CN116592550A - Ice maker for household refrigeration device - Google Patents

Abstract

An ice maker (10) for a domestic refrigeration device is proposed, comprising: an ice-making tray (12) having a plurality of freezing chambers (14) which are divided between a plurality of chamber rows arranged one after another in a first tray extending direction, the freezing chambers arranged in pairs adjacent to each other in the first tray extending direction being separated by a recess (38) on a tray lower side of the ice-making tray; a wall element (36) for defining a cold air channel (28) between the underside of the ice-making tray and the wall element in a freezing operation position of the wall element relative to the ice-making tray. The wall element is designed with an air deflection structure protruding locally into the cold air channel and in the frozen operating position of the wall element and when seen in a normal projection onto the ice making tray, the air deflection structure is located in a region of the ice making tray containing a freezing chamber, the air deflection structure having an extension transverse to the first tray extension direction.

Description

Ice maker for household refrigeration device

Technical Field

The present invention relates to an ice maker for a domestic refrigeration device.

Background

Household devices for refrigerating food products (e.g. refrigerators, freezers) are occasionally equipped with ice machines capable of producing ice pieces that can be removed by the user as desired. In a conventional ice maker, water is filled into a cavity-like depression or compartment in an ice making tray. These depressions or compartments will hereinafter be referred to as freezer cavities. Each for producing an ice cube. Once the water in the freezing chamber is frozen, the tray is emptied, wherein the ice cubes that have formed are collected in a collection container. In order to release frozen ice cubes from an ice making tray, a solution known in the art is that the tray has a certain flexibility or pliability and twists itself (so-called "twist tray" ice making machines). Twisting of the tray causes ice cubes located therein to disengage from the surface of the tray; by rotating the tray as a whole, ice cubes that have been detached can fall from the tray and into the collecting container. Other conventional solutions use a heatable ice-making tray, wherein ice cubes released from the tray surface after heating are wiped out of the tray by a movable wiping arm and fall into a collection container.

In order to accelerate the freezing process, it is conventionally known to direct a flow of cold air along the underside of the ice-making tray, see for example DE102016009710A1. The flowing cool air absorbs heat energy from the material of the ice making tray and dissipates the absorbed heat energy. However, it has been shown that conventional ice-making machines still need improvement in the freezing speed of ice cubes.

Disclosure of Invention

It is therefore an object of the present invention to further develop in construction an ice maker which is installed in a domestic refrigeration device in such a way that it is able to provide an improvement in the refrigerating capacity.

To achieve this object, the invention starts from an ice maker for a domestic refrigeration device, wherein the ice maker comprises: an ice making tray having a plurality of freezing chambers divided between a plurality of chamber rows arranged one after another along a first tray extending direction, wherein freezing chambers adjacent in pairs along the first tray extending direction are separated by a recess on a tray lower side of the ice making tray; and a wall element for defining a cool air passage extending along the first tray extension direction of the ice making tray, substantially over the entire length of the ice making tray, between an underside of the ice making tray and the wall element in a freezing operation position of the wall element with respect to the ice making tray. According to the invention, in such an ice maker a wall element is provided which is designed with at least one air deflection structure which protrudes locally into the cold air channel and which, in a frozen operating position of the wall element and when seen in normal projection onto the ice making tray, is located in a region of the ice making tray containing the freezing chamber and which has an extension transverse to the direction of extension of the first tray. In the solution according to the invention, the air deflection structure forms a local flow obstruction, that is to say an obstruction of which the cold air flowing in the cold air channel in the direction of extension of the first tray experiences a local, that is to say a local limited obstruction, as a result of the air deflection structure protruding into the cold air channel. The local restriction here means that the first tray extends in the direction, that is to say that the blocking portion is locally restricted in the direction of extension of the first tray. Thus, if the cold air channel experiences a narrowing (continuously or in stages) up to this point, which continues to the outflow end of the cold air channel, due to the corresponding configuration of the wall element, no local flow obstruction is present. Such a flow obstruction does not refer to an air deflection structure of the wall element that protrudes locally into the cold air channel.

