EP1844272A1

EP1844272A1 - Ice-making machine

Info

Publication number: EP1844272A1
Application number: EP05823795A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Craig Duncan Webster; Nathan Wrench; Bernd Heger
Original assignee: BSH Bosch und Siemens Hausgeraete GmbH
Current assignee: BSH Hausgeraete GmbH
Priority date: 2005-01-24
Filing date: 2005-11-29
Publication date: 2007-10-17
Also published as: DE102005003238A1; US20090126391A1; US8181471B2; WO2006076976A1

Abstract

The invention relates to an ice-making machine comprising a tray (1) provided with at least one compartment (4) for forming a chunk of ice, a frame (15) in which the tray is mounted in such a way that it can pivot about an axis (14), and a motor (22) for driving the pivoting movement of the tray, said motor being mounted on the frame (15) next to the tray (1) in such a way that it is staggered perpendicularly to the axis.

Description

Ice makers

The present invention relates to an ice maker with a tray having at least one compartment for forming a piece of ice, a frame in which the tray is pivotally mounted about an axis, and a motor for driving the pivotal movement of the tray. Various ice makers of this type are known, for example, from US Pat. No. 6,571,567 B2.

In these known ice makers, the motor is arranged in each case on the pivot axis. One problem with such icemakers is the space they need to pan the tablet. This space must be available in a refrigerator in which such an icemaker is installed. The larger the dimensions of the tray transverse to the pivot axis, the more difficult it is to provide sufficient space for the tray to pivot for ejecting the finished ice pieces, e.g. with a fresh water supply line, an adjacent wall of the refrigerator, a Aulfangbehälter for the ice cubes or its contents, etc. collide.

This generally forces an elongated design of the tray and the entire icemaker in the direction of the pivot axis. A receptacle for the pieces of ice of satisfactory capacity, if its footprint should not be greater than that of the frame, have a considerable height. This makes it difficult to accommodate the icemaker complete with collecting container in a refrigerator. If you leave a footprint of the collection container, which is wider than that of the tray and the motor-bearing frame, so the space above the collection container can be used only incomplete.

The object of the invention is to provide an ice maker that is compact and thus easy to insert into a refrigerator.

The object is achieved in that in a refrigerator of the type mentioned above, the motor is mounted on the frame transversely to the axis offset next to the tray. A next to the tray extending box can be used except for housing the engine conveniently also for control electronics, the z. B. time-dependent and / or controlled by a detected amount of ice in the collecting container.

The tray is preferably pivotable between an upright position in which the opening of the compartment is directed upwardly and which can freeze water in the compartment, and a discharge position in which the opening of the compartment (4) points downwards, thus forming a finished piece of ice can fall out.

The space requirement for the movement of the tray can be kept low, if that the tray is driven only oscillating, rather than to describe a complete revolution about its axis.

In order nevertheless to be able to use a low-cost unidirectional motor, it is preferable to provide a transmission which converts a rotary movement into an oscillating movement and which couples the motor to the tray.

From a compartment with a circular segment-shaped cross-section, a piece of ice can be removed from the mold in a particularly simple manner by sliding in the circumferential direction of the circle segment without, as in the case of a conventional cuboid ice piece of e.g. As in US 6,571,567 B2 considered type, during demolding between the bottom of the tray and the ice body forms a cavity that impedes demolding, unless a prevailing in the cavity vacuum is compensated.

An electric heater may be provided on the icemaker tray to accelerate and facilitate demolding by superficial roughening of finished pieces of ice.

In order to achieve an intensive heat exchange with the environment, the tray may be provided with protruding heat exchanger fins. These ribs can simultaneously serve to hold a rod-shaped heating device inserted between them. It is also expedient that the tray has at least one row of several compartments separated by intermediate walls and is pivotable into a tilted position in which a predetermined quantity of water filled into a row of the tray (1, 1 ', 1 ") covers the upper edges of the intermediate walls ( 3) is partially flooded between the compartments (4) of the row, while after pivoting back into the upright position, the intermediate walls (3) separate the subsets of water distributed over the compartments (4) To balance water levels between the compartments and thereby produce uniform pieces of ice.

When the tilted position and the unloading position are reachable from the upright position by pivoting in opposite directions, the whole cycle of ice making can be easily controlled in the same direction movement of the tray, from the balance in the tilted position to the freezing in the upright position proceed to demolding in the emptying position.

Fig. 1 is an exploded view of an automatic ice maker according to a preferred embodiment of the invention;

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the ice maker of Figure 1 in the assembled state with Eisbereiter tray in tilted position.

Fig. 3 is a front view of the ice maker of Fig. 1 and 2 in the direction of

Pivot axis;

4 shows the view of Figure 3 with partially cut sensor housing.

