Pursuant to 35 U.S.C. §119(a), this application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2013-0135451, filed on, Nov. 8, 2013, which is hereby incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein.
The present application relates to an exterior décor panel for a home appliance and an apparatus of manufacturing the same.
For manufacturing of metal sheets used as exterior décor panels for home appliances, there are various methods of forming a pattern to provide surfaces of the metal sheets with aesthetic effects, such as film attachment, printing, etching, rolling, and the like.
Among the aforementioned methods, in the case of rolling using a roller provided with a convex stereoscopic pattern, when a metal sheet passes through a rolling apparatus, a stereoscopic pattern is formed at a front surface of the metal sheet.
In the above-described rolling apparatus 300, the upper roller 310 provided with the rolling mold 200 is positioned to face the front surface of the metal sheet 1″ to form a stereoscopic pattern on the front surface of the metal sheet 1″ by rolling. In this case, no pattern is formed at a rear surface of the metal sheet 1″ because the lower dummy roller 320 located to face the rear surface of the metal sheet 1″ is not provided with a pattern.
As illustrated in
Accordingly, the present application is directed to an exterior décor panel for a home appliance and an apparatus of manufacturing the same.
One object of the present application is to provide an exterior décor panel for a home appliance and an apparatus of manufacturing the same in which a first patterned portion is recessed in a rear surface of a metal sheet such that a second patterned portion corresponding to a transfer pattern of the resulting rear surface pattern protrudes from a front surface of the metal sheet.
Additional advantages, objects, and features will be set forth in part in the description which follows and in part will become apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned from practice. The objectives and other advantages may be realized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out in the written description and claims hereof as well as the appended drawings.
According to one aspect, an exterior décor panel for a home appliance includes a metal sheet having a first surface and a second surface opposite the first surface. The metal sheet includes a first patterned portion having successive recesses formed in the first surface, where each of the successive recesses have a prescribed depth, and a second patterned portion having successive protrusions formed at the second surface, where the successive protrusions correspond to the successive recesses. The successive recesses are formed by applying a force to the first surface, thereby transferring the force to the second surface to form the successive protrusions
Implementations of this aspect may include one or more of the following features. For example, the first patterned portion may define lines that interconnect maximum depth points of the successive recesses, where each of the lines of the first patterned portion have a prescribed depth and width, and the second patterned portion may define lines that interconnect maximum height points of the successive protrusions, where each of the lines of the second patterned portion have a prescribed height and width. A maximum height of the protrusions protruding from the second surface of the metal sheet may be less than a maximum depth of the recesses formed in the first surface of the metal sheet. The width of each of the protrusions may be greater than the width of each of the recesses. The second patterned portion may include curved portions of the protrusions and a flat portion between the curved portions between neighboring lines of the second patterned portion. The second patterned portion may include at least two lines that cross each other. The recesses may be formed by laser processing. The second patterned portion may have beginning and end points located at a rim of the metal sheet. The metal sheet may be formed of stainless steel or aluminum.
According to another aspect, a method for manufacturing an exterior décor panel for a home appliance, where the panel includes a metal sheet having a first surface and a second surface opposite the first surface, includes rolling the metal sheet between a pair of first and second rollers. The method further includes applying a force, via the pair of rollers, to the first surface to form a first patterned portion having successive recesses. Each of the successive recesses have a prescribed depth. The force applied to the first surface is transferred to the second surface to form a second patterned portion having successive protrusions at the second surface that correspond to the successive recesses. The first patterned portion defines lines that interconnect maximum depth points of the successive recesses, each of the lines of the first patterned portion having a prescribed depth and width. The second patterned portion defines lines that interconnect maximum height points of the successive protrusions, each of the lines of the second patterned portion having a prescribed height and width.
Implementations of this aspect may include one or more of the following features. For example, rolling the metal sheet between the pair of rollers may include rolling the metal sheet between the first roller having a protruding pattern corresponding to the first patterned portion in the form of the recesses and serving to press the first surface of the metal sheet, and the second roller that is configured to support the second surface of the metal sheet. Rolling the metal sheet between the pair of rollers may include rolling the metal sheet between the first roller and the second roller that is elastically deformable to allow the recesses to be transferred to the second surface of the metal sheet so as to form the protrusions. The method may further include rolling the metal sheet between one or more additional pairs of rollers, the pair of rollers and the one or more additional pairs of rollers having different protruding patterns from each other. The second patterned portion may include crossing lines that are formed sequentially as the metal sheet sequentially passes through the pair of rollers and the one or more additional pairs of rollers. Applying the force may form the second patterned portion to include lines that have beginning and end points located inside a rim of the metal sheet. Applying the force may form the second patterned portion to include lines that define a closed figure.
