CN115540426A

CN115540426A - Ice making device

Info

Publication number: CN115540426A
Application number: CN202110729695.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 张军; 张延庆; 张方友
Original assignee: Qingdao Haier Refrigerator Co Ltd; Haier Smart Home Co Ltd; Chongqing Haier Refrigeration Electric Appliance Co Ltd
Current assignee: Qingdao Haier Refrigerator Co Ltd; Haier Smart Home Co Ltd; Chongqing Haier Refrigeration Electric Appliance Co Ltd
Priority date: 2021-06-29
Filing date: 2021-06-29
Publication date: 2022-12-30

Abstract

The invention provides an ice making device, which comprises an ice making machine and an ice storage box arranged below the ice making machine, wherein the ice storage box is provided with a bottom wall, a side wall connected to the periphery of the bottom wall and an opening formed by surrounding the upper side edge of the side wall; through setting up rotary mechanism in the diapire below of ice-storage box for the ice-storage box can be followed the rotation of diapire place plane, when getting ice state, only need drive the ice-storage box rotate to certain angle can, the opening of ice-storage box stretches out the area increase when the area of ice machine front side compares in ice state this moment, and the process that the user got ice becomes comparatively laborsaving and convenient.

Description

Ice making device

Technical Field

The invention relates to the field of refrigerating devices, in particular to an ice making device.

Background

An ice maker for making ice can be arranged in the refrigeration equipment, the ice maker is usually arranged in a freezing inner container or an independent ice making chamber of the refrigeration equipment to make ice by means of cold air, and the made ice cubes can be poured into an ice storage device to be stored, so that a user can conveniently take and use the ice cubes. However, in the ice storage device in the related art, a drawer-type ice bank is often disposed below the ice maker, and as the amount of ice stored in the ice bank increases, resistance between the ice bank and the slide rail increases, making it difficult for a user to pull the ice bank to pick up ice.

Disclosure of Invention

An object of the present invention is to provide an ice making device that facilitates taking ice.

In order to achieve one of the above objectives, an embodiment of the present invention provides an ice making device, including an ice maker and an ice storage box disposed below the ice maker, where the ice storage box has a bottom wall, a side wall connected to a peripheral edge of the bottom wall, and an opening surrounded by an upper side edge of the side wall, a rotation mechanism is disposed below the bottom wall of the ice storage box, and the ice storage box has an ice storage state and an ice fetching state, and in the ice fetching state, the ice storage box rotates along a plane where the bottom wall is located after being subjected to an external force, so that a size of the opening of the ice storage box extending out of a front side of the ice maker is larger than a size of the extending opening in the ice storage state.

As a further improvement of an embodiment of the present invention, the ice making device further includes an ice making compartment for accommodating the ice bank, and in an ice-taking state, the ice bank rotates along a plane where an inner bottom surface of the ice making compartment is located after being subjected to an external force, so that at least a part of an opening of the ice bank protrudes out of the ice making compartment.

As a further improvement of an embodiment of the present invention, the rotation mechanism is a rotation hole provided at a lower end surface of the bottom wall, so that the ice bank rotates around an axis of the rotation hole.

As a further improvement of an embodiment of the present invention, a maximum horizontal distance of the axis of the rotation hole from the side wall is smaller than a minimum horizontal distance of the axis of the rotation hole from the side surface of the ice making compartment.

As a further improvement of an embodiment of the present invention, a projection of the bottom wall on a horizontal plane is a centrosymmetric pattern, and the rotation hole is disposed at an asymmetric center position of the bottom wall.

As a further improvement of an embodiment of the present invention, a projection of the bottom wall on a horizontal plane is an axisymmetric pattern, and the rotation hole is provided on a symmetry axis of the bottom wall.

As a further improvement of an embodiment of the present invention, the side wall has a side front wall connected to a front end of the bottom wall, and a side rear wall connected to a rear end of the bottom wall, and a horizontal distance from an axis of the rotation hole to the side rear wall is larger than a horizontal distance from the axis of the rotation hole to the side front wall.

As a further improvement of an embodiment of the present invention, the horizontal distance of the axis of the rotation hole from the side rear wall is 3 times the horizontal distance of the axis of the rotation hole from the side front wall.

As a further improvement of an embodiment of the present invention, a projection of the side rear wall on a horizontal plane is an arc.

As a further improvement of an embodiment of the present invention, the ice making device further includes a driving mechanism cooperating with the rotating mechanism, and the driving mechanism includes a driving shaft disposed on the inner bottom surface of the ice making compartment and matching with the rotating hole.

