CN113758098A

CN113758098A - Ice making device and refrigerator

Info

Publication number: CN113758098A
Application number: CN202111124541.1A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 李玉稳; 李大鹏; 李闪闪; 周林芳
Original assignee: TCL Home Appliances Hefei Co Ltd
Current assignee: TCL Home Appliances Hefei Co Ltd
Priority date: 2021-09-24
Filing date: 2021-09-24
Publication date: 2021-12-07

Abstract

The application discloses an ice making device and a refrigerator, wherein the ice making device comprises a supporting wall; an ice making assembly secured to the support wall, a first air duct formed between the support wall and the ice making assembly, the first air duct having a first air duct inlet and a first air duct outlet, the first air duct configured to cause cool air to flow along the first air duct inlet toward the first air duct outlet; the first air guide piece is arranged at the first air duct outlet and comprises an air guide portion, a preset included angle is formed between the air guide portion and the air outlet direction of the first air duct outlet, so that the cold air flows towards the first direction along the air guide portion, and a first through hole is formed in the air guide portion, so that the cold air flows towards the second direction along the first through hole. The multiplexing of first wind channel is realized to this application to reduce the occupation of wind channel part to ice making device's overall arrangement space.

Description

Ice making device and refrigerator

Technical Field

The application relates to the technical field of refrigerators, in particular to an ice making device and a refrigerator.

Background

In a refrigerator with an ice making function, an ice making device generally comprises an ice tray, an ice making tray support, a water inlet pipe, an air duct assembly and an ice separating motor, and the ice making device is connected with a refrigerator door body through an embedded part. First, the ice tray is filled with water by the water inlet pipe. Then, the air duct assembly guides the cold air to the ice tray, and the cold air provides cold energy to the water in the ice tray, so that the water in the ice tray is made into ice. Specifically, the air duct assembly leads cold air to a gap between the ice tray and the door body, and the cold air flows into the ice storage box after passing through the ice tray. After ice making is finished, the ice separating motor separates ice blocks from the ice tray, and the ice blocks fall into the ice storage box to be stored.

Currently, a plurality of air duct components are generally required in an ice making device, and each air duct component is used for refrigerating different parts in the ice making device, so that the air duct components in the ice making device occupy a large amount of layout space.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application provides an ice making device and refrigerator, when cooling different positions, realizes the multiplexing to first wind channel to reduce wind channel part quantity, thereby reduce the occupation of wind channel part to the overall arrangement space of ice making device.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an ice making device, including:

a support wall;

an ice making assembly connected to the support wall, a first air duct formed between the support wall and the ice making assembly, the first air duct having a first air duct inlet and a first air duct outlet, the first air duct configured to allow cool air to flow along the first air duct inlet toward the first air duct outlet;

the first air guide piece is arranged at the first air duct outlet and comprises an air guide portion, a preset included angle is formed between the air guide portion and the air outlet direction of the first air duct outlet, so that the cold air flows towards the first direction along the air guide portion, and a first through hole is formed in the air guide portion, so that the cold air flows towards the second direction along the first through hole.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a refrigerator, including:

an ice storage device;

the ice making device as described above is disposed adjacent to the ice storage device, and the cold air flowing out in the second direction flows into the ice storage device.

In the embodiment of the application, the ice making assembly is fixed on the supporting wall, a first air duct is formed between the supporting wall and the ice making assembly, the first air guide is arranged at an outlet of the first air duct and comprises an air guide portion, a preset included angle is formed between the air guide portion and the air outlet direction of the outlet of the first air duct, so that cold air flows towards the first direction along the air guide portion, and a first through hole is formed in the air guide portion, so that the cold air flows towards the second direction along the first through hole, that is, due to the existence of the air guide portion, the cold air flowing out of the first air duct can flow towards the first direction along the surface of the air guide portion and can flow towards the second direction along the first through hole. When different parts are cooled, the first air channel is reused, so that the number of air channel components is reduced, and the occupation of the air channel components on the layout space of the ice making device is reduced.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application, the drawings used in the description of the embodiments will be briefly introduced below. It is obvious that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the application, and that for a person skilled in the art, other drawings can be derived from them without inventive effort.

For a more complete understanding of the present application and its advantages, reference is now made to the following descriptions taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Wherein like reference numerals refer to like parts in the following description.

Fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a refrigerator provided in an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 2 is a schematic view of a second structure of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 3 is a schematic view of a first structure of an ice making device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 4 is an exploded view of the ice-making device shown in fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a sectional view of the ice-making device shown in fig. 3 taken along the direction B-B.

