DEPTH-ADJUSTABLE ICE COMPARTMENT FOR REFRIGERATOR AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING THE SAME
A method for manufacturing a refrigerator includes providing a main body including a food storage space and a cold air generator, installing an ice compartment in the food storage space, the ice compartment being configured to produce ice, and installing a door on the main body, the door being configured to openably close the food storage space, wherein installing the ice compartment includes forming a housing of the ice compartment by extrusion molding, manufacturing a front end frame and a rear end frame which are respectively coupled to front and rear ends of the housing of the ice compartment, respectively coupling the front end frame and the rear end frame to the front and rear ends of the ice compartment, and performing a urethane foaming process to include thermal insulation in some of the space in the housing of the ice compartment.
This application claims priority to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2015-0085877, filed Jun. 17, 2015, hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
FIELD OF THE INVENTIONEmbodiments according to the present invention relate to a depth-adjustable ice compartment for a refrigerator and a method for manufacturing the ice compartment.
BACKGROUNDGenerally, a refrigerator is an apparatus for low temperature storage of food and other items and may be configured to provide both freezing storage and cold storage of those items. For this, refrigerators include a cooling device or cold air generator. A cooling cycle is used in operating the cooling device or cold air generator.
According to the cooling cycle, cold air is generated as refrigerant repeatedly circulates through the various stages of the cooling cycle including compression, condensation, expansion (decompression), and evaporation. The cold air supplied into the refrigerator is uniformly distributed inside the refrigerator by convection, whereby food and other items in the refrigerator can be stored under desired temperature conditions. A main body of the refrigerator has a rectangular structure that is open on a front surface thereof. A refrigerator compartment and a freezer compartment are provided in the main body of the refrigerator. Typically, a refrigerator compartment door and a freezer compartment door are provided on the front surface of the main body so as to selectively open or close those compartments of the refrigerator.
Moreover, because the inner and outer housing plates manufactured by injection molding have constant, predetermined sizes and shapes corresponding to the sizes of the molds, ice compartments produced by assembling the inner and outer housing plates also have a constant size and shape. Thus, it is difficult to diversify the depths of ice compartments. Therefore, the conventional technique cannot satisfy recent requirements for refrigerators having different sizes and shapes, for example, built-in refrigerators or counter-depth refrigerators, which are reduced in depth in order to fit with kitchen structures (e.g., relatively shallow cabinets) or other kitchen furniture.
In addition, another problem is that the volume of the ice compartment is increased because it is produced by assembling parts formed by injection molding. Also, the appearance of the ice compartment is unattractive due to an inclined portion (draft angle) formed to enable a product to be easily separated from a mold during the injection molding process.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONIn view of the above, embodiments according to the present invention provide an integrated ice compartment that can be manufactured in various depths and is reduced in size.
The objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of embodiments given in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
Hereinafter, example embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings which form a part of the disclosure.
In describing the embodiments of the present invention, a detailed description of known functions or constructions related to the present invention will be omitted if it is deemed that such description would make the gist of the present invention unnecessarily vague.
In an example embodiment of
As described above, the present invention provides an integrated ice compartment that is configured such that its length or depth can be easily changed during manufacture, and its size can thereby be reduced compared to that of the conventional technique. Furthermore, the present invention provides a method for manufacturing the ice compartment.
Furthermore, in the present invention, extrusion molding is used to manufacture a housing of an ice compartment. Thereby, the molding cost, the material cost, and the number of parts of the housing can be reduced compared to those of the conventional ice compartment manufactured by injection molding. Further, because the housing of the ice compartment can be integrally formed, there is no possibility of urethane liquid leaking out of the housing through a gap between the parts of the housing. In addition, the volume of the ice compartment can be reduced because the thermal insulator may be used on only two of its sides. The appearance of the ice compartment can be improved because there is no need to form a separate draft angle.
In block 402, a main body including a food storage space and a cold air generator is provided.
