JP2007010196A - Refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a refrigerator of high space efficiency of a storage compartment. <P>SOLUTION: An ice crusher 1 is provided with a partitioning portion 19 in the state where a first opening portion 11 for discharging crushed ice 26 faces an ice compartment 17, and a second opening portion 12 for introducing ice 24 faces the refrigerating compartment 100, and the partitioning portion 19 is utilized to install the ice crusher 1, thus the storage compartment is effectively utilized, and the refrigerator 100 of high space efficiency is provided. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a refrigerator having an ice crusher that performs ice breaking. More specifically, the present invention relates to a mounting technique for mounting an ice crusher on a refrigerator.

  Conventionally, an ice crusher that performs ice crushing, like the ice making device described in Patent Document 1, keeps the rotating shaft horizontal and rotates a pair of crushing roll blades with spiral grooves on the surface in opposite directions. There is a type in which ice cubes dropped from above are rolled up and crushed. In addition, there is a type such as an ice crusher described in Patent Document 2 in which ice conveyed to the ice crushing unit is sandwiched between a movable blade and a fixed blade that are rotated by a motor and crushed.

Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 5-69575 JP-A-10-292965

  However, the above-mentioned conventional ice crusher is installed in the storage chamber regardless of the type. Therefore, since a large space is required for installing the ice crusher, there is a problem that the space efficiency of the storage room is poor.

  In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a refrigerator with high space efficiency in a storage room.

  In order to solve the above problems, in the present invention, in a refrigerator having a storage chamber divided into a plurality of partitions and an ice crusher that crushes ice, the ice crusher is ice crushed on one side of the storage chamber. And the second opening for introducing ice to the other side of the storage chamber faces the first opening.

  In the present invention, for example, an ice breaker that breaks ice introduced from the second opening is disposed in the partition.

  In the present invention, it is preferable that the ice breaking portion has at least a pair of blades and a drive portion that drives at least one of the pair of blades. If comprised in this way, since it is not necessary to arrange | position a drive part in a storage chamber by arrange | positioning not only the blade which crushes ice but a drive part which drives this blade in a partition part, a storage chamber The effective space can be increased.

  In the present invention, it has a support shaft at the rotation center of the one blade, and the one blade is rotated by the drive unit, and the longitudinal direction of the support shaft is the thickness direction of the partition portion. It is arranged along. In addition, the drive unit includes an output gear that rotates the one blade, and the ice is crushed by swinging the one blade using the output gear as a sector gear, and the length of the support shaft is increased. The first opening is formed in the swing direction of the one blade and the output gear is swung within a range where the first opening and the support shaft do not overlap in the longitudinal direction. It is preferable. With this configuration, when the crushed ice passes through the first opening, the output gear does not get in the way. In addition, it is possible to reduce the size in the radial direction and the axial direction by disposing another member constituting the drive unit in the swing locus in the support shaft direction of the output gear.

  Here, in the case where the blade is driven over 360 ° as in the conventional ice crusher described in Patent Document 1, the output gear must be formed in a circular shape in the plane direction. At this time, in order to form the opening for discharging the crushed ice in the direction of the spindle like the first opening described above, the output gear must be configured not to overlap the opening and the direction of the spindle. Therefore, it is necessary to arrange the output gear on the inner side of the end portion on the radially inner side of the first opening, or to secure an ice discharge area from the opening, so that the output gear is separated from the opening in the axial direction. It is necessary to arrange. However, in the former case, if the diameter of the output gear is made small, it is difficult to ensure the gear strength. On the other hand, if the diameter of the output gear is made large, the device becomes large in the radial direction. In the latter case, the size increases in the axial direction.

  The first opening is provided in the swing locus of at least one blade (for example, a rotary blade). This is because the first opening is included in the swing locus. This is intended to include both cases where a part of the first opening is included in the swing locus. In addition, the other blade of the pair of blades may be fixed, or may be provided so as to be drivable (can swing) (that is, according to the present invention, the other blade is fixed). Not intended to be limited).

  In the present invention, the ice crusher is preferably attached so that the support shaft is substantially parallel to the direction of gravity. If comprised in this way, in the case of the introduction | transduction of the ice from the 2nd opening part to an ice breaking part, and the discharge from the 1st opening part of the ice crushed by the ice breaking part, a conveyance apparatus can be abbreviate | omitted by utilizing gravity. it can.

