HK1019088A - A plastic material profile for refrigerators having a rigid deformable base - Google Patents

Description

Plastic material profile for refrigerator with elastically deformable base

In the applicant's prior patents, there is disclosed a plastic profile for refrigerators and the like having a door body and an inner door side with bellows-type gasket portions which act as a seal between the door body and the cabinet, wherein the profile is joined to the gasket portions or is extruded from two materials of different stiffness to each other to be an integral part to allow the gasket portions to be easily removed from the profile along their joining regions when desired, said profile having a groove adapted to receive, in the alternative, the bellows gasket portions, and one or more resiliently yielding edge flanges which act as springs to effect quick engagement of the profile with the inner door side. The situation in this respect is mentioned in the applicant's european patent numbers 0.146.994 and 0.319.087.

In italian patent application No. 96a000046, in the name of the applicant, a section of the type summarized above is described, wherein said groove is defined by a pair of side walls extending perpendicularly or obliquely from a base which, in its coupled operative position, causes the door body to overlap the inside of the door body along their joining line.

In this last patent, the profile has an irregular T-section in its central position, as a result of a central rib extending vertically, in the opposite direction to the ribs running along the tank. The elastically yielding edge flange, which acts as an elastic spring, extends from the end of the central rib.

A structure similar to the one described above, having a T-shaped section, is caused by the ribs in the space defined between the door body and the inside of the door, as described in said european patent No. 0.319.087.

In the above european patent No. 0.164.994, the profile is essentially U-shaped, always extending in the space defined between the door body and the inner side of the door, and located below the profile base.

In these known types of cross-sections, the extension of the lower part, in the space between the door body and the inside of the door, has a length of between 9 and 12 mm; this is a very important part of the total thickness of the space between the door body and the inside of the door body.

More recently, however, refrigerator manufacturers have introduced door bodies of the handle-type or with handle support, which do not allow the use of planes constituted by the connecting lines at the inside of the door body/door, with a section extending inside said space.

It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide a profile of the same type as that described above, but with a section which is substantially different from that discussed above, which will not present an overlapping problem in the space defined between the door body and the inner side of the door.

However, according to the purpose of this invention, said section should essentially retain all the essential advantages of the sections known in the above background art and enable a rapid assembly of the door body/door inside element, for example by means of an automatic system, and it should be reliable to ensure a precise and stable engagement of the handling of the element itself during the manufacturing phase.

It is also further required, according to the object of the present invention, to maintain the tightness thereof, on the one hand the basic characteristics required for such gaskets, namely the heat seal, and on the other hand the tightness required for the filling operation of the door body/door inner space, which, as is known, must contain a thermally insulating material, such as Polyurethane foam, which is injected after the door body and the door inner side have been assembled.

To achieve the objects and other advantages which will become more apparent in the description hereinafter, there is disclosed a section of plastic material for a refrigerator and the like having a door body and an inside of the door body, the door body and the inside of the door body having bellows-type gasket portions which serve to seal between the door body and a cabinet, wherein the section is joined to the gasket portion or is formed as an integral part by extruding two materials having different rigidities with each other so as to allow the gasket portion to be easily separated from the section along their joining region when necessary. Said section having a groove suitable for housing, alternatively, a bellows gasket portion, said groove being defined by a pair of side walls extending perpendicularly or obliquely from a base, characterized in that said base is essentially C-section which can be elastically deformed by means of a bend of soft material extruded onto each other, this bend acting as a hinge which allows elastic expansion of said C-section to effect a quick engagement of the inner edge of said door body inside the section itself with the section in the working position, thus effecting an external seal at said door edge and a seal at the lower part of said C-section.

In order to better understand these features and the advantages of the invention described above, some embodiments are described below with reference to the drawings, to which the invention is not limited.

Fig. 1, 2, 3 and 4 are schematic cross-sectional views of the present invention and related embodiments.

Figure 5 is a perspective view of a section of the invention taken suitably for welding to an equivalent part to form a frame.

