Design Optimization and Testing of Structure of a Single Door Refrigerator

Abstract

With growing demand of refrigerators, more and more raw material is required which usually leads to natural resources exploitation and increased cost of manufacturing. For a manufacturing company to remain efficient, research and development becomes necessary to maintain the cost, quality, and features of the product. The aim of this work is to design optimization and testing for cost opportunity (material or process time reduction) and for increased ease of mass manufacturing which indirectly also benefits in reduction of carbon footprint. To achieve this, first the process knowledge was acquired so that the change in design could be met with the existing machinery. Next, the design study of the existing product was done to understand the purpose of the part and its structural features. Next, process involves brainstorming to generate ideas and design conceptualization, followed by design modeling and assembly in CREO/Solidworks. Design analysis of each concept generated was done in ANSYS to study them and compared with the existing design. Final design is chosen from the generated concepts on the basis of benefits it offers in terms of structural strength, cost, and ease of manufacturing.