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Modular interface for pantry temperature control

Inactive Publication Date: 2014-05-29
WHIRLPOOL CORP
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  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present invention aims to improve upon the state of the art by providing a refrigerator with a pantry drawer that can be separately controlled for temperature. This allows for either electronic or manual temperature control, and parts can be standardized across different refrigerator platforms, making manufacturing more cost-effective and efficient.

Problems solved by technology

Yet there are problems in manufacturing such refrigerators.
One of the problems associated with manufacturing such refrigerators relates to the desire to provide for standardization of parts across different platforms.

Method used

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  • Modular interface for pantry temperature control
  • Modular interface for pantry temperature control
  • Modular interface for pantry temperature control

Examples

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Embodiment Construction

[0023]FIG. 1 illustrates a refrigerator 10. The refrigerator 10 has a refrigerator cabinet 12. There is a fresh food or refrigerator compartment 14 positioned above a freezer compartment with a freezer drawer 18 providing access to the freezer compartment and the French doors 16 providing access to the refrigerator compartment 14. A pantry drawer 20 is shown. The pantry drawer 20 preferably extends the full width and depth of the refrigerator compartment 14 and may have one or more dividers 21 therein for organizing contents within the pantry drawer 20. The pantry drawer 20 may have a temperature which is different from the refrigerator compartment 14 depending upon user preferences which may be based in part on the items which a user decides to store in the pantry drawer 20.

[0024]The pantry drawer 20 has a top cover 30 which extends generally along its length. In a central portion of the top cover 30, a receiver 34 is present in which user interface controls may be positioned to pr...

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Abstract

A refrigerator includes a refrigerator cabinet, a refrigerator compartment disposed within the refrigerator compartment, a drawer within the refrigerator compartment, a cover on a top of the drawer, a plurality of apertures in the cover, and controls on the cover for controlling temperature within the drawer. The cover is configured to be positioned between a user interface assembly and a user interface cover with screws through the apertures in a first configuration wherein the controls are electronic controls for controlling temperature within the drawer. The cover is further configured to be snapped to a control housing using the plurality of apertures for alignment in a second configuration wherein the controls are manual controls for controlling the temperature within the drawer.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0001]The present invention relates to refrigerators and the manufacturing thereof. More particularly, the present invention relates to refrigerators with drawers configured for manual or electronic temperature control.BACKGROUND[0002]Refrigerators may have multiple enclosed spaces in the form of compartments or drawers. Where drawers are present, in the refrigerator, it may be desirable to allow a user of the refrigerator to separately control temperature of the drawer. Yet there are problems in manufacturing such refrigerators.[0003]One of the problems associated with manufacturing such refrigerators relates to the desire to provide for standardization of parts across different platforms. For example, refrigerators with a refrigerator drawer with a manual temperature control will use significantly different parts then a refrigerator with an electronic temperature control. What is needed is a refrigerator and a method of manufacturing a refrigerator which allo...

Claims

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Application Information

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IPC IPC(8): F25D25/02F25D23/00
CPCF25D23/00F25D25/025F25D11/02F25D29/005F25D2400/361F25D2400/40Y10T29/49826
Inventor ANDERSON, TROY M.HALTMEYER, RONALD E.HAWKINS, TREVOR L.ROTTER, CHAD J.STAUFFER, DAVID A.TUNZI, TODD J.WINDERS, DENNIS
Owner WHIRLPOOL CORP
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