Interior compartment with a specific shape of a bearing rib, and domestic refrigeration appliance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Household refrigeration appliance internal containers face challenges in achieving mechanical stability while allowing user-friendly handling and installation of bearing panels, as existing bearing ribs must balance stability with the need for thermally insulating material filling and versatile attachment points.
Innovation Solution
The internal container features elongate bearing ribs with a bar-like configuration, extending over at least half the depth of the side wall, with a specific cross-sectional geometry that includes rounded transitions and an S-shaped lower side, providing mechanical stability and ease of handling by maintaining sufficient vertical space and load-bearing capacity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If the bearing rib is made thicker to improve mechanical stability, then the stability increases, but the ability to fill the intermediate space with thermally insulating material is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The bearing rib is designed with non-uniform thickness distribution: thicker at the base for mechanical stability and load-bearing capacity, and thinner at the upper bearing surface to maximize the intermediate space for thermal insulation. This local variation in geometry allows simultaneous optimization of both structural integrity and thermal insulation volume.
2Ease of manufacture
If the bearing rib configuration is simplified for easy manufacturing, then manufacturing ease improves, but the handling and attachment of bearing panels becomes more difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The upper bearing surface of the bearing rib is designed with a rounded curvature instead of sharp edges or complex geometries. This curved surface provides intuitive visual cues for users during panel attachment, allows flexible accommodation of slight positioning variations, and maintains compatibility with standard deep-drawing manufacturing processes that naturally produce smooth curved surfaces.
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple bearing ribs are positioned closely together to support multiple panels, then versatility increases, but the risk of undesired impact between panels increases
Solution Approach 1:
Adjacent bearing ribs are designed with asymmetric horizontal positioning: the upper bearing surface of each rib is offset horizontally relative to its neighbor. This asymmetric arrangement creates staggered panel positions at different vertical levels, preventing direct vertical alignment that would cause impact during insertion or removal operations, while still allowing multiple panels to be supported.
Data Source
AI summary
An interior compartment or container for a domestic refrigeration appliance has a side wall on which an elongate bearing rib for a bearing panel is integrated. The bearing rib extends in the depthwise direction of the interior compartment and extends over at least half the depth of the side wall. The bearing rib has an upper bearing side, which merges with the side wall by way of a first rounding and merges with an underside of the bearing rib by way of a second rounding, which is located opposite the first as seen in the widthwise direction. The underside merges at its lower end with the side wall. In a cross section of the bearing rib taken in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal axis, a vertical-dimension ratio, measured in the heightwise direction, between an underside vertical dimension and an upper-side vertical dimension is between 3.5 and 4.5.