As a further improvement of an embodiment of the present invention, the driving mechanism further includes a pivot shaft in transmission connection with the driving shaft and rotating with the opening and closing of the door body of the ice making device, and when the door body is opened, the pivot shaft rotates to drive the ice storage box to rotate through the driving shaft.

As a further improvement of an embodiment of the present invention, the driving mechanism further includes a driving motor in transmission connection with the driving shaft.

Compared with the prior art, the rotating mechanism is arranged below the bottom wall of the ice storage box, so that the ice storage box can rotate along the plane where the bottom wall is located, the ice storage box is only required to be driven to rotate to a certain angle in the ice taking state, the area of the opening of the ice storage box extending out of the front side of the ice machine is increased compared with the area in the ice storing state, and the ice taking process of a user is labor-saving and convenient.

Drawings

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

fig. 2 is a schematic view of an ice bank of a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 3a is a cross-sectional view of an ice bank of a preferred embodiment of the present invention at B-B of fig. 2;

fig. 3B is a sectional view of an ice bank in accordance with another preferred embodiment of the present invention at B-B of fig. 2;

fig. 4base:Sub>A isbase:Sub>A sectional view taken atbase:Sub>A-base:Sub>A of fig. 1 when the ice bank is in an ice storage state;

fig. 4b isbase:Sub>A sectional view taken atbase:Sub>A-base:Sub>A of fig. 1 when the ice bank is in an ice-taking state;

fig. 5 is an installation schematic view of a driving mechanism and an ice-making device according to a 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 present invention, and structural, methodological, or functional changes made by those skilled in the art according to these embodiments are included in the scope of the present invention.

It will be understood that terms such as "upper," "lower," "outer," "inner," and the like, used herein to denote relative spatial positions, 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 spatially relative positional terms may be intended to encompass different orientations of the device in use or operation in addition to the orientation depicted in the figures.

The device may be otherwise oriented (rotated 90 degrees or at other orientations) and the spatially relative descriptors used herein interpreted accordingly. As in the present invention, for convenience of description, when the refrigeration apparatus is normally used, the direction toward the ground is downward, and the direction away from the ground is upward; the direction parallel to the ground is a horizontal direction, and the direction vertical to the ground is a vertical direction; the side close to the user is the front side, and the side far away from the user is the back side.

Referring to fig. 1 to 5, a preferred embodiment of the present invention provides an ice making device, which may be provided in a freezing inner container of a refrigerating apparatus or in a separate ice making compartment. The ice making device is also provided with an ice storage box 20, and ice blocks which are made can be poured into the ice storage box 20 for storage, so that a user can take the ice blocks conveniently.

Referring to fig. 1 and 2 in combination, an ice making device according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention includes an ice making machine 10 and an ice bank 20 disposed below the ice making machine 10, wherein the ice bank has a bottom wall 21, a side wall 23 connected to a peripheral edge of the bottom wall 21, and an opening 25 surrounded by an upper side edge of the side wall 23.

In this embodiment, the ice maker 10 has an automatic ice-turning or manual ice-turning function, and can pour the made ice cubes into the ice bank 20 below. The ice bank 20 is provided in a box structure of a dish structure and may be manufactured in an integrally formed manner. The ice bank 20 is disposed under the ice maker 10, either directly under or not, as long as ice cubes can be ensured to fall into the ice bank 20 when the ice maker 10 turns over.

Wherein, a rotating mechanism 30 is disposed below the bottom wall of the ice bank 20. In the embodiment, since the rotation mechanism 30 is disposed below the bottom wall of the ice bank 20, the ice-fetching process is realized by rotation, which is more labor-saving than the conventional drawer-type ice bank 20.

Further, the ice bank 20 has an ice storage state and an ice-taking state. In this embodiment, when the ice bank 20 is in an ice storage state, the area of the opening 25 of the ice bank 20 can be slightly larger than the area of the ice falling range of the ice maker 10, so as to prevent ice cubes from falling outside the ice bank 20 during the ice falling process of the ice maker 10. When the ice bank 20 is in the ice-taking state, the angle can be adjusted to a certain angle according to the needs of the user, so that the area of the opening 25 of the ice bank 20 extending out of the front side of the ice maker 10 is suitable for the user.

