Icemaker Multiple-Part External Housing to Prevent Liquid Escape
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Solution Overview
Problem
Household refrigeration appliances with icemakers face manufacturing challenges due to complex external housing geometries, leading to manufacturing tolerances and sealing issues, particularly in the lower region, causing liquid to escape undesirably.
Innovation Solution
A multiple-part external housing for the icemaker is designed with a one-piece bottom tray and side walls that form a cohesive internal volume, preventing liquid escape by directing it to a lowest point and using a hood-like cap piece for secure connection, along with thermally insulating cladding units for improved sealing and stability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Shape
If the external housing is formed from two half shells joined together at top and bottom walls, then the housing can accommodate complex geometry, but sealing in the lower region is compromised and liquid can escape
Solution Approach 1:
The external housing is divided into three separate constituent parts: a bottom tray, side walls, and a hood-like cap piece. This segmentation allows each part to be optimized independently while maintaining reliable sealing through point connections only, eliminating the liquid escape problem associated with continuous join lines.
2Manufacturing precision
If the external housing is formed in one piece, then manufacturing precision can be improved, but complex geometry becomes difficult to manufacture
Solution Approach 1:
The housing is segmented into standardizable components (bottom tray, side walls, cap piece) that can be manufactured using conventional processes with high precision. Each component can be produced independently with tight tolerances, and then assembled through simple point connections, achieving overall precision without the complexity of one-piece manufacturing.
3Ease of manufacture
If the external housing is formed from multiple constituent parts, then ease of manufacture is improved, but assembly complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The housing is segmented into three manageable components that can be manufactured separately using conventional processes. The segmentation is designed so that assembly requires only point connections between components, minimizing assembly complexity while maintaining ease of manufacture for each individual part.
Solution Approach 2:
The bottom tray, side walls, and hood-like cap piece are combined through point connections to form the complete external housing. This merging approach allows each component to be optimized for manufacturing while achieving the required functional integration through simple connections.
Data Source
AI summary
A household refrigeration appliance has a housing in which there is formed at least one receiving space for food, and an icemaker. The icemaker has an external housing formed from a plurality of separate constituent parts. Wherein one of the constituent parts is a one-piece bottom tray that has a bottom wall and side walls that are integrally formed in one piece thereon.