CN108344219B

CN108344219B - Ice making assembly and refrigerator with same

Info

Publication number: CN108344219B
Application number: CN201810157610.0A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 李秋双; 马廷; 刘明坤; 曹子林; 谢满; 刘衍富; 左常恒
Original assignee: Haier Smart Home Co Ltd
Current assignee: Haier Smart Home Co Ltd
Priority date: 2018-02-24
Filing date: 2018-02-24
Publication date: 2022-07-15
Anticipated expiration: 2038-02-24
Also published as: CN108344219A

Abstract

The invention discloses an ice making assembly which is provided with an ice making device, wherein the ice making device comprises an ice making box, a driving device and a supporting frame, the driving device is used for driving the ice making box to rotate around a pivot, the supporting frame is used for supporting the ice making box and the driving device, the ice making box comprises a plurality of first ice grids and a plurality of second ice grids, the plurality of first ice grids and the plurality of second ice grids are respectively arranged on two opposite surfaces of the ice making box, the size of the first ice grids is different from that of the second ice grids, at least one bump is arranged on a peripheral shell of the ice making box, at least one blocking block is arranged on an inner shell of the supporting frame, and when the ice making box is positioned in the horizontal direction, the at least one bump is abutted against the at least one blocking block. The invention also discloses a refrigerator with the ice making assembly. The ice making assembly can simply and conveniently realize the preparation and acquisition of ice blocks with different sizes, and has simple and compact structure and lower cost.

Description

Ice making assembly and refrigerator with same

Technical Field

The invention relates to the field of household appliances, in particular to an ice making assembly and a refrigerator with the same.

Background

The refrigerator is a household appliance for achieving cold storage and/or freezing of food through refrigeration cycle, and with the increasing diversified demands of users, rapid ice making becomes an important function of the refrigerator except food preservation.

The conventional ice making assembly in the refrigerator generally includes an ice making box, and a single surface of the ice making box is provided with ice grids of the same size, and water is injected into the ice making box through a water injection port to freeze into ice cubes, and then the ice cubes are separated from the ice making box by heating and the like and discharged into an ice storage device. In this way, the size and/or shape of the ice cubes obtained is relatively unitary. In actual use, different users have different requirements on ice cubes, and if the users need to use ice cubes with smaller sizes, the prepared ice cubes with larger sizes need to be reprocessed, so that the use experience of the users is influenced.

In the prior art, if a plurality of requirements of users on ice cubes are to be met, and the ice cubes with different sizes and/or shapes are obtained, a plurality of ice making boxes are often arranged, are arranged in parallel along a horizontal direction or are stacked along a vertical direction, and are provided with corresponding matching devices, such as water injection ports, motors and the like, so that the ice making assembly is complex in structure and large in occupied space. In addition, after the ice making is finished, the rotation and the ice shedding of the ice making boxes are realized by the driving devices, so that the operation is complicated, and the cost is high.

In view of the above, there is a need for an improved ice-making assembly to solve the above-mentioned problems.

Disclosure of Invention

One of the objectives of the present invention is to provide an ice making assembly, which can easily prepare and obtain ice cubes with different sizes, and has a simple and compact structure and a low cost.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a refrigerator having an ice making assembly.

In order to achieve one of the above objects, an embodiment of the present invention provides an ice making assembly, which includes an ice making device, the ice making device includes an ice making housing, a driving device for driving the ice making housing to rotate around a pivot, and a supporting frame for supporting the ice making housing and the driving device, the ice making housing includes a plurality of first ice trays and a plurality of second ice trays, the plurality of first ice trays and the plurality of second ice trays are respectively disposed on two opposite sides of the ice making housing, a size of the first ice tray is different from a size of the second ice tray, at least one protrusion is disposed on a peripheral housing of the ice making housing, at least one blocking block is disposed on an inner housing of the supporting frame, and when the ice making housing is located in a horizontal direction, the at least one protrusion abuts against the at least one blocking block.

