CN111059814A

CN111059814A - Rotary centrifugal type ice making mechanism and refrigerator

Info

Publication number: CN111059814A
Application number: CN201811204356.1A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 张方友; 张延庆; 阳军; 朱小兵
Original assignee: Qingdao Haier Co Ltd
Current assignee: Qingdao Haier Co Ltd
Priority date: 2018-10-16
Filing date: 2018-10-16
Publication date: 2020-04-24
Anticipated expiration: 2038-10-16
Also published as: CN111059814B

Abstract

The invention provides a rotary centrifugal ice making mechanism and a refrigerator, comprising: the rotating part is columnar and has a working state of rotating around the central axis, the rotating part comprises a columnar inner cavity wall and a columnar outer cavity wall surrounding the inner cavity wall, the inner cavity wall and the outer cavity wall are enclosed to form a sealed cavity, an ice making chamber is defined in the inner cavity wall, an ice groove is arranged in the ice making chamber, the sealed cavity is communicated with the ice groove, the outer cavity wall comprises a first enveloping wall perpendicular to the central axis, and a water injection hole is formed at the intersection of the first enveloping wall and the central axis; the water injection mechanism is used for injecting ice making water into the sealed cavity and guiding the ice making water to the ice groove, and comprises a connecting pipe, one end of the connecting pipe penetrates through the water injection hole and extends into the sealed cavity, and the other end of the connecting pipe is communicated with an external water inlet pipeline; and a bracket configured to maintain the connection pipe in a stationary state when the rotation part rotates. The structure can ensure that the occupied space of the ice making mechanism is smaller, and the sealing performance of the ice making mechanism is stronger.

Description

Rotary centrifugal type ice making mechanism and refrigerator

Technical Field

The invention relates to refrigeration equipment, in particular to a rotary centrifugal ice making mechanism and a refrigerator.

Background

Most of the existing ice making mechanisms in the market are designed to make ice in a horizontal ice box, when making ice, a water valve controls water to be injected into the ice box according to a set program, and then ice turning action is carried out according to judgment conditions and ice blocks are turned over and fall into an ice storage box. Generally, when the ice box is a horizontal ice box, the ice making amount of the refrigerator is small due to the limitation of the ice making speed, and the requirement of a user for a large amount of ice cannot be met. Limited by the inner space of the refrigerator, the size of the ice making box cannot be increased at will to improve the ice making quantity.

In the prior art, a rotary ice making mechanism is provided, and the phenomenon of ice making water leakage often occurs in the process of injecting water into the rotary ice making mechanism.

Disclosure of Invention

An object of the present invention is to provide a rotary centrifugal type ice making mechanism and a refrigerator capable of effectively preventing water leakage.

In particular, the present invention provides a rotary centrifugal ice making mechanism comprising:

the rotating part is columnar and has a working state of rotating around the central axis, the rotating part comprises a columnar inner cavity wall and a columnar outer cavity wall surrounding the inner cavity wall, the inner cavity wall and the outer cavity wall are enclosed to form a sealed cavity, an ice making chamber is defined in the inner cavity wall, an ice groove is arranged in the ice making chamber, the sealed cavity is communicated with the ice groove, the outer cavity wall comprises a first enveloping wall perpendicular to the central axis, and a water injection hole is formed at the intersection of the first enveloping wall and the central axis;

the water injection mechanism is used for injecting ice making water into the sealed cavity and guiding the ice making water to the ice groove, and comprises a connecting pipe, one end of the connecting pipe penetrates through the water injection hole and extends into the sealed cavity, and the other end of the connecting pipe is communicated with an external water inlet pipeline;

and a bracket for positioning the connection pipe, configured to maintain the connection pipe in a stationary state when the rotation part rotates.

Furthermore, an extension pipe is connected outside the water injection hole, the length direction of the extension pipe is parallel to the central axis, and the connecting pipe penetrates through the extension pipe.

Further, the edge of the end of the connecting pipe extending into the sealing chamber is formed with a first sealing flange abutting against an inner wall surface of the first envelope wall facing the sealing chamber.