Fig. 6 is a schematic structural view of a first wind guide in the ice-making device shown in fig. 4

Fig. 7 is a schematic structural view of a second air guide in the ice making device shown in fig. 4.

Fig. 8 is a sectional view of the second wind guide member shown in fig. 7 taken along the direction a-a.

Fig. 9 is a schematic structural view of a third air guide in the ice making device shown in fig. 4.

Detailed Description

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present application. It is to be understood that the embodiments described are only a few embodiments of the present application and not all embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without inventive step, are within the scope of the present application.

The embodiment of the application provides an ice making device and refrigerator, when cooling different positions, realizes the multiplexing to first wind channel to reduce wind channel part quantity, thereby reduce the occupation of wind channel part to the overall arrangement space of ice making device. The following description will be made with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Referring to fig. 1, in some embodiments, fig. 1 is a schematic view illustrating a first structure of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The refrigerator 200 may be a single door refrigerator, a double door refrigerator, or a triple door refrigerator. The embodiment of the present application takes a single-door refrigerator as an example for explanation. The refrigerator 200 may include a door 21, an ice making device 100, an ice storage device 23, and an ice taking device 24. The ice making device 100 and the ice storage device 23 may be disposed in the refrigerator 200, and specifically may be disposed in the door 21, and the ice taking device 24 is also disposed in the door 21, where it should be noted that the ice making device 100 makes ice in the refrigerator 200, the ice storage device 23 is used for storing ice cubes, the ice taking device 24 is connected to the ice storage device 23 to take the ice cubes made from the ice making device 100, the door 21 of the refrigerator 200 may be used as a connecting body of the ice making device 100 and the ice storage device 23, and the door 21, the ice making device 100, the ice storage device 23, and the ice taking device 24 are structurally matched to achieve taking of the made ice cubes without opening the door of the refrigerator 200.

More specifically, please refer to fig. 2, and fig. 2 is a second structural schematic diagram of the refrigerator according to the embodiment of the present application.

The ice storage device 23 of the refrigerator 200 is disposed adjacent to the ice-making device 100. For example, below the ice making device 100, so that ice cubes generated by the ice making device 100 fall into the ice storage device 23. The process of making ice by the refrigerator 200 is as follows: first, the ice tray is filled with water by the water inlet pipe. Then, the air duct assembly guides the cold air to the ice tray, and the cold air provides cold energy to the water in the ice tray, so that the water in the ice tray is made into ice. Specifically, the air duct assembly guides the cold air to a gap between the ice tray and the door 21, and the cold air flows into the ice storage device 23 after passing through the ice tray. After the ice making is completed, the ice separating motor separates the ice pieces from the ice tray, and the ice pieces fall into the ice storage device 23 to be stored.

In addition, the refrigerator 200 further includes a door body 21, the door body 21 includes a door liner 211, the ice making device 100 is connected to the door liner 211, the door liner 211 is used for guaranteeing the temperature of the refrigerator 200, the material of the door liner 211 may be ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene) plastic, the ABS material has good electrical insulation, is hardly affected by temperature, humidity and frequency, and can be used in most environments.

Wherein, the ice making device 100 includes a support wall 1, the support wall 1 is used for supporting the whole ice making device 100, and the support wall 1 is connected with the door liner 211, so that the whole ice making device 100 is fixed on the door.

In order to more clearly explain the structure of the ice making device, the ice making device will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In some embodiments, please refer to fig. 3, 4 and 5, fig. 3 is a first structural diagram of an ice making device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, fig. 4 is an exploded structural diagram of the ice making device shown in fig. 3, and fig. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the ice making device 100 shown in fig. 3 along a direction B-B.

The ice making device 100 includes a support wall 1, an ice making assembly 3, and a first air guide 55. The ice making unit 3 and the first air guide 55 are fixed to the support wall 1.

The supporting wall 1 is disposed on the door 21 of the refrigerator 200, and a plurality of pre-installation positions may be disposed on the supporting wall 1 for subsequent installation of other devices. For example, screw holes are provided on the support wall 1 so that the ice making assembly 3 can be fastened to the support wall 1 by screws.

The ice making assembly 3 is fixed on the supporting wall 1, the fixing mode can be screw fixing, welding fixing and the like, and all the modes of fixing the ice making assembly 3 on the supporting wall 1 are within the protection scope of the application. Wherein, a first air duct 6 is formed between the ice making assembly 3 and the support wall 1.