According to yet another aspect, an apparatus for manufacturing an exterior décor panel for a home appliance includes a first pair of rollers. The first pair of rollers include a first roller having a protruding pattern at a circumferential surface thereof, the first roller being configured to press a metal sheet so as to form recesses in a first surface of the metal sheet, and a second roller configured to support the metal sheet at an opposite side of the first roller so as to allow formation of protrusions corresponding to the recesses at a second surface of the metal sheet opposite the first surface.
Implementations of this aspect may include one or more of the following features. For example, the second roller may be formed of a material that is elastically deformable by a prescribed degree during rolling. The first roller may include a pattern in the form of protruding lines each having a prescribed height and width to form the recesses. The apparatus may further include a second pair of rollers, where the first and second pairs of rollers have different protruding patterns from each other. As the metal sheet sequentially passes through the first and second pairs of rollers, the first pair of rollers may be configured to form a first set of lines, and the second pair of rollers may be configured to form a second set of lines that cross the first set of lines.
The details of one or more implementations described in this specification are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other potential features and aspects of the present application will become apparent from the descriptions, the drawings and the claims.
To form the second patterned portion 5, press force may be applied to the rear surface of the metal sheet 1 to form the recesses. As a result, curved protrusions corresponding to the first patterned portion 3 can be formed at the front surface of the metal sheet 1 as the first patterned portion 3 is transferred from the rear surface to the front surface of the metal sheet 1. That is, the curved protrusions are formed as the press force applied to form the recesses is transferred to the front surface of the metal sheet due to the ductility of the metal sheet.
The successive recesses formed in the first surface (rear surface) of the metal sheet 1 can have a prescribed depth and width. As a result, the first patterned portion 3 can be defined by lines interconnecting the maximum depth points of the successive recesses having the prescribed depth and width.
The successive protrusions protrude from the second surface (front surface) of the metal sheet 1 and can have a prescribed height and width. As a result, the second patterned portion 5 can be defined by lines interconnecting the maximum height points of the successive protrusions having the prescribed height and width.
As exemplarily shown in
Although each continuous line of the first patterned portion 3 is shown as having a rectangular recess shaped cross section, each recess of the first patterned portion 3 may have any of various other shapes, such as a rounded rectangular, trapezoidal or semicircular shape, for example.
The second patterned portion 5 corresponding to the first patterned portion 3, formed as the first patterned portion 3 is transferred, includes curved protrusions protruding from the front surface of the metal sheet 1 at positions corresponding to the respective recesses of the first pattern portion 3. As a result, the curved protrusions of the second patterned portion 5 may have finely convex rounded surfaces. In some cases, the rounded surface of each curved protrusion may be symmetrical about the center maximum height point of the curved protrusion. In some cases, a flat portion may be present between the respective neighboring curved protrusions that are spaced apart from each other by a prescribed distance.
One reason why the second patterned portion 5 includes the curved protrusions having the rounded surfaces differently from the first patterned portion 3 is that, when the press force applied to the rear surface of the metal sheet 1 to form the first patterned portion 3, the press force is transferred to the front surface of the metal sheet 1 to thereby form the protrusions corresponding to the first patterned portion 3. This will be described below in more detail.
While the curved protrusions of the second patterned portion 5 can have gently protruding rounded surfaces, as exemplarily shown in
As illustrated, the maximum height t2 of the protrusions is less than the maximum depth of the recesses formed in the rear surface of the metal sheet 1. In some cases, the maximum height t2 of the protrusions of the second patterned portion 5 may be within a range of 15 microns to 20 microns.
When a thickness of the metal sheet 1 is 0.6 mm, the depth t1 and the width w1 of the recesses of the first patterned portion 3 may respectively be within a range of 0.1 mm to 0.2 mm. In this case, the maximum height t2 of the protrusions of the second patterned portion 5 may be within a range of 15 microns to 20 microns.
