JP2000274898A - Refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a simple construction and surely clean an ice-making pan. SOLUTION: In the refrigerator 1 including an automatic ice-making machine wherein an ice-making part 6 comprising an ice-making pan 13, wherein one of the sides is opened, and a drive device 14 to turn the pan 13 and an ice storage container 7 provided below the part 6, and water is fed into the pan 13 when the open side of the pan 13 is directed upward to make ice, following which the pan 13 is turned so that the open side thereof is directed downward to release the ice and such ice making action is automatically repeated until a predetermined amount of ice is stored in the container 7, a turning holding device is provided to hold the pan 13 so that the open side thereof is directed downward.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to a refrigerator provided with an automatic ice maker.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in such a refrigerator, an ice tray is
When used for a long period of time, dirt adheres, and thus water supply and drainage (inverting the ice tray) are repeated a predetermined number of times to rinse.

[0003] However, some users find it difficult to remove dirt such as water scale by simply rinsing in this way, and there has been a demand for more reliable cleaning.

Therefore, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 5-223418 (F25C 1/10) discloses that water in a water supply tank is supplied to an ice tray by a water supply pump, and ice produced by the ice tray is inverted by an inverting operation of the ice tray. In the automatic ice maker of the electric refrigerator, which is supplied to the ice storage box and detects whether or not the ice storage box is full of ice by the ice detecting means, the ice tray is detachably mounted to clean the ice tray. An automatic ice making device for an electric refrigerator is disclosed.

[0005]

When the ice tray is made detachable, cleaning becomes easy. However, when the ice tray is made detachable, the structure becomes complicated, failures may frequently occur, and the cost of the product may increase. It also leads to up.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and provides a refrigerator having a simple structure and intended to make an ice tray surely cleanable.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ice making section comprising an ice tray having an opening on one side and a driving device for rotating the ice tray. An ice storage container provided below the ice making unit, wherein ice is supplied by supplying water with the opening of the ice tray facing upward, and after the ice making, the ice tray is turned to turn the opening downward. A refrigerator equipped with an automatic ice making machine that automatically repeats an ice making operation of separating ice by a predetermined amount of ice in the ice storage container, wherein the reversing holding device holds a state in which an opening of the ice making tray faces downward. Refrigerator provided with.

[0008] Therefore, in a state where the ice tray is inverted downward, the user of the refrigerator can clean his / her ice tray with a cloth or the like by putting his hand in the ice making chamber.

Further, in the invention according to claim 2, the refrigerator according to claim 1, further comprising a switch for operating the reversing holding device.

As described above, when it is desired to clean the ice tray, a switch can be pressed to bring the cleaning state, that is, the inverted state of the ice tray.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, when the door of the storage room provided with the ice making unit is closed or the switch is pressed again during the operation of the reversing holding device, the reversing holding device is stopped. The refrigerator according to claim 2, wherein the refrigerator shifts to an automatic ice making operation.

Therefore, once the switch is pressed and turned over, the ice making tray can be sufficiently cleaned without returning to the automatic operation until the switch is pressed again. Further, even after the ice tray is cleaned, even if the user forgets to press the switch, the operation returns to the automatic operation by closing the door of the ice making room.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, one end of the ice making tray is locked at a predetermined rotation position, and the other end is further rotated to cause the ice making tray to be twisted to separate ice. An ice making device according to the first to third aspects is provided.

As described above, ice removal is performed by twisting the ice tray.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the refrigerator according to the fourth aspect, wherein the inversion holding device detects and holds a predetermined inversion position based on a current value of the driving device.

As described above, the position of the ice tray can be detected by the current value generated in the drive device when the twisting occurs, and the inverted state of the ice tray can be maintained.

[0017]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a two-door refrigerator equipped with the present invention, FIG. 2 is a front view of the refrigerator of FIG. 1 with a door removed, and FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of the two-door refrigerator when an ice tray is inverted. FIG. 4 is a front view of the refrigerator of FIG. 3 with the door removed, FIG. 5 is a front view of the driving device and the ice tray, and FIG. 6 is a front view of the driving device and the ice tray showing the state of the ice tray being inverted. FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the present invention, and FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the operation of automatic ice making.

1 to 4, reference numeral 1 denotes a refrigerator equipped with the present invention, which is a refrigerator 3 as a storage room defined by a heat insulating box 2 having an open front, and a refrigerator 3 below the refrigerator. In addition, a freezing room, that is, an ice making room 4 formed in the heat insulating box 2 is provided, and the refrigerator room 3 and the ice making room 4 are closed by a heat insulating door 5 that can be opened and closed, respectively. In addition, 5A
Is a gasket attached inside the heat insulating door 5.

In this embodiment, a two-door refrigerator 1 will be described, but a multi-door refrigerator such as a three-door or four-door refrigerator may be used.

With the above configuration, the refrigerator compartment 3 and the ice making compartment 4 of the refrigerator 1 are cooled by an evaporator (not shown) provided in the heat insulating box 2. This evaporator forms a refrigeration cycle together with a condenser and a compressor provided outside the heat insulating box 2.

An ice making unit 6 is provided on the upper left side of the ice making chamber 4, and an ice storage container 7 which can be pulled out in the front-rear direction is provided at the lower part. Then, in order to detect the full ice in the ice storage container 7, a full ice detection sensor is attached to an appropriate place.

When the ice storage container 7 of the ice making chamber 4 has a small size, for example, approximately the same area as the ice making section 6, the other space is used as a freezing room.

A water supply device 8 for supplying ice making water to the ice making section 6 is provided at the lower left corner of the refrigerator compartment 3. The water supply device 8 includes a water storage tank 9 for storing ice making water, a water supply pipe 10 for feeding the ice making water in the water storage tank 9 to the ice making section 6, and a water supply pump 11.

The water storage tank 9 is detachable, so that when the water in the ice storage tank 9 runs out, it is removed, supplied with water, and attached. The ice making water sent to the ice making section 6 has a certain low temperature due to the cool air in the refrigerator compartment 3.

Further, the ice making section 6 of the ice making chamber 4 has an opening on the upper surface and an ice making tray 13 in which a plurality of cells 12 for making ice of a predetermined size are formed, and is provided at the front end of the ice making tray 13. A driving device 14 having a drive motor for inverting the ice tray 13 and a rotation provided at a rear end of the ice tray 13 for restricting the rear end of the ice tray 13 from rotating beyond a predetermined angle. It is made up of a regulation unit 15.

As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the rotation restricting portion 15 is formed with a sliding groove 17 into which a projection 16 provided on the rear surface of the ice tray 13 fits and slides. And FIG.
The ice tray 13 rotates from the ice making position of FIG. At this time, the protrusion 16 is caught on the end of the sliding groove 17 of the rotation restricting portion 15, so that the rear side 13A of the ice tray 13 cannot rotate any more, and the front side 13B further continues to rotate. Then, the ice tray 13 is twisted.

Here, the detection of the position of the ice tray 13 is as follows.
This is performed by detecting a current value applied to the drive motor of the drive device 14. That is, when the ice tray 13 is twisted,
Since the drive motor is overloaded, a predetermined time after the overload is applied, the ice tray 13 is in an inverted state. Thus, due to the overload of the drive motor described above,
The position of the ice tray 13 is detected.

Alternatively, the ice tray 13 may be detected based on the difference between the current value before overload and the current value during overload.

Further, the position of the ice tray 13 may be detected by separately providing an infrared sensor, an ice tray position detecting device such as a position detecting switch operated by pressing the ice tray.

As shown in FIG. 7, a control device 18 of the automatic ice maker is connected to a drive device 19 of the water supply pump 11 and an ice release mechanism 20 for performing the above-described ice release operation.
Is connected. Further, the control device 18 has a function as an inversion holding device for inverting and holding the ice tray 13 by pressing the cleaning switch 21 at the time of cleaning. The cleaning switch 21 is provided at a lower portion of the driving device 14, but may be provided at any position.

The normal ice making and de-icing operation of the present invention having the above configuration will be described with reference to FIG.

First, it is determined whether or not the above-described full ice detection sensor detects full ice (step S1). If it is full ice (Yes), the process waits (step S2).

Then, in step S1, it is not full ice (n
In the case of o), the water supply pump driving device 19 drives the water supply pump 11, and sends the ice making water in the water storage tank 9 from the water supply pipe 10 to the ice making tray 13 (step S3).

Next, the ice making water stored in the ice making tray 13 is made with cold air in the ice making chamber 4 (step S4).
Ice is removed with the lapse of a predetermined time of an ice making completion sensor or an ice making timer (not shown) (step S5). As described above, the ice is separated by inverting the ice tray 13 and applying a twist, as described above.

