• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.30-36
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• 2018

Since the freezer compartment and the refrigerating compartment are located side by side in a side-by-side refrigerator, the problems of the door height difference (DHD) and door flatness difference (DFD) have been constantly raised. Deformation of the cabinet of a built-in side-by-side refrigerator under food and thermal loads was analyzed by the finite element software ANSYS. The DHD and DFD, occurring due to the deformation of the cabinet, evaluated. From the results of the analysis of the cabinet, the 3D CAD software CATIA was used to geometrically translate and rotate the freezing and refrigerating compartment doors, in consideration of the displacement of the hinge fastening point. Then, the coordinates of two points on the upper corner of the doors were determined, and the DHD and DFD were obtained. It found that the thermal load, occurring under normal operation conditions, decreases the door height difference, but increases the door flatness difference. Values of the analyzed DHD and DFD appear smaller than the acceptance criteria used by the refrigerator manufacturer.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2004.11a
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• pp.528-533
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• 2004

This paper deals with the issue of door height difference (DHD) which occurs for SBS refrigerator necessarily. In order to identify the cause of DHD, analysis of refrigerator structure and entire process from door manufacturing to usage have been investigated. From diverse experiments, it was found that the flatness of the floor was a main causing factor. In order to decrease the DHD , the effects of 6 design parameters to control of cabinet deformation have been investigated by using DOE(design of experiment) and finite element analysis. Based on the correlation equation, it was possible to estimate the DHD for new refrigerator design.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.89-96
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• 2020

In this study, we developed a finite element model for the built-in bottom-freezer type refrigerator and then used the structural analysis method to analyze and evaluate the deflection of the doors. We tested the validity of the developed analytical model by measuring the deflection of the hinge when loads were applied to the upper and lower hinges of the refrigerating compartment and compared these with the analysis results. The comparison of the vertical displacement of the measured result and the analysis result showed an error ratio of up to 12.8%, which indicates that the analytical model is consistent. Using the analytical model composed of the cabinet, hinges and doors, we performed analyses for two cases: both doors closed, and the refrigerating door open. Since the maximum vertical displacement of the refrigerating compartment door (R-door) with the food load is smaller than the gap between the lower surface of the R-door and the upper surface of the freezer compartment door (F-door), it is judged that the R-door and the F-door do not contact when the doors are opened or closed. In addition, the analysis result showed that the difference between the vertical displacement at the hinge on the opposite side and the hinge side of the R-door is favorably smaller than the management criterion of the refrigerator manufacturer.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.76-83
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• 2018

A cabinet-door integrated finite element model was constructed for a built-in side-by-side refrigerator with an ice dispenser, and its deformation was analyzed using the ANSYS finite element software. As loads, the food load needed to fill in the cabinet and doors and the thermal load occurring during normal operation conditions were taken into consideration. The door height difference (DHD) and door flatness difference (DFD) between the two doors of the freezing and refrigerating compartments were derived. The DHD and DFD under the assembled condition without applied loads satisfied the acceptance criteria specified by the refrigerator manufacturer. It appeared that the food load increases the DFD slightly. The thermal load tends to increase the differences because of the thermal deformation, especially the DFD, of the cabinet and doors.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.20 no.7
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• pp.66-71
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• 2021

In this study, the shape design optimization of a refrigerator door hinge stopper was performed to reduce the discrepancy in the opening forces of the left and right doors of a double-door refrigerator. A finite element model was constructed and analyzed by quasi-static analyses to evaluate the structural performance of the door hinge stopper. The reaction moment calculated at the hinge axis was used as a measure of the door opening and closing forces. The design objective is to increase the door opening force by 50% while maintaining the door closing force and the maximum stress calculated in the body of the hinge stopper at the current level. A new design concept with a contacting slot was proposed to decouple the door closing and opening forces. Shape optimization was performed to determine the dimensions of the new design of the hinge stopper, and the rib pattern was determined by topological optimization to further increase the door opening force. It was observed that the new design met all design requirements.