As a further improvement of an embodiment of the present invention, the driving device includes a driving shaft, and the driving shaft drives the ice making housing to rotate clockwise or counterclockwise around a pivot, and the rotation angle is greater than 180 degrees.

As a further improvement of an embodiment of the present invention, the driving device includes a driving shaft, and the driving shaft drives the ice making housing to rotate around the pivot shaft for a plurality of times in a clockwise and counterclockwise alternating manner, and the rotation angle is between 5 degrees and 20 degrees.

As a further improvement of an embodiment of the invention, the ice making box is integrally formed.

As a further improvement of an embodiment of the invention, the ice making housing is made of an elastic material.

As a further improvement of an embodiment of the present invention, each of the first ice tray and the second ice tray is provided as a polygonal body.

As a further improvement of an embodiment of the present invention, the ice making device further includes a temperature sensor disposed between the first ice tray and the second ice tray for detecting a temperature of the first ice tray or the second ice tray.

As a further improvement of the embodiment of the present invention, the ice making assembly further includes an ice storage device, the ice storage device includes a first ice storage area and a second ice storage area which are arranged at intervals, the first ice storage area is used for storing ice cubes made by the first ice grid, and the second ice storage area is used for storing ice cubes made by the second ice grid.

As a further improvement of an embodiment of the present invention, the ice making device further includes an ice measuring lever for detecting an ice storage amount of the first ice storage area or the second ice storage area.

In order to achieve the other purpose, the invention provides a refrigerator which comprises a refrigerator body and a door body matched with the refrigerator body, wherein the refrigerator body is provided with the ice making assembly.

The invention has the following beneficial effects: according to the ice making assembly, the ice blocks with different sizes can be simply and conveniently prepared and obtained through the embodiment, the ice making assembly is simple and compact in structure and low in cost, and the space in the refrigerator can be saved.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the application and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this application, illustrate embodiment(s) of the application and together with the description serve to explain the application and not to limit the application. Wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 2 is a schematic perspective view of the ice-making device of fig. 1;

fig. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the ice making device of fig. 2;

FIG. 4 is a schematic perspective view of the support frame of FIG. 2;

Fig. 5 is a schematic perspective view of the ice making housing of fig. 2;

fig. 6 is a top view of the ice making housing of fig. 5;

fig. 7 is a bottom view of the ice making housing of fig. 5;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of one embodiment of a method of controlling ice making in the refrigerator of FIG. 1;

fig. 9 is a flowchart of another embodiment of an ice making control method of the refrigerator of fig. 1.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present application more clear, the technical solutions of the present application will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the detailed description of the present application and the accompanying drawings. It should be apparent that the described embodiments are only some embodiments of the present application, and not all embodiments. All other embodiments obtained by a person of ordinary skill in the art without any inventive work based on the embodiments in the present application are within the scope of protection of the present application.

Reference will now be made in detail to embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the same or similar elements or elements having the same or similar function throughout. The embodiments described below with reference to the accompanying drawings are illustrative only for the purpose of explaining the present invention, and are not to be construed as limiting the present invention.

In the description of the present invention, it is to be understood that the terms "upper", "lower", "front", "rear", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inner", "outer", etc. indicate orientations or positional relationships based on those shown in the drawings, and are only for convenience of description and simplicity of description, but do not indicate or imply that the devices or elements referred to must have specific orientations, be constructed and operated in specific orientations, and thus, are not to be construed as limiting the present invention. Furthermore, the terms "first," "second," and the like are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance.

In the description of the present invention, unless otherwise specified and limited, it should be noted that the terms "mounted," "connected," and "connected" are to be interpreted broadly, and may be, for example, a mechanical connection or an electrical connection, a communication between two elements, a direct connection, or an indirect connection through an intermediate medium, and those skilled in the art will understand the specific meaning of the terms as they are used in the specific case.