  As described above, the ice crusher according to the present invention has a partition portion so that the first opening for discharging the crushed ice faces one side of the storage chamber and the second opening for introducing ice faces the other side of the storage chamber. It is arranged. Therefore, since the partition part is used for installing the ice crusher, the storage room can be effectively used correspondingly, and a space efficient refrigerator can be provided.

The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
(overall structure)
FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram illustrating an example of a refrigerator to which the present invention is applied.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the multi-door refrigerator 100 is partitioned into a plurality of storage rooms such as a refrigerator compartment 16, an ice compartment 17, a freezer compartment 18, and the like by partitions 19 and 23 for each door 22. In the partition part 19, the ice crusher 1 is arranged so that the first opening part 11 for discharging the crushed ice to the ice chamber 17 faces and the second opening part 12 for introducing the ice to the refrigerator compartment 16 faces. . A hopper 21 is disposed in the upper part of the ice crusher 1, that is, in the refrigerator compartment 16 so that moderate ice 24 can be stocked. The hopper 21 is detachable, and when the ice crusher 1 is not used, the storage space can be used effectively by removing the hopper 21 and attaching a protective cover (not shown) instead. ing. However, the hopper 21 does not necessarily need to be detachable and may be fixed. Further, an ice storage box 25 is disposed in the lower part of the ice crusher 1, that is, in the ice chamber 17, so that the crushed ice 26 can be stocked.

  Further, the ice chamber 17 is provided with an ice making machine 20 so that the ice made can be stocked in the ice container 27 by rotating the rotating shaft 20b of the ice tray 20a by the driving unit 20c. The size of the ice 24 formed by the ice making machine 20 is set to a size suitable for introduction into the ice crusher 1.

(Structure of ice crusher)
FIG. 2 is a plan view of the ice crusher 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention as viewed from above. FIGS. 2 (a), 2 (b), and 2 (c) each show a rotating blade at one end of a swing range It shows a state when it comes, a state when the rotary blade comes to the other end of the swing range, and a state where an ice tray is attached.

  In FIG. 2A, the gap between the rotary blade 9a and the fixed blade 10a is set to a size that allows approximately one piece of ice cubes to pass. The ice crusher 1 has a rotary blade 9a supported so as to be swingable about the support shaft 2, a fixed blade 10a, a first opening 11 for discharging crushed ice, and a second for introducing ice. And an opening 12 (see FIG. 2C). 2A and 2B, the dotted line L is a line drawn at a position corresponding to the second opening 12 formed in the ice tray 13 shown in FIG. 2C. That is, when the ice tray 13 is attached so as to cover the rotary blade 9a and the fixed blade 10a, the second opening 12 is positioned above the dotted line L (before the paper surface).

  When the rotary blade 9a swings to the position shown in FIG. 2A, the second opening 12 is not blocked, so that one piece of ice from the second opening 12 follows the gravity (on the paper surface). Introduced in the back direction). In other words, the size of one piece of ice is formed so as to be introduced one by one from the second opening 12. Next, when the rotary blade 9a swings counterclockwise from FIG. 2A to FIG. 2B, the introduced ice is sandwiched between the rotary blade 9a and the fixed blade 10a and crushed. The crushed ice is discharged from the first opening 11. Thereafter, the rotary blade 9a swings clockwise from FIG. 2B to FIG. 2A, and prepares for the next crushed ice. In this manner, the rotary blade 9a moves back and forth between the position shown in FIG. 2A and the position shown in FIG. 2B, and performs a swinging operation for breaking the ice.

  FIG. 3 is a plan view of the rotary blade as viewed from above. (A) shows the rotary blade of this embodiment, and (b) and (c) show modifications thereof. Here, as shown in FIG. 3A, a blocking portion 9a 'is formed behind the rotary blade 9a. The blocking portion 9a 'prevents the ice from the rear of the rotary blade 9a in the second opening 12 from entering when the rotary blade 9a rotates toward the fixed blade 10a. In other words, the presence of the blocking portion 9a ′ prevents the introduction of ice from the second opening 12 to the rear of the rotary blade 9a. As a result, the ice is caught between the rear of the rotary blade 9a and the fixed blade 10a. Prevents locking. In addition, the rotary blade in this embodiment consists of two pieces, the rotary blade 9a and the rotary blade 9b (refer FIG. 5), the rotary blade 9a is located in the upper direction of a spindle, and the prevention part 9a 'is located in the rotary blade 9a. Is formed. The present invention is not intended to limit the number of rotating blades and the vertical position of the rotating blades, and may be any number / position.

