Frameless Refrigerated Case Sealing With Modular Mullion Caps
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Refrigerated cases experience significant inefficiency due to air leakage between doors and the case, which is costly to address with existing one-piece frame designs that require expensive manufacturing and skilled labor for welding and machining.
Innovation Solution
The design incorporates a mullion and cap system with trapezoidal apertures and tongues that form a planar sealing surface, allowing for a substantially air-tight seal between the doors and the case, reducing manufacturing complexity and costs while maintaining efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a one-piece frame design is used to achieve an air-tight seal, then sealing effectiveness is improved, but manufacturing cost and complexity increase due to expensive welding and machining requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The frame is divided into multiple separate components including end caps, side wall end caps, and mullion caps that can be manufactured independently using less expensive processes, then assembled together to form the complete sealing structure, eliminating the need for expensive welding and machining of a single-piece frame
Solution Approach 2:
Tongue portions and corresponding apertures serve as intermediary coupling elements between the separate frame components, providing a simple mechanical connection method that achieves the necessary alignment and sealing contact without requiring complex welding or precision machining operations
2Ease of manufacture
If a modular cap and tongue system is used to reduce manufacturing complexity, then ease of manufacture is improved, but sealing precision may worsen due to multiple assembly interfaces
Solution Approach 1:
The tongue portions are designed with specific asymmetric geometries including angled surfaces and complementary shapes that mate with corresponding apertures, providing self-aligning features that ensure proper sealing surface orientation and contact even when assembled from separately manufactured components
Solution Approach 2:
The sealing function is concentrated at specific localized contact surfaces between the caps and door, while the tongue and aperture interfaces provide structural connection and alignment, allowing different parts of the assembly to have optimized local geometries for their specific functions
Data Source
AI summary
A refrigerated case includes an insulated ceiling member defining the top of a refrigerated space, and an end cap defining a front of the insulated ceiling member. The end cap includes an aperture having an opening at a bottom edge of the end cap. A mullion is arranged substantially normal to the insulated ceiling member. A mullion cap defines a front of the mullion and includes a tongue portion extending above the mullion. The tongue portion is arranged to fit within the aperture. The mullion cap and the end cap cooperate to define a first planar sealing surface. A door is pivotably attached to the refrigerated case and includes a second planar sealing surface that is engageable with the first planar sealing surface when the door is in a closed position to define a substantially air tight seal therebetween.