Refrigerator and home appliance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional refrigerator door designs face issues with maintaining a constant interval between the glass panel and the blocking part, leading to potential deformation or damage of the glass panel when pressed or subjected to impact.
Innovation Solution
The proposed solution involves a refrigerator door design where a door panel with a panel bracket is mounted on a door body, featuring a cap deco with a protrusion accommodating part and a deco cover with a restraining protrusion. This configuration ensures that the mounting protrusion of the panel bracket is securely inserted into the protrusion accommodating part, maintaining a consistent assembly finish and preventing damage to the door panel.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If a blocking part is fixedly mounted on the refrigerator door after the glass panel is mounted, then the glass panel can be restrained from upward movement, but it becomes impossible to maintain a constant interval between the glass panel and the blocking part
Solution Approach 1:
The blocking part is formed with a recess during the molding process before assembly, allowing the glass panel to be positioned at a predetermined distance. This preliminary formation of the recess ensures that when the glass panel is inserted, it automatically maintains a constant interval from the blocking part's front surface, eliminating the need for post-assembly adjustment while maintaining both restraint stability and interval consistency.
2Ease of manufacture
If the glass panel is mounted with exposed perimeter, then the assembly process is simplified, but the glass panel becomes vulnerable to deformation and damage when pressed or impacted
Solution Approach 1:
The glass panel is inserted into a recess formed in the blocking part, creating a nested structure where the glass panel is housed within the recess cavity. This nesting provides protective enclosure for the glass panel's perimeter, preventing direct exposure to external impacts while maintaining simple assembly through the insert-into-recess mechanism. The recess acts as a protective cradle that absorbs and distributes impact forces.
3Device complexity
If the glass panel end is separated from the door front covering part, then the mounting structure is simplified, but the glass panel becomes susceptible to damage from external pressure
Solution Approach 1:
The blocking part is formed with a recess that extends toward the front surface, creating a cushioning cavity before the glass panel reaches the front of the door. When external pressure is applied to the glass panel, the recess provides a buffer zone that absorbs and distributes the force, preventing direct transmission of impact to the glass panel's vulnerable edges. This beforehand cushioning structure protects the glass panel while maintaining simple mounting through the recess formation.
Data Source
AI summary
A refrigerator includes a cabinet and a door. The door includes a door body filled with an insulator and a door panel detachably mounted on the door body. The door panel includes a panel defining a front appearance of the door, and a panel bracket disposed on a rear surface of the panel and including a mounting protrusion protruding rearward. The door body includes a cap deco that defines a portion of a perimeter surface of the door body and includes a protrusion accommodating part receiving the mounting protrusion, and a deco cover that shields an opening of the cap deco and includes a restraining protrusion protruding into the cap deco. The restraining protrusion is in contact with the protrusion accommodating part when the deco cover is mounted and maintains a restrained state of the mounting protrusion and the protrusion accommodating part.