JP5414755B2 - refrigerator - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an automatic ice making machine and a refrigerator.

  Patent Document 1 describes the configuration of an automatic ice maker driving device that inverts an ice tray with a motor to drop ice, and then returns the ice tray to an ice making position to manufacture ice.

  Patent Document 2 includes a first switch operating means that operates when the ice tray is in a predetermined position, and a second switch operating means that operates when the ice is insufficient, and a switch signal according to the amount of ice. The configuration of an automatic ice making device is described in which the time interval until the reverse of the is changed.

  Patent Document 3 has a rotation limit position that prevents rotation of the ice tray when the ice tray is rotated in the return direction and passes through the ice making position when returning to the ice making position after deicing. When the ice tray is returned after being dropped, it stops at the ice making position without rotating to the rotation limit position, but when the device is turned on, it is rotated to the rotation limit position and then stopped at the ice making position. The structure of the drive device of the automatic ice making machine is described.

Japanese Patent No. 3540882 Japanese Patent No. 3318211 Japanese Patent No. 3086649

  In the configuration described in Patent Document 1, an ice detecting lever for determining the amount of ice in the ice making chamber is provided in the rotation direction of the ice making tray at the time of ice removal. Moreover, in order to clean an ice tray, it is set as the structure which can draw out an ice tray to the near side by arrange | positioning an ice tray at the near side of a refrigerator main body, and a drive device in the back | inner side. The ice detecting lever is disposed on the right side of the driving device when viewed from the front. That is, the ice detecting lever is arranged near the center of the refrigerator body.

  On the other hand, the cold air for cooling the ice making chamber is blown from the cooler disposed substantially in the center of the refrigerator back side via the air path. The cold air outlet to the ice making chamber is configured to open toward the center of the refrigerator, that is, on the same side as the ice detecting lever.

  However, in such an arrangement, the cold air outlet to the ice making chamber needs to have a shape that avoids the ice detection lever, and the area of the cold air outlet is limited. Further, the air flow shape is bent, so that the air blowing resistance is increased and the cooling performance of the ice making chamber is lowered.

  Next, in the configuration described in Patent Document 2, the time until the rotation speed of the motor fluctuates due to temperature fluctuations in the ice making chamber, fluctuations in the applied voltage to the motor, fluctuations in motor characteristics, etc., and the switch signal is inverted. The interval changes. This makes it difficult to determine whether the detected change in the time interval is due to fluctuations in the rotational speed of the motor or due to some determination of ice, and the automatic ice making control becomes inaccurate.

  Next, in the configuration described in Patent Document 3, a groove is formed along the circumferential direction on one side surface of the cam gear that faces the upper case. A protrusion formed on the inner surface of the upper case is inserted into the groove to limit the angle at which the cam gear can rotate to a predetermined range. That is, the position where the projections hit both end faces of the groove is the rotation limit position of the cam gear. In this configuration, when the ice tray is rotated in the return direction, it is in an idling state with almost no load, so that when the motor stops at the rotation limit position, all the rotational torque from the motor is applied to both ends of the protrusion and the groove. The stress generated in one gear and case increases.

  In view of the above problems, it is an object of the present invention to improve ice making efficiency and obtain a highly reliable automatic ice making machine and refrigerator.

In order to achieve the above object, for example, the configuration described in the claims is adopted. As an example thereof, an ice making chamber formed in the refrigerator body, an ice storage container installed in the ice making chamber for storing ice, an ice making tray installed above the ice storage container for making ice, and behind the ice making tray A driving means for dropping ice into the ice storage container by rotating the ice tray after the ice making, and the amount of ice in the ice storage container is lowered by being driven by the driving means and lowered from above the ice storage container. An ice detecting lever for detecting, and from the ice making position where water is supplied to the ice making tray to make ice, the ice detecting lever is disposed on a side opposite to a direction in which the ice tray is rotated to drop ice, and the drive The ice detecting lever is arranged on one side of the means in the left-right direction, and a discharge port for supplying cold air to the ice making chamber is arranged on the opposite side of the ice detecting lever across the driving means .

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, ice making efficiency can be improved and a reliable automatic ice making machine and a refrigerator can be obtained.

