CABINET DOOR COMPRISING AN ILLUMINATED GLAZING BY MEANS OF A

LUMINOUS FILM

The present patent application for industrial invention relates to a cabinet with door provided with light source consisting in a luminous film.

The present invention has been expressly devised to be used in modular units of modern modular kitchens. Therefore, for the sake of simplicity, 5 reference will be made onward to a kitchen cabinet, although the same invention can be evidently used with the same advantages in any other type of cabinet, provided that it is closed with a door, such for example a wardrobe or bookcase.

There are currently cabinets closed by doors and provided with internal 10 lighting system, meaning that the compartment is illuminated by one or more light sources that are housed in the same compartment and are automatically turned on and off when the door is opened and closed.

The present invention is developed from a totally different concept and perspective, according to which the cabinet door, and not its 15 compartment, is meant to be illuminated, so that the door can act as light source in the room where the cabinet is situated.

According to the above, the invention provides for positioning the light source inside the door, according to design and construction solutions that are unprecedented in the prior art.

20 The first purpose of the invention is to achieve the desired purposes without completely changing the ordinary construction technique of doors for kitchen cabinets, and without changing the door thickness, in spite of the provision of a light source in the door.

The second purpose of the invention is to investigate construction 25 solutions that allow for production with limited costs without impairing the designer's freedom with respect to a standard traditional door for kitchen cabinets. These and other purposes, which will become evident in the description, have been achieved by the present invention, the main and secondary characteristics of which are illustrated in the enclosed claims.

The cabinet of the invention is provided with at least one door that comprises a sheet of transparent material supported by a perimeter frame, composed of a metal frame provided with housing where the border of said sheet is housed.

The housing also houses a light source composed of an electrically powered luminous film interposed between said housing and protection sheets, of which the front one is made of transparent or translucent material, so that the light emitted by said irradiating film is diffused in the space in front of the door.

Said luminous film of known type is provided with a capacitative circuit and is normally found on the market under the name of "E.L. (Electroluminescent Lamp)".

A model of this film is produced with the "EL LIGHT" brand by Changzhou Lanneret International Co. Ltd

(http://www.gSobaisources.corn/gsoi S/EL-Light p/bg/1018221778.htm) The electrical contacts of the circuit provided in said luminous film are interfaced with the ones of the terminal block for connection to the mains installation.

It must be noted that, according to the invention, said terminal block is applied on the body of the cabinet and contains switches and electrical contacts adapted to be interfaced with the ones provided on the door, in such a way to automatically determine switching on of the luminous film every time the door is closed and switching off every time it is opened. For purposes of clarity, the description of the cabinet of the invention continues with reference to the enclosed drawings, which are intended for purposes of illustration only and not in a limiting sense, wherein:

- fig. 1 is a diagrammatic axonometric view of the cabinet of the invention with door partially removed in order to show the luminous film provided in the perimeter frame that is sectioned with a vertical plane; - fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the metal section used to make the perimeter frame of the door of the invention;

- fig. 3 is an exploded view of fig. 2.

Referring to the aforementioned figures, the cabinet of the invention comprises a body (A) closed by a door (B).

The door (B) comprises a perimeter frame (1 ) that supports a cover panel (2) that is provided with multi-layer structure, being formed of one internal sheet (2a) made of non-transparent material, preferably wood or laminated wood and one external sheet (2b) made of transparent or translucent material, preferably opal polycarbonate or transparent glass. A luminous film (5) of the aforementioned type is interposed and protected among the two sheets (2a and 2b).

Said perimeter frame (1 ) is provided with a housing (1 a) adapted to exactly house the border (3) of said panel (2).

Said frame (1 ) is preferably made of an aluminum section (10), of the type normally used to make traditional doors for kitchen cabinets. Said section (10) is characterized in that it is provided with a transversal wing (1 1 ) that basically forms the bottom of said housing (1 a), as shown in fig. 2.

The light emitted by said luminous film (5) passes through said front sheet (2b) and is diffused in the space in front of the panel (2).

As shown in figs. 2 and 3, according to the preferred embodiment of the door (B), the housing (1 a) is formed by coupling said section (10) with a front strip (12).

Said strip (12) is provided with an opposite pair of elastically flexible wings (12a) adapted to be elastically snap-fitted inside a corresponding pair of transversal rigid wings (1 1 and 13) that protrude on the front of the section (10).

Because of the simple replacement of a strip (12) with another strip of different aesthetics, such a constructive solution allows for personalizing the door (B) according to the customer's requirements. Referring to the electrical powering of said luminous film (5), the electrical contacts are interfaced with the ones of the terminal block used for connection to the mains installation.

Said terminal block is applied on the body of the cabinet in such a way that switches and contacts face the door (B) and are adapted to interfere with the internal side (1 b) of said frame (1 ) when the door (B) is closed. According to the preferred embodiment of the invention shown in fig. 1 , said terminal block is contained in a box (6) suitably dimensioned to be exactly recessed into a suitable niche obtained on the bottom (F) of the body of the cabinet (A).

On the front of said box a switch (7) and a first pair of electrical contacts (8) remain uncovered, the latter being adapted to adhere - when the door (B) is in closed position - against a correspondent interfaced second pair of electrical contacts, which is an integral part of said transparent film (5) and is situated on the internal side (1 b) of said frame

(1 )-

It is exactly through this first and second pair of electrical contacts that the luminous film (5) contained in the door (B) is electrically powered. If the body of the cabinet (A) is provided with internal light source, then said switch (7) can be used to automatically switch on the internal light source every time the door (B) is opened.

In such a perspective, it will be sufficient to provide, as switch (7), a compressible micro-switch connected to said terminal block in such a way to switch on the internal light of the body of the cabinet (A) as soon as said compression pressure by the frame (1 ) is eliminated, causing instead the light to switch on when it is subject to compression pressure. Moreover, a fourth manual switch can be provided on said box (6), allowing the user to operate the exclusion of electrical power towards the luminous film (5) situated in the door (B).