Referring to fig. 1 to 7, a specific embodiment of the ice making assembly 30 of the present invention is described, in the embodiment, the ice making assembly 30 is provided with an ice making device 40, the ice making device 40 includes an ice making housing 41, a driving device 42 for driving the ice making housing 41 to rotate around a pivot, and a supporting frame 43 for supporting the ice making housing 41 and the driving device 42, the supporting frame 43 is provided with a water filling port 433, and water can be filled from the water filling port 433 into a single side of the ice making housing 41 to make ice cubes.

The ice making box 41 includes a plurality of first ice trays 411 and a plurality of second ice trays 412, the plurality of first ice trays 411 and the plurality of second ice trays 412 are respectively disposed on two opposite surfaces of the ice making box 41, a size of the first ice tray 411 is different from a size of the second ice tray 412, at least one protrusion 414 is disposed on the peripheral housing 413 of the ice making box 41, at least one blocking block 432 is disposed on the inner housing 431 of the supporting frame 43, and when the ice making box 41 is located in a horizontal direction, the at least one protrusion 414 abuts against the at least one blocking block 432. In this embodiment, a protrusion 414 is disposed on the outer casing 413 of the ice making housing 41, two blocking blocks 432 are disposed on the inner casing 431 of the supporting frame 43, when the ice making housing 41 is located in the horizontal direction, one protrusion 414 abuts one of the blocking blocks 432, specifically, when the opening direction of the first ice tray 411 is upward, the protrusion 414 abuts one of the blocking blocks 432, after the ice making housing 41 rotates 180 degrees clockwise, the opening direction of the second ice tray 412 is upward, and the protrusion 414 abuts the other blocking block 432. Of course, two protrusions 414 may be disposed on the outer casing 413 of the ice making housing 41, one blocking block 432 is disposed on the inner casing 431 of the supporting frame 43, or two protrusions 414 may be disposed on the outer casing 413 of the ice making housing 41, and two blocking blocks 432 are disposed on the inner casing 431 of the supporting frame 43, so that only when the ice making housing 41 is located in the horizontal direction, one protrusion 414 abuts against one blocking block 432.

The ice making assembly 30 further includes an ice storage device 50, the ice storage device 50 includes a first ice storage area 51 and a second ice storage area 52 which are arranged at intervals, the first ice storage area 51 is used for storing ice cubes made in the first ice tray 411, and the second ice storage area 52 is used for storing ice cubes made in the second ice tray 412.

Further, the driving device 42 includes a driving shaft 421, and the driving shaft 421 is connected to the recess 415 formed on the outer housing 413 of the ice making housing 41, so that the driving shaft 421 may drive the ice making housing 41 to rotate clockwise or counterclockwise around the pivot by a rotation angle greater than 180 degrees, and preferably, the angle may be set to be between 185 degrees and 200 degrees. Of course, the driving shaft 421 may also drive the ice making housing 41 to rotate around the pivot for a plurality of times, which are alternately clockwise and counterclockwise, by a rotation angle of 5 degrees to 20 degrees. In this way, when the driving shaft 421 drives the ice making housing 41 to rotate more than 180 degrees, the at least one protrusion 414 disposed on the outer housing 413 of the ice making housing 41 abuts against the at least one blocking block 432 disposed on the inner housing 431 of the supporting frame 43, and then the ice making housing 41 is continuously driven to twist, so that the ice cubes in the ice making housing 41 are loosened, when the opening direction of the first ice tray 411 of the ice making housing 41 faces the first ice storage area 51 of the ice storage device 50, the ice cubes in the first ice tray 411 will fall into the first ice storage area 51, and similarly, when the opening direction of the second ice tray 412 of the ice making housing 41 faces the second ice storage area 52 of the ice storage device 50, the ice cubes in the second ice tray 412 will fall into the second ice storage area 52. When the driving shaft 421 drives the ice making housing 41 to rotate clockwise and counterclockwise for several times by an angle between 5 degrees and 20 degrees, the at least one protrusion 414 disposed on the outer housing 413 of the ice making housing 41 may repeatedly abut against the at least one blocking block 432 disposed on the inner housing 431 of the supporting frame 43, so as to repeatedly vibrate the ice making housing 41, thereby ensuring that the ice cubes in the ice making housing 41 may be completely loosened without affecting the subsequent water injection into the ice tray.