Specifically, in the ice-taking state, the ice bank 20 is rotated along the plane of the bottom wall 21 by an external force. In this embodiment, the external force applied to the ice bank 20 is a force applied directly to the ice bank 20 by a user, or may be directly driven or driven by a corresponding driving device, as long as the ice bank 20 is ensured to rotate along the plane of the bottom wall 21. Because the opening 25 of the ice bank 20 is arranged upwards, after ice falls into the ice bank 20, downward pressure is generated on the ice bank 20, and the pressure does not influence the ice bank 20 rotating along the plane of the bottom wall 21, so that labor saving in the ice taking process can be ensured.

Also, in the ice-taking state, the size of the opening 25 of the ice bank 20 protruding to the front side of the ice maker 10 is made larger than the protruding opening 25 in the ice-storing state. In this embodiment, when the ice is in the ice-taking state, the area of the opening 25 of the ice bank 20 extending out of the front side of the ice maker 10 is increased compared with the area when the ice is in the ice-storing state, so that a user can take ice from the opening 25 extending out of the ice maker 10 by using a larger ice-taking tool, and can take out more ice, thereby facilitating the ice-taking process.

Therefore, the rotating mechanism 30 is arranged below the bottom wall 21 of the ice storage box 20, so that the ice storage box 20 can rotate along the plane of the bottom wall 21, and when the ice is taken out, only the ice storage box 20 needs to be driven to rotate to a certain angle, and at the moment, the area of the opening of the ice storage box 20 extending out of the front side of the ice maker 10 is increased compared with the area when the ice is taken out, and the ice taking process of a user is labor-saving and convenient.

Further, the ice-making device further includes an ice-making compartment 40 accommodating the ice bank 20. In this embodiment, the ice making compartment 40 may be an ice making space disposed in the refrigerator door, or may be an ice making space or a refrigerating space of other refrigerating devices.

Specifically, in the ice-taking state, the ice bank 20 rotates along the plane of the inner bottom surface of the ice-making compartment 40 after receiving an external force, so that at least a portion of the opening 25 of the ice bank 20 extends out of the ice-making compartment 40. In this embodiment, in order to facilitate the user to take ice, when the user drives the ice storage box 20 to rotate, a part of the opening 25 of the ice storage box 20 can be screwed out of the ice making compartment 40, and the user can take ice outside the ice making compartment 40 without extending a hand or an ice taking tool into the ice making compartment 40, so that the ice taking process is more convenient.

Referring to fig. 3a, the rotating mechanism 30 is a rotating hole 31 disposed on the lower end surface of the bottom wall 21. In the present embodiment, the rotating mechanism 30 is a rotating hole 31 disposed on the lower end surface of the bottom wall 21, and when the rotating mechanism is specifically disposed, the rotating hole 31 is a regular polygon structure, such as a regular quadrangle, a regular pentagon or a regular hexagon, so as to be conveniently connected with a driving shaft 51 or other rotating components described below in a transmission manner. In addition, the ice bank 20 can be disassembled in this way, thereby facilitating later maintenance and replacement. Of course, the rotation hole 31 may be formed in a circular arc shape and may be connected to a drive shaft 51 or other rotating member to be described later by a pin shaft.

Further, as shown in fig. 3b, the rotation mechanism 30 is provided as a rotation shaft 32 protruding from the lower end surface of the bottom wall 21 in such a manner that the ice bank 20 can be detached. The rotation shaft 32 may be integrally formed with the ice bank 20 or may be fixedly coupled to the ice bank 20.

Specifically, the ice bank 20 is rotated about an axis of the rotation hole 31. In the present embodiment, the ice bank 20 rotates about the axis of the rotation hole 31, i.e., the rotation axis of the entire ice bank 20 is located inside the ice bank 20 itself. Of course, the ice bank 20 can also be rotated about a rotation axis located outside the ice bank 20, for example, the ice bank 20 is slidably disposed on an endless track, and the entire ice bank 20 is rotated about a circle of the endless track, which can also achieve the object of the present invention. Also, the ice bank 20 can rotate about an axis of the rotation shaft 32 in addition to the rotation of the ice bank 20 about an axis of the rotation hole 31.

As shown in fig. 4a and 4b, further, the maximum horizontal distance from the axis of the rotation hole 31 to the side wall 23 is smaller than the maximum horizontal distance from the axis of the rotation hole 31 to the side of the ice making compartment 40. In this embodiment, since the maximum horizontal distance from the axis of the rotation hole 31 to the side wall 23 is smaller than the minimum horizontal distance from the axis of the rotation hole 31 to the side surface of the ice making compartment 40, the ice bank 20 can rotate more than 180 ° in the ice making compartment 40, which not only satisfies the area of the opening 25 protruding out of the front side of the ice maker 10 or the area of the opening 25 protruding out of the ice making compartment 40 is the maximum, but also enables the user to rotate the ice bank 20 at an unlimited angle.

