Whirlpool Corporation

Whirpool Corporation

Paul B Allard

Abhay Naik

Sanjesh Kumar Pathak

Andrew Michael Tenbarge

Guolian Wu

John J Vonderhaar

Douglas David Leclear

Karen J Querfurth

Lynne F Hunter

Jerry M Visin

Gustavo Frattini

Lakshya J Deka

Sunil S Ekshinge

Michele Wilcox

Dustin Michael Miller

James William Kendall

Hua Liu

Alberto Regio Gomes

Jeffrey P Beckner

Steven John Kuehl

Alan Stevenson Lucas

Eric J Dherde

Nihat O Cur

Giulia Marinello

Mohamed Alshourbagy

Robert Bradley

Sai B Krishna

Axel Julio Ramm

Andrea Olivani

Vikas C Mruthyunjaya

Rafael Dutra Nunes

Sarah Galea

Andrew David Litch

Michael A Kahwaji

Manjunathraddi Navalgund

Marcos Heinzle

Eric J Vasko

Timothy T Murphy

Omkar Sunil Mithari

Claiton E Amaral

Kelly M Hanson

Daniel Lottinville

Douglas D LeClear

Subrata Shannigrahi

Armando Luisi

Berhanu Allo

Ali Kaylan

Chad Lange

Caroline Paiva Torres

Chad Eric McCray

Marcus Roland Fischer

Sanket Vivek Phalak

Timothy Janda

Yen-Hsi Lin

Kamil El Sayed

Diptesh Mukherjee

Gregory Edward Bauman

John Joseph Vonderhaar

Jose Guizoni, Jr

Luiz Afrânio Alves Ferreira

Tao Liu

Alexander J Karp

Kelly I Johnson

Wesley J Aurand

An appliance includes a metallic liner and an outer metallic wrapper. An insulating cavity is defined between the metallic liner and outer metallic wrapper. The appliance further includes a pressure sensing device disposed within the cavity. The pressure sensing device is located to detect a pressure status and transmit the pressure status through at least one of the metallic liner and outer metallic wrapper.

Feature in vacuum insulated structure to allow pressure monitoring

An appliance includes a metallic outer wrapper having sidewalls, a wrapper backwall and a machine wall. At least one metallic inner liner has liner walls and a liner backwall, wherein the metallic outer wrapper and the at least one metallic inner liner are coupled together at a trim breaker to define a structural cabinet having a hermetically sealed interior cavity defined between the metallic outer wrapper and the at least one metallic inner liner. The trim breaker defines a front face of the structural cabinet. At least one trim breaker conduit extends through the wrapper and liner backwalls wherein the trim breaker conduit defines a conduit through the structural cabinet, and wherein the structural cabinet is hermetically sealed at the trim breaker conduit.

Structural cabinet for an appliance incorporating unitary metallic boxes

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 vacuum insulated appliance includes a cabinet with an outer wrapper and an inner liner coupled to the outer wrapper. A vacuum insulated cavity is defined between the outer wrapper and the inner liner. A trim breaker is coupled to the outer wrapper and the inner liner and seals the vacuum insulated cavity. An evacuation port is defined by the outer wrapper. An insulation powder is disposed in the vacuum insulated cavity. An open-cell foam is coupled to at least one of an inner surface of the outer wrapper and an inner surface of the inner liner. The open-cell foam defines a first plurality of pores that define a first plurality of airflow paths in fluid communication with the vacuum insulated cavity and the evacuation port for evacuating air from the vacuum insulated cavity, through the first plurality of airflow paths, and through the evacuation port.

Feature for accelerating evacuation of a vacuum insulated structure

A pressure sensor hub for a vacuum-insulated structure includes: (a) a pressure sensor, the pressure sensor including a sensing element and an electrical connector extending from the sensing element; (b) a printed circuit board including conductive pads that are exposed, each of the conductive pads in electrical communication with a different portion of the electrical connector of the pressure sensor; and (c) a body that supports the pressure sensor and the printed circuit board.

Pressure sensor hub for a vacuum-insulated structure

A method of controlling condensation on an appliance includes the steps of (1) providing a refrigerator having a refrigerant circuit with a heat loop, wherein the heat loop is configured to circulate heated refrigerant within a cabinet structure during a duty cycle of a compressor, and further wherein the refrigerator includes a storage compartment and an insulation space substantially surrounding the same; (2) running an insulation performance test, wherein a rate of temperature rise within the storage compartment is calculated during an off-duty cycle of the compressor; (3) sending the data to a controller for processing; (4) initiating the duty cycle of the compressor when the rate of temperature rise reaches a predetermined threshold rate; and (5) changing an operating parameter of the refrigerator to increase a time interval for which the duty cycle of the compressor is run.

Refrigerator with anti-condensation features

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

An insulated structure for an appliance includes a plurality of walls, a cavity defined by the plurality of walls, and an aperture defined by one of the plurality of walls. The aperture is employed in evacuating the cavity to establish a less-than-atmospheric pressure within the cavity. A base structure is coupled to an interior surface of the one of the plurality of walls that defines the aperture. The base structure is aligned with the aperture. A pressure sensor is received by the base structure. The base structure and the pressure sensor together define a pressure-sensing assembly.

Insulated structure for an appliance

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

An insulation panel assembly for a refrigeration unit includes a first panel, a second panel coupled to the first panel, an evacuation hub defining an evacuation port that extends from an inlet to an outlet and a groove that extends around the inlet, and a conduit engaged with the evacuation hub. The second panel defines an aperture and includes a protruding surround that extends around the aperture. The evacuation hub is positioned such that the inlet is aligned with the aperture defined by the second panel and the groove receives the protruding surround of the second panel therein. Further, the conduit extends into the evacuation port via the outlet.

Insulation panel assembly for a refrigeration unit

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 method of forming an insulated door panel includes folding side flanges of a metallic sheet to define side edges of a structural outer panel that extend from a front panel. A gap is defined between each set of adjacent side edges. Interior blocks are secured to an interior of the structural outer panel proximate each gap to define adhesive cavities. Exterior blocks are positioned at an exterior surface of the structural outer panel at each gap to further define the adhesive cavities. An adhesive is disposed within each adhesive cavity and is contained therein by the interior and exterior blocks. The adhesive is cured to a solid sealing member that adheres the interior blocks to the interior surface of the structural outer panel to form a sealed structural panel. The exterior blocks are removed and each solid sealing member defines a hermetic seal at each gap.

Method for rapid encapsulation of a corner gap defined within a corner of a door panel for an appliance

A door assembly includes a structural wrapper defining an insulating cavity. The structural wrapper defines a sensor port. A sensor assembly is coupled to an outer surface of the structural wrapper proximate to the sensor port. The sensor assembly includes a connector having a base coupled to a housing. The base is coupled to the structural wrapper. The connector defines an interior in fluid communication with the insulating cavity. A pressure sensor is disposed within the housing. The pressure sensor is configured to sense a pressure within the insulating cavity. At least one plate is disposed at an open end of the housing. The pressure sensor includes sensor pins that extend through the at least one plate.

Sensor assembly for vacuum insulated structure

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Coloma, MI, United States of America

Paul B Allard