Preferably, the ice making housing 41 is integrally formed. This can reduce the complexity of the manufacturing process of the ice making housing 41.

Further, the ice making housing 41 is made of an elastic material. In this way, when the ice making housing 41 is twisted, the ice cubes in the ice making housing 41 may be loosened so that the ice cubes are separated from the ice tray.

Preferably, the first ice tray 411 and the second ice tray 412 are each configured as a polygon. In this way, the ice cubes in the first ice tray 411 and the second ice tray 412 are more easily released. Of course, the number of the edges of the first ice tray 411 and the second ice tray 412 may be set to any number, or the first ice tray 411 and the second ice tray 412 may be set to other shapes.

The ice-making device 40 further includes a temperature sensor 44, and the temperature sensor 44 is disposed between the first ice tray 411 and the second ice tray 412, and detects a temperature of the first ice tray 411 or the second ice tray 412. The temperature sensor 44 detects the temperature T1 of the first ice tray 411 or the temperature T2 of the second ice tray 412, and when the temperature T1 of the first ice tray 411 or the temperature T2 of the second ice tray 412 is lower than the preset temperature T0, the ice cubes in the first ice tray 411 or the second ice tray 412 are prepared and formed.

The ice making device 40 further comprises an ice measuring rod 45 for detecting the ice storage amount of the first ice storage area 51 or the second ice storage area 52 of the ice storage device 50, and if an ice storage space is detected in the first ice storage area 51 or the second ice storage area 52, water is further injected into the first ice tray 411 or the second ice tray 412 to prepare ice cubes; if it is detected that the first ice storage area 51 or the second ice storage area 52 does not have an ice storage space, stopping filling water into the first ice tray 411 or the second ice tray 412, and further detecting the ice storage capacity of the second ice storage area 52 or the first ice storage area 51; if it is detected that there is no ice storage space in the first ice storage area 51 and the second ice storage area 52, the water injection into the ice making box 41 is stopped, and the operation of the driving device 42 is stopped.

The invention provides a refrigerator, which comprises a refrigerator body 10 and a door body 20 matched with the refrigerator body 10, wherein the refrigerator body 10 defines storage compartments, the number and the structural form of the storage compartments are not limited to those shown in figure 1, and the storage compartments can be configured according to different requirements. In which the case 10 is provided with the ice-making assembly 30 as described above, and in particular, the freezing compartment is provided with the ice-making assembly 30 as described above. The specific structure of the ice making assembly 30 has been explained in detail in the above embodiments, and will not be described herein.

Referring to fig. 8, the present invention also discloses an ice making control method of a refrigerator, including the steps of:

s1-1, starting a water pump (not shown) to inject water into the first ice tray 411 of the ice making box 41, and stopping after running for a first set time t 1;

s1-2, acquiring the temperature T1 of the first ice tray 411, and judging whether T1 is smaller than a preset temperature T0 or not;

s1-3, when the T1 is smaller than the T0, controlling the ice making box 41 to rotate by an angle alpha 1 along the first direction, wherein the angle alpha 1 is greater than 180 degrees, and at this time, the ice cubes in the first ice grid 411 fall into the first ice storage area 51 of the ice storage device 50;

s1-4, controlling the ice making box 41 to rotate to the horizontal position in a second direction by α 2, wherein the first direction and the second direction are set to be opposite;