It is the figure which looked at the refrigerator main body in embodiment of this invention from the front. FIG. 2 is a conceptual cross-sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. 1. It is a front view showing the structure in the store | warehouse | chamber of a refrigerator. FIG. 3 is an enlarged explanatory view of a main part of FIG. 2. It is a perspective view which shows the structure of the automatic ice making machine in embodiment of this invention, and is a figure which shows the state of an ice making position. It is a perspective view which shows the structure of the automatic ice making machine in embodiment of this invention, and is a figure which shows the state of an ice removal position. It is the perspective view which showed the internal structure of the automatic ice maker in embodiment of this invention, and was seen from the opposite side to the ice tray. It is the rear view which showed the internal structure of the automatic ice making machine in embodiment of this invention, and was seen from the opposite side to the ice tray. It is the front view which showed the internal structure of the automatic ice making machine in embodiment of this invention, and was seen from the ice-making tray side. It is the FF sectional view taken on the line of FIG. It is a perspective view which shows the structure of the 1st gearwheel in embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows the structure of the 1st gearwheel and cam follower in embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows the structure of the ice detection axis | shaft in embodiment of this invention. It is sectional drawing which shows the structure of the ice detection axis | shaft in embodiment of this invention. It is sectional drawing which shows the structure of the 1st gearwheel in the embodiment of this invention, a cam follower, and an ice detecting shaft. It is sectional drawing which shows the structure of the 1st gearwheel in the embodiment of this invention, a cam follower, and an ice detecting shaft. It is a perspective view which shows the structure of the switch lever in embodiment of this invention. It is a side view which shows the structure of the 1st gearwheel in the embodiment of this invention, a switch lever, and a tact switch. It is the schematic which shows the structure of the switch lever and 1st cam in embodiment of this invention. It is the schematic which shows the structure of the switch lever and 1st cam in embodiment of this invention. It is the schematic which shows the structure of the switch lever and 1st cam in embodiment of this invention. It is the schematic which shows the structure of the switch lever and 1st cam in embodiment of this invention. It is the schematic which shows the structure of the switch lever in the embodiment of this invention, a 1st gearwheel, a cam follower, and an ice detecting shaft. It is the schematic which shows the structure of the switch lever in the embodiment of this invention, a 1st gearwheel, a cam follower, and an ice detecting shaft. It is the schematic which shows the structure of the switch lever in the embodiment of this invention, a 1st gearwheel, a cam follower, and an ice detecting shaft. It is the schematic which shows the structure of the switch lever in the embodiment of this invention, a 1st gearwheel, a cam follower, an ice detecting shaft, and an ice tray, and is a figure which shows an ice making position. It is the schematic which shows the structure of the switch lever in the embodiment of this invention, a 1st gearwheel, a cam follower, an ice detection shaft, and an ice tray, and shows the time of the start of ice detection operation | movement. It is the schematic which shows the structure of the switch lever in the embodiment of this invention, a 1st gearwheel, a cam follower, an ice detection shaft, and an ice tray, and shows the intermediate state of ice detection operation | movement. It is the schematic which shows the structure of the switch lever in the embodiment of this invention, a 1st gearwheel, a cam follower, an ice detecting shaft, and an ice tray, and shows the case where ice is insufficient at the time of ice detecting operation. It is the schematic which shows the structure of the switch lever in the embodiment of this invention, a 1st gearwheel, a cam follower, an ice detecting shaft, and an ice tray, and shows the case of full ice at the time of ice detection operation | movement. It is the schematic which shows the structure of the switch lever in the embodiment of this invention, a 1st gearwheel, a cam follower, an ice-detection axis | shaft, and an ice tray, and shows the middle of ice removal operation | movement. It is the schematic which shows the structure of the switch lever in the embodiment of this invention, a 1st gearwheel, a cam follower, an ice detecting shaft, and an ice tray, and shows the time of deicing. It is a chart figure showing rotation operation of an ice tray, on / off of a tact switch, and operation of an ice detecting lever in an embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the refrigerator provided with the automatic ice maker in embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the initialization operation | movement at the time of power activation of the refrigerator provided with the automatic ice maker in embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement at the time of full ice of the refrigerator provided with the automatic ice maker in embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement at the time of ice shortage of the refrigerator provided with the automatic ice maker in embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows the structure of the bracket in the automatic ice making machine of embodiment of this invention. It is the perspective view seen from the direction opposite to FIG. 38 which shows the structure of the bracket in the automatic ice maker of embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows the temporary assembly state before incorporating the 1st gearwheel in the automatic ice making machine of embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows the assembly state in the automatic ice making machine of embodiment of this invention. It is sectional drawing which shows the attachment state of the tact switch in the automatic ice maker of embodiment of this invention. It is sectional drawing which shows the temporary assembly state of the switch lever in the automatic ice making machine of embodiment of this invention. It is sectional drawing which shows the structure of the bracket and worm | worm in the automatic ice maker of embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows the structure of the automatic ice maker in another embodiment of this invention, and is a figure which shows the state of an ice making position. It is a perspective view which shows the structure of the automatic ice making machine in another embodiment of this invention.

