Door for home appliance, home appliance, and method for manufacturing the same
AssigneeLG Electronics Inc.
InventorsKwanghyun CHOI, Hyungkyu Park, Myeongha Yi
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A door for a home appliance, a home appliance, and a method for manufacturing the same, are disclosed. The door for a home appliance comprises a panel assembly; and a frame assembly defining a predetermined space having an opening connected with an edge of the panel assembly, and making a foaming space for receiving a thermal insulator by means of the predetermined space of the frame assembly and the edge of the panel assembly, wherein a foaming injection hole through which the thermal insulator is injected is provided on at least one of ends of an upper surface, a lower surface, a left side and a right side of the frame assembly.
Claims19
A method of manufacturing a refrigerator, the method comprising:
- forming a panel assembly, wherein the panel assembly includes:
- a front panel made of glass and configured to provide a front surface of a door,
- a rear panel spaced apart from the front panel and made of glass and configured to provide a rear surface of the door,
- at least one spacer arranged between the front panel and the rear panel and configured to seal an inner space between the front panel and the rear panel;
- coupling the panel assembly with a frame assembly to form an interim door, wherein the frame assembly includes:
- an upper frame configured to provide an upper surface,
- a lower frame configured to provide a lower surface,
- a side frame configured to provide a side surface, and
- a rear frame configured to provide a rear surface;
- orienting longitudinally the interim door to be in a direction of gravity;
- injecting a foaming agent into an injection hole provided on an upper surface of the interim door based on the orientation of the interim door for allowing the foaming agent to flow at least longitudinally in the direction of gravity into a foaming space formed between the panel assembly and the frame assembly, the panel assembly being fixed to the frame assembly based on a foaming press by foaming of a thermal insulator to form a door;
- and
- coupling the door to a cabinet.
A method of manufacturing a refrigerator, the method comprising:
- temporarily assembling a support portion surrounding an opened center portion, wherein the support portion includes:
- an upper surface, a lower surface, a first side surface and a second side surface and being hollow to form at least one channel between the opened center portion and the upper surface, the lower surface, the first side surface, and the second side surface, and
- first and second holes disposed on at least one of the upper surface or the lower surface and spaced apart from each other, the first and second holes being configured to allow a foaming agent to enter into the at least one channel to form a thermal insulator in the at least one channel,
- orienting longitudinally the support portion in a direction of gravity;
- injecting the foaming agent into the at least one channel through the first and second holes such that the foaming agent flows at least longitudinally in the direction of gravity;
- covering the first and second holes by first and second covers, respectively, and
- coupling the support portion to a cabinet.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.