Further, the one end of keeping away from the water injection hole of extension pipe is formed with the second sealing flange, and the outer wall of connecting pipe is provided with and is the annular first butt ring, the surface that deviates from the water injection hole of first butt ring butt second sealing flange.

Further, the outward flange of first butt ring is connected with the second butt ring, and the second butt ring is by the outward flange of first butt ring extend inwards behind the outward flange of second seal flange, and the surface towards the water injection hole of second seal flange butt ring.

Further, the surface of the second sealing flange, which is far away from the water injection hole, is provided with an annular bulge extending around the central axis, and the first butting ring is provided with an annular hole matched with the annular bulge; and/or

The surface of the second sealing flange facing the water injection hole is provided with an annular protrusion extending around the central axis, and the second butting ring is formed with an annular hole matched with the annular protrusion.

Further, the connecting pipe includes a positioning portion, the positioning portion is a rectangular pipe, and the bracket is formed with a rectangular hole for positioning the positioning portion.

Further, the connecting pipe is made of TPE materials.

Further, the outer cavity wall further comprises a second enveloping wall which is opposite to the first enveloping wall and perpendicular to the central axis, and the second enveloping wall is connected with a driving device for driving the rotating part to rotate.

The second aspect of the present invention also provides a refrigerator,

an ice making mechanism comprising any of the above.

The rotary centrifugal ice making mechanism comprises a rotary part, an ice making mechanism and a support, wherein the rotary part rotates relative to a connecting pipe of a water injection mechanism, the first enveloping wall of the rotary part is perpendicular to the central axis, and the water injection mechanism is communicated with a water injection hole of the first enveloping wall, which is intersected with the central axis, so that the connecting pipe can be relatively static under the positioning action of the support when the rotary part rotates, the water outlet of the connecting pipe is more stable, and the sealing effect of the ice making mechanism is improved.

The above and other objects, advantages and features of the present invention will become more apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of specific embodiments thereof, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Drawings

Some specific embodiments of the invention will be described in detail hereinafter, by way of illustration and not limitation, with reference to the accompanying drawings. The same reference numbers in the drawings identify the same or similar elements or components. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a schematic, full section view of an ice-making mechanism according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged partial schematic view of the water injection mechanism of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged partial schematic view of the ice chute of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a schematic partially cut-away side view of the stent section of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a first schematic cross-sectional view of a rotating portion according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a second cross-sectional schematic view of a rotating portion according to one embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 7 is a perspective view of a rotating portion according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present application more apparent, the present application is described in further detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative of the present application and are not intended to limit the present application.

Fig. 1 to 7 show a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

The rotation centrifugal type ice making mechanism in the present embodiment includes an ice carrying tray 100 and a driving device 400. The ice tray 100 extends in an arc shape around a central axis (the ice tray 100 may be regarded as an arc-shaped plate formed by bending a flat plate), one surface of the ice tray 100 is provided with a plurality of ice grooves 110 for loading ice making water, the ice grooves 110 have openings 111, and the openings 111 of the ice grooves 110 face the central axis of the ice tray 100. The ice recesses 110 are arranged in a rectangular array on the development plane of the ice carrying tray 100. That is, when the arc-shaped ice trays 100 are expanded into a flat shape (the ice recesses 110 are expanded together with the ice trays 100 during the expansion), the ice recesses 110 are arranged in a rectangular array on the ice trays 100.

The driving device 400 is used for driving the ice carrying tray 100 to rotate around the central axis, and is configured to drive the ice carrying tray 100 to rotate so that the ice making water in each ice chute 110 does not separate from the ice chute 110 under the centrifugal action. That is, the driving device 400 can drive the ice tray 100 to rotate around the central axis, and the linear velocity of the ice tray 100 when rotating around the central axis is large enough to make the centrifugal action of the ice making water in the ice tray 110 larger than the gravity action thereof, so that the ice making water in the ice tray 110 does not flow out of the ice tray 110 even if the opening 111 of the ice tray 110 faces downward during the rotation with the ice tray 100.