  In the present embodiment, the blocking portion 9a ′ is formed behind the rotary blade 9a. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and for example, as shown in FIG. 3B, the blocking portion 9a ′ is not formed. It is good as well. Further, as shown in FIG. 3C, not only the blocking portion 9a 'is not formed, but also a certain blade may be provided behind the rotary blade 9a and a certain blade paired therewith may be disposed. Thereby, even if the rotary blade 9a is rotated in any direction, the ice can be crashed.

  Moreover, in this embodiment, although the 1st opening part 11 from which the crushed ice is discharged | emitted is comprised from the part of the oblique line part X and the oblique line part Y with respect to the rotary blade 9a, for example, of the oblique line part X You may be comprised only from the part. In addition, as shown in the present embodiment, by opening the hatched portion Y, the ice pushed out from between the fixed blades 10a, 10b, and 10c by the rotary blade 9a can be surely discharged, and the ice is crushed. The ice can be prevented from entering the drive unit.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the ice tray 13 is provided with an inclination such that the second opening 12 is lowered. Therefore, the ice can slide to the second opening portion 12 by gravity regardless of the position of the ice tray 13. Thereby, ice can be sent into the 2nd opening part 12, without requiring a complicated conveyance mechanism. In addition, although the 2nd opening part 12 is made into the substantially square shape here, the shape is not ask | required.

  Hereinafter, the mechanism by which the rotary blade 9a swings will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing the mechanical structure of the ice crusher according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view showing the mechanical structure of the ice crusher according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 shows the inside of the ice crusher 1 as viewed from below.

  In FIG. 5, the ice crusher 1 includes an ice crushing part 30, and the ice crushing part 30 includes a blade part 28 and a drive part 29 in the direction of the support shaft 2. The blade portion 28 includes a rotary blade 9a and a rotary blade 9b, fixed blades 10a to 10c, a spacer 14, and a spacer 15. The drive unit 29 includes a DC motor 3 and spur gears 7 a to 7 c, a fan-shaped output gear (fan gear) 6, and a support shaft 2 as means for transmitting the driving force of the DC motor 3. .

  The DC motor 3 converts electrical energy into rotational kinetic energy, and swings the output gear 6 via the spur gears 7a to 7c. More specifically, each of the spur gears 7a to 7c is a combination of circular spur gears having different diameters, and the power from the DC motor 3 is increased in order from the large-diameter spur gear having a smaller number of teeth (7a , 7b, 7c). Here, the combination of large-diameter spur gears is not necessarily limited to this order, and may be in any order. Then, the teeth of the spur gear 7 c mesh with the teeth formed on the outer peripheral side wall surface of the output gear 6, and the power from the DC motor 3 is transmitted to the output gear 6. Here, the DC motor 3 can rotate in a desired rotation direction based on a control signal from a host device such as a microcomputer. Accordingly, when the DC motor 3 is rotated clockwise, the spur gear 7a rotates counterclockwise, the spur gear 7b rotates clockwise, and the spur gear 7c rotates counterclockwise, and finally the output gear 6 rotates clockwise. On the other hand, when the DC motor 3 is rotated counterclockwise, the spur gear 7a rotates clockwise, the spur gear 7b rotates counterclockwise, and the spur gear 7c rotates clockwise. Finally, the output gear 6 can be operated in the counterclockwise direction (counterclockwise). In this way, the DC motor 3 that can rotate in a desired rotation direction can swing the output gear 6 with the two ends shown in FIGS. 2 (a) and 2 (b) through the spur gears 7a to 7c. it can.

  Here, the output gear 6 is provided at a place other than the first opening 11 in a horizontal plane (horizontal plane) including the first opening 11 (see FIG. 4). In addition, the swing trajectory is installed so as not to overlap with the longitudinal direction of the first opening 11 and the support shaft 2. That is, the output gear 6 is a sector gear having a central angle of 120 °, and can swing about 120 ° from a thick line (solid line) to a thin line (two-dot chain line) in FIG. It has become. And the 1st opening part 11 is provided in the range of the remaining 120 degrees (= 360 degrees -240 degrees). Therefore, the swing locus of the output gear 6 does not block the first opening 11.

  In addition, the spur gears 7a to 7c may be deformed gears, screw gears, etc. in addition to the spur gears, and their shapes, functions, and combination methods are not limited. The gear may not be a gear as long as the power of the DC motor 3 can be transmitted.