In an ice-making tray having a continuous planar underside over the entire cavity area (that is, the area where the freezer cavity is located), the cool air flowing in the cool air passage can easily reach all areas of the underside of the tray and dissipate heat with good efficiency in all areas. However, the present invention assumes that the freezing chambers adjacent in pairs in the extending direction of the first tray are separated from each other by the notches at the tray lower sides of the ice making tray. In at least some embodiments, such a recess may be so deep that it extends over a substantial portion of the cavity height for nearly the entire cavity height of the freezer cavity. As a result of such notches, the cold air flowing in the cold air channel may not reach all surface areas of the ice making tray on its ice making tray underside well enough. In particular, those cavity walls between which a recess exists may be unaffected or only insufficiently affected by the flowing cold air, and thus heat dissipation from only such cavity walls is insufficient. By configuring the wall elements with suitably formed locally protruding air deflection structures, it is achieved that at least parts of the cold air flowing in the cold air channel are deflected when they hit the air deflection structures, such that a better flow of cold air through at least some of the recesses of the ice making tray is achieved than if no air deflection structures were present. In particular, the air deflection structures are configured such that they achieve a targeted local deflection of the cold air striking them in a direction towards one or more of the recesses on the underside of the ice-making tray, i.e. a target local deflection, so that the cold air can penetrate deep into the recess in question. Thus, at least in some embodiments, a localized flow obstruction within the meaning of the present invention formed by the air deflection structure is an obstruction that achieves a targeted deflection of cool air flowing in the cool air channel in a direction toward at least one notch on the underside of the tray between adjacent cool air chambers.

Assuming a tray design in which the length of the ice making tray is greater than its width, in some embodiments the first tray extension direction is the longitudinal direction of the ice making tray. In some embodiments, the ice making tray has at least four or at least five or at least six cavity rows one after the other along the first tray extension direction. Each cavity row may contain a single freezing cavity, or alternatively a plurality, for example two or three, of freezing cavities side by side.

In some embodiments, the at least one air deflection structure comprises a plurality of air deflection structures spaced apart from each other along the first tray extension direction and arranged one after the other. The mutual spacing between two successive air deflection structures corresponds, for example, at least approximately and in particular substantially exactly to the spacing between two successive rows of chambers. When viewed in the direction of extension of the first tray, at least in some embodiments, the air deflection structure accordingly forms a plurality of partial flow obstructions, each partial flow obstruction being associated with a different row of cavities. The air deflection structures may protrude into the cool air passage by substantially equal amounts or different distances. For example, it is conceivable that the first air deflecting structure protrudes less into the cold air channel than the second air deflecting structure located downstream.

Some embodiments provide that in the freezing operation position of the wall element and when seen in a normal projection of the ice making tray, each of the at least one air deflection structure is located at least partially in a region between two adjacent cavity rows along the first tray extension direction, in particular in a region between two adjacent freezing cavities along the first tray extension direction. Thus, in some embodiments, the air deflection structure is located in, or at least extends into, a region of the recess between two adjacent freezing chambers when seen in a normal projection of the ice making tray.

According to some embodiments, the at least one air deflection structure comprises an air deflection structure associated with each of a plurality of cavity pairs of the ice making tray adjacent along the first tray extension direction.

Certain embodiments provide that the at least one air deflection structure comprises air deflection structures associated with only a partial number of all cavity pairs of the ice making tray adjacent in the first tray extension direction. It is possible here that the at least one air deflection structure comprises an air deflection structure associated only with such a pair of cavities, the freezer cavities of such a pair of cavities being arranged downstream of the first row of cavities close to the inflow side of the cool air passage. Alternatively or additionally, the at least one air deflection structure comprises an air deflection structure associated with only such a pair of cavities, the freezing cavities of such a pair of cavities being arranged upstream of the last row of cavities close to the outflow side of the cool air passage. Thus, in such an embodiment, the recess between the first cavity row and the second cavity row or/and between the penultimate cavity row and the last cavity row remains unchanged when seen in the flow direction of the cold air, without such associated air deflection structure.

