TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a household appliance configured to store food items.

BACKGROUND

[0002] In prior art household appliances arranged to store food items, such as for instance wine cabinets configured to store bottles of wine, dedicated lighting devices are used to illuminate an interior of the appliance.

[0003] In for instance wine cabinets, vertically extending light sources such as for instance light strips arranged with light emitting diodes (LEDs) may be arranged on an interior wall of the cabinet to illuminate the cabinet interior upon a user opening a cabinet door.

[0004] However, since one or more shelves are arranged in the cabinet, and in particular a shelf in the form of a thermally insulating mullion in case of a wine cabinet, two separate vertical light strips must typically be arranged on the interior wall; one on a section of the interior wall located above the above the mullion and one on another section of the wall located below the mullion.

SUMMARY

[0005] One objective is to solve, or at least mitigate, this problem and the art and thus to provide an improved household appliance configured to store food items.

[0006] This objective is attained by a household appliance configured to store food items, the appliance comprising at least one shelf and further at least one cap member configured to be detachable from a front section of the shelf and a light source vertically extending along an interior wall of the appliance, the cap member being arranged to cover a part of the light source upon being attached to the front section of the shelf, and to uncover said part of the light source upon being detached from the front section of the shelf.

[0007] Hence, instead of using two separate light sources on each side of a shelf on an interior wall of the appliance, one light source vertically extending along an interior wall of the appliance is advantageously utilized, which facilitates manufacturing and mounting, and further decreases cost.

[0008] A cap member is used to cover the light source during operation of the appliance, but advantageously uncovers the light source upon being detached from a front section of the shelf, thereby allowing access to the light source for maintenance.

[0009] In an embodiment, the cap member is configured to extend along a full length of the front section of the shelf.

[0010] In an embodiment, the household appliance comprises a control panel arranged to receive instructions from a user for controlling functionality of the household appliance, which control panel is arranged on the cap member.

[0011] In an embodiment, the shelf is further arranged with a recess at a corner of the front section, and the cap member is configured to cover the recess and said part of the light source upon being attached to the front corner section and to uncover the recess and said part of the light source upon being detached from the front corner section.

[0012] In an embodiment, the shelf is further arranged with a recess at a corner of the front section, and the cap member is configured to cover only the recess and said part of the light source upon being attached to the front corner section and to uncover the recess and said part of the light source upon being detached from the front corner section.

[0013] In an embodiment, the shelf is a mullion configured to provide thermal insulation between two compartments of the household appliance.

[0014] In an embodiment, the two compartments are configured to provide a first and a second temperature zone in the appliance.

[0015] In an embodiment, the cap member is configured to be fastened to the front section of the shelf.

[0016] In an embodiment, the cap member is fastened using one or more of a screw, a snap-in mechanism configured to allow the cap member to move into snap engagement with the shelf or vice versa, or that the cap member is adapted dimensionally to closely fit with the shelf.

[0017] In an embodiment, the light source comprises a light-emitting diode strip. [0018] Generally, all terms used in the claims are to be interpreted according to their ordinary meaning in the technical field, unless explicitly defined otherwise herein. All references to "a/an/the element, apparatus, component, means, step, etc." are to be interpreted openly as referring to at least one instance of the element, apparatus, component, means, step, etc., unless explicitly stated otherwise. The steps of any method disclosed herein do not have to be performed in the exact order disclosed, unless explicitly stated.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0019] Aspects and embodiments are now described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0020] Figure 1 shows a prior art household appliance in which embodiments may be implemented;

[0021] Figures 2a and 2b show a household appliance according to an embodiment;

[0022] Figures 3a and 3b show a household appliance according to another embodiment; and

[0023] Figures 4a and 4b show a household appliance according to a further embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0024] The aspects of the present disclosure will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which certain embodiments of the invention are shown.

[0025] These aspects may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limiting; rather, these embodiments are provided by way of example so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and to fully convey the scope of all aspects of invention to those skilled in the art. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout the description.

[0026] Figure 1 illustrates a household appliance 10 configured to store food items, in which embodiments may be implemented. The household appliance will throughout the description be embodied in the form of a wine cabinet, i.e. a wine refrigerator storing food items in the form of wine bottles.

[0027] The wine cabinet 10 comprises a plurality of grooves na-d configured to accommodate shelves (not shown) for storing bottles. The shelves are typically retractable horizontally out of the cabinet 10 to allow a user to easily reach the bottles stored on the shelves na-d, and may even be removable from the grooves na-d and thus taken out of the cabinet 10.

[0028] Further shown is a different type of shelf commonly referred to as a mullion 12. The mullion 12 maybe used as a shelf for storing bottles, but further provides an insulating functionality.

[0029] The wine cabinet 10 may be arranged with different temperature zones; for instance, a top compartment above the mullion 12 may be arranged to store wine at a first temperature, while a bottom compartment below the mullion 12 may be arranged to store wine at a second temperature, where the two compartments are thermally separated from each other by the mullion 12. Commonly, white wines are stored at a slightly lower temperature (around io°C) than red wines (around 15°C).

[0030] While the bottom compartment may comprise shelves, it may further be envisaged that a bottom section of the interior of the cabinet 10 is free from shelves such that larger items may be stored on a cabinet floor, e.g. magnum bottles.