  The support shaft 2 has a function of transmitting the power from the DC motor 3 transmitted to the output gear 6 to the rotary blades 9a and 9b, and synchronizes with the swinging operation of the output gear 6 to rotate the rotary blades 9a and 9b. It swings. The rotary blades 9a and 9b engage with the support shaft 2 and rotate integrally. Specifically, the support shaft 2 has an oval cross section, and the oval cross section is engaged with an oval through hole formed in the rotary blades 9a and 9b. Therefore, the rotary blades 9 a and 9 b are rotated together with the rotation of the support shaft 2. On the other hand, the oval cross-sectional portion of the support shaft 2 is also engaged with the through holes formed in the fixed blades 10a to 10c, but the through holes formed in the fixed blades 10a to 10c are The shaft 2 is formed to be larger than the rotation locus of the oval section of the cross section. Therefore, the support shaft 2 can be rotated without being regulated by the fixed blades 10a to 10c.

  In addition, a spacer 14 is disposed between the rotary blades 9a and 9b and the fixed blades 10a to 10c to keep these blades at regular intervals.

(Configuration of rocking restriction means)
As shown in FIG. 4, a switch 5, a sliding contact lever 4, and a cam 8 are provided as swing restricting means for restricting the swing operation of the rotary blade. The cam 8 is formed on the lower surface of the output gear 6 and includes a right switching portion 8a, an arc portion 8b, and a left switching portion 8c. The sliding contact lever 4 is rotatably supported by the shaft of the spur gear 7a, has a biasing spring 20 for biasing in the side surface direction of the cam 8, and has one end on the side surface of the cam 8 (right switching portion 8a, arc Each of the part 8b and the left switching part 8c), and plays the role of detecting the position of the cam 8. As a result, it is possible to confirm the positions of the rotary blades 9a and 9b that are swinging in conjunction with the cam 8.

  More specifically, when one end of the sliding contact lever 4 is in contact with the left switching portion 8c of the cam 8, the sliding contact lever 4 is pressing the switch 5 by the elastic force of the coil spring 20 (ON state). )become. Then, when the output gear 6 rotates slightly clockwise (clockwise) and one end of the sliding contact lever 4 rides on the arc portion 8b from the left switching portion 8c of the cam 8, the sliding contact lever 4 Contrary to the elastic force 20, the spur gear 7 a rotates clockwise around the rotation axis of the spur gear 7 a connected at the other end, and is turned off by separating from the switch 5. Thereafter, when the output gear 6 rotates further clockwise (clockwise) and one end of the sliding contact lever 4 slides from the arc portion 8b of the cam 8 to the right switching portion 8a, the sliding contact lever 4 Based on the elastic force of the coil spring 20, it rotates counterclockwise around the rotation axis of the spur gear 7 a, and the sliding contact lever 4 presses the switch 5 (ON state).

  Here, in the position where the switch 5 is in the ON state, it can be seen that the output gear 6 is at the end of the first opening 11, in other words, the limit position in the swinging operation of the output gear 6. Accordingly, the host device such as a microcomputer transmits a control signal to the DC motor 3 based on the electric signal output from the switch 5 every time the switch 5 is turned on, thereby swinging the output gear 6. To a certain range. As described above, the output gear 6 is installed at a place where the swing trajectory does not block the first opening 11 so that the output gear 6 can swing, so that the size of the ice gear 1 can be reduced in the radial direction. Can be achieved.

  In the ice crusher 1 configured as described above, the rotary blades 9a and 9b and the fixed blades 10a to 10c are all wedge-shaped, and the rotary blade 9a is supported and connected to the support shaft 2 so as to be swingable. 9b oscillates in synchronism with the oscillating operation of the output gear 6, while the fixed blades 10a to 10c fixed across the spacer 15 do not oscillate. Then, the crushed ice sandwiched between these blades is discharged from the first opening 11 as it is according to gravity.

  In the present embodiment, the fixed blades 10a to 10c do not swing at all. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the fixed blades 10a to 10c are provided so as to be drivable (can swing). May be.

(Effect of this embodiment)
In the refrigerator 100 of the present embodiment, the ice crusher 1 includes a partition portion 19 such that the first opening portion 11 that discharges the crushed ice 26 faces the ice chamber 17 and the second opening portion 12 that introduces the ice 24 faces the refrigerator compartment 16. It is arranged. Therefore, since the partition part 19 is used for installing the ice crusher 1, it is possible to effectively use the refrigerator compartment 16 and the ice compartment 17, and to provide the refrigerator 100 with high space efficiency. it can.