The ice making assembly 3 includes an ice making tray holder 37 and an ice making tray 35, the ice making tray 35 is mounted on the ice making tray holder 37, the ice making tray holder 37 is connected with the supporting wall 1, and the first air duct 6 is formed between the ice making tray 35 and the ice making tray holder 37. In some embodiments, the ice tray holder 37 may be a plurality of fixing walls connected with the supporting wall 1 to fix the ice making assembly 3. For example, the ice tray holder 37 has two fixing walls to fix the ice making assembly 3 on the supporting wall 1, and a gap is formed between the two fixing walls, the supporting wall 1 and other structures of the ice making tray 35, and the gap is the first air duct 6.

In other embodiments, the ice tray holder 37 has a plate-shaped structure, and the ice tray holder 37 having the plate-shaped structure is connected to the supporting wall 1, so that the fixing area is increased, and the stability can be effectively improved. It is understood that a gap is formed between the plate-shaped structure, the supporting wall 1 and the ice making tray 35, and the gap is the first air duct 6.

Wherein the first air duct 6 has a first air duct inlet 61 and a first air duct outlet 62, and the cool air transferred from the blower of the refrigerator 200 flows along the first air duct inlet 61 toward the first air duct outlet 62. It will be appreciated that the direction in which the first air duct inlet 61 is directed toward the first air duct outlet 62 is the direction of flow of the cool air in the first air duct 6.

Referring to fig. 6 in conjunction with fig. 5, fig. 5 is a sectional view of the ice making device shown in fig. 3 along a direction B-B, and fig. 6 is a schematic structural view of a first air guide in the ice making device shown in fig. 4.

The ice making device 100 further includes a first air guide 55, and the first air guide 55 is disposed at the first air duct outlet 62. The first air guide member 55 includes an air guide portion 551, and a preset included angle is formed between the air guide portion 551 and the air outlet direction of the first air duct outlet 62, so that the cold air flows along the air guide portion 551 toward the first direction. The air guide portion 551 is provided with a first through hole 557 so that the cold air flows along the first through hole 557 in the second direction, and the cold air flowing out in the second direction flows into the ice storage device 23 disposed adjacent to the ice making device 100. Wherein the first direction is an X direction, and the second direction is a Y direction.

It can be understood that the first air guide 55 is disposed at the outlet of the first air duct 6, and can guide the cool air flowing out of the first air duct 6. More specifically, the first air guide member 55 includes an air guide portion 551, the air guide portion 551 can guide the cold air flowing out of the first air duct 6, and the air guide portion 551 and the air outlet direction of the outlet of the first air duct 6 form a preset included angle, so that the cold air flows towards the first direction along the air guide portion 551. It can be understood that the preset included angle is set to make the cold air flow toward one side of the ice making assembly 3, and the preset included angle is set to make a part of the cold air blow toward the ice making assembly 3, so as to improve the cooling effect on the ice making assembly 3 and improve the ice making efficiency.

More specifically, the air guiding portion 551 is provided with a first through hole 557, and the first through hole 557 is communicated with the first air duct 6, so that the cold air flowing out of the first air duct 6 flows toward the second direction along the first through hole 557. For example, the direction in which the inlet of the first air duct 6 points to the outlet of the first air duct 6 is also the second direction, and the first through hole 557 is provided in the air guide portion 551 to allow the cool air flowing out of the first air duct 6 to directly flow from the first through hole 557 in the second direction.

In the embodiment of the present application, the ice making assembly 3 is fixed on the supporting wall 1, a first air duct 6 is formed between the supporting wall 1 and the ice making assembly 3, the first air guide member 55 is disposed at an outlet of the first air duct 6, the first air guide member 55 includes an air guide portion 551, a predetermined included angle is formed between the air guide portion 551 and an air outlet direction of the outlet of the first air duct 6, so that the cold air flows towards a first direction along the air guide portion 551, and a first through hole 557 is disposed on the air guide portion 551, so that the cold air flows towards a second direction along the first through hole 557, that is, due to the presence of the air guide portion 551, the cold air flowing out of the first air duct 6 can flow towards the first direction along a surface of the air guide portion 551, and can flow towards the second direction along the first through hole 557. In the embodiment of the present application, when different portions are cooled, the first air duct 6 is reused, so as to reduce the number of air duct components, thereby reducing the occupation of the air duct components on the layout space of the ice making device 100.

Referring to fig. 5, the first wind guiding element 55 includes a fixing portion 553, the fixing portion 553 is connected to the supporting wall 1, and the wind guiding portion 551 is connected to the fixing portion 553 and extends from the supporting wall 1 to the ice making assembly 3. The extending direction of the air guiding portion 551 forms a preset included angle with the supporting wall 1, and preferably, the included angle is 90 °.

