Whirlpool Corporation

Abhay Naik

Paul B Allard

Lynne F Hunter

Lakshya J Deka

Sanjesh Kumar Pathak

Gustavo Frattini

Alberto Regio Gomes

Sunil S Ekshinge

Dustin Michael Miller

Sanket Vivek Phalak

Sai B Krishna

Jerry M Visin

Arunkumar Harikrishnasamy

Eric J Dherde

Lorraine Joan Westlake

Hua Liu

Jeffrey P Beckner

Manjunathraddi Navalgund

Mohamed Alshourbagy

Aaron Michael Stewart

Narendra Ashok Kapure

Karen J Querfurth

Rafael Dutra Nunes

Jacob Charles Ickes

Giulia Marinello

Vikas C Mruthyunjaya

Subrata Shannigrahi

Sarah Galea

Berhanu Allo

Chad Jonathan Rotter

Rahul Subhash Chhajed

Omkar Sunil Mithari

Bartosz Daniel Stawczyk

Kamil Musa El-Sayed

Karol Michal Kostka

Eric J Vasko

Mandar Gopalkrushna Kulkarni

Rameet Singh Grewal

Daniel Lottinville

Koteswara Rao Gochika

Ashish Nigam

Jackson Felipe Karl

Kaito Choy

Diptesh Mukherjee

Mansi Katkar

Vishal B Chauhan

Arpit Vijay

Abinash Sarma

Deepak Gajanan Mankar

Christian Myles Russell

Anup R Shedage

Julia B Burke

Daniel Chow

Andrea Olivani

Vishal Shankar Marathe

Antonio Sanchez

Kamil El Sayed

Bruno A Boehringer

Marcel Bögger Lessa

Tao Liu

Chao-Yi Chen

Jon M Anthony

Gaurav Ramesh Shete

Mrunal Shaldar

Pravan Karan

An appliance includes an outer wrapper, an inner liner, a trim breaker having a wrapper channel that receives a wrapper edge of the outer wrapper and a liner channel that receives a liner edge of the inner liner, and an insulation material disposed within an insulating cavity defined therebetween. A multi-component thermal encapsulation material defines pre-mix, application and sealing states. The pre-mix state is defined by the distinct components of the thermal encapsulation material being separated from one another, the application state defined by the distinct components combined together into an uncured state of the thermal encapsulation material, and the sealing state defined by the thermal encapsulation material disposed within the wrapper and liner channels and surrounding the wrapper and liner edges, respectively, in the sealing state that defines a hermetic seal between the trim breaker and the outer wrapper and the inner liner.

Encapsulation system for a thermal bridge breaker-to-metal liner

A door assembly for an appliance includes a wrapper operably coupled with a liner to define an insulation cavity therebetween. An attachment assembly operably couples to the liner and defines a slot. A storage assembly couples with the attachment assembly. The storage assembly includes a bin. The storage assembly further includes a bracket operably coupling the bin to the attachment assembly via a retention feature. The bracket includes a support member defining a groove extending between ends of the bracket. The storage assembly further includes a rim extending from the bin and engaging the groove to secure the bin to the bracket.

Storage assembly for an appliance

A trim breaker includes first and second opposing vertical portions, a top portion, and a bottom portion. An outer rim extends about a periphery of the trim breaker. An inner edge is spaced interiorly from the outer rim. The trim breaker further includes a first surface proximate the inner edge and a second surface proximate the outer rim. A pair of parallel ribs extend from the outer rim toward the inner edge. Further, the first surface extends outward from the second surface, thereby forming a plateau.

Appliance trim breaker

A water valve system for a refrigerator appliance includes a bracket and a first set of one or more valves. The bracket is configured secure one or more valves to the refrigerator. The bracket has locating and fastening features configured to locate and secure the one or more valves on and to the bracket in a plurality of configurations. The first set of the one or more valves is arranged in a first of the plurality of configurations and engages at least a portion of the locating and fastening features to locate and secure the first set of the one or more valves on and to the bracket.

Refrigerator and corresponding valve system

A method of measuring pressure includes the steps of (1) providing a vacuum cabinet with a storage compartment and an insulating space, and three temperature sensors; (2) sensing a first temperature level of an interior wall of the storage compartment; (3) sensing an ambient temperature level within the storage compartment; (4) sensing a second temperature level of an exterior wall of the storage compartment; (5) calculating an overall heat transfer coefficient (Q) using the ambient temperature level, the first temperature level, and a convective heat transfer coefficient for the interior wall of the storage compartment; (6) calculating a temperature differential between the second and first temperature levels; (7) determining a conductivity level (K) using the temperature differential, the overall heat transfer coefficient (Q) and a thickness of the insulating space; and (8) determining a pressure level (P) within the insulating space using the conductivity level (K).

Vacuum insulated appliance with pressure monitoring

A method of forming a refrigerator cabinet includes a step where an external wrapper that defines a rear surface is provided. The rear surface of the external wrapper is deep-drawn to form a machine compartment that defines a top wall, a bottom wall, and an interior wall. An inner liner is positioned within the external wrapper such that a gap is defined between the inner liner and the interior wall of the machine compartment. A vacuum is drawn within the gap.

Machine compartment for a vacuum insulated structure

A refrigeration unit includes a cabinet and a first evaporator assembly. The first evaporator assembly is operable between an uninstalled condition and an installed condition. In the uninstalled condition, the first evaporator assembly is not assembled with the cabinet. In the installed condition, the first evaporator assembly is assembled with the cabinet. The first evaporator assembly includes a first evaporator, a first suction line connected to the first evaporator at a first suction line joint, and a first capillary tube connected to the first evaporator at a first capillary tube joint. The first suction line joint and the first capillary tube joint of the first evaporator assembly are leak testable in the uninstalled condition of the first evaporator assembly.

Refrigeration unit and method of assembling

A door panel for a refrigerating appliance includes an inner liner. An outer wrapper is attached to the inner liner and defines an insulating structure with an insulating cavity disposed therein. An insulating material is defined within the insulating cavity. A dispenser structure is defined within a central portion of the inner liner and the outer wrapper. The dispenser structure defines an insulated dispenser portion therein. A dispenser conduit extends from an interior area disposed above the dispenser structure to an external dispensing cavity and passing through the insulated dispenser portion.

Vacuum insulated door structure for an appliance incorporating a dispenser structure

A vacuum-insulated door comprises a door skin having a perimeter defined by a top edge, a pair of side edges, and a bottom edge spaced from the top edge by the pair of side edges. A vacuum-insulated cell is located in the vacuum-insulated door. A frame assembly includes a top bracket coupled to the top edge, a bottom bracket coupled to the bottom edge, and at least one top hinge pin connected to the top bracket and at least one bottom hinge pin connected to the bottom bracket. The at least one top hinge pin and the at least one bottom hinge pin are configured to connect to a hinge assembly of a cooling appliance.

Vis door reinforcement bracket design

A method for forming a vacuum insulated structure using a prepared core material includes preparing a powder insulation material defining a bulk density, pre-densifying the powder insulation material to form a pre-densified insulation base, crushing the pre-densified insulation base into granular core insulation to define a core density of the granular core insulation, disposing the granular core insulation having the core density into an insulating cavity defined within an insulating structure and expressing gas from the interior cavity of the insulating structure to further densify the granular core insulation to define a target density. The granular core insulation defines the target density disposed within the insulating structure defines the vacuum insulation structure, wherein the target density defines a density in the range of from approximately 80 grams per liter to approximately 350 grams per liter.

Method for preparing a densified insulation material for use in appliance insulated structure

An appliance includes an outer wrapper, an inner liner, a trim breaker having a channel that receives at least one of a wrapper edge of the outer wrapper and a liner edge of the inner liner, and a composite encapsulation system that hermetically seals an insulating cavity defined between the outer wrapper and the inner liner. The composite encapsulation system includes a base adhesive and an outer adhesive, wherein the base adhesive defines a structural adhesive component and the outer adhesive defines a sealing adhesive component.

Multi-layer encapsulation system for joint sealing of vacuum insulated cabinets

A method of forming a vacuum insulated structure includes providing a structural envelope an insulating cavity defined within the structural envelope. An expanding device is attached to opposing outer walls of the structural envelope and the interior cavity is expanded by pulling the opposing outer walls away from one another to define an expanded state. An insulating material is disposed within the insulating cavity to occupy substantially all of the insulating cavity in the expanded state. Gas is expressed from the insulating cavity to collapse the structural envelope to a final state and a final interior volume that is less than the expanded interior volume. The final state of the structural envelope defines a densified state of the insulating material within the insulating cavity. The vacuum port is then closed to hermetically seal the insulating cavity.

Method for forming a vacuum insulated structure

A refrigerator includes a main body and a supporting structure disposed below the main body upon which the refrigerator is supported on a floor. A pair of guide rails is affixed to a bottom wall of the main body along a pair of opposed lateral sides of the main body and extend between a rear wall and a front side of the main body. A portion of a heat loop tube for a refrigeration system extends externally out of the internal storage compartment and is disposed below the main body and within a cavity. A toe kick is disposed proximate a bottom edge of the front side of the main body and proximate the floor for containing the portion of the heat loop tube within the cavity and isolating the portion of the heat loop tube from an exterior of the refrigerator.

Toe-kick

A standoff feature for an appliance includes a connecting member having a first end and a second end. A first side member extends in a first direction from the first end of the connecting member. A second side member is spaced from the first side member. The second side member extends in the first direction from the second end of the connecting member. A first flange extends from a first side edge of the connecting member. The first side edge extends between the first end and the second end. The first flange extends in a second direction from the connecting member. A second flange extends from a second side edge of the connecting member. The second side edge extends between the first end and the second end and opposes the first side edge. The second flange extends in the second direction from the connecting member.

Standoff feature for appliance

A vacuum insulated appliance includes an outer wrapper and an inner liner. A ladder rack is coupled to the inner liner. The ladder rack includes first and second sidewalls coupled together by a connecting wall that defines a plurality of apertures. An adapter member includes a hook configured to extend through an aperture of the plurality of apertures when coupled to the ladder rack. The adapter member is coupled with a locking member that engages inner surface of first and second sidewalls of the ladder rack. A cantilever support is coupled to the adapter member and extends outward from the ladder rack. A rail assembly is coupled to an upper surface of the cantilever support. A spacer is coupled to an end of the cantilever support and abuts an inner liner surface. A storage feature is coupled to the rail assembly and is operable between stowed and deployed positions.

Support assembly for appliance

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Stevensville, MI, United States of America

Abhay Naik