Refrigerator and manufacturing method thereof
AssigneeSamsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
InventorsKwang Hyuk Cha, Ho Sang Park, Kwon Chul Yun
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A refrigerator and a manufacturing method thereof including processes of separately manufacturing partitions dividing a storage space into a plurality of storage chambers from a main body including an inner casing and an outer casing, coupling the partitions to an inner surface of the inner casing, filling a space between the inner casing and the partitions with an insulator, and filling the partitions with the insulator by filling a space between the inner casing and the outer casing with the insulator. Since the insulator uniformly fills the partitions dividing the storage space into the plurality of storage chambers, the partitions may possess improved insulating qualities.
Claims20
A refrigerator comprising a storage space having an opened front portion and partitions coupled to an inner surface of the storage space to divide the storage space into a plurality of storage chambers, the refrigerator further comprising:
- an inner casing having the storage space defined thereby, and including a plurality of side walls, a rear wall and a bottom wall respectively formed with coupling recesses to which the partitions are coupled to;
- an outer casing coupled to the inner casing to define an appearance of the refrigerator;
- and
- an insulator disposed in a space between the inner casing and the outer casing,
- wherein
- the partitions include a first partition horizontally coupled to the plurality of side walls and the rear wall of the inner casing to divide the storage space into an upper storage chamber and a lower storage chamber, and a second partition vertically coupled to a bottom surface of the first partition and the bottom wall of the inner casing to divide the lower storage chamber into a left chamber and a right chamber,
- the insulator fills the first partition and fills the second partition,
- the second partition is connected with the first partition such that the insulator in the first partition flows into the second partition,
- the first partition includes a lower plate, an upper plate coupled to the lower plate, an insulating body disposed between the lower plate and the upper plate, and a reinforcing frame coupled between the lower plate and the upper plate to reinforce the first partition,
- the reinforcing frame includes a front portion and side portions which respectively extend from opposite ends of the front portion in a front to rear direction,
- the front portion is coupled to a front side of the first partition and the side portions are respectively coupled to opposite sides of the first partition,
- the insulating body includes cut-out portions provided on opposite sides thereof, so as to provide a space to accommodate respective side portions of the reinforcing frame between the upper plate and the lower plate, and
- the insulator is provided between the cut-out portions of the insulating body and the respective side portions of the reinforcing frame.
A refrigerator comprising a main body, a storage space formed in the main body and having an opened front portion, and partitions coupled to an inner surface of the storage space to divide the storage space into a plurality of storage chambers,
- wherein the partitions include a first partition horizontally coupled to the storage space to divide the storage space into an upper storage chamber and a lower storage chamber, and a second partition vertically coupled to a bottom surface of the first partition and a bottom surface of the storage space to divide the lower storage chamber into a left chamber and a right chamber, and
- the first and second partitions are configured to be filled with an insulator so that when the first partition is filled with the insulator, a portion of the insulator in the first partition flows to the second partition to fill the second partition with the insulator,
- wherein the second partition is configured to receive the insulator via the first partition so that an inner space of the second partition is filled between a bottom surface of the second partition and an upper portion of the second partition with the insulator received via the first partition, the bottom surface of the second partition being adjacent to the bottom surface of the storage space,
- the first partition includes an insulating body disposed within the first partition,
- the insulating body is formed with at least one guide path at a bottom surface thereof, and
- the at least one guide path is configured to guide the insulator to fill at least one of the first partition and the second partition.
A manufacturing method of a refrigerator comprising a storage space having an opened front portion and partitions coupled to an inner surface of the storage space to divide the storage space into a plurality of storage chambers, the manufacturing method comprising:
- preparing a main body including an inner casing and an outer casing separately from the partitions;
- coupling the partitions to an inner surface of the inner casing;
- filling a gap between the inner casing and the partitions with an insulator;
- and
- filling the partitions with the insulator by filling a space between the inner casing and the outer casing with the insulator,
- wherein the partitions include a first partition and a second partition connected to the first partition,
- wherein filling the partitions further comprises:
- filling the first partition with the insulator;
- and
- filling the second partition by moving insulator from the first partition into the second partition so that an inner space of the second partition is filled between a bottom surface of the second partition and an upper portion of the second partition with the insulator moved from the first partition into the second partition, the bottom surface of the second partition being adjacent to a bottom surface of the storage space,
- wherein the first partition includes an insulating body disposed within the first partition,
- the insulating body is formed with at least one guide path at a bottom surface thereof,
- wherein filling the partitions further comprises:
- guiding the insulator using the at least one guide path to fill at least one of the first partition and the second partition.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.