Specifically, the projection of the bottom wall 21 on the horizontal plane is a centrosymmetric pattern, and the rotation hole 31 is disposed at the asymmetric center position of the bottom wall 21. In the present embodiment, the projection of the bottom wall 21 on the horizontal plane is a central symmetrical figure, which may be a circle, a regular polygon or other special central symmetrical figure. In order to ensure that the area of the opening 25 protruding to the front side of the ice maker 10 after rotation or the area of the opening 25 protruding to the outside of the ice making compartment 40 is significantly increased compared to the ice storage state, it is necessary to provide the rotation hole 31 at an asymmetric center position of the bottom wall 21.

Specifically, the projection of the bottom wall 21 on the horizontal plane is an axisymmetric figure, and the rotation hole 31 is disposed on the symmetry axis of the bottom wall 21. In this embodiment, the projection of the bottom wall 21 on the horizontal plane is an axisymmetric pattern, and the symmetric pattern does not include a case of being both a symmetric pattern and a centrosymmetric pattern, such as a circle, a regular pentagon, and the like, and the arrangement scheme of the centrosymmetric pattern can be adopted in this case. The symmetrical figure can be an ellipse, a rectangle, a fan shape and other symmetrical figures. In order to ensure the rotation of the ice bank 20 by 180 ° within the ice making compartment 40 and the maximization of the area of the bottom wall 21, the rotation hole 31 is disposed on the axis of symmetry of the bottom wall 21.

With continued reference to fig. 1, 4a and 4b, the side wall 23 has a side front wall 23a connected to the front end of the bottom wall 21, and a side rear wall 23b connected to the rear end of the bottom wall 21, and the horizontal distance from the axis of the rotation hole 31 to the side rear wall 23b is greater than the horizontal distance from the axis of the rotation hole 31 to the side front wall 23 a. In this embodiment, the axis of the rotation hole 31 is disposed at an axisymmetrical pattern in combination with the projection of the bottom wall 21 on the horizontal plane, so that the ice bank 20 rotates 180 ° from the ice storage state shown in fig. 4a to the ice-taking state shown in fig. 4b, and the area of the opening 25 of the ice bank 20 protruding out of the front side of the ice maker 10 or the area of the opening 25 protruding out of the ice-making compartment 40 is the largest in the ice-taking state, thereby facilitating the user to take ice.

Specifically, the horizontal distance from the axis of the rotation hole 31 to the side rear wall 23b is 3 times the horizontal distance from the axis of the rotation hole 31 to the side front wall 23 a. In this embodiment, the axis of the rotation hole 31 is located on the symmetry axis of the bottom wall 21, and is preferably located at a quarter of the position where the connecting line of the front wall 23a and the rear wall 23b is deviated to one side of the front wall 23a, which realizes the largest area of the opening 25 of the ice bank 20 protruding out of the front side of the ice maker 10 or the largest area of the opening 25 protruding out of the ice making compartment 40, thereby facilitating the user to take ice.

In addition, the projection of the side rear wall 23b on the horizontal plane is arc-shaped. In this embodiment, since one side of the rear wall 23b is the side for the user to take ice, the arc shape can prevent the ice from being hard to take out at the corner. And because the ice storage box 20 rotates, the ice cubes inside the box roll to the side wall 23 of the ice storage box 20 under the centrifugal force, and finally the ice cubes are scattered and uniformly attached to the rear wall 23b, which is convenient for the user to take the ice.

As shown in fig. 5, the ice making apparatus further includes a driving mechanism 50 coupled to the rotating mechanism 30, and the driving mechanism 50 includes a driving shaft 51 disposed on the inner bottom surface of the ice making compartment 40 and coupled to the rotating hole 31. In this embodiment, the ice bank 20 may be driven to rotate by a driving mechanism 50 for transmitting torque in addition to being driven by a user's hand, thereby facilitating the user to take ice. The driving shaft 51 may be directly connected to the rotation mechanism 30 or indirectly connected thereto by a transmission mechanism, as long as it can transmit a rotational torque force, thereby achieving automatic rotation of the ice bank 20. The driving shaft 51 is provided on the inner bottom surface of the ice making compartment 40, so that the inner space of the ice making compartment 40 can be saved, and may be provided on a heat insulating partition or other installation plane in the ice making compartment 40.

