CN115200278B

CN115200278B - ice storage box

Info

Publication number: CN115200278B
Application number: CN202110389737.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 张军; 张延庆; 张方友
Original assignee: Qingdao Haier Refrigerator Co Ltd; Haier Smart Home Co Ltd
Current assignee: Qingdao Haier Refrigerator Co Ltd; Haier Smart Home Co Ltd
Priority date: 2021-04-12
Filing date: 2021-04-12
Publication date: 2023-11-14
Anticipated expiration: 2041-04-12
Also published as: CN115200278A

Abstract

An ice bank comprising: the box body is internally provided with a base plate; the base plate is provided with an ice falling part and an ice guide part connected with the ice falling part, the ice guide part comprises a fixed end connected with one side of the ice falling part and a free end far away from one side of the ice falling part, the height of the ice guide part gradually decreases from the fixed end towards the free end, and a sliding guide mechanism is arranged between two sides of the free end of the ice guide part and the side wall of the adjacent box body, so that when the ice falling part moves up and down under the action of external force, the free end of the ice guide part moves in the box body under the guide of the sliding guide mechanism; through setting up the backing plate that has ice portion and ice guide portion in the box body, the ice-cube falls behind ice portion and slides to ice guide portion, realizes that the ice-cube begins to pile up from ice portion all around earlier, begins to pile up from ice portion again to along with ice portion's continuous down move down, the ice-cube fills up whole ice storage box, has improved the utilization ratio in ice storage space.

Description

Ice storage box

Technical Field

The invention relates to the field of refrigeration appliances, in particular to an ice storage box.

Background

In general, a refrigerator is a home appliance capable of storing food at a low temperature in a storage space inside shielded by a door. The refrigerator is configured to cool the inside of the storage space by cool air generated by heat exchange with a refrigerant circulating in a refrigerating cycle, so as to store the stored food in an optimal state.

An ice maker for making ice may be provided inside the refrigerator, and the ice maker is generally provided in a freezing container of the refrigerator to make ice by means of cool air in the freezing container. After the ice cubes are made, the ice cubes in the ice boxes are poured into the ice storage boxes below by the ice turning device to be stored for taking. When the ice blocks in the ice storage box are accumulated to a certain height, the ice machine stops working after the ice blocks are detected by the ice detection rod in the ice machine.

However, after the ice cubes in the ice bin fall into the ice bin, the ice cubes are firstly stacked from the ice falling point to form a mountain-shaped ice pile structure, and the ice maker stops working until the highest point of the ice pile is detected by the ice detecting rod, so that more space is still left in the ice bin, the ice storage space of the ice bin cannot be fully utilized, and meanwhile, the ice storage amount of the ice maker of the refrigerator is reduced.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention aims to provide an ice storage box capable of improving the utilization rate of ice storage space.

To achieve one of the above objects, an embodiment of the present invention provides an ice bank including:

the box body is internally provided with a base plate;

as a further improvement of an embodiment of the invention, the backing plate is provided with an ice falling part and an ice guiding part connected with the ice falling part, the ice guiding part comprises a fixed end connected with one side of the ice falling part and a free end far away from one side of the ice falling part, the height of the ice guiding part gradually decreases from the fixed end towards the free end, and a sliding guide mechanism is arranged between two sides of the free end of the ice guiding part and the side wall of the adjacent box body, so that when the ice falling part moves up and down under the action of external force, the free end of the ice guiding part moves in the box body under the guidance of the sliding guide mechanism.

As a further improvement of one embodiment of the invention, the sliding guide mechanism is provided with sliding devices arranged at two sides of the free end of the ice guide part, and a slideway which is arranged in the box body and matched with the sliding devices.

As a further improvement of one embodiment of the present invention, the sliding device has a connection portion provided at a side wall of the ice guiding portion and a sliding portion connected to the connection portion.

As a further improvement of an embodiment of the invention, the slideway is provided with a base arranged on the inner wall of the box body and a cover plate connected with the base, a sliding space formed by surrounding the base and the cover plate is used for the sliding device to slide, and one side of the sliding space is provided with a limiting opening for limiting the sliding device to be separated from the sliding space.