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Figure 2 view with ice maker tray in an upright position.

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 4 with the ice maker tray in upright

Position;

Fig. 7 is a perspective view similar to Figures 2 and 5 with the

Ice maker tray in emptying position; FIG. 8 is a view analogous to FIGS. 4 and 6; FIG.

9 is a perspective exploded bottom view of the

Ice-maker tray;

10 is a view of the ice maker from below;

Fig. 11 is a section through the ice maker along the line Xl-Xl of Fig. 10, with

Detection body in avoidance position;

12 is an enlarged detail of FIG. 11, partially in section along the line T-

T of Fig. 11;

Fig. 13 is a section through the ice maker along the line Xl-Xl of Fig. 10, with

Detecting body in equilibrium position; and

14 is an enlarged detail of FIG. 13, partially in section along the line T-

T from FIG. 13.

1 shows an automatic ice cube maker according to the present invention for installation in a refrigerator in an exploded perspective view. It comprises a tray 1 in the form of a channel with a semi-cylindrical bottom, which is closed at their end sides in each case by transverse walls 2 and divided by uniformly spaced intermediate walls 3 in a plurality of identically shaped compartments 4, here seven pieces, with semi-cylindrical bottom , While the intermediate walls 3 are flush with the longitudinal wall 5 facing away from the observer, the longitudinal wall 6 facing the observer is extended beyond the upper edges of the intermediate walls 3. While the intermediate walls 3 are exactly semicircular, the transverse walls 2 in each case corresponding to the projection of the front longitudinal wall 6 on a sector 7 extending beyond the semicircular shape.

The tray is shown 1 in a tilted position, in which the upper edges of the segments 7 are substantially horizontal, while the intermediate walls 3 to the longitudinal wall 6 are downhill. The tray 1 may be a plastic molding, preferably, because of the good thermal conductivity, it is designed as a cast aluminum.

On one of the transverse walls 2 of the tray 1, a hollow cylinder 11 is mounted; it serves for the sheltered accommodation of a coiled supply cable 12 which serves for the power supply of a heating device 13 (see FIG. 9) which is not visible in the figure and is attached to the underside of the tray 1. The tray 1 lies completely within an imaginary extension of the lateral surface of the hollow cylinder 11, which also represents the smallest possible cylinder into which the tray fits. An axle journal 14 projecting from the transverse wall 2 facing the viewer extends on the longitudinal central axis of the hollow cylinder 11.

A molded plastic frame serving as a support is designated 15. It has an upwardly and downwardly open cavity 16 which is provided to mount the tray 1 therein. On the end walls 17, 18 of the cavity 16 bearing bushes 19, 20 are formed for the pivotable mounting of the tray 1. A longitudinal wall of the cavity 16 is formed by a receptacle box 21 which is provided to receive a drive motor 22 as well as various electronic components for controlling the operation of the icemaker. On the shaft of the drive motor 22, a pinion 23 is mounted, which can be seen better in Figures 3, 4, 6 and 8 respectively as in Figure 2. When fully assembled icemaker 23 finds the pinion space in a cavity 24 of the end wall 17th It forms there with a gear 25, a reduction gear.

The gear 25 carries a projecting in the axial direction pin 26 which is provided to engage in a vertical slot 27 of a vibrating body 28. The vibrating body 28 is guided horizontally displaceable by means of the front wall 17 in the cavity 24 projecting pin 29 which engage in a horizontal elongated hole 30 of the vibrating body. A toothing 31 formed on a lower edge of the oscillating body 28 meshes with a toothed wheel 32, which is provided so as to be non-rotatably mounted on the stub axle 14 of the tray 1. A to be screwed on the open side of the end wall 17 cover plate 33 closes the cavity 24. A mounting flange 34 with laterally beyond the end wall 17 protruding tabs 35 is used for mounting the icemaker in a refrigerator. A bottom plate 36 closes from below the box 21st

Fig. 2 shows, seen from the side of the end wall 18 and the box 21 ago, in a perspective view of the ice maker with the tray 1 in a tilted position. The upper edges of the sectors 7 on the transverse walls 2 of the tray 1 are horizontal.

Fig. 3 shows a frontal view of the ice maker from the side of the end wall 17 ago, with cover plate 33 and mounting flange 34 are omitted to give the view into the cavity 24 of the end wall 17 free. The configuration shown here is the one where the icemaker is assembled. Various markings indicate a correct positioning of individual parts relative to each other. A first pair of markings 37, 38 is located on the end wall 17 itself, or on the gear 26 carrying the pin 26. If these markings 37, 38, as shown in the figure, are exactly aligned with each other, the pin 26 is located in a three o'clock position, that is, on the right-most point of his path, which he can reach. The mounted on the pin 26 and the stationary pin 29 vibrating body 28 is located at the right turning point of its path.

