Patent Publication Number: US-2015068240-A1

Title: Refrigerator unit and/or freezer unit

Description:
The present invention relates to a refrigerator unit and/or freezer unit having at least one chilled inner space for receiving refrigerated goods or frozen goods. 
     It is known from the prior art, in particular with supermarket chests, to carry out the price labeling in separate components which are placed on and in which the price labels are inserted. This procedure brings about the disadvantage that separate components are required for receiving the price labels. There is a further disadvantage in that the price labels may only be difficult to recognize depending on the light conditions in the environment of the chest. 
     It is therefore the underlying object of the present invention to further develop a refrigerator unit or freezer unit of the initially named kind such that it has a comparatively simple design and such that it is ensured that the information labels are easy to read. 
     This object is achieved by a refrigerator unit and/or freezer unit having the features of claim  1 . 
     Provision is accordingly made that the refrigerator unit and/or freezer unit is designed with at least one lighting means and with at least one receiver for holding one or more information labels, in particular price labels, preferably related to the refrigerated good or frozen good, wherein the lighting means are arranged relative to the receiver such that they illuminate the information label located in the receiver. 
     Provision can alternatively or additionally be made that the refrigerator unit and/or freezer unit is designed with at least one display on which at least one piece of information which is preferably related to the refrigerated good or frozen good is or can be reproduced. 
     Provision is furthermore made in accordance with the invention that the lighting means and the receiver or the display form integral components of the refrigerator unit and/or freezer unit. 
     Provision is thus made in accordance with the invention that the refrigerator unit or freezer unit has at least one lighting means and at least one receiver for an information label, wherein the lighting means is configured such that it illuminates the receiver or the information label located in the receiver. The receiver and the lighting means are not installed as separate attachments to the refrigerator unit or freezer unit, but are rather components of the refrigerator unit or freezer unit. 
     This applies accordingly to the use of a display which can be used alternatively or additionally to the lighting means and the receivers and on which information, in particular price information, likewise preferably relating to the refrigerated good or frozen good can be reproduced. 
     It is ensured both by the illuminated information label and by the display that the information such as the price or other information in particular relating to the refrigerated good or frozen good is easy to read even if the receiver or the display is located at the side of the unit remote from the user such as in the rear region of a chest refrigerator or chest freezer. 
     The reproduced information can generally be such information which has a reference to the stored refrigerated good or frozen good such as prices or also other information such as the refrigerator space temperature or freezer space temperature. 
     Provision is made in a further embodiment of the invention that the lighting means and the receiver or the display are arranged in the rear side, rear region of the refrigerator unit and/or freezer unit, i.e. in the side remote from the user. In this case, the user has a good overview of the goods located in a refrigerator chest or freezer chest as well as simultaneously of the information relating to the good or of other information and in particular of its price. 
     In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the refrigerator unit and/or freezer unit is a refrigerator chest and/or freezer chest. 
     This can have a cover frame which forms the upper termination of the carcass. One or more sliding covers can, for example, be arranged in the cover frame and can be pushed by a user so that he gains access to the chilled inner space of the unit. The lighting means and the receiver or the display are preferably arranged in the cover frame. 
     It is conceivable in this respect that the cover frame has a plane which is inclined with respect to the horizontal and in which the receiver and/or the display is/are located. It is, for example, conceivable that the angle with respect to which the receiver or the display is inclined with respect to the horizontal lies in the range between 30 and 80°. This allows a better recognizability of the presented information for a user located in front of the unit. 
     Provision is made in a further embodiment of the invention that the lighting means are arranged relative to the receiver such that the information label located in the receiver is back-lit by the lighting means. Provision is preferably made that the information labels are transparent or translucent so that they can be shone through from behind and the printing located thereon is easily recognizable. 
     Provision is made in a further embodiment of the invention that the named receiver for the information label or labels is preferably releasably fixed at the refrigerator unit and/or freezer unit and preferably at the above-named cover strip of a chest refrigerator or chest freezer by a latch connection or also by another connection. 
     Provision can furthermore be made that the lighting means are formed by one or more LEDs, in particular by at least one LED strip, or also by one or more fluorescent tubes, incandescent lamps, etc. 
     The receiver can be configured such that the information label or labels is/are pushed into it or can be pushed into it. 
     Provision is made in a furthermore embodiment of the invention that one or more information labels are arranged in the at least one receiver and that these information labels are, as stated above, configured as at least regionally transparent or translucent so that it is possible to shine through them, or backlight them. 
     The receiver can have a larger extent than a single information label. It can in particular be configured in strip form and serve the reception of a plurality of information labels arranged next to one another. 
     The lighting means can preferably be designed such that they emit a light cone which illuminates or backlights the entire information label. It is also conceivable to provide at least one scattering element or another optically active element which distributes the light areally over the at least one information label. 
     The present invention preferably relates to chest refrigerators and/or chest freezers which are used in the commercial sector, but is not limited thereto. 
     Due to the fact that the display or the lighting means and the receiver are a fully integrated component of the unit and are not installed at the unit as separate attachments, the number of required elements is reduced, on the one hand, and the visual appearance of the unit, in particular of the chest, is designed considerably more harmoniously, on the other hand. 
     As stated above, provision is made that the lighting or backlighting, in particular of price labels and the receiver for the price labels or for other information labels are components of the unit. They can be replaced by a display which preferably forms an information area fully integrated into the cover frame of a chest refrigerator and/or chest freezer. The display can be used in addition to the lighting means and to the receivers. 
    
