A refrigerator includes a cabinet and a door. The door includes a panel assembly, a door frame, a door liner, and an insulator provided in a space defined by the panel assembly and the door frame. The panel assembly includes a front panel and a rear panel. The door further includes a rod that connects the front panel to the rear panel, a heater housing that covers the rod and is attached to a rear surface of the front panel, and a heating device coupled to the heater housing and in contact with the rear surface of the front panel.

A picnic cooler that include a food compartment, a liquid-gas tank with an adapter, an electric spigot and a cooling apparatus. The food compartment includes a release aperture with unidirectional valve that is designed to release outside the gas. The cooling apparatus includes a twisting piping system and an upper metallic plate that serves also as the inner bottom of the food compartment and as a cooling plate. A second end of the twisting piping system includes a secondary aperture that is positioned inside the food compartment and that causes additional pressure drop and by that assists to cool the interior of the food compartment.

A refrigerator includes a compressor to compress refrigerant, a condenser to liquefy the refrigerant supplied from the compressor, a capillary tube to decompress and expand the refrigerant supplied from the condenser, an evaporator to vaporize the refrigerant supplied from the capillary tube, a shutoff valve installed at an inlet of the capillary tube so as to prevent the refrigerant in the condenser during stoppage of the compressor from being moved to the evaporator, and a control unit to enable the shutoff valve to be blocked together so as to prevent movement of the refrigerant from the condenser to the evaporator during stoppage of the compressor, and to enable the shutoff valve to be opened together so as to move the refrigerant from the condenser to the evaporator during starting of the compressor.

A refrigerator includes a cabinet having a storage space, and a door configured to open and close the storage space. The door includes a panel assembly including a front panel that defines a front surface of the door and is made of a transparent material, and a rear panel disposed behind the front panel and made of a transparent material, a door liner that defines a rear surface of the door and a liner opening shielded by the rear panel, an insulating material filled into a space between a perimeter of the panel assembly and the door liner, a lighting device configured to illuminate a space behind the door, and a light case coupled to the door liner. The light case connects the rear panel to the door liner, blocks an inflow of the insulating material, and defines a recess space accommodating the lighting device.

A modular box assembly includes a box; a first thermal liner constructed of a first length of pre-laminated material, the pre-laminated material comprising an insulation batt in facing contact with a first sheet and with a second sheet, the first thermal liner defining three first liner panels; and a second thermal liner constructed of a second length of the pre-laminated material, the second thermal liner defining three second liner panels. A bottom box panel is covered by one of a first liner panel not covering any side box panel and a second liner panel not covering any side box panel. The insulation batt is formed from a mixture of reinforcement fibers and thermoplastic binder fibers, the reinforcement fibers comprising one of natural fibers, recycled cardboard, and a mixture of recycled cardboard and paper fibers.

A refrigerated carrier device that can maintain biological samples including capillary blood samples at refrigerated temperatures is described herein. The carrier includes an insulated phase change material (PCM) that can be pre-chilled to maintain biological samples at a refrigerated temperature (e.g., 2-8? C.) while the carrier is in transit and/or temporary storage protecting the samples from degradation. The use of PCM enables the temperature to be kept reliably between 2-8? C., avoiding temperature excursions, and eliminating the need for a compressor or thermoelectric device at the point of collection, which can reduce costs and risks related to heat, noise, condensation, and sample degradation due to power outages. The carrier device can be removable from a Sample Preparation system, which enables it to double as refrigerated storage at the point of collection and during transportation.

A modular box assembly includes a box, a box cavity defined within the box, the box defining a top end and a bottom end, the top end defining a box opening to the box cavity, the box includes a side panel extending from the top end to the bottom end; a shoulder attached to the side panel, the shoulder extending inward from the side panel and into the box cavity, the shoulder comprising a first sub-shoulder and a second sub-shoulder, the first sub-shoulder, the second sub-shoulder, and the side panel defining a shoulder channel; and a support bracket comprising a channel tab and a support shelf, the channel tab positioned within the shoulder channel, the channel tab frictionally engaging the first sub-shoulder and the second sub-shoulder to secure the support bracket within the shoulder channel, the support shelf extending into the box cavity.

An insulating structure for an appliance includes an outer layer and an inner layer, wherein an insulating cavity is defined therebetween. A plurality of hollow nano-spheres are disposed within the insulating cavity, wherein each of the hollow nano-spheres includes a diameter in the range of from approximately 50 nanometers to approximately 1000 nanometers and has a wall that defines the internal space, and wherein the wall of each hollow nano-sphere has a thickness that is in a range of from approximately 0.5 nanometers to approximately 100 nanometers. A fill material is disposed in the insulating cavity and wherein the fill material is disposed in the space defined between the plurality of hollow nano-spheres, and wherein the fill material includes at least one of powdered silica, granulated silica, other silica material, aerogel and insulating gas.

There is disclosed a refrigerator; a lighting device provided in the storage chamber, a first door rotatably coupled to the case to open and close the storage chamber, an auxiliary storage chamber provided in the first door, a second door, a front panel formed of a transparent material, an evaporation treatment unit evaporated on an overall back surface of the front panel to transmit lights partially, a variable transparency film attached to a back surface of the evaporation treatment unit provided in the front panel to get transparent when the power is supplied, a frame unit with an opening having a corresponding size to an opening provided in the first door, an insulation panel distant from the front panel, a power supply unit for supplying an electric power to the variable transparency film and the lighting device, a proximity sensor provided in the second door to sense a user's approaching.

An insulation structure for an appliance includes a first vacuum insulated structure having a top and downward sides extending from the top and defining a lower connection surface. A second vacuum insulated structure having a bottom and upward sides extending from the bottom and defining an upper connection surface, and an intermediate insulation structure having a top surface and a bottom surface, wherein the top surface engages the lower connection surface of the first vacuum insulated structure to define the first insulated interior, wherein the bottom surface engages the upper connection surface of the second vacuum insulated structure to define the second insulated interior, and wherein the intermediate insulation structure includes an appliance utility path within which at least one utility for the appliance is disposed.