Shelf gaskets
AssigneeElectrolux Home Products, Inc.
InventorsSalvador Ponce de Leon Dominguez, Danny Ray Parker, Jr., Troy Botts, Sandeep Kumar
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A shelf in a cooled compartment (10) has gaskets (32,42) selectively attachable and removable at sides (22,24,26) of the shelf. The gaskets (32,42) are configured to obstruct the flow of air at at least a portion of a gap between the shelf and a wall (14,16,18) of the compartment (10) on the side of the shelf where the gasket is attached.
Claims20
A compartment including a compartment interior comprising an interior first side face, an interior second side face and an interior rear face:
- at least one shelf unit supported within the compartment, the at least one shelf unit including at least one of a shelf unit first side edge located at the interior first side face, a shelf unit second side edge located at the interior second side face, and a shelf unit rear edge located at the interior rear face, at least a portion of at least one of the shelf unit first side edge, the shelf unit second side edge and the shelf unit rear edge being spaced away from the interior first side face, the interior second side face and the interior rear face, respectively, thereby forming at least one of a first gap between the interior first side face and the at least a portion of the shelf unit first side edge, a second gap between the interior second side face and the at least a portion of the shelf unit second edge, and a third gap between the interior rear face and the at least a portion of the shelf unit rear edge;
- and
- at least one of a first side edge gasket selectively attachable and removable at the shelf unit first side edge and configured to obstruct the flow of air at at least a portion of the first gap when attached at the shelf unit first side edge, a second side edge gasket selectively attachable and removable at the shelf unit second side edge and configured to obstruct the flow of air at at least a portion of the second gap when attached at the shelf unit second side edge, and a rear edge gasket selectively attachable and removable at the shelf unit rear edge and configured to obstruct the flow of air at at least a portion of the third gap when attached at the shelf unit rear edge,
- wherein the first side edge gasket, the second side edge gasket, and the rear edge gasket each comprises:
- a main body having a side member, and upper and lower members that extend from the side member to define a channel therebetween, the channel being configured to receive an associated edge of the at least one shelf unit, and
- a seal portion that is formed integrally with the main body and is cantilevered outwards from the main body, the seal portion extending from an upper portion of the main body in a straight, downward direction away from the shelf unit.
A shelf assembly for a compartment interior, the shelf assembly comprising:
- a shelf unit including a plurality of edges;
- and
- a gasket removably attached to an edge of the plurality of edges, wherein the gasket includes:
- a main body having a side member and upper and lower members that extend from the side member to define a channel therebetween, the channel being configured to receive the edge of the shelf unit, and
- a seal portion that is formed integrally with the main body and is cantilevered outwards from the main body, the seal portion extending from an upper portion of the main body in a straight, downward direction away from the edge of the shelf unit.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.