Appliance liner
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional appliance liners face issues with complex and expensive production due to the need for pigments in multiple layers, leading to aesthetic defects like scratches and wrinkling during hot insulation filling, which affect the appearance of the interior cabinet.
Innovation Solution
An appliance liner system featuring a cap layer with a high-impact polystyrene and colorant, a polymeric base layer for structural support, and a barrier film with silk fibers in a polymer matrix to protect the cap layer from contaminants and deformation, reducing visible wrinkling, where the barrier film is positioned between the cap and base layers to prevent defects from appearing on the outer surface.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Illumination intensity
If pigments are added to multiple independent extruded layers to form a colored liner, then the aesthetic appearance is improved, but the production complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the pigmentation function to only the cap layer, eliminating the need for pigments in the base layer. The cap layer serves as both the aesthetic surface and the pigmented layer, while the base layer remains unpigmented and serves purely structural functions. This reduces production complexity by simplifying the extrusion process while maintaining aesthetic appearance through the colored cap layer.
2Ease of manufacture
If conventional multi-layer liners are used without a barrier film, then the production process is simpler, but aesthetic defects like scratches and wrinkling appear during hot insulation filling
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a barrier film as an intermediary layer positioned between the cap layer and the hot insulation filling material. This barrier film protects the cap layer from contaminant diffusion and deformation during the hot insulation filling process, preventing scratches and wrinkling while maintaining production simplicity. The barrier film acts as a mediator that shields the aesthetic surface from harmful thermal and mechanical effects.
3Productivity
If the cap layer is directly exposed to hot insulation filling material, then the production process is faster, but the cap layer suffers from contaminant diffusion and deformation
Solution Approach 1:
The barrier film serves as a protective intermediary that allows the production process to proceed quickly while preventing direct contact between the hot insulation filling material and the cap layer. This intermediary layer blocks contaminant diffusion and prevents deformation, ensuring cap layer integrity is maintained during high-speed production without requiring slower, more careful handling procedures.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution simplifies production by ensuring only the cap layer requires pigmentation, reduces visible wrinkling and deformation, and enhances the aesthetic appearance of the appliance interior by using a silk-fiber barrier film that improves compatibility with the base layer and prevents defects from showing through the cap layer.
Implementation Method 1
a barrier film including silk fibers within a polymer matrix to protect the cap layer from contaminant diffusion and deformation
Implementation Method 2
a cap layer including a high-impact polystyrene and a colorant... a polymeric base layer including a high-impact polystyrene
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2A~2B
Figure 3
AI summary
An appliance liner (200) includes a cap layer (210) including a high-impact polystyrene and a colorant, the cap layer (210) forming an exterior surface (202) of the appliance liner (200). The appliance liner (200) also includes a polymeric base layer (230) including a high-impact polystyrene and positioned inwardly with respect to the cap layer (210) to provide structural support to the cap layer (210); and a barrier film (220) positioned inwardly with respect to the cap layer (210). The barrier film (220) includes silk fibers (222) within a polymer matrix (224) to protect the cap layer (210) from contaminant diffusion and deformation and reduce visible wrinkling in the cap layer (210) during hot insulation filling. Methods for forming the appliance liner (200) are also provided.