Pull-Out Refrigerator Door Bin With Stable Frame Engagement
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing refrigerator door bins are difficult to access and use, as they require opening the main door, and their design can lead to items falling when the door is opened or closed due to the solid base being used as a shelf, which complicates cleaning and storage.
Innovation Solution
A door bin system that can be pulled out through a secondary auxiliary door, featuring a planar main base portion with upwardly extending walls and a downwardly extending lip to engage with the door frame, preventing movement during door operation, and a removable bottom surface cover for easy cleaning and access.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If the door bin has a solid base to prevent movement, then stability is improved, but items can be placed on the frame as a shelf causing them to fall when the door opens or closes
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the solid base from the door bin design, extracting the problematic element that created the shelf effect. Instead of a solid base, the door bin uses a frame structure with downwardly extending lips that engage with the door frame, eliminating the horizontal surface that caused items to fall while maintaining stability through vertical engagement features.
2Strength
If the door bin uses a solid base with upright projections for engagement, then connection strength is improved, but cleaning difficulty increases due to mating indentations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent eliminates the mating indentation features from the door bin design. Instead of using upright projections engaging with indentations, the design uses a frame structure with downwardly extending lips that engage with corresponding features on the door frame, removing the crevices and indentations that made cleaning difficult while maintaining secure connection.
Solution Approach 2:
The door bin is divided into separate components: a frame structure with upwardly extending walls and downwardly extending lips, and a removable bottom surface cover. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized independently - the frame provides structural engagement while the removable cover facilitates easy cleaning of the bottom surface without disassembling the entire bin.
3Device complexity
If the door bin is fixed to the inner side of the door, then structural simplicity is improved, but accessibility is worsened requiring the main door to be opened
Solution Approach 1:
The door bin is designed with dynamic engagement features that allow it to be easily inserted and removed from the door frame. The downwardly extending lips engage with corresponding features on the door frame to provide secure attachment during normal use, but can be easily disengaged by lifting the bin upward. This dynamic design enables flexible accessibility while maintaining simple structural integration with the door.
4Volume of moving object
If the door bin has upwardly extending walls defining an interior volume, then storage capacity is improved, but manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The door bin interior volume is created by segmenting the structure into a frame with upwardly extending walls and a separate removable bottom surface cover. This segmentation allows the frame to be manufactured with standard tolerances for the wall structures, while the removable cover can be separately manufactured and fitted, reducing the overall manufacturing precision requirements compared to creating a monolithic sealed container.
Data Source
AI summary
A refrigeration appliance door bin assembly that includes: a refrigeration appliance door bin having a substantially planar main base portion, at least one upwardly extending wall that is free of an indentation, apertures or recesses extending upward from the main base portion and a downwardly extending perimeter lip portion where the main base portion and the downwardly extending lip portion define a downwardly facing door bin frame engagement space, the door bin engagement space engages a door bin frame of a refrigerator spaced within the door of a refrigerator such that the downwardly extending lip portion surrounds an exterior portion of the door bin frame and prevents substantial movement of the door bin when the door bin is engaged with the door bin frame caused by a refrigeration appliance door opening force or a refrigeration appliance door closing force; and a refrigeration appliance door bin bottom surface cover.