The arc-shaped extension of the ice-bearing tray 100 can reduce the occupied space, and the surface area of the ice-bearing tray 100 is not changed, so that the number of the ice grooves 110 arranged thereon is not changed, and the ice-making amount is not changed, thereby increasing the space utilization rate of the ice-bearing tray 100 and further reducing the occupied space of the whole ice-making mechanism. The ice making mechanism of the present invention can make more ice in the same size space.

It should be noted that the ice tray 110 may be a separate cavity positioned on the ice tray 100, or may be integrally formed with the ice tray 100. The ice chute 110 and the ice tray 100 may be formed by integrally press-molding separate plates or may be formed by integrally injection-molding. The ice groove 110 only needs to have the opening 111 located at one side of the ice-bearing tray 100, that is, the groove body of the ice groove 110 can pass through the ice-bearing tray 100, so that the opening 111 of the ice groove 110 is located at one side of the ice-bearing tray 100, and the groove bottom is located at the other side of the ice-bearing tray 100, and when the above structure is adopted, a part of the side wall 113 of the ice groove 110 extends into the water inlet cavity 310.

In one embodiment, in order to make the ice making water flow back to the ice making grooves 110 by adjusting the water inflow when the ice making water in each ice groove 110 flows out, the opening 111 of the ice groove 110 may be flush with the surface of the ice carrying tray 100 away from the water inlet chamber 310, so that the ice making water in the ice groove 110 may be carried by the ice carrying tray 100 after flowing out of the ice groove 110, and the ice making water on the ice carrying tray 100 may return to the ice groove 110 by controlling the water injection mechanism 500, so that the waste of the ice making water may be reduced, and the ice making water may be prevented from being condensed at other parts of the ice carrying tray 100 to block or make the ice carrying tray 100 be stuck.

In one embodiment, the ice-bearing tray 100 defines a cylindrical chamber, i.e., the ice-bearing tray 100 extends 360 ° around the central axis, such that the space utilization of the ice-bearing tray 100 is maximized. Specifically, the cylindrical chamber defined by the ice-carrying tray 100 may be a cylindrical chamber, and may also be a cylindrical chamber whose cross section perpendicular to the central axis is rectangular or elliptical. Both ends of the columnar chamber of the ice tray 100 along the central axis may be closed or not closed, and when both ends are closed, the ice tray 100 may be provided with an ice outlet 140, and the ice outlet 140 is used for discharging ice cubes condensed in the ice chute 110. When the two ends of the ice cube are not closed, the ice cube can be led out from the two ends of the columnar chamber.

The ice making mechanism further includes an envelope portion 200, the envelope portion 200 surrounds a surface of the ice carrying tray 100 facing away from the opening 111 and forms an inlet cavity 310 together with the surface of the ice carrying tray 100 facing away from the opening 111. That is, when the opening 111 of the ice bank 110 is located at the first side of the ice tray 100, the envelope 200 surrounds the second side of the ice tray 100, and the first side and the second side are opposite surfaces of the ice tray 100. The water injection mechanism 500 is communicated with the water inlet chamber 310 and is used for injecting ice making water into the water inlet chamber 310, and the water inlet chamber 310 is communicated with the ice tank 110, so that the ice making water flowing into the water injection chamber 320 flows to the ice tank 110.

When water needs to be filled into the ice tray 110, water may be filled into the water inlet chamber 310, and the ice-making water flows toward the ice tray 110 through the water inlet chamber 310. The water injection process enables water to be injected into each ice groove 110 evenly, the water injection efficiency is high, and the phenomenon of ice making water leakage is not easy to occur.

In one embodiment, each ice tray 110 may be connected to a water inlet pipe, so that the ice-making water flows directly from the water inlet pipe to the ice tray 110 without passing through the water inlet chamber 310, and the water may be supplied from a single water inlet pipe.