In block 404, an ice compartment is installed in the food storage space. More specifically, in an embodiment, a housing of the ice compartment is formed by extrusion molding, a front end frame and a rear end frame which are respectively coupled to front and rear ends of the housing of the ice compartment are manufactured, the front end frame and the rear end frame are respectively coupled to the front and rear ends of the ice compartment, and a urethane foaming process for thermal insulation in some of a space in the housing of the ice compartment, the some of the space separated from the rest of the space by a separation plate is performed.
In block 406, a door is installed on the main body, the door configured to openably close the food storage space.
While the invention have been shown and described with respect to the example embodiments, the present invention is not limited thereto. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the following claims.
Accordingly, the scope of the present invention should be interpreted based on the following appended claims, and all technical spirits within an equivalent range thereof should be construed as being included in the scope of the present invention.
Claims
1. A method for manufacturing a refrigerator, said method comprising:
- providing a main body including a food storage space and a cold air generator;
- installing an ice compartment in the food storage space, the ice compartment being configured to produce ice; and
- installing a door on the main body, the door being configured to openably close the food storage space,
- wherein installing the ice compartment comprises:
- forming a housing of the ice compartment by extrusion molding;
- manufacturing a front end frame and a rear end frame which are respectively coupled to front and rear ends of the housing of the ice compartment;
- respectively coupling the front end frame and the rear end frame to the front and rear ends of the ice compartment; and
- performing a urethane foaming process to include thermal insulation in some of a space in the housing of the ice compartment, the some of the space separated from the rest of the space by a separation plate.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the front end frame and the rear end frame is manufactured by injection molding.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein forming the housing of the ice compartment comprises:
- integrally forming the housing of the ice compartment and the separation plate by extrusion molding.
4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
- manufacturing the separation plate through a process separate from a process for forming the housing of the ice compartment,
- wherein the separation plate is manufactured by a process selected from the group consisting of extrusion molding and injection molding.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the some of the space that is separated by the separation plate and that includes the thermal insulation forms a free surface part of the housing of the ice compartment.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the some of the space that includes the thermal insulation is along only two sides of the ice compartment, the two sides facing into the food storage space.
7. A refrigerator, comprising:
- a main body including a food storage space and a cold air generator;
- a door installed on the main body and configured to openably close the food storage space; and
- an ice compartment installed in the food storage space and configured to produce ice,
- wherein the ice compartment comprises a housing integrally formed by extrusion molding, and
- wherein a length of the housing of the ice compartment is predetermined depending on a size and an appearance of the refrigerator.
8. The refrigerator of claim 7, wherein the ice compartment comprises:
- a front end frame and a rear end frame configured to be respectively coupled to front and rear ends of the housing of the ice compartment,
- wherein each of the front end frame and the rear end frame is manufactured by injection molding and then assembled with the housing of the ice compartment.
9. The refrigerator of claim 7, wherein some of a space in the housing of the ice compartment is separated from the rest of the space in the housing by a separation plate, and
- wherein a urethane foaming process is performed to include thermal insulation in the some of the space that is separated by the separation plate.
10. The refrigerator of claim 9, wherein the separation plate is integrally formed with the housing of the ice compartment by extrusion molding.
11. The refrigerator of claim 9, wherein the separation plate is manufactured through a process separate from a process of forming the housing of the ice compartment,
- wherein the separate process is a process selected from the group consisting of extrusion molding and injection molding.
12. The refrigerator of claim 9, wherein the some of the space that is separated by the separation plate forms a free surface part of the housing of the ice compartment.
13. The refrigerator of claim 9, wherein the some of the space that includes the thermal insulation is along only two sides of the ice compartment, the two sides facing into the food storage space.
Type: Application
Filed: Aug 20, 2015
Publication Date: Dec 22, 2016
Inventor: Sung Jin YANG (Seoul)
Application Number: 14/831,677