Electrolux Home Products, Inc.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (asheville) LLC

Andrew Dale Brown

Michael Bayne

Paul Dubina

Adam Ellis

Timothy Bryan Rackley

Justin Elgin

Nilton Carlos Bertolini

David A Simoni

Todd Swift

Terry Lynn Sexton

Matt Reynolds

Wendell Morris

Jason Burriss

Krystin Kittredge

Glen Potter

Steven Scott House

Thomas White

A refrigerator appliance includes a cabinet and a storage compartment with a drawer assembly disposed therein. One or more storage compartment doors are pivotally coupled to the cabinet to restrict or gain access to the storage compartment. At least one of the doors defines an opening that is shaped and dimensioned to enable the drawer assembly to be extended and retracted through the opening.

Drawer in a refrigerator door

A method of manufacturing a refrigerator appliance includes a providing step of providing a liner and a refrigerator component. The liner defines a compartment for storing food items and includes a liner contact structure. The refrigerator component includes component contact structure. The method further includes a staging step that includes arranging the liner and refrigerator component such that the liner and component contact structures are in direct contact with each other under pressure, thereby forming a staged assembly. Moreover, the method includes a welding step that includes applying ultrasonic energy to the staged assembly to weld the liner and refrigerator component together at their interface, thereby forming a liner assembly. The method further includes a cabinet assembly step that includes arranging the liner assembly within an outer shell, and then injecting an insulating foam into a space between the liner assembly and outer shell.

Refrigerator appliance and method of forming refrigerator appliance using ultrasonic welding

A chest, which can comprise a refrigerated chest such as a freezer for example, includes an opening at the top of the chest through which access can be had to a chest interior. The opening is arranged substantially horizontally when the chest is maintained in its normal operational state. One or more doors mounted to the chest at the opening at the top of the chest are selectively movable between a position closing off the entire opening at the top of the chest and a position opening up the opening, including a horizontal position, thereby providing access to the refrigerated chest interior through the opening. The one or more doors can comprise two equal-sized doors. A respective door support can be provided outside the chest interior for each of the one or more doors at which a door of the one or more doors is supported in a horizontal position.

Chest with access doors

A storage system for storing food items in a temperature-controlled environment includes a rail attached to a liner panel. The rail includes at least one mounting structure that passes through an aperture in the liner panel. A bin has an arm extending from a rear surface of the bin. The bin is placed in a storage position. The arm is placed between the rail and the liner panel when the bin is placed in the storage position. Another example of the storage system and refrigeration appliance includes a foot extending from a rear surface of the bin. Yet another example includes interaction between a bin tab and a plurality of bumps on the rail to prevent side to side motion.

Rail door bin system

An assembly includes an enclosure including an opening providing an access to an interior of the enclosure, a door configured to open or close the opening in the enclosure. The assembly also includes a drawer side assembly supported by the enclosure and coupled to the door to move the door at least in part between an open position and a closed position. The assembly further includes a joining member configured to adjustably couple the door to the drawer side assembly. The joining member includes one or more oversized apertures relative to corresponding fasteners.

Refrigerator

An ice making assembly includes an ice tray extending along a longitudinal axis. The ice tray includes a first section disposed at a longitudinal first end of the ice tray, the first section including a plurality of first cavities projecting into the ice tray. The ice tray further includes a second section disposed at a longitudinal second end of the ice tray that is opposite from the longitudinal first end. The second section includes an elongated second cavity extending in a direction that is substantially transverse to the longitudinal axis of the ice tray. The second cavity has a shape that is longer in length than a length of each of the first cavities.