Since the protrusions of the second patterned portion 5 can have an extremely small height and have convex rounded surfaces, a person who touches the front surface of the metal sheet 1 may not be able to tactilely perceive the presence of the protrusions. However, a stereoscopic pattern of the second patterned portion 5 may be visible to the person.
In addition, the width w2 of the protrusions between the protrusion start points of each protrusion protruding from the front surface of the metal sheet 1 may be greater than the width w1 of the recesses. In some cases, the width w2 of the protrusions may be two to four times greater than the width w1 of the recesses.
The second patterned portion 5 is formed as the first patterned portion 3 being formed at the rear surface of the metal sheet 1 is transferred to the front surface of the metal sheet 1. Therefore, the protrusions of the second patterned portion 5 achieve a form having a small height and a great width relative to the first patterned portion 3.
Although the recesses of the first patterned portion 3 and the protrusions of the second patterned portion 5 corresponding thereto are shown in
A contour acquired by connecting the maximum height points of the protrusions may be a linear contour. That is, the protrusions of the second patterned portion 5 may be defined by a plurality of lines successively formed at the front surface of the metal sheet 1.
The protrusions of the second patterned portion 5 may take the form of a polygon, such as a rectangle, a hexagon or the like, defined by lines crossing each other, may take the form of a closed figure, such as a circle, an oval, a polygon or the like, defined by lines not crossing each other, or may take the form of symbols or characters.
As described above, the protrusions of the second patterned portion 5 can have rounded surfaces differently from the first patterned portion 3.
Referring to
The second patterned portion 5 defines a pattern of lines interconnecting the maximum height points of the protrusions and, therefore, takes the form of a figure corresponding to the first patterned portion 3. For example, the lines may include parallel continuous lines extending in a given direction and parallel continuous lines extending in a direction angled from the given direction, and these parallel continuous lines extending in different directions may cross each other at a prescribed angle to internally define a closed figure, such as a diamond.
The second patterned portion 5, as exemplarily shown in the picture of
As exemplarily shown in
As exemplarily shown in
The flat portions 54 may not be affected by the press force applied to form the recesses in the rear surface of the metal sheet 1 and thus do not protrude from the front surface of the metal sheet 1. The curved portions 52 are formed as the recesses of the first patterned portion 3 being formed at the rear surface of the metal sheet 1 are transferred to the front surface of the metal sheet 1 and thus protrude from the front surface of the metal sheet 1.
The second patterned portion 5 can be formed by interconnecting maximum height points of the curved portions 52, and half portions of the two curved portions 52 and the flat portion 54 can be arranged between two lines of the second patterned portion 5. The flat portion 54 may be formed between the curved portions 52 and a width of the flat portion 54 may be determined according to a distance between the neighboring curved portions 52. The flat portions 54 may disappear when a distance between the recesses formed in the rear surface of the metal sheet 1 is reduced. However, the flat portions 54 are preferably formed along with the curved portions 52. The metal sheet 1 may be formed of stainless steel, aluminum, or the like.
The exterior décor panel of the present application has a pattern integrally formed at a front surface thereof via rolling of a rear surface thereof and can be used to be attached to a home appliance. The resulting exterior décor panel can have greater durability and ease of manufacture.
Stainless steel has less ductility than aluminum and thus may have lower processing ability, but can have greater strength and durability than aluminum.
A rolling apparatus may typically apply rolling pressure of about 10 tons upon rolling of a front surface of a stainless steel sheet. On the other hand, according to the present application, a fine pattern may be sufficiently formed at a front surface of a stainless steel sheet upon rolling of a rear surface of the stainless steel sheet by applying only rolling pressure of 100 kgf.
In the case of an aluminum sheet having superior ductility, rolling thereof may be possible via application of an even lower rolling pressure than that applied to the stainless steel sheet during rolling. Additionally, since the aluminum sheet may be easily subjected to plastic deformation when a fine pattern is formed at a front surface of the aluminum sheet via rolling of a rear surface of the aluminum sheet, it may be necessary to reduce a width and depth of recesses corresponding to the resulting rear surface pattern as well as rolling pressure applied to the rear surface as compared to those of the stainless steel sheet.
In some cases, the metal sheet 1 may be subjected to bright annealing after rolling to acquire a brilliant surface.