In some embodiments, the at least one air deflection structure forms at least one spade or ramp shaped air deflection surface that protrudes locally into the cold air channel, and the at least one spade or ramp shaped air deflection surface is suitably configured to deflect incoming cold air in a direction toward the recess between at least one of the pair of cavities. Thus, the air deflection surface is suitably shaped to deflect cool air flowing in the cool air channel along the underside of the tray to the air deflection surface in a direction transverse to the plane of the tray such that at least portions of the cool air are deflected into one or more recesses on the underside of the tray. To this end, the air deflection surface may form, for example, a substantially linear ramp surface or an arcuately curved spade surface.

According to some embodiments, the wall element is designed downstream of at least one, in particular each air deflection structure, with a partial, in particular fully enclosed wall aperture. The wall openings establish a connection between the cool air passage and a space region located below the wall element in the freezing operation position of the wall element. Without such wall holes, a dead zone may form behind (i.e. downstream of) the air deflection structure in question, where there is little or even no flow past the dead zone, and relatively hot air accumulates in the dead zone. The wall holes provide a suction effect and better flow of cool air through the area behind the air deflection structure.

Some embodiments provide that the at least one air deflection structure comprises an air deflection structure which extends in a direction perpendicular to the first tray extension direction over a length corresponding to at least half of the extension of the ice making tray measured in said direction in the freezing operation position of the wall element, when seen in a normal projection on the ice making tray.

In some embodiments, the ice maker further comprises a support structure rotatably mounted to the ice making tray for mounting in the refrigeration device, wherein the wall element is mounted on the support structure so as to be movable relative thereto. The support structure is for example configured to enclose the ice making tray in a frame manner.

Drawings

The invention will be explained below with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

figure 1 schematically illustrates an ice maker according to one example embodiment,

figure 2 is a perspective view of an ice maker according to another exemplary embodiment,

figure 3 is a vertical longitudinal section through components of the ice maker of figure 2,

fig. 4 shows in perspective a wall element of the ice maker of fig. 2, said wall element being used to form an air channel, and

fig. 5 is a vertical longitudinal section through the wall element of fig. 4.

Detailed Description

Reference is first made to fig. 1. The ice maker shown therein is generally indicated at 10. It is installed in, for example, a domestic refrigerator or a domestic freezer, and has an ice making tray 12, for example, made of plastic material, in which a block of ice can be produced (generally, regardless of their specific shape, commonly referred to as ice cubes). To this end, the ice-making tray 12 has a plurality of freezing chambers 14, each freezing chamber 14 for producing one ice cube. In the example shown, the freezing chamber 14 is formed by a cavity-like depression in the base of the ice making tray 12. For example, the freezing chambers 14 are arranged in a regular n m matrix, where n > m. For example, in some embodiments, n=6, and m=2. It will be understood that these are merely numerical examples and are not intended to limit the embodiments at all. In any event, in the example shown in fig. 1, the ice making tray 12 is shown with a total of six cavity rows (cavities rows), where one freezing cavity 14 or multiple (e.g., two) freezing cavities 14 may be arranged side-by-side in each cavity row, i.e., side-by-side into the plane of the drawing in the representation of fig. 1. The ice making tray 12 has a length greater than a width. In fig. 1, the ice making tray 12 is shown in a vertical longitudinal section; thus, in the representation of fig. 1, the ice making tray 12 extends from right to left corresponding to its longitudinal extension. This is the first tray extension direction within the meaning of the present disclosure.

Fresh water may be filled into the freezing chamber 14 of the ice making tray 12 through the water supply device 16. In the example shown, the water supply 16 comprises a water reservoir 18 and a feed device 20, by means of which feed device 20 water from the water reservoir 18 can be led into the ice making tray 12 in a quantitatively controlled manner. The water supply 16 may be connected to a conventional permanent connection that is part of a domestic water system. In this case, the water storage container 18 may be omitted, and water from the permanent connection may be filled directly into the ice making tray 12 through the feeding device 20 instead.