As a further improvement of an embodiment of the present invention, the cover plate is provided with a detachable clamping assembly, so that the sliding device can be separated from the sliding space.

As a further improvement of an embodiment of the invention, the clamping assembly is provided with an opening arranged on the cover plate and a clamping block inserted into the opening, the bottom of the clamping block is provided with a positioning groove, a positioning block matched with the positioning groove is arranged on the base at the position of the opening, and the clamping block can be limited to be separated from the opening after the positioning groove is in butt joint with the positioning block.

As a further improvement of an embodiment of the present invention, the top wall of the cover plate is provided with a slope structure with gradually decreasing height from the side wall of the box body toward the center of the bottom surface in the box body.

As a further improvement of an embodiment of the present invention, the pad includes a first pad and a second pad connected to each other, the ice falling portion is formed at a junction of the first pad and the second pad, and the ice guiding portion is formed at upper surfaces of the first pad and the second pad.

As a further improvement of an embodiment of the invention, the first backing plate is fixedly connected with the second backing plate, and the first backing plate and the second backing plate are made of flexible materials.

As a further improvement of an embodiment of the present invention, the first pad plate and the second pad plate are hinged to each other, and an elastic mechanism is disposed at a connection position of the first pad plate and the second pad plate.

Compared with the prior art, in the embodiment of the invention, the base plate with the ice falling part and the ice guiding part is arranged in the box body, ice cubes fall on the ice falling part and then slide to the ice guiding part, so that ice cubes are stacked from the periphery of the ice falling part, stacked from the ice falling part, and continuously moved downwards along with the ice falling part, the ice cubes fill the whole ice storage box, the utilization rate of the ice storage space is improved, and the ice storage amount of the ice maker of the refrigerator is increased.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an ice bank according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken at A-A of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken at B-B in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view at a in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is an exploded view of the ice bank of FIG. 1;

fig. 6 is a schematic perspective view of a snap block according to another preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to specific embodiments shown in the drawings. These embodiments are not intended to limit the invention and structural, methodological, or functional modifications of these embodiments that may be made by one of ordinary skill in the art are included within the scope of the invention.

It will be appreciated that terms such as "upper," "lower," "outer," "inner," and the like, as used herein, refer to spatially relative positions and are used for ease of description to describe one element or feature's relationship to another element or feature as illustrated in the figures. The term spatially relative position may be intended to encompass different orientations of the device in use or operation in addition to the orientation depicted in the figures.

Referring to fig. 1, the ice bank according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention includes a case 10, a pad 20 is provided in the case 10, and the pad 20 may be provided at a bottom wall and/or peripheral side walls of the case, so as to protect the ice bank when ice cubes fall into the case 10, and facilitate cleaning of the ice bank at a later stage.

Specifically, the base plate 20 has an ice-dropping portion 21 and an ice-guiding portion 23 connected to the ice-dropping portion 21, the ice-guiding portion 23 including a fixed end connected to the ice-dropping portion 21 side and a free end remote from the ice-dropping portion 21 side, the ice-guiding portion 23 gradually decreasing in height from the fixed end toward the free end.

In this embodiment, the ice dropping portion 21 is located right below the ice dropping point in the ice maker, that is, when the ice maker is pouring ice into the ice storage box after ice making is completed, the ice drops at the ice dropping portion 21 of the pad 20, and due to the arrangement that the height of the ice guiding portion 23 connected with the ice dropping portion 21 gradually decreases from the fixed end to the free end, the ice drops fall to the ice guiding portion 23 under the action of self gravity after falling on the ice dropping portion 21, and finally fall into the box body 10 under the guidance of the ice guiding portion 23, so that ice is firstly stacked from the periphery of the ice dropping portion 21, then stacked from the ice dropping portion, and the ice fills the whole ice storage box along with continuous falling of the ice dropping portion, thereby improving the ice storage space utilization rate and increasing the ice storage capacity of the ice maker of the refrigerator. In order to enable the ice dropping portion to move downward and further utilize the ice storage space of the ice bank, the pad may be provided in an elastically deformable structure, i.e., the ice dropping portion 21 is forced to move downward when ice cubes are piled up at the ice dropping portion 21, so that the overhead space between the lower portion of the pad 20 and the case 10 can be finally used to store ice cubes as well. The specific shape of the pad may be a triangular pyramid, a rectangular pyramid, or other polygonal pyramid structure, or may be a conical structure, as long as it is a convex structure that enables ice cubes to be stacked from around the ice-dropping portion 21.