  In the present embodiment, the ice breaking unit 30 includes the blade 28 and the drive unit 29. Therefore, not only the blade 28 that crushes the ice 24 but also the rotary blade 9a disposed on the blade 28, Since the drive unit 29 including the drive unit 29 for driving 9b is disposed in the partition unit 19, it is not necessary to arrange the drive unit 29 in the refrigerating chamber 16 and the ice chamber 17, so that the refrigerating chamber 16 and the ice chamber 17 are effectively used. Space can be increased.

  Further, in this embodiment, the longitudinal direction of the support shaft 2 that is at the rotation center of the rotary blades 9 a and 9 b and rotates the rotary blades 9 a and 9 b by the drive unit 29 is along the thickness direction of the partition portion 19. The drive unit 29 includes an output gear 6 that rotates the rotary blades 9a and 9b. The ice blades 24 can be obtained by swinging the rotary blades 9a and 9b using the output gear 6 as a sector gear. While breaking ice, a first opening 11 is formed in the longitudinal direction of the support shaft 2 and within the swinging trajectory of the rotary blades 9 a and 9 b, and the first opening 11 and the support shaft 2 are overlapped in the longitudinal direction. The output gear 6 is configured to oscillate in a range where it is not. Therefore, the output gear 6 does not get in the way when the crushed ice 26 passes through the first opening 11. In addition, by arranging the spur gears 7a to 7c constituting the drive unit 29 and the sliding contact lever 4 as the swing restricting means in the swing locus in the direction of the support shaft 2 of the output gear 6, the radial direction and the shaft Miniaturization in the direction can be achieved.

  Furthermore, in the present invention, since the ice crusher 1 is mounted so that the support shaft 2 is substantially parallel to the direction of gravity, the introduction of ice from the second opening 11 to the blade 28 and the blade When discharging the crushed ice 26 crushed by 28 from the first opening 11, the conveying device can be omitted by using gravity.

  The ice crusher and refrigerator according to the present invention can easily obtain ice of an appropriate size without requiring a complicated transport mechanism, and can recover by itself even when the motor is locked. It can be used and can be miniaturized.

It is a schematic structure figure showing an example of a refrigerator to which the present invention is applied. It is the top view which looked at the ice crusher 1 which concerns on embodiment of this invention from the top, (a) (b), (c) is a state when a rotary blade comes to one end part of the rocking | fluctuation range, respectively. The state when the rotary blade comes to the other end of the swing range and the state where the ice tray is attached are shown. It is the top view which looked at the rotary blade from the top, (a) shows the rotary blade of this form, (b) and (c) have shown the modification. It is a cross-sectional view which shows the mechanical structure of the ice crusher which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view which shows the mechanical structure of the ice crusher which concerns on embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Ice crusher 2 Support shaft 6 Output gear 9a, 9b Rotary blade 11 1st opening part 12 2nd opening part 16 Refrigeration room (storage room)
17 Ice room (storage room)
19 Partition part 29 Drive part 30 Ice breaking part

Claims (6)

In a refrigerator having a storage room divided into a plurality of partitions and an ice crusher that crushes ice,
The ice crusher is disposed in the partition portion such that a first opening for discharging the crushed ice faces one side of the storage chamber and a second opening for introducing ice faces the other side of the storage chamber. A refrigerator characterized by that.   2. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the ice crusher includes an ice breaker that breaks ice introduced from the second opening, and the ice breaker is disposed in the partition.   3. The refrigerator according to claim 2, wherein the ice breaking unit includes at least a pair of blades and a drive unit that drives at least one of the pair of blades.   4. The support shaft according to claim 3, which has a support shaft that is at the center of rotation of the one blade and that rotates the one blade by the drive unit, and the length of the support shaft is the thickness of the partition portion. A refrigerator characterized by being arranged along a direction.   5. The drive unit according to claim 4, wherein the drive unit includes an output gear that rotates the one blade, and ice is crushed by swinging the one blade using the output gear as a fan-shaped gear, and the support is supported. The first opening is formed in the swinging trajectory of the one blade in the longitudinal direction of the shaft, and the output gear swings within a range where the first opening and the support shaft do not overlap in the longitudinal direction. A refrigerator characterized by being moved. 6. The refrigerator according to claim 4, wherein the ice crusher is attached such that the support shaft is substantially parallel to the direction of gravity.

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