Ice mold for bottleneck

An alignment guide and method of assembling an apparatus with an alignment guide is provided. The alignment guide comprises a body having a first abutment surface and a second abutment surface. The apparatus comprises a cabinet defining an enclosure, a door, and a coupling mechanism for movably coupling the door to the cabinet to permit translational movement of the door relative the cabinet. The method comprises aligning the door relative to the cabinet with the alignment guide by abutting the first abutment surface of the alignment guide against a surface of the cabinet while abutting the second abutment surface of the alignment guide against a surface of the door. The method further comprises fixedly coupling the door to a support member of the coupling mechanism while the door is aligned to the cabinet with the alignment guide.

Alignment guide

Provided is a storage system and a refrigeration appliance including the storage system for storing food items in a temperature-controlled environment. The storage system includes a rail attached to a liner panel. The rail includes at least one mounting structure configured to pass through an aperture in the liner panel. A bin has an arm extending from a rear surface of the bin. The bin is placed in a storage position. The arm is placed between the rail and the liner panel when the bin is placed in the storage position. Another example of the storage system and refrigeration appliance includes a foot extending from a rear surface of the bin. Yet another example includes interaction between a bin tab and a plurality of bumps on the rail to prevent side to side motion.

A method of assembling a cabinet and an apparatus assembled according to the method are provided. The cabinet includes a shell with internal walls, a first compartment liner and a second compartment liner configured to be housed within the shell. The first compartment liner includes a first liner face and defines a first compartment. The second compartment liner includes a second liner face and defines a second compartment. The method includes the steps of positioning a pair of elongate supports between the first compartment liner and the second compartment liner such that the first liner face and the second liner face are adjacent one another and spaced apart.

Foam inserts for refrigerator cabinet

A drawer assembly is provided for an enclosure which includes a first interior surface and a second interior surface which are opposite one another. The drawer assembly includes a drawer, a first rack, a second rack, a first linear motion element and a second linear motion element. The drawer is configured to be insertable in the enclosure. The first rack and the second rack are mounted respectively near the first interior surface and the second interior surface. The first linear motion element and the second linear motion element are mounted respectively near the first interior surface and the second interior surface. Each of the linear motion elements is configured to enable movement of the drawer in and out of the enclosure. Each of the linear motion elements includes a pinion configured to rotate along a corresponding rack as the drawer is moved in and out of the enclosure.

Drawer assembly

In one aspect, an assembly includes an enclosure with an opening and a door for closing the opening. A first joining member is secured to the enclosure and a second joining member is secured to the door. The first and second joining members can be mechanically joined to one another in any one of a plurality of attitudes relative to one another and to be separated from one another. A third joining member is joined to at least one of the first and second joining members to establish an alignment position for the first and second joining members relative to one another. Following the separation of the first and second joining members, the alignment position established by the third joining member allows the first and second joining members to be rejoined in the same attitude as the attitude in which they were joined prior to being separated.

Adjustable and separable joining structure

A refrigeration system is provided for use with an ultra-low temperature freezer having a deck and a refrigerated cabinet supported above the deck. The system has a first refrigeration stage and a second refrigeration stage. The first stage defines a first fluid circuit for circulating a first refrigerant. The first stage has a first compressor, a condenser and a first expansion device that is in fluid communication with the first fluid circuit. The second stage defines a second fluid circuit for circulating a second refrigerant. The second stage has a second compressor, a second expansion device and an evaporator that is in fluid communication with the second fluid circuit. The system includes an insulated enclosure supported within the deck and a split-flow heat exchanger that is in fluid communication with the first and second fluid circuits and which is located within the insulated enclosure.

Refrigeration system mounted within a deck

A pull-out drawer assembly for a refrigerator bottom freezer. The assembly includes upper and lower baskets slidably mounted one above the other. The bottom basket has a drawer face mounted to its front edge. The upper basket has a magnet which cooperates with an engagement device that is mounted on the lower basket and is attractable to the magnet so that, when the drawer is pulled out of the freezer compartment, both drawers travel as a unit. The upper drawer can then be pushed back to disengage the engagement device from the magnet and provide access to the lower basket.

Growing community of inventors

Anderson, SC, United States of America

Andrew Dale Brown