Specifically, the driving mechanism 50 further includes a pivot 53 drivingly connected to the driving shaft 51 and rotating with the opening and closing of the door of the ice making device, and when the door is opened, the pivot 53 rotates to drive the ice bank 20 to rotate through the driving shaft 51. In this embodiment, in the process of opening the ice making compartment 40 or the door of the refrigeration apparatus, the pivot 53 rotates and drives the driving shaft 51 to rotate, so as to drive the ice storage box 20 to rotate, and after the door is opened, the ice storage box 20 automatically switches from the ice storage state to the ice taking state, which is convenient for a user to perform an ice taking operation. The whole process realizes the linkage of the ice storage box 20 and the door body, and improves the use experience of users. The pivot 53 of the door body and the drive shaft 51 may be directly driven or indirectly driven by a transmission mechanism.

Specifically, the driving mechanism 50 further includes a driving motor in transmission connection with the driving shaft 51. In this embodiment, the driving shaft 51 can be connected to a driving motor (not shown in the figure) in a transmission manner, so that the user can switch the ice storage box 20 from the ice storage state to the ice fetching state without manual operation, and the ice fetching process of the user is more convenient and labor-saving. The driving motor and the driving shaft 51 may be directly connected or indirectly connected through a transmission mechanism. In order to make the scheme feasible, a corresponding control device can be further arranged, and when ice needs to be taken out after the door body is opened or in the opening state of the door body, the control device controls the driving motor to be opened to drive the ice storage box 20 to be switched from the ice storage state to the ice taking state; when the door body is closed or the ice is taken out when the door body is opened, the control device controls the driving motor to be opened, and the ice storage box 20 is driven to be converted from the ice taking state to the ice storage state.

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 only a specific description of a possible embodiment of the present invention, and they are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention, and equivalent embodiments or modifications made without departing from the technical spirit of the present invention should be included in the scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. The ice making device comprises an ice maker and an ice storage box arranged below the ice maker, wherein the ice storage box is provided with a bottom wall, a side wall connected to the periphery of the bottom wall and an opening formed by surrounding the upper side edge of the side wall.

2. The ice making apparatus of claim 1, further comprising an ice making compartment for accommodating the ice bank, wherein the ice bank rotates along a plane of an inner bottom surface of the ice making compartment under an external force in an ice-taking state, so that at least a portion of the opening of the ice bank protrudes out of the ice making compartment.

3. The ice making apparatus of claim 2, wherein the rotation mechanism is a rotation hole provided at a lower end surface of the bottom wall such that the ice bank rotates around an axis of the rotation hole.

4. An ice making apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein the maximum horizontal distance of the axis of the rotation hole from the side wall is smaller than the minimum horizontal distance of the axis of the rotation hole from the side of the ice making compartment.

5. The ice making apparatus as claimed in claim 4, wherein the projection of the bottom wall on the horizontal plane is a centrosymmetric pattern, and the rotation hole is provided at an asymmetric center position of the bottom wall.

6. The ice making apparatus as claimed in claim 4, wherein the projection of the bottom wall on the horizontal plane is an axisymmetric pattern, and the rotation hole is provided on the symmetry axis of the bottom wall.

7. The ice making apparatus of claim 6, wherein the side wall has a side front wall connected to a front end of the bottom wall, and a side rear wall connected to a rear end of the bottom wall, and wherein an axis of the rotation hole is located at a greater horizontal distance from the side rear wall than from the side front wall.

8. An ice making apparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein the axis of said rotation hole is horizontally spaced from the side rear wall by a distance 3 times greater than the horizontal distance from the axis of the rotation hole to the side front wall.

9. An ice making apparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein said side rear wall has an arc-shaped projection on a horizontal plane.

10. The ice making apparatus of claim 3, further comprising a driving mechanism coupled to the rotating mechanism, the driving mechanism including a driving shaft disposed on an inner bottom surface of the ice making compartment and coupled to the rotation hole.

11. The ice making apparatus of claim 10, wherein said driving mechanism further comprises a pivot shaft drivingly connected to said drive shaft and rotating as the door of the ice making apparatus opens and closes, said pivot shaft rotating to rotate said ice bank via the drive shaft when the door opens.

12. The ice making apparatus of claim 10, wherein said drive mechanism further comprises a drive motor drivingly connected to said drive shaft.