refrigerator
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Solution Overview
Problem
Multi-compartment refrigerators with separate doors for each compartment are costly and complex to assemble, and existing solutions do not effectively control temperature across compartments.
Innovation Solution
A refrigerator design featuring a single door that seals multiple compartments using strategically placed sealing members, including sealing grooves and protrusions on the partition plate and door liner, to reduce cooling capacity exchange and enable area temperature control.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If multiple separate doors are provided for each compartment, then each compartment can be independently sealed, but the material cost increases and the assembling process becomes complicated
Solution Approach 1:
The single door is segmented into multiple door panels (first door panel, second door panel, third door panel) that correspond to different compartments. Each panel can be independently sealed to its respective compartment while being part of a unified door assembly, thus reducing overall complexity while maintaining sealing reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The single door assembly serves multiple functions: it seals the refrigerating compartment, freezing compartment, and cold storage compartment simultaneously. The door assembly acts as a universal sealing structure for all compartments, eliminating the need for separate doors and reducing material cost while maintaining effective sealing.
2Device complexity
If a single door seals multiple compartments, then the structure is simplified and assembly is easier, but cooling capacity exchange among compartments increases
Solution Approach 1:
The door assembly is divided into multiple independently sealable panels, each with its own sealing member. This segmentation allows each compartment to be sealed separately, preventing cooling capacity exchange between compartments while maintaining the simplicity of a single-door structure.
Solution Approach 2:
Different sealing members are applied to different door panels based on the specific sealing requirements of each compartment. The sealing members are strategically positioned at the interface between each door panel and its corresponding compartment, providing localized sealing quality that prevents energy loss while maintaining overall structural simplicity.
3Temperature
If sealing members are disposed on partition plate and door liner, then area temperature control is improved, but manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The sealing members are asymmetrically positioned on the door panels and partition plates, with sealing grooves and protrusions designed to mate together in a specific orientation. This asymmetric design provides self-aligning features that guide the sealing members into their correct positions during assembly, reducing the need for high manufacturing precision while ensuring proper sealing for temperature control.
Solution Approach 2:
The sealing members are pre-installed on the door panels and partition plates during manufacturing, creating a built-in sealing system. This beforehand installation ensures that the sealing members are already in their correct positions and orientations before the refrigerator is assembled, compensating for potential variations in manufacturing precision and ensuring reliable temperature control.
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
Simplifies the refrigerator structure, reduces assembly difficulties, and effectively controls temperature across compartments, improving production efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
Implementation Method 1
By disposing the sealing members to the front surface of the partition plate assembly and the rear surface of the door liner respectively, a cooling capacity exchange among respective compartments can be reduced
Data Source
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AI summary
A refrigerator (100) is provided. The refrigerator (100) includes: a cabinet (1) having a cabinet liner (11); a partition plate assembly (2) disposed in the cabinet liner (11) and configured to partition an inner space of the cabinet liner (11) into a plurality of compartments (101) spaced apart from one another; and a door (3) having a door liner (31), mounted to the cabinet (1), and configured to open or close the plurality of compartments (101) simultaneously, in which the door liner (31) is configured to be sealingly fitted with the partition plate assembly (2) so as to isolate the plurality of compartments (101) hermetically.