Multi-lateral basket for refrigerator or freezer
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing storage baskets for refrigerators and freezers often face challenges such as poor airflow, difficulty in cleaning, and material inefficiency, while also allowing food particles and liquids to fall through, which affects both functionality and aesthetics.
Innovation Solution
A storage basket formed as an integral unit from a combination of materials like wire members, sheet metal, and glass or plastic, featuring an imperforate bottom and perforated sides to enhance airflow, visibility, and ease of cleaning, while preventing particle and liquid leakage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Use of energy by moving object
If wire-formed baskets are used, then airflow is improved, but food particles and liquids fall through the bottom
Solution Approach 1:
The basket is divided into two distinct portions: an imperforate first portion (bottom) that prevents food particles and liquids from falling through, and a second portion with perforations that allows airflow. This segmentation resolves the contradiction by assigning different functions to different parts of the basket structure.
Solution Approach 2:
Different portions of the basket have different properties: the bottom portion is solid (imperforate) to prevent leakage, while the side portions are perforated to enable airflow. This local differentiation of quality allows the basket to simultaneously achieve both particle retention and air circulation.
2Object-generated harmful factors
If solid bottom baskets are used, then food particles are prevented from falling through, but airflow is inhibited
Solution Approach 1:
The basket structure is segmented into an imperforate first portion for particle retention and a perforated second portion for airflow, allowing both functions to coexist without compromise.
Solution Approach 2:
The bottom portion maintains solid quality for particle retention, while side portions have perforated quality for airflow, creating local quality differentiation that resolves the contradiction between retention and ventilation.
3Illumination intensity
If wire-formed baskets are used, then visibility is improved, but cleaning difficulty increases
Solution Approach 1:
The basket is segmented into a solid first portion that is easy to clean and a second portion that provides visibility, allowing each portion to optimize for its primary function while working together as a complete unit.
4Ease of manufacture
If single-material baskets are used, then manufacturing simplicity is maintained, but functional performance is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The basket employs composite construction by combining different materials (wire members, sheet metal, glass, or plastic) to create an integral unit that achieves superior functional performance including both airflow and particle retention, while maintaining manufacturing efficiency through integral unit formation.
Data Source
AI summary
A storage basket used for storing and displaying food products and packages in a refrigerator or freezer unit may include a single-material first portion including a bottom wall and an upright wall that extends away from the bottom wall. The bottom wall and the upright wall are imperforate, thereby creating a solid barrier to transfer and fall-through of materials contained in the storage basket. The storage basket may also include a single-material second portion coupled to and extending from the upright wall, and the second portion may include a plurality of perforations. The plurality of perforations may permit airflow around and about the materials contained in the storage basket.