More specifically, the fixing portion 553 and the air guiding portion 551 together form an arc surface 555, and the arc surface 555 faces the outlet of the first air duct 6 and the first direction, so that the cool air flows along the arc surface 555 in the first direction. It can be understood that the fixing portion 553 is connected to the air guiding portion 551 to form an arc 555 for buffering the cold air flowing out from the first air duct 6 to avoid noise caused by cold air impact.

Referring to fig. 7 and 8, fig. 7 is a schematic structural view of a second wind guide in the ice making device shown in fig. 4, and fig. 8 is a sectional view of the second wind guide shown in fig. 7 along a direction a-a.

The ice making device 100 further includes an air inducing member 51, and the air inducing member 51 may have a hollow cylindrical structure. The air inducing member 51 forms a second air passage 511, the second air passage 511 has a second air passage outlet 5112, and the second air passage 511 is configured such that the cool air flows along the second air passage inlet 5111 toward the second air passage outlet 5112. One end of the air inducing piece 51 can be connected with a fan or communicated with other air channels for conveying cold air.

The second air guide 53 is disposed between the air outlet of the air guide 51 and the first air duct inlet 61, the second air guide 53 abuts against the air guide 51, and the second air guide 53 is formed with a plurality of second through holes 535 so that the cool air flows toward the first air duct 6 along the second through holes 535.

The second through hole 535 may be connected to the fixing frame 531 by a plurality of first wind deflectors 5331, and the plurality of first wind deflectors 5331 are disposed on one side of the fixing frame 531 near the support wall 1. The plurality of first air deflectors 5331 are spaced in the fixing frame 531 to form a plurality of second through holes 535, the plurality of second through holes 535 are communicated with the first air duct 6, and the cold air generated by the evaporator reaches the upper part of the ice making assembly 3 along the air inducing member 51 and is guided by the first air deflectors 5331 to enter the first air duct 6 through the first air distribution channel.

It is understood that the first air deflector 5331 is inclined toward the first air duct 6 so that the second through hole 535 can communicate with the first air duct 6.

In some embodiments, the side of ice-making assembly 3 remote from support wall 1 forms a third air duct 7. A plurality of third through holes 537 are formed in the second air guide 53, and the plurality of third through holes 537 are disposed toward the inlet of the third air duct 7, so that the cool air flows toward the third air duct 7 along the third through holes 537. It will be appreciated that in this embodiment, the second air duct outlet 5112 is sized large enough to allow cool air flowing through the second air duct 511 to enter the second through-hole 535 and the third through-hole 537.

The third through hole 537 may have a plurality of second wind deflectors 5333 connected to the fixing frame 531, and the plurality of second wind deflectors 5333 are disposed on one side of the fixing frame 531 close to the support wall 1. A plurality of third through holes 537 are formed in the fixing frame 531 at intervals by the second air deflectors 5333, the third through holes 537 are communicated with the third air duct 7, and the cold air generated by the evaporator reaches the upper part of the ice making assembly 3 along the air inducing member 51, and is guided by the second air deflectors 5333 to enter the third air duct 7 through the third through holes 537.

It can be understood that the distance between the adjacent air deflectors can determine the size of the air distribution channel, and the size of the air distribution channel and the number of the air distribution channels together determine the amount of cold air entering each air duct (the first air duct 6 and the second air duct 511), and the ice making efficiency is higher if the amount of cold air is larger. In some embodiments, the first air deflectors 5331 may be disposed at equal intervals, and the second air deflectors 5333 may be disposed at equal intervals. The number of the first air deflectors 5331 may be equal to the number of the second air deflectors 5333, and the number of the first air dividing channels is equal to that of the second air dividing channels, so that the amount of the cool air entering the first air duct 6 is substantially equal to that of the cool air entering the third air duct 7.

It should be noted that the air volumes of the cold air entering the first air duct 6 and the third air duct 7 may not be equal. When making ice, the ice making amount of the two sides of the ice making assembly 3 close to the supporting wall 1 and far from the supporting wall 1 may be different, for example, the ice making amount of the side of the ice making assembly 3 close to the supporting wall 1 is 70% of the total ice making amount, and the ice making amount of the side of the ice making assembly 3 far from the supporting wall 1 is 30% of the total ice making amount. If the air volumes of the cold air in the first air duct 6 and the third air duct 7 are still substantially the same at this time, the ice making efficiency on both sides of the ice making assembly 3 is different, that is, the ice cubes on both sides cannot be made at the same time, which adversely affects the overall ice making efficiency. Therefore, the air volumes of the cold air in the first air duct 6 and the third air duct 7 are required to be different, thereby improving the overall ice making efficiency. Specifically, the distance between the first wind deflectors 5331 (or the second wind deflectors 5333) can be changed, or the number of the first wind deflectors 5331 (or the second wind deflectors 5333) can be changed. It is understood that the amount of cold air in the first air duct 6 and the third air duct 7 should be adjusted and set according to the specific situation and experimental situation of the ice making assembly 3.

