Insulating material with renewable resource component

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9791205-B2
Application number	US-201514964178-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 9, 2015
Priority date	Dec 9, 2015
Publication date	Oct 17, 2017
Grant date	Oct 17, 2017

Abstract

An insulated cabinet structure includes an inner liner having a plurality of walls defining a refrigerator compartment, and an external wrapper having a plurality of walls defining a refrigerator compartment receiving area. An insulation gap is formed between the walls of the inner liner and the walls of the external wrapper. A first insulation material is positioned on a wall of the external wrapper and extends outwardly into the insulation gap to partially fill the insulation gap. The first insulation material includes a renewable resource component having a particle size in a range from about 10 microns to about 25 microns. A second insulation material is disposed in the insulation gap, such that the first insulation material and the second insulation material together substantially fill the insulation gap.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An insulating member, comprising;
a body portion;
a core portion disposed within an interior of the body portion, wherein the core portion comprises a renewable resource component in an amount of 10%-90% by weight of the core portion, and further wherein the renewable resource component includes a particle size in a range from about 10 microns to about 25 microns; and
an exterior portion surrounding the core portion, wherein the exterior portion includes an insulating material defining a vapor barrier around the core portion.

2. The insulating member of claim 1 , wherein the renewable resource component comprises an open cell structure.

3. The insulating member of claim 2 , wherein the renewable resource component is an organic component selected from the group consisting of durian peel, palm leaves, corn cobs, corn stalks, bagasse, coconut husks and rice husks.

4. The insulating member of claim 2 , wherein the exterior portion includes a closed cell structure.

5. The insulating member of claim 4 , wherein the exterior portion comprises a polyurethane foam.

6. The insulating member of claim 1 , wherein the renewable resource component includes a thermal conductivity value in a range from about 20 mW/mK to about 22 mW/mK.

7. The insulating member of claim 6 , wherein the exterior portion component includes a thermal conductivity value in a range from about 17.5 mW/mK to about 20.5 mW/mK.

8. An insulated cabinet structure comprising:
an inner liner having a plurality of walls defining a refrigerator compartment;
an external wrapper having a plurality of walls defining a refrigerator compartment receiving area;
an insulation gap formed between the walls of the inner liner and the walls of the external wrapper;
a first insulation material positioned on a wall of the external wrapper and extending outwardly into the insulation gap to partially fill the insulation gap, wherein the first insulation material includes a renewable resource component having a particle size in a range from about 10 microns to about 25 microns; and
a second insulation material provided in the insulation gap, wherein the first insulation material and the second insulation material together substantially fill the insulation gap.

9. The insulated cabinet structure of claim 8 , wherein the first insulation material includes an insulation panel having a barrier sheet substantially covering the insulation panel.

10. The insulated cabinet structure of claim 9 , including:
an evacuation port opening into the insulation panel through the barrier sheet.

11. The insulated cabinet structure of claim 8 , wherein the renewable resource component includes an open cell structure.

12. The insulated cabinet structure of claim 11 , wherein the second insulation material includes a closed cell structure.

13. The insulated cabinet structure of claim 12 , wherein the second insulation material comprises a polyurethane foam.

14. The insulated cabinet structure of claim 8 , wherein the renewable resource component is an organic component selected from the group consisting of durian peel, palm leaves, corn cobs, corn stalks, bagasse, coconut husks and rice husks.

15. An insulated cabinet structure comprising:
an inner liner having a plurality of walls defining a refrigerator compartment;
an external wrapper having a plurality of walls defining a refrigerator compartment receiving area;
an insulation gap formed between the walls of the inner liner and the walls of the external wrapper; and
an insulation material positioned in the insulation gap to substantially fill the insulation gap, wherein the insulation material includes a renewable resource component in an amount of about 10%-90% by weight of the insulation material, and further wherein the renewable resource component includes a particle size in a range from about 10 microns to about 25 microns.

16. The insulated cabinet structure of claim 15 , wherein the renewable resource component is an organic component selected from the group consisting of durian peel, palm leaves, corn cobs, corn stalks, bagasse, coconut husks and rice husks.

17. The insulated cabinet structure of claim 16 , wherein the insulation material includes an insulation panel having a core portion and an exterior portion substantially surrounding the core portion.

18. The insulated cabinet structure of claim 17 , wherein the renewable resource component is disposed in the core portion and includes an open cell structure, and further wherein the exterior portion includes a polyurethane product having a closed sell structure.

19. The insulated cabinet structure of claim 16 , wherein the insulation material comprises a urethane foam having the renewable resource component evenly distributed throughout.

20. The insulated cabinet structure of claim 16 , wherein the insulation material comprises one or more molded blocks having the renewable resource component evenly distributed throughout.

Assignees

• Whirlpool Co

Inventors

• Mukherjee Diptesh
• Grewal Rameet Singh

Classifications

• F25D2201/124

  of fibrous type · CPC title

• F25D2201/14

  using subatmospheric pressure · CPC title

• F25D2201/122

  of loose fill type · CPC title

• F25D23/063 Primary

  formed by an assembly of panels · CPC title

• F25D23/066 Primary

  Liners · CPC title