Refrigerator Door Shelf Front Panel for Modular Styling
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Solution Overview
Problem
The challenge is to create a storage compartment for refrigeration appliances that allows for significant variation in external appearance using simple and inexpensive means, while maintaining uniformity in production to reduce costs and provide individual character to different models.
Innovation Solution
A modular storage compartment design featuring a base plate, side panels, and a front wall with a fastening element for decorative parts, allowing for the attachment of various decorative elements that can be added or removed by the user, enhancing the appearance without altering the underlying structure.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If door shelves are injection-molded as a single piece to provide design freedom, then design flexibility is improved, but production cost increases due to complex injection molds required for each individual model
Solution Approach 1:
The door shelf is divided into separate components: a base body and a decorative part. The base body contains a front wall with an integrated fastening element, while the decorative part is a separate component that can be attached to the front wall. This segmentation allows the base body to be mass-produced uniformly while enabling model-specific variations through different decorative parts, thereby reducing mold complexity costs while maintaining design flexibility.
2Ease of manufacture
If a modular approach is used to manufacture components separately and assemble them, then production cost decreases, but the number of components and assembly complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The fastening element is merged with the front wall of the base body as an integrated component, rather than being a separate part. This reduces the total number of components while maintaining the modular advantage of separate decorative parts. The integrated fastening element simplifies the assembly process and reduces the number of parts that need to be managed during production and assembly.
3Ease of manufacture
If different series use standardized components to reduce costs, then production cost decreases, but individual character and distinctive appearance are lost
Solution Approach 1:
The base body maintains uniform standardized components across different series for cost efficiency, while the decorative part provides local variation specific to each model or series. This allows the majority of the door shelf (the base body) to be produced uniformly, while only the visible front decorative element varies by model, achieving individual character without requiring complete customization of all components.
4Adaptability or versatility
If decorative elements are attached to the outer side of the front wall, then appearance variation is improved, but the structural integrity and usability without decorative elements deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of attaching decorative elements to the outer side of the front wall, the fastening element is positioned on the inner side of the front wall. This inversion allows the decorative part to be attached from the inside, making the fastening element hardly visible and maintaining the structural integrity and usability of the door shelf even when no decorative element is attached, while still enabling appearance variation when decorative elements are added.
Data Source
Figure 1~5
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AI summary
The invention relates to a door shelf for a refrigerator, having a floor plate (2) and a front wall (3) extending between side walls (5). At least one mounting element (15; 37; 39) is accessible to a decorative part (16) on the inner side of the front wall (3).