In the above embodiment, when ice cubes fall on the ice falling portion 21, a certain impact is applied to the entire pad 20, which may cause the pad 20 to roll in the case, and thus the ice storage of the ice bank is not facilitated.

For this reason, in this embodiment, a sliding guide mechanism 30 is disposed between two sides of the free end of the ice guiding portion 23 and the side wall of the adjacent case 10, so that when the ice falling portion 21 moves up and down under the action of external force, the free end of the ice guiding portion 23 moves in the case 10 under the guidance of the sliding guide mechanism 30.

Therefore, in the present embodiment, the slide guide mechanism 30 is provided between both sides of the free end of the ice guide 23 and the side wall of the adjacent case 10. In this way, the cushion plate 20 can be unfolded smoothly in the ice storage process, and the friction force between the cushion plate 20 and the box body 10 in the unfolding process can be reduced, so that the ice falling part 21 can move up and down stably and smoothly. Moreover, the sliding guide mechanisms 30 are arranged at two sides of the free end of the ice guiding part, so that the free end of the ice guiding part 23 is not contacted with the inner wall of the box body 10, and water generated by melting ice cubes can be prevented from secondarily freezing to adhere the ice guiding part 23 and the box body 10 together, so that the expansion of the backing plate 20 is influenced, and the up-and-down movement of the ice guiding part 21 is influenced.

Specifically, referring to fig. 2 in combination, the slide guide mechanism 30 has slide means 31 provided at both sides of the free end of the ice guide 23, and a slide path 33 provided in the case 10 to match the slide means 31. In this embodiment, the slide 33 may be disposed on the inner bottom wall of the case 10 or may be disposed on the inner side wall of the case 10.

With reference to fig. 3 and 4, the sliding device 31 includes a connecting portion 31a provided on a side wall of the ice guiding portion 23 and a sliding portion 31b connected to the connecting portion 31 a. In the present embodiment, the sliding portion 31b is preferably a circular wheel-like structure, and can reduce friction force, however, other structures may be adopted for the sliding portion 31b, as long as the sliding function is achieved. As for the connection between the sliding portion 31b and the connecting portion 31a, the sliding portion 31b may be fixedly connected to the end of the connecting portion 31a, or the sliding portion 31b may be rotatably provided at the end of the connecting portion 31a by a bearing, or other connection means capable of reducing friction force during sliding may be employed. Similarly, the connection between the sliding portion 31b and the connecting portion 31a can be applied to the connection between the connecting portion 31a and the ice guide portion 23.

Further, the slideway 33 has a base 33a disposed on the inner wall of the box 10, and a cover 33b connected to the base 33a, wherein a sliding space 33c for sliding the sliding device 31 is formed between the base 33a and the cover 33b, and a limit opening 33d is disposed on one side of the sliding space 33c to limit the sliding device 31 from separating from the sliding space 33c. In this embodiment, the base 33a, the cover 33b and the box 10 are separately arranged, and the same method as the integral forming of the box 10 can be adopted, so as to reduce the production cost. In this embodiment, the sliding space 33c formed by surrounding the base 33a and the cover 33b can be set according to the structure of the sliding device 31, and the width between the upper wall surface and the lower wall surface of the limiting opening 33d should be smaller than the outer diameter of the sliding portion 31b in the sliding device 31, so as to limit the sliding device 31 in the sliding space 33c, thereby playing a role in smooth sliding, and avoiding the rolling of the pad 20 in the box 10 or separation of the pad from the box 10.

Further, referring to fig. 2, a detachable clamping assembly 33e is disposed on the cover 33b, so that the sliding device 31 can be separated from the sliding space 33c. In this embodiment, the detachable clamping assembly 33e is used to detach the sliding device 31 from the slideway 33, so as to clean and replace the pad 20.

