Encapsulation system for a vacuum insulated structure using an elastic adhesive and barrier coating
AssigneeWhirlpool Corporation
InventorsLakshya J. Deka, Hua Liu
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An appliance includes an outer wrapper, an inner liner, a trim breaker having a channel that receives at least one of a wrapper edge of the outer wrapper and a liner edge of the inner liner and a composite encapsulation system including a base elastic adhesive and an outer barrier coating. The base elastic adhesive and the outer barrier coating define a structural adhesive that hermetically seals an insulation cavity defined between the outer wrapper and the inner liner.
Claims20
An appliance comprising:
- an outer wrapper;
- an inner liner;
- a trim breaker having a channel that receives at least one of a wrapper edge of the outer wrapper and a liner edge of the inner liner;
- a composite encapsulation system including a base elastic adhesive and an outer barrier coating, wherein the base elastic adhesive and the outer barrier coating define a structural adhesive that seals an insulation cavity defined between the outer wrapper and the inner liner.
A method for forming an insulating cabinet for an appliance, the method comprising steps of:
- delivering an adhesive base in an uncured state into a channel of a trim breaker;
- disposing a wrapper edge of an outer wrapper into the channel so that the adhesive base in the uncured state surrounds both sides of the wrapper edge within the channel;
- disposing a liner edge of an inner liner into the channel so that the adhesive base in the uncured state surrounds both sides of the liner edge within the channel;
- disposing a barrier coating over the adhesive base, wherein the barrier coating covers the adhesive base and engages the outer wrapper and inner liner at the trim breaker;
- and
- curing the barrier coating to define a two-part encapsulation system having the adhesive base that defines a structural component and the barrier coating that defines a sealing component.
A method for forming an insulating cabinet for an appliance, the method comprising steps of:
- delivering an elastic adhesive base in an uncured state into a wrapper channel and a liner channel of a trim breaker;
- disposing a wrapper edge of an outer wrapper into the wrapper channel so that the elastic adhesive base in the uncured state surrounds both sides of the wrapper edge within the wrapper channel;
- disposing a liner edge of an inner liner into the liner channel so that the elastic adhesive base in the uncured state surrounds both sides of the liner edge within the liner channel;
- curing the elastic adhesive base to define a structural elastic adhesive base;
- disposing a barrier coating over the structural elastic adhesive base, wherein the barrier coating extends from an outer edge of the trim breaker to an outside surface of the outer wrapper and also extends from an inner edge of the trim breaker to an inside surface of the inner liner;
- curing the barrier coating to define a two-part encapsulation system having the structural elastic adhesive base that defines a structural component and the barrier coating in a cured state that defines a sealing component;
- disposing an insulation material within an insulation cavity defined between the inner liner and the outer wrapper;
- and
- expressing gas from the insulation cavity and the insulation material defined within the insulation cavity to define an at least partial vacuum within the insulation cavity, wherein the structural elastic adhesive base permits at least partial movement of the inner liner and the outer wrapper while maintaining a seal between the inner liner and the trim breaker and between the outer wrapper and the trim breaker.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.