Patent ID: 11911950
Assignee: WHIRLPOOL CORPORATION
Field: Other special machines (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC B  F | IPC B  F

Claim 0:
1. A method of forming a vacuum insulated structure, the method comprising steps of:
attaching an inner liner to an outer wrapper to define a structural cabinet, the outer wrapper defining a plurality of outer surfaces of the structural cabinet and the inner liner defining a plurality of inner compartment surfaces of the structural cabinet;
attaching an expanding device to the plurality of outer surfaces and the plurality of inner compartment surfaces of the structural cabinet;
expanding an interior cavity of the structural cabinet by pulling the plurality of outer surfaces away from the plurality of inner compartment surfaces and also pulling the plurality of inner compartment surfaces away from the plurality of outer surfaces to define an expanded interior volume of the structural cabinet;
disposing an insulating material within the expanded interior volume of an insulating cavity, wherein the insulating material occupies substantially all of the expanded interior volume;
expressing gas from the insulating cavity via a vacuum port of the structural cabinet, wherein expression of the gas at least partially draws the plurality of outer surfaces toward the plurality of inner compartment surfaces and partially draws the plurality of inner compartment surfaces toward the plurality of outer surfaces to define a final state of the structural cabinet, the final state defined by a contracted interior volume that is less than the expanded interior volume and corresponds to a densified state of the insulating material within the insulating cavity; and
closing the vacuum port to hermetically seal the insulating cavity.