Specifically, referring to fig. 5 and 6, the clamping assembly 33e has an opening 33f formed in the cover plate 33b, and a clamping block 33g inserted into the opening 33f, a positioning groove 33h is formed in the bottom of the clamping block 33g, a positioning block 33i matching the positioning groove 33h is formed in the base 33a at the position of the opening 33f, and the clamping block 33g is prevented from being separated from the opening 33f after the positioning groove 33h is abutted with the positioning block 33 i. In the present embodiment, the clamping block 33g is inserted and pulled out by the positioning groove 33h and the positioning block 33i, so that the opening 33f is completely filled, and the sliding of the sliding device 31 in the slideway 33 is not affected. Moreover, the positioning groove 33h adopts an isosceles trapezoid prism shape, so that the displacement of the clamping block 33g in the horizontal direction can be limited, and the friction force of the matching surface of the positioning groove 33h and the positioning block 33i ensures that the clamping block 33g cannot be easily separated from the opening 33f. The positioning block 33i and the positioning groove 33h may be provided in other polygonal column structures or columnar structures.

In addition, referring to fig. 4 and 5 in combination, the top wall of the cover plate 33b is provided with a slope structure 33j which gradually decreases in height from the side wall of the case 10 toward the center of the inner bottom surface of the case 10. The inclined surface structure 33j provided on the upper end surface of the cover plate 33b can reduce accumulation of dirt on the end surface, and cleaning is facilitated.

In the above embodiment, the cushion plate 20 having the polygonal pyramid structure may be manufactured at an increased cost due to its complicated structure.

For this purpose, a preferred embodiment is provided, and with reference to fig. 1 to 2, in this embodiment, the pad 20 adopts a herringbone structure, and the ice dropping portion 21 and the ice guiding portion 23 are formed, so that the technical effect of the present invention can be achieved, and the manufacturing cost is reduced.

Specifically, the pad 20 includes a first pad 25 and a second pad 27 connected to each other, the ice-dropping portion 21 is formed at a junction of the first pad 25 and the second pad 27, and the ice-guiding portion 23 is formed at upper surfaces of the first pad 25 and the second pad 27. In this embodiment, the length and width dimensions of the first pad 25 and the second pad 27 may be set according to the inner diameter dimension of the box body 10, that is, the sum of the widths of the first pad 25 and the second pad 27 after being unfolded is greater than or equal to the inner width of the box body 10, and the lengths of the first pad 25 and the second pad 27 are preferably equal to the inner length of the box body 10, so that the first pad 25 and the second pad 27 can be ensured to be matched with the inner bottom surface of the box body 10 after being unfolded, and ice cubes can be prevented from falling under the first pad 25 and the second pad 27, and the ice storage space of the ice cubes can be increased to the maximum extent. Further, the respective widths of the first and second tie plates 25 and 27 are not required as long as the ice-dropping portion 21 formed at the junction of the first and second tie plates 25 and 27 is ensured to be located directly below the ice-dropping point in the ice maker.

Further, the first pad 25 is fixedly connected with the second pad 27, and the first pad 25 and the second pad 27 are made of flexible materials. In this embodiment, the first pad 25 and the second pad 27 are integrally formed to form the pad 20, so as to form a herringbone structure, and the pad 20 can be elastically deformed due to the flexible material, so as to ensure the up-and-down movement of the ice dropping portion 21, and the ice cubes are driven to be stacked from both sides of the ice dropping portion 21, and then stacked from the ice dropping portion 21. The first pad 25 and the second pad 27, which are made of flexible material, can also provide a certain resilience to the falling ice cubes, preventing the ice cubes from adhering to the pad 20 and between them.

In addition, the first pad 25 and the second pad 27 are hinged to each other, and an elastic mechanism 40 is provided at the junction of the first pad 25 and the second pad 27. Referring to fig. 2, in the present embodiment, the first pad 25 and the second pad 27 are hinged together by a pin, and an elastic mechanism 40 is provided at the hinge, so that the unfolding process of the pad 20 can be ensured to be more linear and stable when the ice-dropping portion 21 moves up and down. The elastic mechanism 40 may be a torsion spring, or other elastic structure for providing a resilient force to the hinge.