    
     
       Further details and advantages of the invention will be explained in more detail with reference to an embodiment shown in the drawings. There are shown: 
         FIG. 1 : a perspective view of a rear corner region of a chest refrigerator or chest receiver; and 
         FIG. 2 : a sectional representation through the rear region of a cover frame of a chest refrigerator and/or chest freezer in accordance with the invention. 
     
    
    
     The carcass of a chest refrigerator or chest freezer is marked by the reference numeral  10  in  FIG. 1 . Its upper termination is formed by the cover frame  20  in which one or more sliding covers  30  are displaceably arranged. 
     The rear region of the cover frame  20  projects upwardly from the plane of the cover frame  20  in the form of a projection  22  extending in the width direction of the chest. The lighting means and the receivers for the information labels or the named display are located in this projection  22 . The upwardly projecting region  22  can extend over the total width or over a part section of the width of the unit. 
     As can be seen from  FIGS. 1 and 2 , the plane in which the receiver for the information label is located does not lie in the horizontal, but is inclined with respect thereto, e.g. by an angle of approx. 70°-80°. 
     The lighting means are marked by the reference numeral  40  and the receivers for the price labels  60  by the reference numeral  50 . The lighting means  40  and the receivers  50  are fully integrated components of the cover frame  20  or of the named projection  22 . 
     The receiver  50  is designed as transparent or translucent to ensure the visibility of the price labels or other information labels  60  and to provide the possibility of lighting them from behind. 
     As can be seen from  FIG. 1 , the lighting means  20  are located behind the receiver  50  so that the price labels  60  located in the receiver  50  are illuminated from behind. 
     As can also be seen from the sectional representation in accordance with  FIG. 2 , a defined construction space  100  is located behind the receiver section  50  and allows a full-areal backlighting of the labels  60  coordinated with the light cone of the illumination source  20 . The light cone emanating from the lighting means  40  is marked by the broken line in  FIG. 2 . As can be seen from  FIG. 2 , said light cone is dimensioned such that the entire information label or price label  60  is backlit. 
     As can furthermore be seen from  FIG. 2  and also from  FIG. 1 , the construction space  100  also serves the reception of the lighting source  20  which can, for example, be designed as an LED, a fluorescent tube, an incandescent lamp, etc. 
     To design this construction space  100  in as small a manner as possible, a scattering element can also be introduced in a further embodiment to distribute the light as areally as possible and, where possible, over the total area of the price label  60 . 
     As can further be seen from  FIG. 2  the cover frame of the chest refrigerator or chest freezer has a fixing region  28  for fixing the receiver  50 . The receiver, which can be designed, for example, from glass or acrylic glass, has resilient projections  52  which latch into corresponding recesses of the cover frame  20  or of its fixing region  28 . It is possible in this manner to release the receiver from the cover frame and to replace it with another receiver as required. 
     As can furthermore be seen from  FIG. 2 , the receiver  50  has a groove-shaped insertion section  58  in which the price label or the other information label  60  is received. The insertion section  58  is formed, on the one hand, by the side of the base body  55  of the receiver facing the user and, on the other hand, by the tab  56  resiliently attached thereto. 
     The lighting means  40  can be designed, for example, as an LED strip which extends parallel to or along the receiver. 
     An embodiment is generally also covered by the invention in which the receiver is not releasably fixed, but is fixedly fixed to the carcass, and in particular to the cover frame of a chest refrigerator and/or chest freezer.