S1-5, controlling the ice storage device 50 to rotate 180 degrees in the horizontal direction, so that the second ice storage area 52 of the ice storage device 50 is located below the ice making box 41;

s2-1, starting a water pump to inject water into the second ice tray 412 of the ice making box 41, and stopping after running for a second set time t 2;

s2-2, acquiring the temperature T2 of the second ice tray 412, and judging whether T2 is smaller than a preset temperature T0 or not;

s2-3, when the T2 is smaller than the T0, controlling the ice making box 41 to rotate by an angle α 3 in the second direction, where α 3 is greater than 180 degrees, and at this time, the ice cubes in the second ice compartment 412 fall into the second ice storage area 52 of the ice storage device 50;

s2-4, controlling the ice making box 41 to rotate alpha 4 along the first direction to the horizontal position;

s2-5, controlling the ice storage device 50 to rotate 180 degrees in the horizontal direction so that the first ice storage area 51 of the ice storage device 50 is located below the ice making box 41.

Further, after the step S1-3, the method further includes controlling the ice making box 41 to rotate by any one of the angles α 1 to 1 degree in the second direction and the first direction, and repeating this step for a plurality of times to drop all the ice cubes in the first ice tray 411 into the first ice storage area 51 of the ice storage device 50; after the step S2-3, the method further includes controlling the ice making box 41 to rotate by any one of the angles α 3 in the first direction and the second direction, and repeating this step several times to drop all the ice cubes in the second ice tray 412 into the second ice storage area 52 of the ice storage device 50.

The ice making device 40 further includes an ice measuring bar 45, and before step S1-1, the ice making device further includes acquiring an ice storage amount in the first ice storage area 51, determining whether an ice storage space exists in the first ice storage area 51, if not, stopping filling water into the first ice tray 411, and entering step S1-5; before step S2-1, the method further includes obtaining the ice storage amount in the second ice storage area 52, determining whether there is an ice storage space in the second ice storage area 52, if not, stopping filling water into the second ice tray 412, and entering step S2-5.

Further, if neither the first ice storage area 51 nor the second ice storage area 52 has an ice storage space, the operation of the driving device 42 is stopped.

Preferably, the angles α 1 and α 3 are set to between 185 and 200 degrees.

Referring to fig. 9, the present invention also discloses another ice making control method of a refrigerator, including the steps of:

s1' -1, starting a water pump to inject water into the first ice tray 411 of the ice making box 41, and stopping after running for a first set time t 1;

s1' -2, acquiring the temperature T1 of the first ice tray 411, and judging whether T1 is smaller than a preset temperature T0 or not;

s1' -3, when T1 is less than T0, controlling the rotation angle α 5 of the ice making housing 41 in the second direction;

s1' -4, controlling the ice making box 41 to rotate α 6 in a first direction to a horizontal position, wherein the first direction and the second direction are set to be opposite, and the ice cubes in the first ice tray 411 fall into the first ice storage area 51 of the ice storage device 50;

S1' -5, controlling the ice storage device 50 to rotate 180 degrees in a horizontal direction such that the second ice storage area 52 of the ice storage device 50 is located below the ice making box 41;

s2' -1, starting a water pump to inject water into the second ice tray 412 of the ice making box 41, and stopping after running for a second set time t 2;

s2' -2, acquiring the temperature T2 of the second ice tray 412, and judging whether T2 is smaller than a preset temperature T0 or not;

s2' -3, when T2 is less than T0, controlling the rotation angle α 7 of the ice making housing 41 in the first direction;

s2' -4, controlling the ice making box 41 to rotate α 8 along the second direction to a horizontal position, at which time the ice cubes in the second ice tray 412 fall into the second ice storage area 52 of the ice storage device 50;

s2' -5, the ice storage device 50 is controlled to rotate 180 degrees in a horizontal direction such that the first ice storage region 51 of the ice storage device 50 is located below the ice making box 41.

Further, after step S1' -3, the method further includes controlling the ice making box 41 to rotate by any one of the angles α 6 from 1 degree in the first direction and the second direction, and repeating this step for a plurality of times to make all the ice cubes in the first ice tray 411 separate from the first ice tray 411; after step S2' -3, the method further includes controlling the ice making box 41 to rotate by any angle within the range of 1 degree to α 8 in the second direction and the first direction, and this step is repeated several times to achieve that all the ice cubes in the second ice tray 412 are separated from the second ice tray 412.