The inlet chamber 310 may be in communication with any portion of the ice bank 110 so that ice-making water can flow into the ice bank 110. In order to prevent the ice-making water in the ice-making tank 110 from being blocked by the condensation of the ice-making water at the communication port between the water inlet chamber 310 and the ice tank 110, in one embodiment, the ice tank 110 has a bottom wall 112 opposite to the opening 111, and the water inlet chamber 310 is communicated with the bottom wall 112. Since the ice making water at the opening 111 of the ice bank 110 is condensed first and the communication port between the water inlet chamber 310 and the ice bank 110 is condensed last, it is possible to prevent the communication port between the water inlet chamber 310 and the ice bank 110 from being blocked by controlling the condensation time.

In order to prevent the ice making water in the ice recess 110 from splashing due to the change of the rotation speed of the ice carrying tray 100, in one embodiment, the first cover plate 130 and the second cover plate 120 for covering both ends of the chamber are disposed in one-to-one correspondence to both ends of the ice carrying tray 100 along the extending direction of the central axis. The first cover 130 and the second cover 120 close both ends of the cylindrical chamber, and ice cubes in the cylindrical chamber are discharged through the ice outlet 140. The cylindrical chamber is relatively closed, so that ice making water in the cylindrical chamber can not splash around due to special conditions. When the first cover 130 and the second cover 120 are disposed, the first cover 130 may be connected to the driving device 400, and particularly, a portion of the first cover 130 coinciding with the central axis may be connected to the rotation shaft of the driving device 400, so that the rotation process of the ice tray 100 may be more stable. In other embodiments, the driving device 400 may also rotate the ice carrying tray 100 by driving the envelope 200.

When the first cover plate 130 and the second cover plate 120 are disposed at two ends of the cylindrical chamber, in one embodiment, as shown in fig. 5 to 7, the enveloping part 200 surrounds the surface walls of the first cover plate 130 and the second cover plate 120 that are away from the cylindrical chamber, and encloses the water injection cavity 320 with the surface walls of the first cover plate 130 and the second cover plate 120 that are away from the cylindrical chamber (i.e., the space between the enveloping part 200 and the first cover plate 130 and the space between the enveloping part 200 and the second cover plate 120 become the water injection cavity 320), and the water injection cavity 320 is communicated with the water inlet cavity 310. Both the water injection chamber 320 and the water inlet chamber 310 may be completely communicated with the structure shown in fig. 1 or 5, or may be communicated with each other by using a pipe. When the envelope 200 has the above structure, the envelope 200, the first cover 130, the second cover 120, the ice trays 100, and the ice recesses 110 are combined together to form a rotating part as shown in fig. 7. The inlet chamber 310 and the injection chamber 320 are combined together to form a sealed chamber. The ice tray 100, the first cover plate 130, and the second cover plate 120 form an inner cavity wall of the rotation part, and the envelope part 200 is an outer cavity wall of the rotation part. The above-mentioned ice tray 100 defines a cylindrical chamber, which is an ice making chamber.

As shown in fig. 1 or 5, the envelope portion 200 includes a second envelope wall 220 perpendicular to the central axis, the second envelope wall 220 is spaced apart from the first cover plate 130, the driving device 400 is connected to the second envelope wall 220, and a portion of the first cover plate 130 coinciding with the central axis may be connected to a rotation shaft of the driving device 400, so that the rotation process of the ice tray 100 may be more smooth. Further, the envelope part 200 further includes a first envelope wall 210 perpendicular to the central axis, the first envelope wall 210 and the second cover plate 120 are disposed at an interval, a circular water injection hole is formed at an intersection of the first envelope wall 210 and the central axis, and the water injection mechanism 500 is communicated with the water injection hole, since the water injection hole rotates around the center thereof when the first envelope wall 210 rotates, the water injection mechanism 500 injects ice water into the water injection hole so that the water injection mechanism 500 does not rotate with the first envelope wall 210, so that the water injection mechanism 500 can be more easily positioned.