As shown in fig. 1, a section 1 of plastic material of a refrigerator having a door 30 and an inner side 31 of the door has a bellows gasket portion 20 which serves as a seal between the door and a refrigerator cabinet 32. The profiles are joined to the gasket portions or are formed as an integral part by extrusion of two materials of different stiffness to each other to allow the gasket portions to be easily detached from the profiles along their joining regions when desired. Said section of rigid material defines a central groove 23 suitable for housing, in alternative manner, a bellows gasket portion, said groove 23 being defined by a pair of side walls 5 and 5' extending perpendicularly or obliquely from the base, referenced 3. According to the invention, said base 3 is essentially of C-section shape, defined by two upper and lower horizontal portions 2 and 4, and a vertical portion 7. Said vertical portion 7 and said lower horizontal portion 4 are connected together by a bend 8 of soft material, formed by mutual extrusion in the section with a rigid material acting as the base 3 of the section, this bend 8 acting as a hinge to allow elastic expansion of said C-section, in particular with respect to the lower horizontal portion 4 of the portions 2 and 7.

The section 1 is made of a rigid plastic material, for example PVC, forged by extrusion, cut and welded along its edges according to the shape of the frame around the door body of the refrigerator structure used. As already mentioned, the gasket 20 can be, for example, a plasticized soft PVC material, which can be cast together with the profile 1 in a single piece extruded onto one another.

The gasket 20 has a tubular cross-section defining an expandable chamber 21 acting as a bellows, wherein the seat 22 is adapted to receive the magnetic metal rod and is expandable. The inner transverse wall 6 of the gasket 20 is welded to the corresponding section wall 5' at the mutual extrusion point 13, while the outer transverse wall 16 is integrally welded to the corresponding outer side wall 5 of the section and abuts against the outer side edge of the base 3. In the example shown, the lower structural pattern of the outer lateral wall 16 of the gasket (said wall can be conveniently divided into two portions of different thickness or rigidity in order to obtain lateral stability) completely covers the section and terminates, in its lower portion, in the same bend 8 defined above. As shown in the figures, a pair of sealing strips 15 and 17, made of the same soft material, extend transversely from the bend towards the outside of the section, said sealing strips being attached to the door body 30 when the element is mounted in the operative position, so as to completely cover the rigid part of the section 1 in said position.

With regard to a further advantage relating to the present invention, in figures 2 and 3 there is shown, according to a different embodiment, a door 30 comprising a shoulder 30' (figure 2) or 30 "(figure 3) which extends towards the cabinet; although in the various embodiments shown in fig. 1 there is no shoulder, the shoulder shown in fig. 2 and 3 is intended to cover the entire cross-section in the closed position.

It is particularly worth mentioning that the sealing band 15 constitutes a tightness gasket for the foam operation, which is performed after the assembly of the elements, to give the door body thermal insulation properties. The sealing strip 17 is in its form of construction in sealing contact with the door panel alone, since it can be in sealing contact with the door panel in both the flat form of construction shown in fig. 1 and the shoulder form of construction, even in the angled form of construction shown in fig. 3.

In practice, the section 1, which supports the gasket 20 extruded against each other, is conveniently prepared in the shape of a rectangular frame and welded at the corner points; in said shape, it is supplied to the refrigerator manufacturer, as described in the above mentioned european patent of the applicant.

The gasket can be welded to a rectangular frame and then assembled inside a door body having the same frame shape, typically with a peripheral thickness of 0.5-3 mm less than the inside thickness defined by the vertical portion 7 of the base 3. This way of assembly is possible, since a cut of 3 to 5 mm depth can be made automatically along the entire length of the horizontal portion 4 (or at the end of the cut portion) during extrusion, thus avoiding the work of welding at the corner points along said portion.

In this way, each portion 4 is not welded and can be conveniently enlarged individually downwards, turned around the hinge point 8, by an angle which may even exceed 90 degrees, to allow the introduction of the door inner side 31, as shown in fig. 5.

