elevations (11) is between 1 and 10 mm.

[007] Storage plate according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the openings (3) are triangular.

[008] Storage plate according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the openings (3) have side walls (16) converging towards the underside (2).

Storage plate according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the underside (2) is hollowed out.

Storage plate according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that stiffening ribs (9) are formed on the underside (2).

[01 1] Storage plate according to claim 9, characterized in that the parallel ribs (9) are provided with aligned recesses (10).

Arrangement with a shelf or a pull-out box for a refrigerator and at least one shelf according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the dimensions of the shelf are adapted to that of the shelf or pull-out box so that a small number of shelves the space of the Fills the shelf or pull-out box.