In one embodiment, as shown in fig. 2, an extension pipe 211 is connected outside the water injection hole, and the length direction of the extension pipe 211 is parallel to the central axis. The water injection mechanism 500 includes a connection pipe 510, the connection pipe 510 passing through the extension pipe 211, and having one end passing through the water injection hole and extending into the water injection chamber 320 and the other end communicating with an external water inlet pipe. When the first enveloping wall 210 rotates, the extension pipe 211 rotates together with it, and at this time, the extension pipe 211 rotates relative to the connection pipe 510, and the ice making water in the water filling chamber 320 can be effectively prevented from leaking out of the water filling hole by adapting the pipe diameters of the connection pipe 510 and the extension pipe 211. Further, the edge of the connecting tube 510 at the end protruding into the sealed chamber is formed with a first sealing flange 511 extending outwardly, the first sealing flange 511 abutting against the inner wall surface of the second envelope wall 220 facing the sealed chamber. The first sealing flange 511 may effectively prevent the ice-making water in the water filling chamber 320 from overflowing into a gap between the extension pipe 211 and the connection pipe 510.

A second sealing flange 212 is formed at one end of the extension pipe 211 far away from the water injection hole, an annular first abutting ring 512 is arranged on the outer wall surface of the connection pipe 510, and the first abutting ring 512 abuts against the surface of the second sealing flange 212 far away from the water injection hole. The abutment of the first abutment ring 512 and the second sealing flange 212 may make it difficult for ice-making water leaked between the extension pipe 211 and the connection pipe 510 to continue to leak.

In one embodiment, to further enhance the sealing between the water injection mechanism 500 and the rotating part, the outer diameter of the first abutting ring 512 is greater than or equal to the outer diameter of the second sealing flange 212, the outer edge of the first abutting ring 512 is connected to the second abutting ring 513, the second abutting ring 513 extends inwards from the outer edge of the first abutting ring 512 around the outer edge of the second sealing flange 212, and the second abutting ring 513 abuts against the surface of the second sealing flange 212 facing the water injection hole. Such that when the rotary part rotates, the second sealing flange 212 rotates in the gap between the first and second abutment rings 512, 513. Further, in order to increase the length of the leakage path of the leaked ice making water, the surface of the second sealing flange 212 facing away from the water injection hole is provided with an annular protrusion 213 extending around the central axis, the first abutment ring 512 is formed with an annular hole to be fitted with the annular protrusion 213, the surface of the second sealing flange 212 facing the water injection hole is provided with an annular protrusion 213 extending around the central axis, and the second abutment ring 513 is formed with an annular hole to be fitted with the annular protrusion 213. The annular projection 213 is fitted in the annular hole, and when the rotary part rotates, the annular projection 213 rotates relative to the annular hole.

When the extension pipe 211 rotates relative to the connection pipe 510, a slight sliding friction is generated between the connection pipe 510 and the extension pipe 211, so that the connection pipe 510 receives a torque generated by a friction force, and in order to prevent the connection pipe 510 from rotating due to the torque, in an embodiment, as shown in fig. 4, the connection pipe 510 includes a positioning portion 514, and the positioning portion 514 is a rectangular pipe (i.e., the connection pipe 510 has at least one section of pipe with a rectangular shape, the connection pipe 510 may also have a rectangular shape as a whole, and an internal channel of the positioning portion 514 for guiding the ice making water may have a rectangular shape or a circular shape). The ice making mechanism further includes a bracket 520 for positioning the water filling mechanism 500, the bracket 520 is formed with a rectangular hole 521 for positioning the positioning part 514, the positioning part 514 cannot rotate in the rectangular hole 521 when the positioning part 514 is positioned in the rectangular hole 521, and the bracket 520 is positioned on a relatively fixed platform (if the ice making mechanism is disposed in a refrigerator, the bracket 520 may be positioned on a housing of the refrigerator), so that the bracket 520 may effectively prevent the connecting pipe 510 from rotating.

Since the connection tube 510 has a special structure, in order to facilitate the assembly with the extension tube 211, in one embodiment, the connection tube 510 is made of a flexible material such as rubber, which can be removed by force, for example, the connection tube 510 may be made of TPE. The outer water tube connected to the connection tube 510 may be made of LDPE or LLDPE, and the annular protrusion 213 on the second annular flange may be made of a material capable of reducing sliding friction, such as PA or POM.

