Refrigeration devices, such as, for example, refrigerators, freezers or wine storage cabinets, tend to become increasingly large to provide larger storage capacity. Regardless of their use, such refrigeration appliances have a body having an interior for receiving the objects or products to be cooled, and a door attached to the body. Refrigeration appliances always have an elastically deformable seal disposed between the body and the door to prevent warm air from entering the interior, and to prevent the cold present therein from escaping to the outside when the refrigeration appliance is closed. Consequently, the seal is of particular importance because it is also decisive for the power consumption of the refrigeration appliance. Due to the temperature difference between the environment and the interior of the refrigeration appliance, the warm air that has entered the interior of the refrigeration appliance after opening the door is cooled once the door is closed, causing a decrease in the volume of the air, as a result of which a vacuum develops in the interior of the refrigeration appliance and presses the door against the body with a force increased by the ambient air pressure. As a result of this naturally increased door-closing force, the door may be impossible to open or may be openable only with substantial force, especially with increasing size of the refrigeration appliances.
In order to reduce this force, German Utility Model DE 20 2000 011 427 U1 describes a refrigeration appliance having a body and a door closing the same, where an opening mechanism referred to as “drive means” acts on the door and is actuatable by a trigger sensor. According to the disclosure of this document, the trigger sensor may operate based on different principles, of which mechanical, acoustic or optical operating principles are mentioned by way of example. This document also mentions a force sensor which senses an actuation force acting on the door. Thus, the opening mechanism can be activated, for example, by slightly pushing against the door or slightly pulling on the door handle. The opening mechanism used here is an electric motor having bevel gearing.
Further, DE 20 2005 011 427 U1 also presents an opening mechanism which is composed of a driving gear wheel and a toothed rack and intended solely to assist the opening movement.
In German Patent Application DE 10 2006 061 083 A1, a sensor is described which is preferably disposed in the interior of the refrigeration appliance and, in accordance with the disclosure of this document, may take the form of both a tension sensor and a pressure sensor. This sensor, too, serves to sense movement of the door through pressure measurement, the signal being usable for activating an opening mechanism via a control circuit.
The approaches known heretofore have been found to have the disadvantage that the individual components have to be mounted at specific positions of the refrigeration appliance, which overall makes them complex to install. Some designs provide that the sensor is installed in the door, as a result of which electrical lines need to be run from the body into the door, which entails additional complexity. In sum, until now, there are no designs of opening mechanisms in refrigeration appliances that would be easy to install and, in addition, also satisfy aesthetic considerations.