Underneath the ice making tray 12 there is a collection container 22 in which finished ice cubes (denoted 23) can be collected.

Cold air (e.g., at a temperature below-15 degrees celsius) is directed by a cold air guide system 24 from a cold air source (not shown in detail) into the region of the ice making tray 12, wherein the cold air is discharged through nozzles 26 into cold air channels 28 extending in the ice making tray longitudinal direction, i.e., in the first tray extending direction, below the ice making tray 12. In the representation of fig. 1, the discharged cool air flows through the cool air passage 28 from right to left and exits the cool air passage 28 at the passage end on the outflow side, i.e., at the left-hand end. In the cool air duct 28, cool air flows along the underside of the tray in direct contact with the tray material of the ice making tray 12. The cold air draws thermal energy from the water introduced into the freezing chamber 14 and thereby accelerates the freezing of the water.

In the example shown, the ice making tray 12 is arranged rotatable about a horizontal rotation axis (not shown in detail) by a drive unit 30, for example a motor drive unit. After a batch of ice cubes has been frozen in the freezing chamber 14 of the ice making tray 12, the ice making tray can be rotated at least 90 degrees about the mentioned rotation axis from the ice making position shown in fig. 1 and optionally even further into an ice discharge position in which the frozen ice cubes can fall from the ice making tray 12 into the collecting container 22 by activating the drive unit 30. During this rotation of the ice making tray 12, the ice making tray may twist itself (twisted) at the same time to thereby disengage the frozen ice cubes from the walls of the freezing chamber 14 so that they can fall from the ice making tray 12 by gravity only after the ice making tray 12 has been sufficiently rotated.

It will be appreciated that the present invention is not limited to ice making machines having ice making trays that operate by the "twist tray" principle. Instead, it is equally conceivable to produce the ice-making tray 12 from a rigid, non-twistable material, such as aluminum or another material with good thermal conductivity. The ice-making tray in such embodiments may be heatable in order to release frozen ice cubes from the tray material. The ice cubes may then be pushed out of the freezer cavity 14 by an ejection mechanism (not shown in detail) and may fall into the collection container 22. The rotatability of the ice making tray 12 is not required in such an embodiment.

By means of a sensor system (which is schematically shown by the sensor 32 in fig. 1), the frozen state of the water in at least one of the freezing chambers 14 can be detected by means of the sensor. In at least some embodiments, the sensor 32 is mounted on the ice making tray 12, e.g., it is embedded in, or adhesively bonded or otherwise secured to a wall portion of the ice making tray 12. For example, the sensor system may include one or more infrared sensors or/and thermistors. The sensor system transmits one or more of its sensor signals to, for example, a microprocessor-based electronic control unit 34, which electronic control unit 34 controls the rotary drive 30 in dependence on the detected freezing state of the water in the ice making tray 12, and controls refilling of the freezing chamber 14 with water from the water supply 16 after the ice making tray 12 has been emptied and returned to the ice making position.

In the ice making position of the ice making tray 12, the cold air channel 28 is delimited at the top by the ice making tray 12 and at the bottom by wall elements 36 having, in a cross section perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the tray, for example, the form of grooves or slots with laterally protruding side walls. The side walls may protrude as far as the longitudinal sides of the ice making tray 12 so as to also define the cool air passages 28 in the tray transverse direction, that is, into and out of the plane of the drawing in the representation of fig. 1.

The ice making tray 12 is formed at a tray underside thereof with a plurality of recesses 38, each recess 38 being disposed between a pair of adjacent freezing chambers 14 in the tray longitudinal direction. Because the freezing chamber 14 is configured to taper toward the bottom in the illustrated example, the recess 38 is wider at the bottom and becomes narrower toward the top. It will be appreciated that this design of the illustrated freezer cavity 14 and recess 38 is exemplary only and is not intended to be limiting. Importantly, while the ice making tray 12 does not have a continuously flat underside due to the notches 38, the notches 38 provide a fairly deeply extending partial depression of the surface profile on the underside of the ice making tray 12 relative to the tray envelope surface 40 relative to the nominal tray envelope surface 40 on the underside of the cavity base connecting the freezer cavity 14 on the underside of the ice making tray 12.

