Vacuum insulated panel and container and method of production
OwnerNicholas Wynneinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A core panel or box of rigid plastics microporous foam is provided with parallel spaced passages or grooves and is placed within an envelope or bag of flexible multi-layer barrier film impervious to the passage of gas. The bag includes an integral evacuation tubular portion which is releasably coupled to an evacuation nozzle connected by a manifold with solenoid valves to a vacuum pump. After air is substantially evacuated from the foam core and the bag to collapse the bag against the foam core and into the grooves, a vacuum sensor operates a computer which controls the valves for checking the vacuum level within the bag and for optionally admitting an additive gas. Closely spaced grooves within opposite sides of the foam panel provide for bending the evacuated panel.
Claims22
A method of efficiently producing a vacuum insulated article, comprising the steps of forming a core of rigid open-cell microporous foam, forming a plurality of parallel spaced evacuation passages within the core, forming a partially sealed bag of flexible gas impermeable film, extending the film to form a tubular evacuation portion of the bag, inserting the core into the bag, sealing the bag to form an air-tight enclosure for the core, evacuating the bag and the cells of the core with a tubular nozzle projecting into the tubular evacuation portion of the bag and connected to a vacuum pump, and sealing the tubular evacuation portion of the bag after the core and bag are evacuated to a predetermined vacuum level.
A vacuum insulated article comprising a core of rigid open cell microporous foam, said core having a plurality of parallel spaced evacuation passages, a sealed bag of flexible gas impermeable film enclosing said core, said bag having a projecting tubular evacuation portion adapted to receive a tubular nozzle connected to a vacuum pump, and said tubular evacuation portion of said bag being sealed after the core and bag are evacuated to form an air-tight enclosure for said evacuated core.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.