Aligned markings 39, 40 on a protruding beyond the sprocket flange 41 of the gear 32 and on the end wall 17 show a correct orientation of the gear 32 and consequently also with its journal 14 in a cross-sectionally T-shaped recess of the gear 32nd engaging tray 1 on. An inherently redundant pair of markers 42, 43 on the teeth 31 of the pivot body 28 and the gear 32 indicates the correct positioning of the gear 32 and the oscillating body 31 with respect to each other.

A sensor 44 for detecting the rotational position of the gear 32 is mounted adjacent thereto. It cooperates with a rib 45 projecting from the edge of the flange 41 on a part of its circumference in the axial direction, so that it can dive into a slot at the rear of the sensor housing. In the tilted position of FIG. 3, the rib 45 is largely hidden by the sensor 44 and the vibrating body 28. FIG. 4 differs from FIG. 3 in that the housing of the sensor 44 is shown partially cut away, so that two light barriers 46, 47 bridging the slot can be seen in its interior. The rib 45 is located just above the two light barriers 46, 47 so that an unillustrated control electronics can recognize from the fact that both light barriers are open, that the tray 1 is in the tilted position and the drive motor 22 can stop to hold the tray 1 in the tilted position and can fill.

After a predetermined amount of water has been metered into the tray 1 under the control of the control circuit, the drive motor 22 is set in motion by the control unit to bring the tray 1 in the upright position in which the amounts of water in the compartments 4 of the tray. 1 neatly separated from each other. This position is shown in FIG. 5 in a perspective view corresponding to FIG. 2 and in FIG. 6 in a front view corresponding to FIG. 4. The gear 25 is further rotated with respect to the position of Fig. 4 in the clockwise direction, but the same position of the tray 1 could also be achieved by a rotation of the gear 25 in the counterclockwise direction. The achievement of the upright position is recognized by the fact that the rib 45 begins to obstruct the lower light barrier 47.

In the upright position, the tray 1 remains standing for a while until the water in the compartments 4 is frozen. The standing time in the upright position can be fixed; Alternatively, the control circuit may also be connected to a temperature sensor to determine a sufficient time at the measured temperature for freezing the water on the basis of a measured temperature in the environment of the tray 1 and a characteristic curve stored in the control circuit.

After elapse of this period, the drive motor 22 is restarted to rotate the gear 25 in the position shown in Fig. 8, with the pin 26 in the 9 o'clock position. The control circuit detects that this position is reached when both light barriers 46, 47 are open again. The rib 45 is now clearly visible in the figure over much of its length. In this position, the compartments 4 of the tray 1 are open at the bottom, so that the pieces of ice contained therein can fall into a storage chamber, which is located below the frame 15. The storage chamber can be limited by a not shown in the figures housing part of the ice maker; In the simplest and preferred case, the storage chamber is only a free space below the installation position of the frame 15 in a refrigerator. Such free space can also be used to store refrigerated goods other than pieces of ice when the icemaker is not in operation.

In order to facilitate the dissolution of the pieces of ice from the compartments 4, the already mentioned electric heater 13 is provided. As can be seen in FIG. 9, this heating device 13 is a looped electric heating rod which extends in close contact with the tray 1 between heat exchanger ribs 49 projecting from its underside and partly in one at the bottom of the tray 1 formed groove 48 is received.

By briefly heating the tray 1 by means of the heater 13, the pieces of ice in the subjects 4 are superficially thawed. The water layer thus produced between the tray 1 and the pieces of ice acts as a sliding film on which the pieces of ice are movable with very little friction. Due to the cylindrical segment cross-sectional shape of the compartments 4, the pieces of ice easily slide out of the compartments 4 and fall into a storage container 50 located in the storage compartment below the rack 15.

After draining the compartments 4, the drive motor is restarted, and the gear 25 is further rotated clockwise until it reaches the position shown in Fig. 2 to 4 again and begins a new cycle of operation of the icemaker.

As shown in FIG. 7, the receptacle 50 formed of clear plastic material has substantially the shape of a cuboid whose open upper side extends under the entire extent of the frame 15 with the exception of its hollow end wall 17. This end wall 17 has a downwardly directed projection 51, which extends to below the upper edge of the reservoir 50. At this projection 51 a concealed in Fig. 7 by the box 21 of the frame 15 detection body 52 is pivotally suspended about a vertical axis 53. The detection body 52 is in the perspective of Figure 8 largely hidden by the reservoir 50 facing outer surface of the projection 51. Only through two windows 54, 55 of the outer wall parts of the detection body 52 can be seen. A coil spring 56 is wound around the axis 53 of the detection body 52 and has free ends engaging the outer wall of the projection 51; the spring 56 holds the detection body 52 pressed against the side wall of the reservoir 50.