Although the mentioned unevenness, i.e. unevenness, is present on the underside of the ice making tray 12, in order to ensure a good flow into all surface areas of the freezer compartment 14, i.e. into the recess 38, the wall element 36 is designed with at least one air guide fin 42 which protrudes into the cold air channel 28 and performs a deflection function on the cold air flowing in the cold air channel. In the example shown, the wall element 36 has three such air guiding fins 42 which are spaced apart from one another in the channel longitudinal direction (corresponding to the tray longitudinal direction) and are arranged one after the other. Within the meaning of the present invention, the air guiding fins 20 form an air deflection surface; for example, they may form a linearly rising air deflection ramp or an arcuately curved air deflection spade. In the freezing operation position of the wall elements 36 shown in fig. 1, in a normal projection of the ice making tray 12 (i.e. when seen perpendicular to the tray plane of the ice making tray 12), they are located in the region of the ice making tray 12 in which the freezing chamber 14 is located, and they extend in the tray transverse direction (i.e. into the plane of the drawing when viewing fig. 1) over, for example, at least half or two-thirds or three-quarters of the width of the ice making tray 12. In the example shown, each of the air guiding fins 42 is arranged spatially associated with one of the notches 38 when seen in the tray longitudinal direction, i.e. such that cold air impinging on one of the air guiding fins 42 is deflected by the air guiding fin into the associated notch 38 in said direction. This ensures that there is sufficient cold air flowing around the freezer compartment 14 even in the region of the recess 38.

Each of the air guiding fins 42 forms a partial flow obstruction for the cold air flowing in the cold air channel. Behind each air guiding fin 42, the channel cross section of the cold air channel 38 increases again (measured with respect to the envelope surface 40); thus, the flow obstruction is a point at which the flow of cold air is locally obstructed. Nevertheless, in the exemplary embodiment shown in fig. 1, the cool air passage 28 narrows continuously from the passage end on the inflow side (right-hand end in fig. 1) to the passage end on the outflow side (left-hand end in fig. 1), again measured relative to the envelope surface 40. By this overall reduction of the cross section of the cold air channel 28, an increased flow velocity of the cold air towards the channel end on the outflow side can be achieved, and thus the heat absorption capacity of the flowing cold air is sufficiently high up to the channel end on the outflow side. The general narrowing of the cold air channel 28 may be achieved by a suitable form of the wall element 36; however, this is not a partial air deflection formation within the meaning of the present disclosure, even if the wall element 36, when seen in a vertical longitudinal section of the ice making tray 12, has for this purpose a contour oriented approximately obliquely to the longitudinal direction of the ice making tray 12 from the channel end on the inflow side to the channel end on the outflow side, as shown in the example of fig. 1.

The size, shape, and orientation of the air guide fins 42 may be substantially the same for all air guide fins 42. However, the air guiding fins 42 may be advantageously changed, for example with respect to their height protruding into the cold air channel 28. Thus, in some embodiments, it may be provided that the air guide fins 42 located relatively downstream have a greater height than the air guide fins 42 located relatively upstream.

In the example shown, in which six recesses 38 are formed one after the other on the underside of the tray in the longitudinal direction of the tray, the first recess 38 (between the first and second cavity rows) in the longitudinal direction of the tray and the last recess 38 (between the penultimate cavity row and the last cavity row) in the longitudinal direction of the tray do not have associated air guide fins 42 on the wall element 36. Instead, the air guide fin 42 is associated with only each of the three intermediate notches 38 (between the second and third cavity rows, between the third and fourth cavity rows, and between the fourth and fifth cavity rows). However, it is of course possible to provide the wall element 36 with air guiding fins 42 associated with the first recess 38 and/or the last recess 38. The measurement of the freezing time of the ice cubes in the freezing chamber 14 may indicate which of said recesses 38 requires an increased flow of cold air, on the one hand in order to optimally match the freezing times of the freezing chamber 14 to each other and, on the other hand, in order to shorten the longest freezing time of the freezing chamber 14.