The ice making device 40 further includes an ice measuring bar 45, and is characterized in that before step S1 '-1, the ice making device further includes the steps of acquiring the amount of ice stored in the first ice storage area 51, determining whether there is an ice storage space in the first ice storage area 51, if not, stopping filling water into the first ice tray 411, and proceeding to step S1' -5; before the step S2 '-1, the method further includes obtaining the ice storage amount in the second ice storage area 52, determining whether there is an ice storage space in the second ice storage area 52, if not, stopping filling water into the second ice tray 412, and proceeding to step S2' -5.

Preferably, the angles α 5 and α 7 are set to be between 5 and 20 degrees, the angle α 6 is 180 degrees different from the angle α 5, and the angle α 8 is 180 degrees different from the angle α 7.

According to the ice making assembly, through the implementation mode, the preparation and acquisition of ice blocks with different sizes can be simply and conveniently realized, the ice making assembly is simple and compact in structure and low in cost, and the space in the refrigerator can be saved.

It should be understood that although the specification describes embodiments, not every embodiment includes only a single embodiment, and such description is for clarity purposes only, and it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the specification as a whole may be appropriately combined to form other embodiments as will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

The above-listed detailed description is merely a detailed description of possible embodiments of the present invention and is not intended to limit the scope of the invention, which is intended to include within the scope of the invention all equivalent embodiments or modifications that do not depart from the technical spirit of the present invention.

Claims

1. An ice making assembly is provided with an ice making device, the ice making device comprises an ice making box, a driving device and a supporting frame, the driving device is used for driving the ice making box to rotate around a pivot, the supporting frame is used for supporting the ice making box and the driving device, the ice making assembly is characterized in that the ice making box comprises a plurality of first ice grids and a plurality of second ice grids, the plurality of first ice grids and the plurality of second ice grids are respectively arranged on two opposite surfaces of the ice making box, the size of the first ice grids is different from that of the second ice grids, at least one lug is arranged on a peripheral shell of the ice making box, at least one blocking block is arranged on an inner shell of the supporting frame, when the ice making box is positioned in the horizontal direction, the at least one lug abuts against the at least one blocking block, the ice making assembly further comprises an ice storage device, the ice storage device comprises a first ice storage area and a second ice storage area which are arranged at intervals, the first ice storage area is used for storing ice cubes made by the first ice grid, the second ice storage area is used for storing ice cubes made by the second ice grid, the ice storage device rotates 180 degrees in the horizontal direction, so that the first ice storage area or the second ice storage area is positioned below the ice making box, and when the opening direction of the first ice grid of the ice making box faces the first ice storage area, the ice cubes in the first ice grid fall into the first ice storage area; when the opening direction of the second ice tray of the ice making box faces the second ice storage area, ice blocks in the second ice tray fall into the second ice storage area, and the ice making device further comprises an ice measuring rod used for detecting the ice storage amount of the first ice storage area or the second ice storage area.

2. An icemaker assembly according to claim 1 wherein the drive means comprises a drive shaft that rotates the ice-making housing clockwise or counterclockwise about a pivot axis through an angle greater than 180 degrees.

3. An icemaker assembly according to claim 1 wherein said drive means includes a drive shaft for rotating said ice housing about a pivot axis a plurality of times alternating clockwise and counterclockwise through an angle of between 5 and 20 degrees.

4. An ice making assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein the ice making housing is integrally formed.

5. An ice making assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein the ice making housing is made of a resilient material.

6. An icemaker assembly according to claim 1 wherein said first ice grid and said second ice grid are each configured as a polygon.

7. An icemaker assembly according to claim 1 further comprising a temperature sensor disposed between said first ice grid and said second ice grid for detecting the temperature of said first ice grid or said second ice grid.

8. A refrigerator comprising a cabinet and a door cooperating with the cabinet, wherein the cabinet is provided with an ice-making assembly as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 7.