JP2551905Y2 - Refrigerator with ice making equipment - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a refrigerator equipped with an ice-making device equipped with an automatic ice-making device for making ice blocks by using cold air in a refrigerator.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In this type of refrigerator equipped with an ice making device, an ice making room is formed in the refrigerator, and an automatic ice making device is provided in an upper portion of the ice making room, and can be inserted and removed below the automatic ice making device. An ice bin is provided. A cool air outlet is formed in the interior of the ice making chamber, and cool air is blown into the ice making chamber from the outlet.

[0003] The automatic ice making apparatus is provided with an ice tray placed horizontally, and the ice tray is made of a flexible synthetic resin.
The inside is divided into a plurality of pockets. Then, the water contained in the ice tray is cooled by the cool air blown out from the outlet, and gradually freezes to form an ice block for each pocket portion, after which the ice tray is inverted and twisted,
In response to this, each ice block in the ice tray is separated and falls, and is stored in an ice storage box below it.

[0004]

However, in such a conventional refrigerator equipped with an ice making device, the outlet of the cool air is arranged at the back of the interior of the ice making room. Therefore, the cool air blown out from this outlet is mainly used. There is a situation where the front end side hits the rear side of the ice tray and the front end side does not receive much cold air, and as a result,
There is a disadvantage that the freezing speed in each pocket portion in the ice tray fluctuates, the entire freezing speed in the ice tray becomes slow, and the ice making efficiency decreases.

[0005] Therefore, if a cool air outlet is provided below the ice tray, that is, at the bottom of the ice making chamber, the entire lower surface of the ice tray can be almost uniformly exposed to cool air to achieve efficient ice making. However, an ice storage box is located below the ice tray, so even if the air outlet is simply formed at the bottom of the ice making chamber, the ice storage box hinders and uniformly cools the lower surface of the ice tray. It is difficult to hit.

The present invention has been made in view of such a point. The purpose of the invention is to apply the cold air substantially uniformly to the entire lower surface of the ice tray without being hindered by the ice storage box. It is an object of the present invention to provide a refrigerator equipped with an ice making device capable of improving the quality.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve such an object, the present invention has an ice making room, and an automatic ice making device is provided above the ice making room, and the automatic ice making device is provided below the automatic ice making device. An ice storage box is disposed so as to be able to be inserted and removed in opposition to an ice tray of the ice making device, and an ice block frozen in the ice tray of the automatic ice making device is dropped and stored in the ice storage box.
An outlet for cold air is formed on the bottom wall of the ice making chamber, a ventilation path penetrating vertically on a side wall of the ice storage box and facing the outlet is formed, and the cool air blown out from the outlet is supplied to the ice storage box. The automatic ice making device is blown through a ventilation path to a lower surface of an ice tray.

[0008]

In such a configuration, cool air is blown out from an outlet formed in the bottom wall of the ice making chamber, and the cool air flows through a ventilation path formed on a side wall of the ice making box. Spills out towards the underside of the dish. This cold air diffuses along the entire bottom surface of the ice tray, so that the freezing speed of water in each pocket portion of the ice tray is equalized, and the time required for completing the entire freeze is reduced.

[0009]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 1 denotes a refrigerator main body, and a freezing room 2, an ice making room 3,
A refrigerator compartment 4 is defined.

An automatic ice making device 5 is provided in the upper part of the ice making room 3, and the automatic ice making device 5 includes a horizontally supported ice tray 6 and a driving section 7 for inverting the ice tray 6, 6 is partitioned into a plurality of pockets 8. An ice storage box 10 is placed below the automatic ice making device 5, that is, on the bottom wall 9 of the ice making chamber 3 so as to face the ice tray 6 so as to be able to be inserted and removed.

A cool air chamber 11 is formed at the back of the freezing chamber 2, and a cooler 12 is housed in the cool air chamber 11.
A cool air port 13 is formed in the upper part of the cool air chamber 11, a blower fan 14 is provided in the cool air port 13, and a cool air passage 15 communicating with the inside of the cool air chamber 11 through the cool air port 13 at the front side of the cool air chamber 11. Are formed.