[0031] Now, a light source may either be arranged on an interior top wall and/ or bottom wall of the cabinet 10, or more preferably on an interior side wall 13 of the cabinet 10 close to the opening of the cabinet (or both side walls), as illustrated by means of the vertically extending light strip 14.

[0032] Typically, the mullion 12 is fixedly mounted in the cabinet 10 by means of fasteners such as screws, or may even form an integral part of the cabinet 10 in which case it cannot be removed.

[0033] Thus, if one or more light sources (commonly LEDs) of the light strip 14 stops functioning, the light strip 14 cannot be easily removed since it is located between the interior side wall of the cabinet 10 and the mullion 12.

[0034] One solution is to use two light strips; one attached to the side wall 13 above the mullion 12 and one attached to the side wall 13 below the mullion 12, e.g. by means of adhesive. [0035] However, using two light strips on one or both interior side walls is typically more expensive than using a single light strip 14 on one or both side walls, in addition to requiring a slightly more complex light control device.

[0036] With reference to Figures 2a and 2b, this is resolved in an embodiment by a household appliance (exemplified by a wine cabinet 20) comprising a mullion 22 separating a top compartment from a bottom compartment in order to provide two different temperature zones. Shown are also grooves 2ia-2id arranged for accommodating shelves for bottle storage.

[0037] Similar to the prior art wine cabinet of Figure 1, the wine cabinet 20 comprises a light source in the form of a LED light strip 24 vertically extending along the interior side wall 23.

[0038] In this embodiment, the wine cabinet 20 comprises a cap member 25 configured to be detachable from a front section of the mullion 22.

[0039] As illustrated in Figure 2a, the cap member 25 is arranged to cover a part of the light strip 24 upon being attached to the front section of the mullion 22.

[0040] As illustrated in Figure 2b, upon being detached from the front section of the mullion 22 the same part of the light strip 24 is uncovered, thereby advantageously allowing access to the light strip 24, e.g. for maintenance of the light strip 24.

[0041] Assuming for instance that the light strip 24 is attached to the side wall 23 by means of adhesive, a maintenance technician may straightforwardly remove the light strip 24 after having detached the cap member 25 from the front section of the mullion 22.

[0042] With reference to Figures 3a and 3b, in a further embodiment, the mullion 22 is arranged with a recess 26 at a corner of the front section mullion 22 - typically at both front corner sections since a light strip 24 preferably is arranged at each side of the mullion 22 - wherein the cap member 25 is configured to cover the recess 26 and a part of the light source 24 upon being attached to the front corner section of the mullion 22 and to uncover the recess 26 and the part of the light source upon being detached from the front corner section.

[0043] Again, the detachable cap member 25 enables for a maintenance technician to reach the light strip 24 for replacement. [0044] A further advantage of the embodiment described with reference to Figures 3a and 3b as compared to the embodiment described with reference to Figures 2a and 2b is that by utilizing the recess(es) 26 to uncover the light strip 24, the depth of the cap member 25 can be made smaller (in the embodiment of Figures 2a and 2b, the depth must at least be equal to a width of the light strip 24), thereby facilitating a slightly greater depth for the mullion 22, which is advantageous for bottle storage purposes.

[0045] In both embodiments, a control panel 27 of the wine cabinet 20 may be arranged on the cap member 25 (which control panel typically is communicatively connected to a processing unit controlling various functions of the cabinet 20). The control panel 27 is arranged to receive instructions of a user for controlling operation of the wine cabinet 20 (such as changing a set temperature), either via user keypress of the control panel 27, or wirelessly via for instance a smart phone of the user.

[0046] Figures 4a and 4b illustrate a further embodiment, where a slightly different cap member 25 'is utilized for only covering the recess 26 at the corner of the front section of the mullion 22, rather than extending along the full length of the front section of the mullion 22.

[0047] In addition to advantageously facilitating access to the light strip 24 upon being detached from the corner of the mullion 22, as illustrated in Figure 4b, the cap member 25 'advantageously allows a greater depth of the mullion 22 since the cap member 25 'does not extend along the full front section of the mullion 22.

[0048] Thus, in this particular embodiment, the cap member 25 'is arranged locally at the front corner section of the mullion 12 to only cover the recess 26.

[0049] As previously mentioned, if the wine cabinet 20 comprises a light strip arranged on the interior wall on each side of the mullion 12, the mullion 12 will comprise a recess at each front corner section and thus two individual cap members being configured to cover/uncover the respective recess and light strip.

[0050] In embodiments, the above-described cap member 25, 25’ is configured to be fastened to the mullion 12 by means of e.g. a fastener such as screw mating with a thread, a snap-in mechanism where for instance a rib of the cap member moves into snap engagement with a groove of the mullion 12 or vice versa (any appropriate snap- in element of the cap member moving into snap engagement with a mating member of the mullion may be envisaged), or that the cap member is adapted dimensionally to closely fit with the mullion 12, etc.

[0051] The aspects of the present disclosure have mainly been described above with reference to a few embodiments and examples thereof. However, as is readily appreciated by a person skilled in the art, other embodiments than the ones disclosed above are equally possible within the scope of the invention, as defined by the appended patent claims.

[0052] Thus, while various aspects and embodiments have been disclosed herein, other aspects and embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art. The various aspects and embodiments disclosed herein are for purposes of illustration and are not intended to be limiting, with the true scope and spirit being indicated by the following claims.