JPS6042866B2 - Manufacturing method for refrigerator inner box - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to the manufacture of an inner box for a refrigerator, and particularly to the manufacture of an inner box having a partition wall that divides the inside of the refrigerator body into a plurality of storage chambers.

Conventionally, this type of refrigerator has a partition wall 5 in order to divide the inside of the refrigerator body 1 into a freezer compartment and a refrigerator compartment as shown in FIG.
In order to install the inner box 7 in a predetermined position, the inner box 7 that forms the inner wall of the storage chamber 6 is formed from a plastic sheet by vacuum forming in advance, and this is fitted to the outer box 8, so that the inner box 3 and the outer box 2 are connected. The conventional method is to form a cabinet by injecting and solidifying polyurethane foam into the space between the cabinets, and then inserting the partition wall 5 member.

In the case of a structure in which the partition wall member is inserted into the inner box later as in this method, a gap is created between the joint surfaces of the partition wall member and the inner box after insertion due to the relative dimensional difference between the partition wall member and the inner box.

This gap not only makes it impossible to maintain airtightness between each storage room separated by a partition wall, but also allows leakage from stored food and water to flow in, making the room unclean. Depending on the settings, there was a fear that the liquid flowing into this gap would freeze and cause volumetric expansion, deforming or damaging the partition wall member 5 and the inner box 3.

In addition, in order to solve this problem, for example,
- As shown in Publication No. 10777, a method has been proposed in which a separately molded partition wall is disposed as part of the mold in a female mold for vacuum forming, and an inner box is molded. Since it is wrapped and molded into the back side of the box, there are no gaps and therefore there is no risk of water or the like flowing in.

However, since the partition wall is covered with the inner box material, the shape of the partition wall is significantly inferior, and the product value, such as color and gloss, is lower than that of the above-mentioned partition wall member insertion method.

This invention was made in order to eliminate such drawbacks, and when forming the inner box that forms the inner wall of the refrigerator using a vacuum forming method using a single plastic sheet, the inside of the refrigerator is divided into a plurality of storage chambers. A partition wall member is formed in advance into a male mold for vacuum forming by filling the partition wall with a foam heat insulating material and exposing the heat insulating material at the peripheral edge of the partition wall that contacts the inner wall of the inner box. After setting the partition wall member in the notch, the inner box is formed using the peripheral edge of the partition wall member as part of the vacuum molding mold, thereby welding the inner box inner wall and the partition wall member more firmly. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for manufacturing an inner box in which a partition wall can be formed inside the box at the same time.

The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the illustrated embodiments. 1 is a refrigerator main body, 2 and 3 are outer boxes forming this main body,
4 is a storage chamber formed in the main body; 5 is a partition wall that divides this storage chamber into a plurality of storage chambers; While molding, a foamed heat insulating material 7 such as styrene foam is inserted into the molded material in advance, or foamed and hardened within the frame 6 and filled to form a partition wall member.

The heat insulating material 7 is exposed flush with three surfaces of the peripheral edge 8 of the partition wall member that abuts the partition wall and the inner box 3. Reference numeral 9 denotes a heat insulating material formed by assembling the outer box 2 and inner box 3 and injecting and curing a polyurethane foam foaming solution into the space formed between these two boxes.

In FIG. 3, reference numeral 10 denotes a vacuum forming male mold for molding the inner box 3 by vacuum forming, etc., and a partition wall 5 is located approximately in the middle of the male mold.
A notch 11 is provided for removably arranging a member.

Next, the manufacturing process of the refrigerator cabinet according to the present invention will be described. First, the inner box 3 forming the inner wall of the storage chamber is vacuum-formed.

That is, as shown in FIG. 4, the partition wall 5 member is inserted into the notch 11 of the male mold 10 for vacuum forming. At this time, the exposed peripheral edge 8 of the heat insulating material 7 made of foamed polystyrene of the partition wall is located flush with the outer surface of the male mold 10 for vacuum forming, and this peripheral edge is formed as a part of the vacuum forming mold. . Next, as shown in FIG. 4, a plastic sheet 12 is temporarily placed above the male die 10 for vacuum forming at a distance.

Then, the plastic sheet 12 is heated to 100 to 160° C. to soften it and start molding by a well-known vacuum forming process. The softening temperature of Styrofoam is about 100°C, and the heating temperature during vacuum forming of the plastic sheet 12 reaches above the above temperature, so it is thermally welded to the heat insulating material 7 of the partition wall member as shown in FIG. Due to the heat shrinkage of the inner box material as it cools, it is highly adhered and firmly fixed.

In this state, the plastic sheet, that is, the inner box 3 is cooled and hardened, and then released from the male mold 10 for vacuum forming.

At this time, the partition wall 5 member is configured as the partition wall 5 of the inner box 3 while being closely fixed to the inner box 3, thereby forming the inner box assembly 13. Then, this inner box assembly 13 is fitted into the outer box 2 as shown in FIG. 6, and polyurethane foam is injected and hardened into the space formed between the two boxes to form a heat insulating wall 9, thereby forming the refrigerator main body 1. The refrigerator cabinet is completed.

Since this invention is configured as described above, the inner wall of the inner box and the frame of the partition wall member are brought into close contact with each other to a higher degree, and a part of the peripheral edge of the partition wall member is fixed by heat welding.
It is possible to provide a refrigerator cabinet with a partition wall that is stable in terms of strength.

Furthermore, since there is no gap between the partition wall member and the inner box due to the mutual dimensional difference, even if food soup or water is accidentally spilled on the top surface of the partition, it will not flow between the partition wall and the inner box. It has various effects such as eliminating the possibility of cramping. Furthermore, since a male mold is used as the vacuum molding mold, the partition wall member having the shape, color, luster, etc. that has been previously molded by injection molding etc. can be assembled as an inner box without changing the fabric. Product value can be further increased without compromising aesthetics.

Note that in the above explanation, the first vacuum forming method is a method in which vacuum is drawn from the vacuum forming side, but the above can also be achieved by a single pressure air forming method that applies pressure from the outside of the plastic sheet toward the vacuum forming mold. Of course, similar effects can be obtained.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 is a side sectional view of a conventional refrigerator cabinet;
6 to 6 relate to embodiments of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the partition wall member, FIG. 3 is a side sectional view of the vacuum forming mold, and FIGS. 4 and 5 are the partition wall members. FIG. 6 is a side sectional view of the refrigerator cabinet.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In manufacturing an inner box that is integrally molded from a plastic sheet using a vacuum forming method and that divides the interior of the inner box into a plurality of storage chambers using a partition wall, a notch part is provided in which the partition wall member is set in the male die for vacuum forming. The partition wall is filled with a foam heat insulating material in the notch, and the heat insulating material is exposed at the peripheral edge of the partition wall in contact with the inner wall of the inner box, and the partition wall member is formed in advance by the vacuum forming. By setting the inner box into the notch of the male mold and then molding the inner box, the inner box inner wall and the partition wall member are fixed by heat welding, with the partition wall member in the position as a partition wall inside the inner box. A method for manufacturing a refrigerator inner box characterized by: