EP3957934B1

EP3957934B1 - Ice-crushing device and refrigerator

Info

Publication number: EP3957934B1
Application number: EP19925086.1A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Zhenyu Zhao; Yanqing Zhang; Qihai DU; Fangyou ZHANG; Lihua ZUO
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: 2019-04-18
Filing date: 2019-10-15
Publication date: 2024-03-20
Anticipated expiration: 2039-10-15
Also published as: EP3957934A4; CN111829239A; EP3957934A1; AU2019440809B2; AU2019440809A1; WO2020211309A1

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to the technical field of household appliances, and specifically to an ice crushing device and a refrigerator.

BACKGROUND

As science and technology develops continuously and people's living standard improves continuously, household appliances also have more and more functions to adapt for people's higher and higher requirements for life quality, e.g., an ice maker is added to the refrigerator. The ice maker of the refrigerator comprises an ice making device and an ice crushing device. The ice making device prepares ice cubes and then stores them in a barrel-shaped container for easy use by people. Meanwhile, to facilitate use, technicians set ice-providing modes of the refrigerator as a crushed ice mode and an ice cube mode. In the crushed ice mode, what the user gets are crushed ice cubes, whereas in the ice cube mode, what the user gets is a whole ice cube.
In the prior art, the crushed ice mode and the ice cube mode are implemented by setting an ice crushing blade assembly in the barrel-shaped container. The ice crushing blade assembly comprises a stationary ice cutter and a movable ice cutter. A rotating shaft of the ice crushing blade assembly is movably inserted through one end of the stationary ice cutter and fixedly inserted through one end of the movable ice cutter so that the rotating shaft brings the movable ice cutter to rotate. When the rotating shaft rotates positively (i.e., rotates towards the stationary ice cutter) and the movable ice cutter crosses with the stationary ice cutter, the ice crushing blade assembly crushes the ice cube. This is the crushed ice mode. When the rotating shaft rotates reversely, the ice crushing blade assembly only functions to drive and stir the ice cubes nearby the ice cutter and causes the ice cubes to slide out of an outlet of the barrel-shaped container. This is the ice cube mode.
However, an ice outlet of the ice crushing device is open so that when the ice box is taken out of the refrigerator or the refrigerator shakes as the user opens or closes the door body of the refrigerator, the ice cubes are prone to fall out of the ice outlet. To prevent the falling phenomenon of the ice cubes, a slope with a certain height is added at the ice outlet in the prior art. Such a manner of adding a slope at the ice outlet effectively reduces the probability of the fall of the ice cubes, but when the entire ice is taken out, the entire ice is prone to be pressed into pieces between the movable ice cutters and the slope, and the entire ice supply rate is reduced.
WO2019066489A1 discloses a refrigerator that comprises: an ice bucket for storing ice; a transfer member for transferring the ice stored in the ice bucket; and an ice crushing apparatus provided outside the ice bucket, for discharging without crushing, or crushing and discharging the cubed ice discharged from the ice bucket.
CN108413667B discloses a crushed ice structure for refrigerator.
EP2339277A2 discloses a refrigerator including a slim refrigerator door.
Therefore, to solve the problem about a low rate of supplying entire ice caused by the fall of the ice cubes in the prior art, embodiments of the present application provide an ice crushing device capable of preventing the fall of ice cubes without affecting the rate of supplying entire ice, and a corresponding refrigerator.

SUMMARY

To solve the problem about a low rate of supplying entire ice caused by the fall of the ice cubes in the prior art, embodiments of the present application provide an ice crushing device capable of preventing the fall of ice cubes without affecting the rate of supplying entire ice, and a corresponding refrigerator. A stop assembly is added to the ice crushing device to prevent the crushed ice from falling off, and furthermore, the setting of the stop assembly does not affect the entire ice supply rate.
In particular, according to embodiments of the present application, there are provided an ice crushing device and a refrigerator as defined in the appended claims.
Embodiments of the present application have the following advantages.
The ice crushing device according to embodiments of the present application is newly-added the stop assembly to prevent the crushed ice from falling off, and the setting of the stop assembly does not affect the entire ice supply rate. Furthermore, the stop assembly further comprises an elastic member for providing a restoring force so that the stopper in the stop assembly can automatically return.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an ice crushing device according to a first preferred embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the ice crushing device of FIG. 1 with a hosing being hidden;
FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of a housing assembly in FIG. 1;
FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the housing in FIG. 1;
FIG. 5 is a schematic perspective view of the housing of FIG. 1 as viewed from another perspective;
FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the housing of FIG. 5;
FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the ice crushing device of FIG. 1 with partial hosing being hidden;
FIG. 8 is a perspective view of an ice crushing assembly of the ice crushing device of FIG. 1;
FIG. 9 is an exploded perspective view of part of the ice crushing assembly of FIG. 8;
FIG. 10 is a perspective view of a stop of FIG. 8;
FIG. 11 is a perspective view with partial housing being hidden according to a second preferred embodiment of the present application;
FIG. 12 is an exploded perspective view of a housing assembly of FIG. 11;
FIG. 13 is a perspective view with partial housing being hidden according to a third preferred embodiment of the present application;
FIG. 14 is an exploded perspective view of a housing assembly of FIG. 13.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to specific embodiments shown in the figures.
A first preferred embodiment according to the present invention discloses a refrigerator. The refrigerator comprises a cabinet and a door body for opening or closing the cabinet. The cabinet defines storage compartments. The number and structure of the storage compartments may be configured according to different needs. The storage compartments usually comprise a refrigerating compartment and a freezing compartment.
As shown in FIG. 1 through FIG. 10, the refrigerator further comprises an ice crushing device 100 which is disposed on the cabinet or the door body. The ice crushing device 100 comprises a housing assembly 10, a driving mechanism 30 and an ice crushing mechanism 50 mounted in the housing assembly 10. The housing assembly 10 comprises a housing 11 and an ice bank 12 supported within the housing 11. The driving mechanism 30 is used to drive the ice bank 12 to rotate, and at least a portion of the driving structure 30 is installed in the housing. The ice crushing mechanism 50 is disposed in the ice bank 12 and is used to crush the ice cubes prepared by the ice maker. The housing assembly 10 further comprises an ice-discharging substrate 13 provided at the bottom of the ice bank 12, and the ice-discharging substrate 13 is fixedly disposed relative to the housing 11. Preferably, the ice-discharge substrate 13 and the housing 11 may be disposed integrally, e.g., integrally formed by injection molding. The ice-discharging substrate 13 is provided with an ice-discharging port 131 communicated with the ice bank 12. The ice-discharging port 131 may be a substantially sector-shaped opening on the ice-discharging substrate 13. A central angle of the sector-shaped opening is substantially smaller than 180 degrees, preferable between 120 degrees and 170 degrees. The ice cubes prepared by the ice maker are crushed by the ice crushing mechanism 50 in the ice bank 12 and then discharged through the ice-discharging port 131.
In an example, the driving mechanism 30 comprises a motor (not shown) and a cylindrical gear 31 driven by the motor. An outer circumference of the ice bank 12 is provided with external teeth 121. The cylindrical gear 31 meshes with the external teeth 121 to drive the ice bank 12 to rotate. Further, a gear assembly is provided between the motor and the cylindrical gear 31. The gear assembly comprises a first bevel gear 32 connected to the motor and a second bevel gear 33 meshing with the first bevel gear 32. The cylindrical gear 31 and the second bevel gear 33 are disposed coaxially and relatively fixedly, that is, the motor drives the first bevel gear 32 to rotate, and the cylindrical gear 31 and the second bevel gear 33 rotate synchronously, to thereby realize the transmission of a torque from the motor to the ice bank 12. By providing two bevel gears and the cylindrical gear 31, the overall size of the driving mechanism may be reasonably designed, so that the engagement between the motor and the gear assembly is more compact such that the overall volume of the ice crushing device becomes smaller. Certainly, the driving mechanism may also be other transmission structures, such as a belt transmission mechanism, a chain transmission mechanism, a worm wheel-worm mechanism etc. The gear mechanism is not limited to bevel gears, but may also be spur gears, helical gears, herringbone gears, curved gears, and so on.
The housing 11 comprises a first portion 11a that houses the ice bank 12 and a second portion 11b in which the driving mechanism 30 is mounted. The first portion 11a is configured to match the outer circumference of the ice bank 12, that is, the first portion 11a is also provided in a cylindrical shape. The ice bank 12 rotates in the cylindrical first portion 11a. In order to facilitate the power transmission of the ice bank 12 and the overall sealing performance of the ice crushing device, an opening 111 is provided on the first portion 11a, and a meshing portion of the cylindrical gear 31 and the external teeth 121 is located at the opening 111, so that the opening 111 may be minimized so long as the stable meshing of the cylindrical gear 31 and the external teeth 121 can be satisfied. The housing assembly 10 further comprises a bottom plate 14, the bottom of the second portion 11b is open, and the bottom plate 14 covers the bottom of the second portion 11b to seal the cylindrical gear 31 between the second portion 11b and the bottom plate 14. The bottom of the ice-discharging substrate 13 is provided with a clamping slot 133. The bottom plate 14 is provided with a bump 143 that is shaped to fit in the clamping slot 133. The bump 143 is fitted in the clamping slot 133. Preferably, both the bump 143 and the clamping slot 133 are both set in a fish shape to enable a better overall sealing perform of the ice crushing device.
In addition, the first portion 11a is provided with a first step portion 113 and a second step portion 114 apart in an axial direction of the ice bank 12. A backing ring (not shown) is provided between the ice bank 12 and the first portion 11a. The backing ring has a flanging at one end. The flanging abuts against the first step portion 113, and the other end of the backing ring abuts against the second step portion 114. With the backing ring 16 being disposed, the rotation of the ice bank 12 is made more stable, and the rotational wear between the ice bank 12 and the housing 11 is reduced.
Referring to FIG. 3, for the sake of easy manufacture of the housing 11 and convenient assembling of the driving mechanism 30, the housing assembly 10 further comprises a rear cover 15 connected to the housing 11, an outer side of the rear cover 15 is connected to the motor, and the first bevel gear 32 and the second bevel gear 33 are supported between the rear cover 15 and the housing 11. Referring to FIG. 4, since there is relative rotation between the ice bank 12 and the ice-discharging substrate 13 and since there is a gap between the ice bank 12 and the opening 111 of the meshing portion of the cylindrical gear 31 and between the ice bank 12 and the housing 11, in order to prevent the crushed ice in the ice bank 12 from entering the driving mechanism 30 through the opening 111 or the gap, a groove 136 extending along the circumferential direction of the ice bank 12 may be provided between the ice-discharging substrate 13 and the first portion 11a, the groove 136 is communicated with the ice-discharging port 131, and a lower edge of the ice bank 12 projects into the groove 136. In this way, the crushed ice cannot cross the groove 136 and cannot enter the driving mechanism 30 on the other side. The crushed ice will first accumulate in the groove 136. When the ice bank 12 rotates, the crushed ice will be taken away and fall out of the ice-discharging port 131, thereby effectively solving the problem of the piling of the crushed ice. A protrusion 137 is formed on the bottom of the ice-discharging substrate 13 at a position corresponding to the groove 136, the bottom plate 14 is provided with a recess 147, the protrusion 137 is snap fitted into the recess 147 to facilitate mounting the bottom plate, and furthermore, the clamping slot 133 for connecting the bottom plate is adjacent to the protrusion 137, thereby forming a labyrinth seal structure, preventing lubricants or impurities, crushed ice, etc. between the gears from leaking out of the housing assembly 10.
Referring to FIG. 8 and according to the invention, the ice crushing mechanism 50 comprises an ice cutter shaft 51 fixed relative to the housing 11, and several movable ice cutters 52 and several stationary ice cutters 53 disposed on the ice cutter shaft 51 at an interval, wherein the ice cutter shaft 51 is fixed on the ice-discharging substrate 13. The ice cutter shaft 51 comprises a shaft core 515, a shaft sleeve 511 and an end nut 513, wherein the shaft core 515 is located in an internal space of the shaft sleeve 511. A bottom end of the shaft core 515 is provided with a thread which matches the end nut 513. Different from the prior art, the movable ice cutter 52 is fixed relative to the ice bank 12, and the stationary ice cutter 53 is fixed relative to the ice cutter shaft 51. As such, the movable ice cutter 52 is driven by the ice bank 12 to rotate, and the stationary ice cutter 53 is fixed relative to the housing 11. The ice cubes in the ice bank 12 are crushed by the rotation of the movable ice cutter 52 with respect to the stationary ice cutter 53. In addition, in order to prevent the ice cubes from being frozen together, an ice agitating rod 54 may be installed at one end of the ice cutter shaft 51 away from the ice-discharging port 131. The ice agitating rod 54 may extend toward the other end of the ice cutter shaft 51 and be fixed to the movable ice cutter 52, and achieves agitation of the ice cubes as the movable ice cutter 52 rotates. Certainly, the rotation of the movable ice cutter 52 may be enabled in a way that the movable ice cutter 52 is directly fixed on an inner wall of the ice bank 12, or in a way that the movable ice cutter 52 and the ice agitating rod 54 are fixed relative to each and the ice agitating rod 54 is fixed on the inner wall of the ice bank 12. The "fixed" here means fixed relative to the circumferential direction of the ice bank 12, the axial direction may be set to be fixed, or the axial distance may be adjusted relative to the ice bank 12.
In an example, the inner wall of the ice bank 12 is provided with a first limiting groove 123 extending in the axial direction, one end of the ice agitating rod 54 is snap fitted in the first limiting groove 123, and the movable ice cutters 52 are circumferentially fixed to the ice agitating rod 54. The movable ice cutters 52 comprise two blades which are arranged in line with each other, two movable ice cutters 52 are disposed, two stationary ice cutters 53 are also disposed, and the movable ice cutters 52 are disposed adjacent to the stationary ice cutters 53. Two ice agitating rods 54 are also disposed corresponding to the number of blades of the movable ice cutters 52. One end of each ice agitating rod is provided with a second limiting groove 543 extending in the axial direction. The corresponding two blades of the two movable ice cutters are respectively provided with a projection 523, and two projections 523 are both snap-fitted in the second limiting groove 543, thereby achieving circumferential fixation of the movable ice cutters 52 relative to the ice agitating rods 54.
Further referring to FIG. 4, the ice-discharging port 131 of the ice-discharging substrate 13 is of an open type. When the ice box is taken out of the refrigerator or the refrigerator shakes as the user opens or closes the door body of the refrigerator, the ice cubes are prone to fall out of the ice-discharge port 131. Although a slope is added at the ice-discharging port 131 to prevent the fall of ice cubes in the prior art, the extension of the slope in the height direction causes the reduction of space from the movable ice cutters 52 to the ice-discharging port 131, which causes the entire ice to be prone to be pressed into pieces between the movable ice cutters 52 and the slope, so that the entire ice supply rate of the ice crushing device 100 is reduced.
Referring to FIG. 7 through FIG. 10, in the embodiment of the present application, a stop assembly is added to the ice crushing device 100 to achieve the effect of preventing the fall of the ice cubes without affecting the entire ice supply rate. In the present embodiment, the stop assembly comprises a stopper 73 for stopping ice cubes, an elastic member 72 for providing a restoring force to return the stopper 73, and a fixing member 71 for fixing the stopper 73 and the elastic member 72. In the present embodiment, since the elastic member 72 is mainly used to provide a restoring force to return the stopper 73, the elastic member 72 may also be called a restoring member.
The stopper 73 comprises a stopping portion 732 and a fixed portion 731. The stopping portion 732 is a plate-like structure having a predetermined height in the vertical direction and a predetermined length in the horizontal direction, and forms a stopping surface with its own structure to thereby prevent the ice cubes from falling. The fixed portion 731 is generally cylindrical and comprises a first through hole 731b and a stepped surface 731a. The stepped surface 731a serves as a first fixed end face for fixing the elastic member 72. The first through hole 731b is used to mate with the ice cutter shaft 51. In the present embodiment, the shaft core 515 of the ice cutter shaft 51 passes through the first through hole 731b. The stopper 73 further comprises a reinforcing rib 735, which is located between the stopping portion 732 and the fixed portion 731 and configured to strengthen the connection between the stopping portion 732 and the fixed portion 731. The stopping portion 732 is plate-shaped, and the fixed portion 731 is cylindrical. Therefore, an original connection end face between the stopping portion 732 and the fixed portion 731 is a line connection. When the momentum of the ice cubes is large, the stopping portion 732 of the line connection is prone to break or fall off, thereby causing the stop to fail. The reinforcing rib 735 provides an additional connection between the stopping portion 732 and the fixed portion 731, thereby effectively improving the connection strength between the two, and improving the stopper 73's capability of resisting against impact from the ice cubes. The reinforcing rib 735 is a triangular-like plate structure, which further improves the connection area and connection strength.
In the present embodiment, the elastic member 72 is specifically a torsion spring. The shape of the fixed member 71 is generally cylindrical, and comprises a second fixed end face for fixing the elastic member 72, and a second through hole for mating with the ice cutter shaft.
In the present embodiment, the stop assembly is coaxially mounted on the ice cutter shaft 51 with the movable ice cutters 52 and the stationary ice cutters 53. The stop assembly is located between adjacent movable ice cutter 52 and stationary ice cutter 53. Upon installation, the fixed member 71, the elastic member 72 and the stopper 73 in the stop assembly are sequentially sleeved on the shaft core 515. The elastic member 72 (i.e., torsion spring) is located in a space defined by the first fixed end face and the second fixed end face. The ice breaking device 100 may comprise a plurality of stop assemblies, thereby providing multi-stopping. In the vertical direction, the stopping portions 732 of the stoppers 73 of the plurality of stop assemblies are on the same plane. According to the principle of action of a force, when the stopper 73 is installed, a side which is of the stopper 73 and provide with the reinforcing rib 735 needs to be located on a side of the ice-discharging port 131.
In an initial state, the torsion spring is in a free state; when the stopper 73 is rotated by an external force, the torsion spring receives a torsion force, changes into a working state and stores a restoring force. When the rotational torsion force of the stopper 73 decreases or disappears, the restoring force of the torsion spring pushes the stopper 73 to rotate reversely and restore the initial state.
When the entire ice is taken out, the movable ice cutters 52 will push the ice cubes to drive the stoppers 73 to rotate towards the ice-discharging port 131 on a horizontal plane. When the ice cubes reach the ice-discharging port 131, the entire ice will fall; after completion of the taking out of the entire ice, the stopper 73 returns to the initial position under the action of the restoring force of the elastic member 72. When the ice box is taken out, the stopper 73 does not move, is not affected by the movement of the movable ice cutters 52, and is located at the initial position. With the stopping function, the stopper 73 may effectively prevent crushed ice from falling out of the ice-discharging port 131.
In the present example, the state of taking out the entire ice is defined as a second state, and a state other than the state of taking out of the entire ice is defined as a first state. The first state comprises a state of taking the ice box out of the refrigerator or a state of generating shake of the refrigerator when the user opens or closes the refrigerator door. When the ice crushing device 100 is in the first state, the stop assembly is in the initial state and a stopping surface is formed at the ice-discharging port 131 to stop the ice cubes from falling; when the ice crushing device 100 is in the second state, the stop assembly displaces under the action of an external force (namely, an external force applied by the movable ice cutters 52 pushing the ice cubes on the stopper 73) to release the stopping surface. After the external force disappears, the stop assembly returns to the initial state. The stop assembly has a function of effectively preventing the fall of the crushed ice without affecting the entire ice supply rate, as well as automatically returning to the initial state.
FIG. 11 through FIG. 12 show another embodiment of the present application. According to the invention, the stop assembly is mounted at a position of the ice-discharging substrate 3 adjacent to the ice-discharging port 131, and specifically mounted on a distal end face of the ice-discharging substrate 13. The stop assembly comprises a stopper 73 for stopping ice cubes, and an elastic member 72 for providing a restoring force to return the stopper 73; the distal end face of the ice-discharge substrate 13 is provided with a snap-fitting portion 132 for fixing the stopper 73 and the elastic member 72. The stopper 73 forms a stopping surface with a preset height at a boundary of the ice-discharging substrate 13 and the ice-discharging port 131, and the stopping face blocks the channel through which the ice cubes fall. In the present embodiment, since the elastic member 72 is mainly used to provide a restoring force to return the stopper 73, the elastic member 72 may also be called a restoring member.
The stopper 73 comprises a stopping portion 732 and a fixed portion 731. The stopping portion 732 is a plate-like structure having a predetermined height in the vertical direction and a predetermined length in the horizontal direction, and forms a stopping surface with its own structure to thereby prevent the ice cubes from falling. A length of the stopping portion in the horizontal direction is about equal to or slightly smaller than a radius of the ice-discharging substrate 13. The fixed portion 731 is cylindrical, and may also referred to as a pivot shaft. Correspondingly, the snap-fitting portion 132 is a snap-fitting structure (i.e., a shaft-hole structure) having a through hole that may receive the pivot shaft. Preferably, the distal end face of the ice-discharging substrate 13 is provided with a plurality of snap-fitting portions 132 which are spaced apart by a preset distance, which facilitate the rotation balance of the stopper 73. The fixed portion 731 is connected with or integrally manufactured with the stopping portion 732. The elastic member 72 is specifically a torsion spring. The torsion spring is sleeved on the fixed portion 731 and located at an end away from the housing 11, i.e., located at an end of the fixed portion 731 adjacent to the ice cutter shaft 51. One end of the torsion spring is abutted against by the ice cutter shaft 51, and the other end of the torsion spring is abutted against by the connection of the fixed portion 731 and the stopping portion 732. Upon mounting, the fixed portion 731 is snap-fitted into the snap-fitting portion 132, and the spring is sleeved on the end of the fixed portion 731 adjacent to the ice cutter shaft 51.
In an initial state, the torsion spring is in a free state; when the stopper 73 is reversed, the torsion spring receives a torsion force, changes into a working state and stores a restoring force. When the reversing torsion force of the stopper 73 decreases or disappears, the restoring force of the torsion spring pushes the stopper 73 to reverse reversely and restore the initial state.
When the entire ice is taken out, the movable ice cutters 52 will push the ice cubes to drive the stoppers 73 to rotate towards downward the ice-discharging port 131 on a vertical plane. When the ice cubes reach the ice-discharging port 131, the entire ice will fall; after completion of the taking out of the entire ice, the stopper 73 returns to the initial position under the action of the restoring force of the elastic member 72. When the ice box is taken out, the stopper 73 does not move, is not affected by the movement of the movable ice cutters 52, and is located at the initial position. With the stopping function, the stopper 73 may effectively prevent crushed ice from falling out of the ice-discharging port 131.
In the present embodiment, the state of taking out the entire ice is defined as a second state, and a state other than the state of taking out of the entire ice is defined as a first state. The first state comprises a state of taking the ice box out of the refrigerator or a state of generating shake of the refrigerator when the user opens or closes the refrigerator door. When the ice crushing device 100 is in the first state, the stop assembly is in the initial state and a stopping surface is formed at the ice-discharging port 131 to stop the ice cubes from falling; when the ice crushing device 100 is in the second state, the stop assembly displaces under the action of an external force (namely, an external force applied by the movable ice cutters 52 pushing the ice cubes on the stopper 73) to release the stopping surface. After the external force disappears, the stop assembly returns to the initial state. The stop assembly has a function of effectively preventing the fall of the crushed ice without affecting the entire ice supply rate, as well as automatically returning to the initial state.
In the present embodiment, the object driven by the driving mechanism 30 may also be replaced with the ice cutter shaft 51, that is, the driving mechanism 30 drives the ice cutter shaft 51 to rotate, whereas the ice bank 12 is fixed relative to the housing 11. Since the ice crushing manner in which the driving mechanism 30 drives the ice cutter shaft 51 to rotate whereas the ice bank 12 is fixed relative to the housing 11 is of the prior art ( CN105509391A ), it will not be described in detail any more here.
FIG. 13 through FIG. 14 show a further preferred embodiment of the present application. In the present embodiment, the stop assembly only comprises the stopper 73, and at least part of the stopper 73 has elastic properties. The stopper 73 is mounted at a position of the ice-discharging substrate 13 adjacent to the ice-discharging port 131, and specifically mounted on the distal end face of the ice-discharging substrate 13.
The stopper 73 comprises a stopping portion 732 and a fixed portion 731. The stopping portion 732 has elastic properties. When the stopping portion 732 is subjected to an external force, it can bend elastically; after the external force disappears, the stopping portion 732 can restore the initial state due to its elastic properties. In the present embodiment, the material of the stopping portion 732 is specifically silicone rubber. In other embodiments, the material of the stopping portion 732 may be other types of materials with elastic properties.
The stopping portion 732 is a curved surface structure having a predetermined height in the vertical direction and a predetermined length in the horizontal direction, and a recessed surface of the curved surface structure faces the ice storage area. The stopping portion 732 forms a stopping curved surface with its own structure, thereby preventing the ice cubes from falling. The stopping portion 732 comprises a distal end 732a away from the ice-discharging substrate 13 and an interfacing end 732b interfacing with a substrate surface 135 of the ice-discharging substrate 13. The thickness of a cross section of the stopping portion 732 gradually decreases along the direction from the interfacing end 732b to the distal end 732a, thereby effectively balancing the blocking force for blocking the crushed ice and the elastic force for taking out the entire ice. The height of the stopping portion 732 is lower than the vertical height of the lowermost movable ice cutter 52.
The fixed portion 731 abuts against a side wall portion 134 of the ice-discharging substrate 13 to fix the stopper 73 on the distal end face of the ice-discharging substrate 13. The fixed portion 731 may be integrally formed with the stopping portion 732. For ease of assembly, the stopper 73 and the housing 11 are two-shot blow molded.
When the entire ice is taken out, the movable ice cutter 52 will push the ice cubes to drive the stopper 73 to elastically deform. When the ice cubes reach the ice-discharging port 131, the entire ice will fall; after completion of the taking out of the entire ice, the stopper 73 returns to the initial position under the action of its own elastic restoring force. When the ice box is taken out, the stopper 73 is not subjected to an external force and does not deform. With the stopping function, the stopper 73 may effectively prevent crushed ice from falling out of the ice-discharging port 131.
According to the invention, the state of taking out the entire ice is defined as a second state, and a state other than the state of taking out of the entire ice is defined as a first state. The first state comprises a state of taking the ice box out of the refrigerator or a state of generating shake of the refrigerator when the user opens or closes the refrigerator door. When the ice crushing device 100 is in the first state, the stopper 73 is in the initial state and a stopping surface is formed at the ice-discharging port 131 to stop the ice cubes from falling; when the ice crushing device 100 is in the second state, the stopper 73 changes its shape under the action of an external force (namely, an external force applied by the movable ice cutters 52 pushing the ice cubes on the stopper 73) to release the stopping surface. After the external force disappears, the stopper returns to the initial state under action of its own elasticity. The stopper 73 has a function of effectively preventing the fall of the crushed ice without affecting the entire ice supply rate, as well as automatically returning to the initial state due to its own elastic properties.
In the present embodiment, the object driven by the driving mechanism 30 may also be replaced with the ice cutter shaft 51, that is, the driving mechanism 30 drives the ice cutter shaft 51 to rotate, whereas the ice bank 12 is fixed relative to the housing 11. Since the ice crushing manner in which the driving mechanism 30 drives the ice cutter shaft 51 to rotate whereas the ice bank 12 is fixed relative to the housing 11 is of the prior art, it will not be described in detail any more here.

Claims

An ice crushing device (100), wherein the device comprises:
a housing assembly (10), the housing assembly comprising a housing (11) and an ice bank (12) supported within the housing (11);

an ice crushing mechanism (50) disposed in the ice bank (12) and comprising an ice cutter shaft (51), several movable ice cutters (52) and several stationary ice cutters (53) disposed on the ice cutter shaft (51) at an interval;

a driving mechanism (30) for driving the ice bank (12) to rotate, at least a portion of the driving mechanism (30) being mounted in the housing (11);

the housing assembly (10) further comprises an ice-discharging substrate (13) provided at the bottom of the ice bank (12), and the ice-discharging substrate (13) is fixedly disposed relative to the housing (11), the ice cutter shaft (51) is fixed on the ice-discharging substrate (13), the ice-discharging substrate (13) is provided with an ice-discharging port (131) communicated with the ice bank (12), and the ice cubes prepared by an ice maker are crushed by the ice crushing mechanism (50) in the ice bank (12) and then discharged through the ice-discharging port (131);

a stop assembly disposed in the ice bank (12);

when the ice crushing device (100) is in a first state, the stop assembly is in an initial state and a stopping surface is formed at the ice-discharging port (131) to stop the ice cubes from falling; when the ice crushing device (100) is in a second state, the stop assembly displaces or changes its shape under the action of an external force to release the stopping surface; after the external force disappears, the stop assembly returns to the initial state and forms the stopping surface again;

characterized in that, the stop assembly is mounted on a distal end face of the ice-discharging substrate (13), the stop assembly comprises a stopper (73) and a restoring member (72), the stopper (73) is used to form a stopping surface stopping ice cubes from falling off, the restoring member is used to provide a restoring force to return the stopper (73), the distal end face of the ice-discharge substrate (13) is provided with a snap-fitting portion (132) for fixing the stopper (73) and the restoring member (72);

wherein the stopper is disposed at a position on the ice-discharging substrate (13) adjacent to the ice-discharging port (131), the stopper (73) forms a stopping surface with a preset height at a boundary of the ice-discharging substrate (13) and the ice-discharging port (131), and the stopping face blocks the channel through which the ice cubes fall.
The ice crushing device according to claim 1, wherein the second state is a state of taking out entire ice, and the first state is a state other than the state of taking out entire ice.
The ice crushing device according to claim 1, wherein the stopper comprising a stopping portion (732) and a fixed portion (731), a distal end face of the ice-discharge substrate (13) is provided with a snap-fitting portion (132), and the fixed portion (731) is matchingly fixed with the snap-fitting portion.
The ice crushing device according to claim 3, wherein the restoring member (72) is a torsion spring which is disposed on the fixed portion (731) and located at an end away from the housing (11).
The ice crushing device according to claim 1, wherein the stopper comprises a stopping portion (732) made of an elastic material, and the stopping portion (732) is used to form a stopping surface stopping ice cubes from falling off.
The ice crushing device according to claim 1, wherein the stopper further comprises a fixed portion connected with the stopping portion, and the fixed portion is fixed on a side wall of the ice-discharging substrate.
The ice crushing device according to claim 5, wherein the stopping portion comprises a distal end away from the ice-discharging substrate and an interfacing end interfacing with a substrate surface of the ice-discharging substrate, and a thickness of a cross section of the stopping portion gradually decreases along a direction from the interfacing end to the distal end.
A refrigerator, wherein the refrigerator comprises a cabinet, a door body for opening or closing the cabinet, and the ice crushing device according to any of claims 1-7, the ice crushing device (100) being disposed on the cabinet or the door body.