In order that the wall elements 36 do not interfere with the frozen ice cubes 23 when the ice cubes 23 are ejected from the ice making tray 12, the wall elements 36 may be arranged to rotate in conjunction with the ice making tray 12. It will be appreciated that the wall elements 36 may alternatively be removed from the drop path of ice cubes 23 falling from the ice making tray 12 in another manner, such as by a linear lateral movement transverse to the ice making tray 12. The position of the wall element 36 shown in fig. 1 corresponds to a freezing operation position, from which the wall element 36 can be moved together with the ice making tray 12 or with respect to the ice making tray 12 to a non-operation position (not shown in detail) for emptying the ice making tray 12.

Reference will now be made to the exemplary embodiments of fig. 2 to 5. In these figures, the same or identically effective components have the same reference numerals as in fig. 1, but with the addition of lower case letters. For an explanation of such components that are identical or have the same effect, reference is made to the preceding description unless otherwise indicated below.

The ice maker 10a of the exemplary embodiment of fig. 2-5 includes a support structure 44a, and the ice making tray 12a is mounted on the support structure 44a so as to be rotatable about a rotation axis 46a extending in the tray longitudinal direction. The wall element 36a is also mounted on the support structure 44a so as to be movable relative thereto. For example, wall element 36a is coupled to ice making tray 12a for conjointly rotating about axis of rotation 46 a. The support structure 44a additionally provides a receiving space (not shown in detail) for the electric drive motor and optional reduction gear. The driving motor and the reduction gear, if present, form a driving unit (see driving unit 30 of fig. 1) of the ice making tray 12 a. The support structure 44a forms together with components mounted or arranged thereon, such as the ice making tray 12a, the wall elements 36a, the drive motor and optionally the reduction gear, an ice making module which constitutes a mechanically fully functional structural unit. In this way, the ice making module may be installed in a domestic refrigerator or ice bin. It will be seen that the support structure 44a forms a rectangular frame into which the ice making tray 12a is inserted.

As in the exemplary embodiment of fig. 1, in the exemplary embodiment of fig. 2 to 5, the wall element 36a is also designed with a plurality (here three) of air guide fins 42a, which are arranged one after the other, for deflecting the cooling air in a targeted manner, i.e. in a targeted manner, which flows in the cooling air channel 28a into the recesses 38a between at least some of the adjacent cavity row pairs (here between the second cavity row and the third cavity row, between the third cavity row and the fourth cavity row and between the fourth cavity row and the fifth cavity row, counted in the upstream-to-downstream direction). Behind each of the air guiding fins 42a, a circumferential partial wall hole 48a is formed in the wall element 36 a. These wall holes 48a allow cool air from below the wall member 36a to flow into the cool air passage 28a due to the suction effect of the cool air flowing in the cool air passage 28 a. The inflow of cool air prevents the formation of relatively hot air accumulation in the lee of the air guide fins 42 a. In the example shown, the wall aperture 48a has a width (measured in the tray transverse direction) that substantially corresponds to the width of the air guide fin 42. In the example shown, the air guide fins 42a and the wall holes 48a are configured such that the wall holes 48a can be substantially completely closed by pushing the air guide fins 42a down into the open areas of the wall holes 48a under the conceptual assumption that the air guide fins 42a are flexible or bendable. It will be appreciated that this flexibility of the air guide fins 48a is merely a conceptual aid in explaining the form of the air guide fins 42a and wall holes 48a in the illustrated example. In a practical embodiment, the air guide fins 42a may of course be rigid.