The second patterned portion 5 formed at the front surface of the metal sheet 1 can include the protrusions having the finely convex rounded surfaces almost close to a flat surface because the maximum height of the protrusions is within a range of 15 microns to 20 microns. Accordingly, by bright annealing the front surface of the metal sheet 1 after rolling, the second patterned portion 5 may provide a more conspicuous stereoscopic pattern.
Since the second patterned portion 5 including the protrusions having the finely convex rounded surfaces can reflect light at different angles according to positions of the protrusions, when the front surface of the metal sheet 1 is brilliant, as exemplarily shown in
The exterior décor panel of the present application may be used as an exterior material to be attached to an exterior surface of a home appliance. The present application may be applied to any home appliance so long as the home appliance allows such a patterned exterior material formed of a metal sheet to be attached to an exterior surface thereof.
Examples of home appliances to which the present application may be applied include a refrigerator, a washing machine, a drying machine, a blow dryer, a dishwasher, an air conditioner, a television, a cellular phone and many others.
In particular, in the case of a refrigerator, the exterior décor panel may be attached to a front surface of a door and thus have a large size. Even in the case of such a large size exterior décor panel, a stereoscopic pattern may be economically and precisely formed at a front surface of a metal sheet via rolling of a rear surface of the metal sheet according to the present application.
Next, an apparatus and method of manufacturing an exterior décor panel for a home appliance via rolling according to the present application will be described with reference to
The apparatus of manufacturing the exterior décor panel for the home appliance according to the present application includes at least one pair of rollers consisting of a first roller 120 having a protruding pattern formed at a circumferential surface thereof to form recesses in a first surface of the metal sheet 1 by pressing the metal sheet 1 and a second roller 130 configured to support the metal sheet 1 at the opposite side of the first roller 120 to form protrusions corresponding to the recesses at a second surface of the metal sheet 1.
The first roller 120 serves to perform rolling on the first surface, i.e. a rear surface of the metal sheet 1 to be rolled. As exemplarily shown in
When the first roller 120 performs rolling on the rear surface of the metal sheet 1, the second roller 130 may be elastically deformed while supporting the front surface of the metal sheet 1. Accordingly, as the pattern of the first roller 120 is transferred to the front surface of the metal sheet 1, the second patterned portion 5 including the rounded protrusions can be formed.
Although the second roller 130 may be wholly formed of an elastically deformable material, an elastic deformable portion 135 formed of a rubber or the like may surround a steel rod to achieve sufficient strength to endure rolling pressure. The elastic deformable portion 135 can absorb deformation of the protrusions that are formed at the front surface of the metal sheet 1 while the recesses are formed in the rear surface of the metal sheet 1. That is, the elastic deformable portion 135 can allow the protrusions, which do not have the same shape as the recesses but have a shape corresponding to the recesses, to be formed at the front surface of the metal sheet 1.
While the first roller 120 having the protruding pattern performs rolling on the rear surface of the metal sheet 1 to form the recesses, the elastic deformable portion 135 can cause a pattern of the recesses to be transferred to the front surface of the metal sheet 1 so as to form the protrusions of the second patterned portion 5.
As described above, the elastic deformable portion 135 can form the protrusions having a height less than a depth of the recesses and a width greater than a width of the recesses. The elastic deformable portion 135 may be manufactured to achieve an appropriate coefficient of elasticity and an appropriate thickness to provide the protrusions with a desired stereoscopic shape.
The rolling apparatus shown in
And while conventional rolling apparatus may need to apply rolling pressure of about 10 tons and require installation of one or more intermediate rollers and a plurality of backup rollers in order to directly applying rolling pressure to a working roller, the rolling apparatus of the present application as shown in
As exemplarily shown in
Through use of the pattern P, as exemplarily shown in
In the case of the pattern P, since rolling pressure is concentrated at intersections of the first and second continuous lines, the second patterned portion 5 as exemplarily shown in
For this reason, in the case in which the pattern P of the first roller 120 is defined by a plurality of continuous lines crossing each other as exemplarily shown in
Referring to
In the case in which the first roller 122 and the first roller 124 have different protruding patterns and are used to form the diamond shaped first patterned portion 3 as illustrated, the rollers 122 and 124 may be provided with a plurality of different parallel protruding lines that extend in different direction to have a prescribed inclination angle.
