Title: Household appliance Field of the invention

The present invention relates to a household appliance, and a system comprising at least two household appliances.

Background of the invention

Different types of household appliances are used all around the world in order to make it possible to store and prepare different types of food in an efficient and reliable way. Conventional household appliances like for example refrigerators, freezers, ovens and stoves are most often placed in the kitchen where they require a significant space. However, the available space in many houses, apartments and kitchens is very limited and the needs may change over time. Furthermore the available space in attractive areas and cities will in the future be reduced further, alternatively very expensive to acquire or rent which means that there is a growing need for household appliances that requires a limited space and provides the desired functions in a flexible way.

Summary of the invention

The present invention, defined in the appended claims, provides a household appliance and a system that fulfils the needs defined above.

The household appliance according to the invention is intended to be mounted on a wall and comprises: a node element intended to extend in substantially perpendicular direction from the wall; and at least two

substantially flat elements comprising a first edge intended to be arranged towards the wall. The flat elements extend in radial direction from the node element and at least one of the flat elements comprises a first surface positioned on one side of the element, said first surface comprising at least one of the functions of cooking, heating, refrigeration, air conditioning. Air filtration and lightning. The claimed invention fulfils the needs defined above by providing a completely new type of household appliance that is intended to be arranged on any wall, inside or outside. The size and specific dimensions of the appliance is adapted to the intended use. The new design of the appliance makes it possible to further extend the capacity by arranging further appliances together side by side on the wall. A further advantage of the inventive appliance is that the appliance could comprise several different functions.

In one embodiment of the invention, each of the flat elements comprises a first surface comprising at least one of the functions of cooking, heating, refrigeration, air conditioning, air filtration and lightning. This embodiment is favourable since the different first surfaces on the flat elements either could be provided with the same function thereby increasing the overall capacity of the selected function, or different functions and thereby increasing the flexibility of the appliance since different functions are possible in one single appliance.

In one embodiment of the invention, the first surfaces of adjacent flat elements are facing each other, and these first surfaces comprise the same function. This is favourable since the functions of the first surfaces will cooperate to achieve the desired function of the space defined between the first surfaces of the adjacent flat elements.

In one embodiment of the invention, the at least one first surface is intended to be arranged substantially horizontal on the top side of the flat element. This is favourable since the item under subject of the selected function could be arranged on the first surface. In one embodiment of the invention, each flat element comprises a second surface positioned on the opposite side of the flat element as the first surface, said second surface comprises at least one of the functions of cooking, refrigeration, air conditioning and lightning. This embodiment is favourable since one single appliance cold comprise more than one function, for example the first surface could be used for cooking while the second surface is used for lightening of the space underneath the appliance, alternatively the first surface could be used for refrigeration of articles arranged on the surface while the second surface could comprise a function for cooking that for example is used heating or maintaining the temperature of articles arranged underneath the second surface.

In one embodiment of the invention, the first or second surfaces of adjacent flat elements that are facing each other comprises the same function in order to make it possible to combine the function of the first and second surfaces within the space defined between the surfaces.

In one embodiment of the invention, the appliance comprises a third flat element extending from said node element in radial direction whereby the appliance has the form of a Y. The addition of further flat elements extending from the node element increases the number of different functions that could be added in the appliance. The third flat element and the Y-form furthermore result in further separated spaces for different types of food or beverages. In one embodiment of the invention, at least one of the flat elements comprises a vent for air filtration and/or air conditioning. This is a favourable since this appliance will assist in improving or maintain the condition of the air surrounding the appliance, which otherwise could be a problem due to the fact that that the appliance according to the invention not comprises any closed chambers for cooking or cooling of food.

In one embodiment of the invention, the function of the first and/or second surfaces is indicated by a trim lightning, preferably red when the surface is used for warming and blue when the surface is used for cooling and/or refrigeration. This embodiment is favourable since the selected function will be displayed and misunderstandings and in worst case injuries avoided. The present invention furthermore relates to a system of at least two household appliances according to anyone the embodiments described above. The flat elements of the different household appliances arranged together on the wall are forming compartments, wherein the first and/or second surfaces of the household appliances in each compartment comprises at least one of the functions of cooking, heating, refrigeration, air conditioning, air filtration and lightning.

The system, comprising at least two household appliances arranged together, thereby forms different compartments and areas which could be provided with different functions and consequently used for different purposes. The system furthermore makes it possible to change, increase or decrees, the capacity of the system when the requirements on the system change which increases the flexibility of the system further. In one embodiment of the system the different household appliances work together through wireless networking. The networking facilitates the control of the system since the different appliances arranged together could be controlled by one singe control. The different embodiments of the household appliance and the system described above could of course be combined in different ways without departing from the scope of the invention that will be described more in detail in the detailed description. Brief description of the drawings

Different embodiments of the invention are illustrated in the appended figures. Figure 1 illustrates a perspective view of a first embodiment of a household appliance. Figure 2 illustrates a perspective view of a second embodiment of a household appliance.

Figure 3 illustrates a system comprising a number of household appliances according to the invention.

Detailed description of embodiments

In figure 1 a first embodiment of a household appliance 10 according to the present invention is illustrated in perspective. The appliance is intended to be arranged on a wall and a node 1 1 element of the appliance 10 extending substantially perpendicular from the wall. From the node element 1 1 two substantially flat elements 12 extend in radial direction. The flat elements 12 extend in different directions forming an angle a. The angle between the flat elements could differ but is preferably different than 180° in order to facilitate the forming of different compartments when two or more appliances are combined.