Said figure 5 shows that the section along the welding area (see view) is adapted to be welded at any point with another section part, except where the part 4 is preventively cut along 10. The edges of the door inner side 31 are conveniently spring preloaded, which may be at the locations indicated by the dashed lines in fig. 1 and 5.

The enlargement of the portion 4 can be obtained manually or by means of a machine with automatic means which displaces the lower portion 4 of the four sides of the frame by an angle sufficient to position it inside the door body, as shown in figure 5. Once this has been performed, the portions 4 can be handed over and the hinges 8 bring them back quickly to the original position of fig. 1, thus blocking the inside of the door between the portions 4 and 2 of the split base.

In this position, the lower portion 4 of the section is resiliently biased against the pre-load edge of the door inner side 31, as shown in the solid line portion of FIG. 1.

According to fig. 1, 2 and 3, section 1 and door inner side 31 thus assembled can be placed on door 30 (e.g. using a robotic system) and the assembly is blocked by the cavitation foam between the door and the door inner side. In this final position of operation, the section is in sealing contact with the edge of the door body 30 by means of the sealing bands 15 and 17, and therefore this contact is both below and outside said C section.

This section, once introduced inside the door body, is an integral part of said door body inside, and they can be moved in a rough manner without any detachment.

This is very important when two fitting parts are placed on the foam mould, since it works quickly, accurately and safely.

The walls 5 and 5' of the profile allow engagement of the backup washer. Furthermore, during the operation of the foam, they allow a limited deformation of the section and therefore also of the soft portion, as already described in the above-mentioned italian patent application.

The soft material externally extruded to the profile avoids color differences between the hard and soft materials.

This intrinsically rigid structure of the profile avoids local damage to the profile itself above the horizontal edge due to the weight of the magnetic insert.

In the embodiment of fig. 4, the section is not attached to the door body 30 by means of an integral foaming operation, but is connected by means of self-tapping screws 11 which block the hard part 4 (pre-drilled) against a flat sheet of the door body 30.

The screw fixing operation is performed in that said portion 4 of the base 3, which is cut at the edge end, is gradually turned upwards in section by means of the hinge 8 made of soft material, thus allowing the expansion of the sectional base, as described above.

Claims (5)

1. Plastic material profile (1) for refrigerators and the like having a door body (30) and an inner side (31) of the door body, with a gasket part (20) of the bellows type, which seals between the door body and a cabinet (32), wherein the profile is joined to the gasket part or is formed as one integral part by mutually extruding two materials of different rigidity, in order to allow the gasket part to be easily detached from the profile along their joining area, when required, wherein the profile has a groove (23) adapted to receive, in an alternative manner, the gasket part of the bellows, the groove (23) being defined by a pair of side walls (5) and (5') extending perpendicularly or obliquely from the base (3), characterized in that: the base (3) has an essentially C-shaped section which can be elastically deformed by means of a bend (8) of soft material extruded onto each other on the same section, so that this bend can act as a hinge allowing the C-section to expand elastically, so as to achieve a quick engagement of the edge of the door body inside (31) inside (19) itself, and of the section outside and below the C-section, which acts as a seal at the edge of the door body (30).

2. The cross-section of claim 1, wherein: there is a pair of sealing strips (15) and (17) made of soft material, extending from said elbow (8) and, in their operating position, extending outwards towards the door body, in order to provide a seal to said door body.

3. The cross-section of claim 1, wherein: the gasket is mutually extruded with the profile such that it will overlap the outer portion of the base (3) along the profile over the entire length of the active outer wall (5) of the pair of side walls.

4. The cross-section of claim 3, wherein: the bend (8) is integral with the same gasket portion, which overlaps externally the profile and the seat (3).

5. The cross-section of claim 1, wherein: the base (3) is essentially C-shaped in cross-section, defined by horizontal portions (2) and (4) and by a vertical portion (7) located at two upper and lower positions, respectively, the lower portion (4) being cut along a line (10) over its entire length, the line (10) being close to the welding zone with the other section (1), so as to enable welding of a pair of sections by means of a welding operation, except for the portion (4) along the cutting line (10).