The first roller 122 may form a pair with one second roller 130 to perform rolling, and the first roller 124 may form a pair with another second roller 130 to perform rolling. The second roller 130, as exemplarily shown in
The first roller 122 and the first roller 124 may be spaced apart from each other to sequentially perform rolling on the metal sheet 1. Accordingly, protrusions in the form of a plurality of parallel lines, which may be part of the second patterned portion 5, may be formed in a given direction while the metal sheet 1 passes through a gap between the first roller 122 and the second roller 130 and, subsequently, protrusions in the form of a plurality of parallel lines crossing the previously formed parallel lines may be formed in an opposite direction while the metal sheet 1 passes through a gap between the first roller 124 and the second roller 130.
The first roller 122 and the first roller 124 can allow the metal sheet 1 to be sequentially subjected to rolling while passing the two first rollers 122 and 124 in a single rolling apparatus, thereby enabling formation of a precise pattern defined by continuous lines crossing each other.
In the case of
In some cases, as a method of forming the second patterned portion 5 protruding from the front surface of the metal sheet 1 by forming the first patterned portion 3 at the rear surface of the metal sheet 1, laser processing may be used. Laser processing refers to a method of directly drawing a figure with continuous lines by scanning the rear surface of the metal sheet 1 with a laser beam.
When the rear surface of the metal sheet 1 is scanned with the laser beam to form the recesses in the form of lines, the curved protrusions may be formed at the front surface of the metal sheet 1. In this case, scan beginning and end points of the laser beam, as exemplarily shown in
In
Consequently, through laser processing as described above, the resulting first patterned portion may have difficulty in having an accurate pattern in the form of a figure defined by lines, beginning and end points of which are present at the surface of the metal sheet 1. That is, laser processing can have difficulty in accurately forming a pattern in which beginning and end points of a movement path 8 of laser beam are located inside the rim of the metal sheet as exemplarily shown in
On the other hand, in the case in which a pattern is formed the an exterior décor panel by rear surface rolling as described above, beginning and end points of lines forming the first patterned portion may be located inside or outside of the surface of the metal sheet 1 and, therefore, both the patterns shown in
In addition, laser processing needs to draw the lines of the first patterned portion one by one, thus causing deteriorated productivity and high manufacturing costs.
On the other hand, the case of rear surface rolling as described above, the lines of the first patterned portion may be simultaneously formed using the roller having a pattern corresponding to the first patterned portion and, therefore, rear surface rolling may achieve relatively high mass production yield and low manufacturing costs.
In addition, laser processing can have difficulty forming a precise pattern on a relatively soft metal, such as aluminum.
On the other hand, rear surface rolling may form a precise pattern on a relatively soft metal, such as aluminum, as well as a relatively strong metal, such as stainless steel via control of rolling pressure.
As is apparent from the above description, with an exterior décor panel for a home appliance and an apparatus of manufacturing the same according to the present application, the present application can have the effect of simplifying the manufacturing an exterior décor panel having a stereoscopic pattern formed at a front surface thereof, as a result of forming a recessed pattern in a rear surface of a metal sheet such that a pattern corresponding to the pattern of the rear surface is transferred to a front surface of the metal sheet.
In addition, the present application can have the effect of economically and precisely manufacturing an exterior décor panel having a fine protruding pattern formed at a front surface of the panel via processing of a rear surface of the panel.
In addition, the present application can have the effect of allowing a front surface pattern to appear to have different colors according to positions, as a result of providing a metal sheet with a brilliant surface via bright annealing after rolling of the metal sheet.
In addition, in the case of a front surface pattern being formed by lines via rear surface rolling, beginning and end points of the lines may be located at the rear surface or may define a closed figure at the rear surface, which enables formation of various shapes of patterns without limitation.
Although the exemplary implementations have been illustrated and described as above, of course, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present application is not limited to the above described particular implementations, and various modifications and variations can be made in the present application without departing from the spirit or scope of the present application, and the modifications and variations should not be understood individually from the viewpoint or scope of the present application.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
10-2013-0135451 | Nov 2013 | KR | national |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
2277725 | Smith et al. | Mar 1942 | A |
3040799 | Hanson | Jun 1962 | A |
20040149142 | Groll | Aug 2004 | A1 |
20090202856 | Hiraoka | Aug 2009 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
2356243 | Jan 1975 | DE |
Entry |
---|
Search Report dated May 11, 2015 from corresponding European Patent Application No. 14191835.9, 9 pages. |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20150158074 A1 | Jun 2015 | US |