Hereinafter, the operation of the present invention will be described.

When the ice making section 6 of the ice making chamber 4 is operated for a predetermined period, water scale and the like accumulate. For this reason, for example, it is described in a manual or the like that wiping is required or desirable about once every three months.

At the time of cleaning, the user prepares a clean cloth or the like, opens the heat insulating door 5 on the ice making room 4 side, and sets the ice storage container 7.
And take it out of the ice making chamber 4. Next, when the cleaning switch 21 is pressed, the ice tray 13 is shifted to the ice release position, that is, the inverted state, and the state is maintained.

Here, for example, when the ice making is in progress, the cleaning switch 21 is pressed to end the ice making operation, and immediately thereafter, the ice releasing operation, that is, the ice tray 13 is inverted, and the state is maintained as it is. . At this time, the ice being generated in the ice tray 13 falls and is received by the ice storage container 7. After all the ice in the ice tray 13 has fallen into the ice storage container 7,
The ice storage container 7 is pulled out and taken out of the ice making chamber 4.

Then, while the ice tray 13 is inverted, the user wipes the ice tray 13 with a cloth or the like.

After the cleaning of the ice tray 13 has been completed, the user returns the ice storage container 7 to the original state, and
Automatic ice making is started again by pressing 1 again or closing the heat insulating door 5.

[0042]

As described above in detail, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the user of the refrigerator puts his hand in the ice making chamber and cleans the ice tray with a cloth while the ice tray is inverted downward. You can do it.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, when the user wants to clean the ice tray, the user can press the switch to set the cleaning state, that is, the inverted state of the ice tray.
Therefore, the ice tray can be set in a cleanable state without having to attach and detach the ice tray.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, when the switch is pressed once and then turned over, the ice making tray can be sufficiently cleaned without returning to the automatic operation until the switch is pressed again. Further, even after the ice tray is cleaned, even if the user forgets to press the switch, the operation returns to the automatic operation by closing the door of the ice making room. Therefore, even if the user forgets to press the switch, the operation can be reliably shifted to the ice making operation.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, ice separation is performed by twisting the ice tray.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the position of the ice tray can be detected by the current value generated in the driving device when twisting occurs, and the inverted state of the ice tray can be maintained.

As described above, by using the present invention, when the user wants to clean the ice tray, the ice tray can be reliably cleaned.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a two-door refrigerator equipped with the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the refrigerator of FIG. 1 with a door removed.

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view of the two-door refrigerator when the ice tray is inverted.

FIG. 4 is a front view of the refrigerator of FIG. 3 with a door removed.

FIG. 5 is a front view of a driving device and an ice tray.

FIG. 6 is a front view of the driving device and the ice tray when the ice tray is inverted.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the operation of automatic ice making.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Refrigerator 3 Refrigerator room 4 Ice making room 6 Ice making part 7 Ice storage container 12 Cell 13 Ice making tray 14 Ice release mechanism drive device 15 Rotation regulation part 16 Projection 17 Sliding groove 18 Control device 19 Water supply pump drive device 20 Ice release mechanism 21 Cleaning switch

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An ice tray having an opening on one side, an ice making unit comprising a driving device for rotating the ice tray, and an ice storage container provided below the ice making unit, wherein the opening of the ice tray is directed upward. Ice making is performed by supplying water in a facing state, and after the ice making, the ice making operation of rotating the ice making tray and turning off the opening by turning the opening downward is automatically performed until a predetermined amount of ice is stored in the ice storage container. A refrigerator provided with an automatic ice maker repeatedly, comprising a reversing holding device for holding a state in which an opening of the ice tray faces downward. 2. The refrigerator according to claim 1, further comprising a switch for operating the reverse holding device. 3. If the door of the storage room provided with the ice making section is closed or the switch is pressed again while the reversing and holding device is operating, the reversing and holding device stops and shifts to an automatic ice making operation. The refrigerator according to claim 2, wherein 4. The ice tray according to claim 1, wherein one end of the ice tray is locked at a predetermined rotation position, and the other end is further rotated to cause a twist in the ice tray to separate ice. The ice making device according to claim 3. 5. The refrigerator according to claim 4, wherein the inversion holding device detects and holds a predetermined inversion position based on a current value of the driving device.