The lower end side of the cold air passage 15 has an ice making chamber 3.
A pair of slit-shaped outlets 16, 16 communicating with the cold air passage 15 are formed in parallel on the upper surface of the bottom wall 9.

As shown in FIG. 1, steps 17 are formed on the opening edges of the outlets 16, 16 so as to extend slightly outwardly. And an ice storage box 10 placed on the peripheral wall 9
The lower ends of both side walls project downwardly as legs 18, 18, and these legs 18, 18 are detachably fitted into the steps 17, 17 of the outlets 16, 16. A box 10 is held at a predetermined position on the bottom wall 9.

On both side walls of the ice storage box 10, there are formed slit-shaped ventilation passages 19, 19 penetrating from the lower end to the upper end.
6, 16 and are opposed to each other such that the upper end face faces the lower surface of the ice tray 6 in the automatic ice making device 5.

Reference numeral 20 denotes a water supply tank provided in the refrigerator compartment 4, and reference numeral 21 denotes a water supply pump for supplying the water in the water supply tank 20 to the ice tray 6 of the automatic ice making device 5 through a water supply pipe 22.

In such a configuration, the air in the cool air chamber 11 is cooled by the cooler 12 to become cool air, and the cool air is sequentially blown into the cool air passage 15 by the blower fan 14. Then, the cool air flows through the cool air passage 15 and blows out from outlets 16, 16 formed in the bottom wall 9 of the ice making chamber 3.

Ventilation passages 19, 19 formed on the side wall of the ice box 10 are connected to the outlets 16, 16, so that the cool air blown out from the outlets 16, 16 circulates in the ventilation passages 19, 19. Then, the cold air flows out toward the lower surface of the ice tray 6, and the cold air diffuses along the entire lower surface of the ice tray 6.

As described above, the ice tray 6 is almost uniformly exposed to cold air on the entire lower surface thereof, so that the freezing speed of water in each of the pockets 8 of the ice tray 6 is equalized. The whole freeze completion time is shortened, and the ice making efficiency is improved.

After the water in the ice tray 6 is completely frozen, it is detected by a temperature sensor (not shown), and based on this detection, the driving unit 7 operates to turn the ice tray 6 upside down. As a result, the ice blocks in the ice tray 6 are separated, fall down, and are stored in the ice storage box 10. Then, after that, the ice tray 6 is reversed and returned to the horizontal state, and the water in the water supply tank 20 is supplied through the water supply pipe 22 by the operation of the water supply pump 21 to move to the next ice making process. The ice blocks stored in the ice storage box 10 can be used for various purposes at any time by removing the ice storage box 10 from the ice making chamber 3.

[0020]

As described above, according to the present invention, an air outlet for cold air is formed on the bottom wall of the ice making room, and a ventilation passage facing the air outlet is formed on the side wall of the ice storage box. The cold air blown out of the ice storage box can be blown to the lower surface of the ice tray through the ventilation path of the ice storage box without being hindered by the ice storage box.
Therefore, there is an advantage that the entire lower surface of the ice tray can be almost uniformly cooled to improve the ice making efficiency.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a main part showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the ice storage box of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing the entire configuration of the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 3 ... Ice making room 5 ... Automatic ice making device 6 ... Ice tray 9 ... Bottom wall 10 ... Ice storage box 16 ... Outlet 19 ... Ventilation path

Claims (1)

(57) [Scope of request for utility model registration] An automatic ice making device is provided in an upper portion of the ice making room, and an ice storage box is disposed below the automatic ice making device so as to face the ice tray of the automatic ice making device. An ice block frozen in an ice tray of the automatic ice making device is dropped into the ice storage box and stored therein, wherein a cold air outlet is formed in a bottom wall of the ice making room, and a side wall of the ice storage box is formed. An ice making device, wherein an air passage penetrating vertically and facing the air outlet is formed, and cool air blown out from the air outlet is blown to a lower surface of an ice tray in the automatic ice making device through an air passage of the ice storage box. Onboard refrigerator.