Panel assemply for a home appliance and home appliance therewith
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing home appliance door designs, such as refrigerators, face challenges in easily changing the outer appearance without disassembly, ensuring stable light emission, preventing heat transfer to users, and maintaining effective heat dissipation, while also simplifying assembly and maintenance.
Innovation Solution
A panel assembly for home appliance doors featuring a bracket with a lighting device that can be easily inserted and removed, a back cover for heat dissipation, and a light guide plate for uniform light distribution, allowing for detachable and maintainable lighting without disassembling the door.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Illumination intensity
If the light emitting member is disposed on both left and right ends of the transparent panel, then the panel can emit light, but the light distribution becomes non-uniform and dark areas occur at bent side ends
Solution Approach 1:
A light guide plate is introduced as an intermediary component between the light emitting member and the transparent panel. The light guide plate receives light from the light emitting member positioned at one location and distributes it uniformly across the entire panel surface, eliminating dark areas at bent side ends while maintaining bright illumination.
2Ease of repair
If the entire door is disassembled for service of the light emitting member, then the component can be accessed, but assembly and disassembly become complicated and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The door assembly is segmented into modular components: the door body, the transparent panel, and the lighting assembly (light emitting member + light guide plate). The lighting assembly can be detached and serviced independently by removing only the transparent panel, eliminating the need to disassemble the entire door structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The light emitting member is extracted from the integrated door structure and positioned in a detachable lighting assembly that can be accessed separately. This allows maintenance of the light emitting member without removing it from the door entirely, as the entire lighting assembly can be removed and reinstalled easily.
3Illumination intensity
If the light emitting member is mounted on the door, then light can be emitted, but stable mounting cannot be ensured due to repeated door opening and closing
Solution Approach 1:
The light emitting member is merged with the light guide plate to form an integrated lighting assembly. This combined structure is then mounted to the door frame rather than directly to the transparent panel, creating a stable mounting that is not affected by panel removal or door movement.
4Illumination intensity
If the light emitting member is disposed on the door, then light can be emitted, but heat accumulates causing deformation of the light guide plate and temperature rise
Solution Approach 1:
A heat dissipation structure is introduced as an intermediary between the light emitting member and the door assembly. This structure provides a thermal pathway to conduct heat away from the light emitting member and light guide plate, preventing temperature accumulation that would cause deformation or discomfort to users.
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
Enables easy changeability of the outer appearance, stable and uniform light emission, effective heat dissipation, and simplified assembly and maintenance, enhancing user comfort and appliance performance.
Implementation Method 1
a lighting device mounted on the bracket and/or disposed in the bracket, the lighting device being configured to emit light to the panel
Implementation Method 2
a back cover forming a back surface or rear surface of the panel assembly
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
Provided is a refrigerator. The refrigerator includes a cabinet and a door. The door includes a door body in which an insulating material is filled and a panel assembly detachably mounted on the door body. The panel assembly includes a panel which is configured to define a front surface of the door and through which light is transmitted, a back cover configured to define a rear surface of the panel assembly, a lower bracket configured to define a bottom surface of the panel assembly, and a lighting device mounted on the lower bracket to emit light to the panel. A bracket opening through which the lighting device is accessible is defined in the lower bracket.