External board component for refrigerator

Abstract

The present invention relates to an exterior member for a refrigerator that defines the appearance of the refrigerator. According to the present invention, the exterior member comprises a rear plate 84 formed of polyvinyl chloride, and a front plate 82 that is formed of polyethylene terephthalate and positioned in front of the rear plate 84 and has a desired color or pattern printed thereon. It is preferred that the front plate 82 be a transparent and have a thickness of 0.1mm to 0.5mm, and the rear plate 84 have a thickness of 0.05mm to 0.15mm. The exterior member is mainly used for defining a front face of a refrigerator door, but it may also be used as a finishing member for a lateral side of a refrigerator. According to the present invention as above, since a front face of a refrigerator is formed of polyethylene terephthalate and polyvinyl chloride, which are thermoplastic resins, instead of glass and they are lightweight and less vulnerable to damage, there is an advantage in that the process of assembling a refrigerator is facilitated. Furthermore, since manufacturing costs are reduced as compared with glass, there is an advantage in that the manufacturing costs of a refrigerator are reduced.

Description

technical field [0001] The present invention relates to an exterior panel assembly defining an appearance of a refrigerator, and more particularly, to an exterior member for a refrigerator including polyethylene terephthalate and polyvinyl chloride. Background technique [0002] The appearance of a traditional refrigerator is usually defined by molding a lightweight and scratch-resistant plastic material. However, the appearance of such a refrigerator defined by the plastic member looks light in weight, but cannot provide an artistic appearance. Therefore, refrigerators having a glass surface on the entire front (hereinafter, referred to as "glass-faced refrigerators") have been developed in recent years. The appearance of such a refrigerator relies heavily on the refrigerator door defining the front of the refrigerator. In the following, the description will be mainly made in conjunction with the refrigerator door. [0003] figure 1 is a front view showing the front of ...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

[0013] Since the front glass panel 36 is made of a light weight glass plate, it has difficulties in manufacturing refrigerators

Also, since glass panels are fragile, there is a risk that they may be damaged during manufacturing or shipping

[0014] In addition, since the manufacturing cost of the glass plate is relatively high in the prior art, and the printing cost for imparting color or pattern to the colored portion 38 of the glass plate is relatively high, there is an increase in the manufacturing cost of the refrigerator. The problem

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