Door spacer and household device with a door spacer
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Solution Overview
Problem
Household appliance doors, especially refrigeration appliances, face issues with maintaining a consistent gap dimension between the door and the body due to irreversible deformation of PVC seals under compressive forces, leading to potential leaks when the door stop is changed, and existing solutions are either expensive or prone to damage from abrupt closing forces.
Innovation Solution
A door spacer with a spring element that displaces into a free space as the door closes, converting closing force into deformation energy and maintaining a minimum gap size, while being separate from the door and body for easy and inexpensive manufacturing, and capable of withstanding sudden closing forces without damaging the appliance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If a rigid stop is used to maintain the gap between door and body, then the minimum gap dimension is ensured, but the stop is damaged by abrupt closing forces
Solution Approach 1:
The stop element changes its physical state from rigid to flexible during operation. It remains rigid during normal operation to maintain gap precision, but deforms elastically under abrupt closing forces to absorb shock, then returns to its original position. This dynamic parameter change resolves the contradiction between maintaining precise gap dimensions and withstanding impact forces.
2Stability of the object's composition
If adhesive tapes are used to fix the door during transport, then the door is secured, but the seal deforms irreversibly under compression
Solution Approach 1:
The door spacer acts as an intermediary element between the door and the seal. It transfers and distributes the compressive forces from the adhesive tapes away from the seal, preventing direct compression of the seal material. This mediator approach allows secure door fixation during transport while protecting the seal from irreversible deformation.
3Ease of manufacture
If a one-piece spacer design is used, then manufacturing is simplified, but the spacer cannot absorb closing forces and may cause damage
Solution Approach 1:
The spacer is segmented into multiple functional elements: a rigid support body for structural integrity and gap positioning, and a flexible stop element for shock absorption. This segmentation allows each component to perform its specific function optimally while remaining manufacturable as an integrated or assembled unit.
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 door spacer reliably maintains a consistent gap dimension, preventing leaks and damage by absorbing sudden closing forces and restoring the gap size when force is released, and can be used for transportation or permanently, offering a compact and stable design.
Implementation Method 1
a spring element (24) arranged inside the support body (23) such that the spring element (24) can at least partially displace into a free space (34) formed by the support body (23)
Implementation Method 2
converting closing force into deformation energy and maintaining a minimum gap size, while being separate from the door and body for easy and inexpensive manufacturing, and capable of withstanding sudden closing forces without damaging the appliance
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2~3
Figure 4
AI summary
The invention relates to a door spacer (19, 20) to ensure a minimum gap between a door (5, 6) sealed by a seal (12, 13) from a body (4) of a household appliance and the body (4) with fastening means (26, 27.28) for attachment to the door (5.6) or to the body (4) and a stop (41) for contacting the other of the door (5.6) or body (4). In order to ensure that the door spacer (19, 20) is simple and inexpensive to produce, does not cause any damage to the body when the door is closed with great force and nevertheless reliably prevents unwanted deformation of areas of the door seal, the invention provides that the stop (41) is formed on a spring element (24) which can be displaced into a free space (34) against a spring force. The invention also relates to a household appliance, in particular a household refrigeration appliance (1) with such a door spacer (19, 20).