Foamed-in passthrough cover assembly
AssigneeWhirlpool Corporation
InventorsRahul Subhash Chhajed, Abinash Sarma
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A vacuum insulated appliance includes a cabinet with an outer wrapper and an inner liner coupled to the outer wrapper to define an insulation cavity. The cabinet defines a passthrough opening through the outer wrapper and the inner liner. A passthrough cover is coupled to the cabinet over the passthrough opening. The passthrough cover has a bottom wall defining at least one service hole. A passthrough cavity is defined between the cabinet and the passthrough cover. At least one foam injection port is defined by the passthrough cover, and an expanding foam is disposed within the passthrough cavity. The expanding foam is configured to be inserted through the at least one foam injection port to at least partially fill the passthrough cavity.
Claims20
A vacuum insulated appliance, comprising:
- a cabinet including:
- an outer wrapper;
- and
- an inner liner coupled to the outer wrapper to define an insulation cavity,
- wherein the cabinet defines a passthrough opening through the outer wrapper and the inner liner;
- a passthrough cover coupled to the outer wrapper over the passthrough opening, wherein the passthrough cover has a bottom wall defining at least one service hole;
- a passthrough cavity defined between the cabinet and the passthrough cover;
- at least one foam injection port defined by the passthrough cover;
- and
- an expanding foam disposed within the passthrough cavity, wherein the expanding foam is configured to be inserted through the at least one foam injection port to at least partially fill the passthrough cavity.
A vacuum insulated assembly, comprising:
- a vacuum insulated structure having a structural wrapper defining an insulation cavity, wherein an at least partial vacuum is defined in the insulation cavity, and wherein a passthrough opening is defined through the vacuum insulated structure;
- a passthrough cover coupled to the vacuum insulated structure over the passthrough opening, wherein the passthrough cover has a bottom wall defining a service hole, and wherein a foam injection port is defined by the passthrough cover;
- a foam cavity at least partially defined between the structural wrapper and the passthrough cover;
- and
- an expanding foam at least partially filling the foam cavity, wherein the foam injection port is configured to allow injection of the expanding foam in the foam cavity.
A method for manufacturing a vacuum insulated structure, comprising:
- providing a structural wrapper with an insulation cavity, the structural wrapper defining a passthrough opening;
- drawing an at least partial vacuum within the insulation cavity;
- routing a plurality of service connections through the passthrough opening;
- coupling a passthrough cover to the structural wrapper over the passthrough opening;
- routing the plurality of service connections through a plurality of service holes defined by a bottom wall of the passthrough cover;
- and
- injecting an expanding and curing foam through at least one injection port of the passthrough cover to at least partially fill a foam cavity defined between the structural wrapper and the passthrough cover around the plurality of service connections, wherein the at least one injection port is defined on a back wall of the passthrough cover.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.