Referring to fig. 9, fig. 9 is a schematic structural view of a third air guide in the ice making device shown in fig. 4.

The air duct assembly further comprises a third air guide 57. The ice making assembly 3 is connected to the support wall 1, the third air guide 57 has a first opening 571 and a second opening 572, the first opening 571 is communicated with the second air duct outlet 5112, and the second opening 572 is communicated with the first air duct inlet 61, so that the cold air flows toward the first air duct 6 along the first opening 571 and the second opening 572.

The third wind guide 57 is connected to the support wall 1 and disposed between the wind guide 51 and the ice-making assembly 3. The third air guiding portion 551 is disposed to prevent cold air from directly falling on the ice making assembly 3 to affect the quality of ice cubes. The third air guide 57 can guide cold air to one side of the ice making assembly 3 close to the support wall 1, and the quality of ice blocks is not affected while heat exchange is carried out.

In some embodiments, the size of the first opening 571 is greater than the size of the second opening 572. It is understood that the larger size of the first opening 571 can receive more cool air, so that the cool air can be more easily collected to the first air duct inlet 61. In addition, the first opening 571 close to the first air duct inlet 61 has a smaller size and a higher pressure, so that the transmission speed of the cold air is increased and the wind force is stronger.

In the foregoing embodiments, the descriptions of the respective embodiments have respective emphasis, and for parts that are not described in detail in a certain embodiment, reference may be made to related descriptions of other embodiments.

The ice making device and the refrigerator provided by the embodiment of the present application are described in detail above, and the principle and the embodiment of the present application are explained herein by applying a specific example, and the description of the above embodiment is only used to help understanding the method and the core idea of the present application; meanwhile, for those skilled in the art, according to the idea of the present application, there may be variations in the specific embodiments and the application scope, and in summary, the content of the present specification should not be construed as a limitation to the present application.

Claims

1. An ice making apparatus, comprising:

a support wall;

2. An ice making apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein:

the first air guide piece comprises a fixing part, the fixing part is connected with the supporting wall, and the fixing part is arranged along the air outlet direction of the first air duct outlet;

the fixing portion is connected with the air guide portion and forms the preset included angle with the air guide portion, so that the cold air flows towards the first direction along the air guide portion.

3. An ice making apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein:

the fixing part and the air guide part are connected to form an arc surface together, and the arc surface faces to the first air duct outlet and the first direction.

4. An ice making apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein:

the ice making assembly comprises an ice making tray and an ice making tray support, the ice making tray is mounted on the ice making tray support, the ice making tray support is connected with the supporting wall, and the first air duct is formed between the ice making tray and the ice making tray support.

5. An ice making apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising:

an air scoop forming a second air duct having a second air duct inlet and a second air duct outlet, the second air duct configured to cause cool air to flow along the second air duct inlet toward the second air duct outlet;

the second air duct outlet is arranged opposite to the first air duct inlet, so that the cold air flowing out of the second air duct outlet flows into the first air duct.

6. The ice making apparatus of claim 5, further comprising:

the second air guide piece is arranged between the second air channel outlet and the first air channel inlet, a plurality of second through holes are formed in the second air guide piece, and the second through holes face the first air channel inlet, so that the cold air flows towards the first air channel along the second through holes.

7. An ice making apparatus as claimed in claim 6, wherein:

a third air duct is formed on one side of the ice making assembly, which is far away from the supporting wall;

a plurality of third through holes are formed in the second air guide, and the third through holes are arranged towards the inlet of the third air duct, so that the cold air flows towards the third air duct along the third through holes.

8. The ice making apparatus of claim 5, further comprising:

the ice making assembly is connected with the supporting wall, the third air guide is provided with a first opening and a second opening, the first opening is communicated with the second air duct outlet, and the second opening is communicated with the first air duct inlet, so that the cold air flows towards the first air duct along the first opening and the second opening.

9. An ice making apparatus as claimed in claim 8, wherein:

the size of the first opening is larger than the size of the second opening.

10. A refrigerator, characterized by comprising:

an ice storage device;

the ice making apparatus of any one of claims 1 to 9, disposed adjacent to the ice storage apparatus, the cold air flowing out in the second direction flows into the ice storage apparatus.