Home appliance

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12019263-B2
Application number	US-202217988384-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 16, 2022
Priority date	Nov 16, 2021
Publication date	Jun 25, 2024
Grant date	Jun 25, 2024

Abstract

A home appliance includes a cabinet having a storage space formed therein; a door configured to open and close an open front of the cabinet; a panel assembly mounted on a front surface of the door; and a controller, wherein the panel assembly includes: a front plate forming a front exterior of the door and transmitting light; and a lighting device emitting light of a set color, wherein the front plate includes: a base layer; and a colored layer formed on one surface of the base layer and has a first color, wherein the front surface of the door has the first color when the lighting device is turned off, and wherein the front surface of the door shines in a color selected by a user when the lighting device is turned on.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An appliance comprising:
a cabinet that defines a storage space;
a door configured to open and close at least a portion of the storage space, the door comprising a panel assembly that comprises (i) a lighting device configured to emit light and (ii) a front plate that defines an exterior of the door and is configured to transmit the light; and
a controller configured to control the lighting device to selectively make the front plate be seen by a user as a first color and a second color, the second color being selected by the user and different from the first color,
wherein the lighting device is disposed at the door and configured to emit light having a third color that is different from the first color and the second color,
wherein the front plate comprises a base layer and a colored layer disposed at the base layer, the colored layer having the first color and being configured to transmit the light of the lighting device, and
wherein the controller is configured to:
turn on the lighting device to thereby make the front plate be seen by the user as the second color based on the light of the lighting device being transmitted through the colored layer, the second color corresponding to a color mix of the first color of the colored layer and the third color of the light emitted from the light device, and
turn off the lighting device to thereby make the front plate be seen by the user as the first color.

2. The appliance of claim 1 , wherein the colored layer is disposed on a rear surface of the base layer.

3. The appliance of claim 2 , wherein the front plate further comprises a pattern layer that is disposed at a front surface of the base layer and defines a texture of the door.

4. The appliance of claim 3 , wherein the pattern layer comprises a transparent film made of a resin material.

5. The appliance of claim 3 , wherein the pattern layer comprises an imprint pattern made of an ultraviolet (UV) cured resin composition.

6. The appliance of claim 1 , wherein the lighting device comprises a plurality of light-emitting diodes (LEDs).

7. The appliance of claim 6 , wherein the LEDs include red, green, and blue (RGB) LEDs.

8. The appliance of claim 1 , wherein the front plate further comprises a protective layer disposed at a surface of the colored layer opposite to the base layer.

9. The appliance of claim 8 , wherein the protective layer comprises an anti-scattering film.

10. The appliance of claim 1 , further comprising a deposition layer disposed between the base layer and the colored layer.

11. The appliance of claim 10 , wherein the deposition layer is made of metal.

12. The appliance of claim 1 , wherein the colored layer is disposed on a rear surface of the base layer, and
wherein the front plate further comprises:
a pattern layer that is disposed at a front surface of the base layer and defines a texture of the exterior of the door; and
a protective layer that is disposed at a rear surface of the colored layer opposite to the base layer.

13. The appliance of claim 12 , wherein the front plate further comprises a deposition layer made of metal and disposed between the base layer and the colored layer.

14. The appliance of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to:
adjust the third color based on the first color to thereby enable the front plate to be seen by the user as the second color.

15. The appliance of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to receive a user input for selecting the second color from a plurality of different colors.

16. The appliance of claim 1 , wherein the base layer is made of a transparent material.

17. The appliance of claim 1 , wherein the base layer is made of at least one of glass, a transparent plastic material, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), or polycarbonate (PC) resin.

18. The appliance of claim 1 , wherein a lightness of the first color is greater than a lightness of a black color.

19. The appliance of claim 1 , wherein the colored layer is disposed on the base layer by silk screen printing.

20. The appliance of claim 1 , wherein the door further comprises a door body that is coupled to a rear side of the panel assembly.

Assignees

• Lg Electronics Inc

Inventors

• Han Doyoun
• Jung Hyesun
• Park Jaesung

Classifications

• G02B6/0073

  Light emitting diode [LED] · CPC title

• F25D27/005

  combined with control means · CPC title

• F25D23/028 Primary

  Details · CPC title

• F21Y2115/10

  Light-emitting diodes [LED] · CPC title

• F21W2131/305

  for refrigerators · CPC title