The detection body 52 is part of a multi-purpose sensor, the structure and function of which is clearer from FIGS. 10 to 14.

Figure 10 shows a view of the frame 15 and the tray 1 suspended therein from below, wherein the tray is in a position corresponding to Figure 5. An obliquely drawn over the box 21 of the frame 15 line Xl-Xl indicates the position of the sectional planes of the figures 11 and 13 at.

In the section of Figure 11, the motor 22 and parts of the transmission for driving the pivoting movement of the tray 1 can be seen. Below the gear are located on the projection 51 of the side wall 17 of the detection body 52 and, partially surrounded by this, in the infrared or visible emitting light-emitting diode 57th

The detection body 52 is pressed by the adjoining side wall of the reservoir 50 against the force of the spring 56 in an evasive position, in which he largely immersed in the hollow side wall 17. In this position, as seen more clearly in the detail enlargement of FIG. 11 in FIG. 12, which is partially cut along the plane TT, a window 58 of the detection body 52 is located on a straight line between the light emitting diode 57 and one sensitive to the light of the light emitting diode 57 Element 59, such as a photodiode, which is housed in the box 21 on a side opposite the wall 17 and is aligned by a window 60 in a sloping wall at the bottom of the box 21 to the light emitting diode 57. Thus, light from the light-emitting diode 57 can reach the photodiode 59 on a beam path 61 shown as a dot-dash line in FIG.

The icemaker operates only when the light intensity received by the photodiode 59 exceeds a predetermined threshold. If on the beam path 61 between the LED 57 and the photodiode 59 are in the reservoir 50 pieces of ice, the light is scattered so strong that the threshold at the photodiode 59 is reached. Thus, the further generation of ice is suppressed when the level in the reservoir 50 reaches the beam path 61. Since this beam path 61 extends over part of its length below the upper edge of the storage container 50, the ice making is safely stopped before the storage container 50 can overflow.

FIG. 13 shows a section analogous to FIG. 11 through the frame 15, although here the reservoir 50 is removed. In this case, the detection body 52 can yield to the pressure of the spring 56 and moves into its equilibrium position shown in FIG. 13 and enlarged in FIG.

In this equilibrium position, the window 58 is no longer in the beam path 61, so that the detection body 52 blocks the light beam. Therefore, when the reservoir 50 is not present, sufficient light intensity does not arrive at the photodiode 59, and ice making is also stopped.

Claims

claims

An ice maker comprising a tray (1) having at least one compartment (4) for forming a piece of ice, a holder (15) in which the tray (1) is mounted about an axis

(14) is pivotally mounted, and a motor (22) for driving the pivoting movement of the tray (1), characterized in that the motor (22) is arranged on the holder (15) transversely to the axis offset next to the tray (1) ,

2. Ice maker according to claim 1, characterized in that the motor (22) in the first longitudinal third of the holder (15) is provided.

3. Ice maker according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the holder

(15) has an adjacent to the tray (1) extending receptacle (21) in which the motor (22) and an electronic control unit for controlling the operation of the motor (22) are arranged.

4. Ice maker according to claim 3, characterized in that the control electronics comprises a sensor (57, 59) for detecting the presence of ice and / or a collecting container (50) for ice below the holder (15).

5. Ice maker according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the tray between an upright position in which the opening of the compartment is directed upwards, and a discharge position in which the opening of the compartment (4) facing downward, is pivotable ,

6. ice maker according to claim 5, characterized in that the tray (1) is driven to oscillate.

7. icemaker according to claim 6, characterized in that the motor is unidirectional and is coupled by a rotational movement in an oscillating motion converting gear to the tray.

8. Ice maker according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the compartment (4) has the shape of a circle segment in cross section.

9. Ice maker according to one of the preceding claims, characterized by an electric heater (13).

10. Ice maker according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the tray has at least one row of a plurality of intermediate walls (3) separated compartments (4) and is pivotable in a tilted position in which a predetermined in a row of the tray (1 , 1 ', 1 ") filled amount of water flooded the upper edges of the intermediate walls (3) between the subjects (4) of the series partly, while after swinging back into the upright position, the intermediate walls (3) on the compartments (4) distributed subsets separate the amount of water from each other.

11. Ice maker according to claim 10, characterized in that the tilted position and the emptying position are accessible from the upright position by pivoting in opposite directions.