In summary, through setting up the backing plate with ice falling portion and ice guiding portion in the box body, the ice cubes slide to the ice guiding portion after falling on the ice falling portion, realize that the ice cubes begin to be piled up from the periphery of the ice falling portion first, then begin to be piled up from the ice falling portion, and move down along with the ice falling portion continuously, the ice cubes fill up the whole ice storage box, improve the utilization ratio of ice storage space, increase the ice storage capacity of the ice maker of the refrigerator; the sliding guide mechanisms 30 are arranged between the two sides of the free end of the ice guide part 23 and the side walls of the adjacent box body 10, so that the cushion plate 20 can be unfolded stably, the friction force between the cushion plate 20 and the box body 10 in the unfolding process can be reduced, and the ice falling part 21 can move stably and smoothly up and down; moreover, the sliding guide mechanisms 30 are arranged at two sides of the free end of the ice guide part, so that the free end of the ice guide part 23 is not contacted with the inner wall of the box body 10, the ice guide part 23 and the box body 10 are prevented from being adhered together by secondary freezing of water generated by melting ice cubes, the expansion of the backing plate 20 is affected, and the up-and-down movement of the ice guide part 21 is affected; the base plate 20 adopts a herringbone structure, and is provided with the ice falling part 21 and the ice guiding part 23, so that the structure is simple and the manufacturing cost is low.

It should be understood that although the present disclosure describes embodiments, not every embodiment is provided with a separate embodiment, and that this description is for clarity only, and that the skilled artisan should recognize that the embodiments may be combined as appropriate to form other embodiments that will be understood by those skilled in the art.

The above list of detailed descriptions is only specific to practical embodiments of the present invention, and they are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention, and all equivalent embodiments or modifications that do not depart from the spirit of the present invention should be included in the scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. An ice bank comprising:

the box body is internally provided with a base plate;

the ice guide device is characterized in that the base plate is provided with an ice falling part and an ice guide part connected with the ice falling part, the ice guide part comprises a fixed end connected with one side of the ice falling part and a free end far away from one side of the ice falling part, the height of the ice guide part gradually decreases from the fixed end towards the free end, and a sliding guide mechanism is arranged between two sides of the free end of the ice guide part and the side wall of an adjacent box body, so that when the ice falling part moves up and down under the action of external force, the free end of the ice guide part moves in the box body under the guide of the sliding guide mechanism, and the free end of the ice guide part is not contacted with the inner wall of the box body.

2. The ice bank of claim 1 wherein the sliding guide mechanism has sliding means disposed on either side of the free end of the ice guiding portion and a slide disposed within the housing that mates with the sliding means.

3. The ice bank of claim 2, wherein the sliding means has a connection portion provided at a side wall of the ice guiding portion and a sliding portion connected to the connection portion.

4. The ice bank of claim 2 wherein the chute has a base disposed on an inner wall of the case, and a cover plate connected to the base, a sliding space defined between the base and the cover plate for sliding the sliding device, and a limit opening is provided on one side of the sliding space to limit the sliding device from being separated from the sliding space.

5. The ice bank of claim 4 wherein the cover is provided with a removable snap-fit assembly to allow the slide to be disengaged from the slide space.

6. The ice bank of claim 5 wherein the snap-in assembly has an opening in the cover plate and a snap-in block inserted into the opening, the bottom of the snap-in block having a detent, a locating block on the base in the position of the opening matching the detent, and the snap-in block being restrained from being disengaged from the opening after the detent is mated with the locating block.

7. The ice bank according to any one of claims 4 to 6, wherein the top wall of the cover plate is provided with a slope structure having a height gradually decreasing from the side wall of the case toward the center of the bottom surface of the case.

8. The ice bank of claim 1, wherein the pad includes a first pad and a second pad connected to each other, the ice-dropping part is formed at a junction of the first pad and the second pad, and the ice-guiding part is formed at upper surfaces of the first pad and the second pad.

9. The ice bank of claim 8 wherein the first pad is fixedly connected to the second pad, and wherein the first pad and the second pad are each formed of a flexible material.

10. The ice bank of claim 8 wherein the first and second pads are hinged to each other, and wherein the connection of the first and second pads is provided with a spring mechanism.