Each flat element 12 has a substantially rectangular shape with a first edge 13 intended to rest against the wall. A second edge 14 extending along the node element 1 1 , a third edge 15 substantially parallel to the second edge 14 and a fourth edge 16 parallel to the first edge 13.

The flat elements 12 comprises a first surface 17 arranged on one side of the flat elements and a second surface 18 arranged on the opposite side of the flat element 12. The first and/or second surface comprises at least one of the functions of cooking, heating, refrigeration, air conditioning, air filtration and lightning. Each of the functions will be described more in detail later on.

In figure 2 a second embodiment of the appliance is illustrated. The illustrated embodiment comprises a third flat element 12 extending in radial direction from the node element 1 1 in a direction resulting in that the appliance will have the form of a Y. The third flat element 12 is similar to the other two flat elements and comprises a first and second surface of which at least one comprising at least one of the functions of cooking, heating, refrigeration, air conditioning, air filtration and lightning.

Furthermore, different embodiments of the appliance illustrated in figure 1 and 2 are possible since the first and/or second surfaces of the flat elements in less complicated embodiments could comprise one of the listed functions while the first and/or second surfaces in more complex embodiments could comprise all of the different functions in order to further increase the flexibility of the appliance.

The number of flat elements could be increased further and the radial length of the flat elements changed without departing from the scope of the invention. Adjacent flat elements of the appliance are preferably combined in order to increase the capacity of the selected function by using the same function for the first or second surface of each flat element that are facing each other thereby increasing the area of the surface. The modular wall-mounted appliance provides flexible modes of cooking, heating, refrigerating, air conditioning, air filtration, lighting and environment design since the different surfaces of the appliance could be provided with one, some or all of the listed functions. This means that one single appliance could provide several different functions in the spaces between the different sides of the flat elements.

When there is an increasing need for anyone of the listed functions that the appliance comprise, a number of household appliances according to the present invention could be arranged together thereby forming a system of appliances. The different appliances could be arranged in any angular orientation in order to provide the desired functions. A system of appliances is illustrated in figure 3. The use of a number of appliances 10 makes it possible to form different compartments 30 and storage or cooking areas within the system on the wall. The surfaces of the different appliances that are defining the compartments are preferably combined and provided with the same function in order to provide efficient cooling, refrigeration, heating, ventilation or lighting of the different compartments.

In the opposite way, the size of the system could be reduced and the different appliances used separately if the required capacity of the system is reduced.

Modularity allows development of system over time as social, economical and living conditions change as well as efficient use of recourses through appropriate system scaling.

The surfaces of the appliances could be covered with nano fabricated hybrid surface in order to further improve the characteristics of the appliance. The hybrid surface could for example used to make the surface resistant to wear, provide a hygienic surface that is easy to keep clean and improve the temperature exchange between the surfaces and items arranged on the surfaces. Surface technology combines advanced solid state lighting, heating, cooling, solar collection, and interface display capabilities into one single surface. The different functions of the appliance could be achieved with different technical solutions such as for example conventional heating or induction heating of objects arranged on the surfaces while the cooling function is achieved by reducing the temperature of the surfaces thereby achieving the cooling of items arranged on or close to the surface. Appropriate conventional cooling technology could for example be arranged inside the appliance in order to be able to reduce the temperature of the surface. If the first and/or second surfaces comprise a lightening function, preferably the surfaces could illuminate with any colour in order to make it possible to use different colours for indicating the selected function of the surface.

Preferably red trim lighting indicates warming and cooking, while blue trim lighting is used for indicating cooling and refrigeration. Furthermore other colours could be used in order to indicate selected functions or the status of the appliance such as if the appliance is in standby mode. Power to the appliance could be provided in different ways like for example by conventional wires, or wirelessly through powermat technology applied to the wall that the appliance is intended to be mounted to.

Furthermore the first and/or second surfaces could be provided with solar panels in order to supplement the power needs through solar energy collection. This embodiment is favourable especially if the appliance is used outdoors.

In the outer ends of the flat elements 12 close to the third edge 15, a number of vents 20 are arranged. The vent 20 comprise filtering material and preferably also means to generate a flow of air through the vents in order to provide air filtration and air conditioning functionality to the appliance. This embodiment is favourable since the open character of the appliance might spread an odour from the cooking alternatively beverages or food that has turned old.

The appliance could be secured to the walls in several different ways like conventional fastening means or gecko foot pads that grip the surface of the wall and maintain the appliance in the desired position.

The different functions of the appliance as well as the desired power of the function are preferably controlled by touch controls that reveals on proximity of hand. The controls are arranged on the fourth edge 16 of the flat elements where they are easy to find and easy for an operator to use. Preferably also a power on indicator is arranged in the vicinity of the controls. Further features to facilitate the use of the appliance are for example an auto aligning logo that is adapting to the specific angle that the appliance is mounted on wall. Multiple units and surfaces automatically work together through wireless smart networking. Flexibility of appliance arrangement allows for individual expression through creative design of work and living environments. Itemized list of embodiments

a) Household appliance, for mounting to a wall comprising at least one surface with at least one of the functions of cooking, refrigeration, air conditioning and lighting.

b) Household appliance according to item 1 , wherein at least one of the surfaces has a vent for air filtration and/or air conditioning.

c) Household appliance according to any of the item above, wherein at least one of the surfaces has a trim lighting, preferably red when the surface is used for warming and/or cooking, and blue when the surface is used for cooling and/or refrigeration.

d) Household appliance according to any of the above items, wherein the appliance has the form of a Y.

e) System of household appliances according to any of the items a-d, wherein the household appliances work together through wireless networking. The different embodiments described above could all be combined in different ways without departing from the scope of the invention that is defined by the appended claims.