In addition, as is apparent from fig. 3 and 5 in particular, not all of the air guiding fins 42a have the same height, i.e. they do not protrude as deeply into the air guiding channel 28 a. Instead, in the illustrated example, the first air guiding fin 42a (located between the second cavity row and the third cavity row) in the upstream direction is designed to have a smaller height than the following two air guiding fins 42a in the downstream direction.

Further, in the illustrated example, the first air guiding fin 42a in the upstream direction is designed to have a slightly smaller width than the following two air guiding fins 42a in the downstream direction. Thus, depending on the requirements of the freezing chamber 14a for water-cooling assistance, the air guide fins 42a may be designed to have different heights and/or different widths.

In the example of fig. 2 to 5, the air guide fins 42a are bent in a spade-like manner, in which they are concavely bent in a direction from the feet of the fins to the free ends of the fins, and are concavely bent also in a direction of the width of the fins. It will be appreciated that this curved form of the air guide fins 42a is also merely an example, and may be appropriately adjusted according to the cooling requirements.

Claims (11)

1. An ice maker for a domestic refrigeration device, comprising:

an ice making tray having a plurality of freezing chambers which are arranged in a row between a plurality of chamber rows arranged one after another in a first tray extending direction, wherein the freezing chambers arranged in pairs adjacent to each other in the first tray extending direction are separated by a recess on a tray lower side of the ice making tray;

a wall element for defining a cold air channel extending between an underside of the ice making tray and the wall element along the first tray extension direction of the ice making tray, substantially over the entire length of the ice making tray in a freezing operation position of the wall element with respect to the ice making tray,

wherein the wall element is designed with at least one air deflection structure which protrudes locally into the cold air channel and which, in a frozen operating position of the wall element and when seen in a normal projection onto the ice making tray, is located in a region of the ice making tray containing the freezing chamber and which has an extension transverse to the first tray extension direction.

2. The ice maker of claim 1, wherein the at least one air deflection structure comprises a plurality of air deflection structures spaced apart from one another along the first tray extension direction and arranged one after the other.

3. Ice maker according to claim 1 or 2, wherein each of the at least one air deflection structure is arranged to be at least partially located in a region between two adjacent rows of cavities in the first tray extension direction, in particular in a region between two adjacent freezer cavities in the first tray extension direction, in the freezer operating position and when seen in a normal projection onto the ice making tray.

4. The ice maker of any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the at least one air deflection structure includes an air deflection structure associated with each of a plurality of cavity pairs of the ice making tray adjacent in the first tray extension direction.

5. The ice maker of any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the at least one air deflection structure includes air deflection structures associated with only a partial number of all pairs of cavities of the ice making tray adjacent in the first tray extension direction.

6. The ice-making machine of claim 5, wherein said at least one air deflection structure comprises an air deflection structure associated with only such a pair of cavities, the freezing cavities of such a pair of cavities being arranged downstream of the first row of cavities proximate the inflow side of the cool air passage.

7. The ice-making machine of claim 5, wherein said at least one air deflection structure comprises an air deflection structure associated with only such a pair of cavities, the freezer cavities of such a pair of cavities being arranged upstream of the last row of cavities near the outflow side of said cool air passage.

8. The ice maker of any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the at least one air deflection structure forms at least one spade or ramp shaped air deflection surface that protrudes locally into the cold air channel to deflect incoming cold air in a direction toward a recess between one of the cavity pairs.

9. Ice making machine according to any one of claims 1-8, wherein the wall element is designed downstream of at least one, in particular each air deflection structure, with a partial, in particular fully surrounding wall aperture.

10. Ice maker according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the at least one air deflection structure comprises an air deflection structure which extends perpendicularly to the first tray extension direction in the freezing operation position of the wall element-when seen in a normal projection on the ice making tray-the length of the extension corresponds to at least half of the extension of the ice making tray, measured in that direction.

11. Ice maker according to any of claims 1 to 10, comprising a support structure which rotatably mounts the ice making tray, in particular surrounds the ice making tray in a frame-like manner, for mounting in the refrigeration device, wherein the wall element is mounted on the support structure so as to be movable relative thereto.