• Proceedings of the ESK Conference
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• 1998.04a
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• pp.19.1-24
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• 1998

Designers often hesitate to decide the shape, size, and layout of a product. Though ergonomic principles and data are absolutely needed in this process, they don't have enough guidelines to refer. For the refrigerator designers, they also are not convinced of their decision: the vertical position of the freezing and refrigerating rooms, the height of shelves, the shape of door-handle, and etc. To support the refrigerator design, we applied several ergonomic methods to the evaluation of a refrigerator. EMG measurement was used to evaluate the load of user's lumbar muscle. Based upon the experimental EMG data, we developed a model to predict the relative load according to the height of refrigerator shelves. Two different layouts of a refrigerator, R/F and F/R style, were compared with the model. A three-dimenaional motion analysis method was used to evaluate the user's motion of using a refrigerator. Ten door-handles with the different shapes and positions were evaluated by tracking the rotations of the user's arm. Video protocol analysis was used to evaluate the user interface of a control panel in a refrigerator. Finally, we made several ergonomic design guidelines based on the facts found in this research and the anthropometric data of the Korean adults. The results of this study can be applied to the ergonomic design of a refrigerator.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2004

This study aims to validate the effectiveness of CAVE system with an Arm-Master in the evaluation of virtual prototypes. A virtual kitchen with a refrigerator was presented in the CAVE system. Subjects put in and pull out virtual objects by using the Arm-Master. Twelve subjects, six males and six females, participated in the six experimental conditions : three types of refrigerator door grips and two reaction forces. After each trial, subjects evaluated a door grip of the virtual refrigerator in terms of easiness of operation, similarity in force, presence etc. The results show the mean values of vortical-type door grips are greater than the horizontal pocket-type door grip. Also the subjects preferred 5N in the reaction force of the Arm-Master rather than 15 N when they open and close virtual door. Unexpectedly, female subjects significantly marked low scores in the evaluation terms compared ruth mali subjects. It explains the Arm-Master should be modified much more if it works effectively in design evaluation.

• Journal of the FoodService Safety
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.7-20
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• 2023

This study was conducted to investigate the impact of refrigerator type and temperature fluctuations on the quality changes of refrigerated foods. Phycochemical and sensory quality, as well as microbial growth, were measured for various foods stored in open- or door-type refrigerators set at 5℃ during storage. The average temperatures recorded were 11.50±1.14℃ in an open refrigerator, and 6.34±0.97℃ in a closed refrigerator. The average surface temperatures of the food items were 9.60±1.20 and 6.00±0.80℃ for open and closed refrigerators, respectively. Significant changes in color and appearance quality were observed in lettuce, mackerel, ground beef, and cut pineapples when stored in open refrigerators. Ready-to-Eat foods such as gimbap and sandwiches exhibited higher levels of microbiological proliferation when stored in open refrigerators compared to closed refrigerators. Processed foods, such as sterilized milk and packaged tofu, did not show significant differences in quality among various types of refrigerators. The installation of refrigerator doors can effectively minimize temperature fluctuations caused by external factors, thereby reducing variations in food quality. These findings provide essential insights into the quality changes associated with the implementation of refrigerator doors, serving as fundamental data for ensuring optimal food preservation.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.137-143
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• 2014

A gasket is known as an important component for mechanical sealing between mating surfaces. In case of the refrigerator, a gasket is generally installed into the edge line of a door to prevent cold air leaking out from the inside of a cabinet. The gasket shape used in a refrigerator is very complicated; it has a few deformable small rooms and wings (upper part) and inserting part (lower part) into the door. By the intricate shape, it takes much time and trouble on analysis by using a full-shape model. To settle down this problem, an effective design way of a gasket is proposed in this work. The inserting part is parametrically designed using FEM without considering the complicate upper part, Through this work, computational time and efforts are much reduced comparing to the full-shape analysis method. And the performance of a newly designed gasket was evaluated qualitatively.

• Journal of Applied Reliability
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.273-287
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• 2005

Accelerated life test models and procedure are developed to assess the reliability of Refrigerator door switch. The main function of door switch is to operate bulb lamp and fan motor in the refrigerating room. The accelerated life test method and test equipments are developed using the relationship between stresses and life characteristics of the products. Using the developed accelerated life test method, the parameters of the ALT model and life time distribution are estimated and the reliability of the Door S/W at use condition if assessed. The proposed accelerated life test method and procedure may be extended and applied to testing similar kinds of products to reduce test time and costs of the tests remarkably.