In one embodiment, a filter part 114 for filtering ice making water flowing into the ice tank 110 is disposed at a communication position of the water inlet chamber 310 and the ice tank 110, and the filter part 114 is used for filtering small particles or foreign substances capable of generating odor in the ice making water flowing into the ice tank 110. When the inlet chamber 310 communicates with the bottom wall 112 of the ice bank 110, the filter part 114 is disposed at the bottom wall 112 of the ice bank 110, and particularly, the filter part 114 may be an activated carbon layer. The filter unit 114 is disposed in the ice making mechanism to save an external filter, for example, when the ice making mechanism is disposed in a refrigerator, the refrigerator does not need to separately add a filter, so that a space occupied by the filter can be saved.

A second aspect of the present invention also provides a refrigerator including the ice making mechanism in any of the above embodiments.

Thus, it should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that while a number of exemplary embodiments of the invention have been illustrated and described in detail herein, many other variations or modifications consistent with the principles of the invention may be directly determined or derived from the disclosure of the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the scope of the invention should be understood and interpreted to cover all such other variations or modifications.

Claims

1. A rotary centrifugal ice making mechanism comprising:

the rotating part is columnar and has a working state of rotating around a central axis, the rotating part comprises a columnar inner cavity wall and a columnar outer cavity wall surrounding the inner cavity wall, the inner cavity wall and the outer cavity wall surround to form a sealed cavity, an ice making chamber is defined in the inner cavity wall, an ice groove is arranged in the ice making chamber, the sealed cavity is communicated with the ice groove, the outer cavity wall comprises a first enveloping wall perpendicular to the central axis, and a water injection hole is formed at the intersection of the first enveloping wall and the central axis;

the water injection mechanism is used for injecting the ice making water into the sealed cavity and guiding the ice making water to the ice groove, and comprises a connecting pipe, one end of the connecting pipe penetrates through the water injection hole and extends into the sealed cavity, and the other end of the connecting pipe is communicated with an external water inlet pipeline;

a bracket for positioning the connection pipe, configured to maintain the connection pipe in a stationary state when the rotation part rotates.

2. An ice making mechanism as recited in claim 1,

the water injection hole outer joint has the extension pipe, the length direction of extension pipe is on a parallel with the central axis, the connecting pipe passes the extension pipe.

3. An ice making mechanism as recited in claim 2,

the edge of one end of the connecting pipe, which extends into the sealing cavity, is provided with a first sealing flange, and the first sealing flange is abutted against the inner wall surface of the first envelope wall, which faces the sealing cavity.

4. An ice making mechanism according to claim 3,

keep away from of extension pipe the one end of water injection hole is formed with the sealed flange of second, the outer wall of connecting pipe is provided with and is annular first butt ring, first butt ring butt the sealed flange of second deviates from the surface of water injection hole.

5. An ice making mechanism as in claim 4,

the outward flange of first butt ring is connected with the second butt ring, the second butt ring by the outward flange of first butt ring is walked around extend inwards behind the outward flange of second sealing flange, just the butt of second butt ring the orientation of second sealing flange the surface of water injection hole.

6. An ice making mechanism as recited in claim 5,

the surface of the second sealing flange, which is far away from the water injection hole, is provided with an annular bulge extending around the central axis, and the first butting ring is provided with an annular hole matched with the annular bulge; and/or

The surface of the second sealing flange facing the water injection hole is provided with an annular bulge extending around the central axis, and the second butting ring is provided with an annular hole matched with the annular bulge.

7. An ice making mechanism as recited in claim 2,

the connecting pipe comprises a positioning part, the positioning part is a rectangular pipe, and the support is provided with a rectangular hole for positioning the positioning part.

8. An ice making mechanism according to claim 3,

the connecting pipe is made of TPE materials.

9. An ice making mechanism as recited in claim 1,

the outer cavity wall further comprises a second enveloping wall which is opposite to the first enveloping wall and perpendicular to the central axis, and the second enveloping wall is connected with a driving device for driving the rotating part to rotate.

10. A refrigerator is characterized in that a refrigerator body is provided with a refrigerator door,

comprising the ice making mechanism of any of claims 1-9.