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

<Overall configuration of refrigerator body 1>
FIG. 1 is a front outline view of the refrigerator of the present embodiment. FIG. 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view taken along the line AA in FIG. 1 showing the configuration inside the refrigerator. FIG. 3 is a front view showing the internal structure of the refrigerator, and FIG. 4 is an enlarged explanatory view of the main part of FIG. 2, showing the arrangement of the cold air duct, the outlet, and the automatic ice maker.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the refrigerator main body 1 of this embodiment has the refrigerator compartment 2, the ice making room 3, the upper freezer compartment 4, the lower freezer compartment 5, and the vegetable compartment 6 from the upper direction. As an example, the refrigerator compartment 2 and the vegetable compartment 6 are storage rooms in a refrigerator temperature zone of approximately 3 to 5 ° C. Further, the ice making room 3, the upper freezer room 4, and the lower freezer room 5 are storage rooms in a freezing temperature zone of approximately −18 ° C.

  The refrigerating room 2 is provided with a folding door (so-called French type) refrigerating room doors 2a and 2b divided into left and right sides on the front side. The ice making room 3, the upper freezing room 4, the lower freezing room 5, and the vegetable room 6 include a drawer type ice making room door 3a, an upper freezing room door 4a, a lower freezing room door 5a, and a vegetable room door 6a, respectively. Hereinafter, the refrigerator compartment doors 2a and 2b, the ice making compartment door 3a, the upper freezer compartment door 4a, the lower freezer compartment door 5a, and the vegetable compartment door 6a may be simply referred to as doors 2a, 2b, 3a, 4a, 5a, and 6a. is there.

  The refrigerator 1 has a door sensor (not shown) that detects the open / closed state of the doors 2a, 2b, 3a, 4a, 5a, and 6a, and a state in which each door is determined to be open for a predetermined time, for example, An alarm (not shown) for notifying the user when the operation is continued for one minute or more and a temperature setting device (not shown) for setting the temperature of the refrigerator compartment 2 and the temperature of the upper freezer compartment 4 and the lower freezer compartment 5 Etc.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the outside of the refrigerator body 1 and the inside of the refrigerator are separated by a heat insulating box 10 formed by filling a foam heat insulating material (foamed polyurethane) between the inner box 10a and the outer box 10b. It has been. Moreover, the heat insulation box 10 of the refrigerator main body 1 is mounted with a plurality of vacuum heat insulating materials 18.

  Inside the refrigerator, the refrigerator compartment 2, the upper freezer compartment 4 and the ice making chamber 3 (see FIG. 1, the upper freezer compartment 4 is not shown in FIG. 2) are separated by the heat insulating partition wall 12a, and the heat insulating partition wall 12b. Therefore, the lower freezer compartment 5 and the vegetable compartment 6 are separated.

  A plurality of door pockets 14 are provided on the inner side of the doors 2a and 2b (see FIGS. 1 and 2). The refrigerator compartment 2 is partitioned into a plurality of storage spaces in the vertical direction by a plurality of shelves 13.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the ice making room 3, the lower freezing room 5, and the vegetable room 6 are respectively provided with storage containers 3 b, 5 b, 6 b behind doors 3 a, 5 a, 6 a provided in front of the respective storage rooms. Is provided. The storage containers 3b, 5b, and 6b can be pulled out by placing a hand on a handle portion (not shown) of the doors 3a, 5a, and 6a and pulling it out to the front side. Similarly, in the upper freezer compartment 4 shown in FIG. 1, a storage container (indicated by (4b) in FIG. 2) is provided integrally with the door 4a, and the handle 4 (not shown) of the door 4a is placed on the front side. By pulling out, the storage container 4b can be pulled out.

  In the ice making chamber 3, an ice tray 25 that freezes the supplied water to make ice, an ice detecting lever 24 that is a lever for determining the amount of ice in the ice storage container below the ice tray 25, and ice making An automatic ice making machine 22 having a driving unit 23 that is a driving means for driving the dish 25 and the ice detecting lever 24 is provided.

  In the refrigerator compartment 2, a water supply tank 26 that can be removed and supplied, a water supply pump 28 that pumps water from the inside of the water supply tank 26, and a water supply path 29 that supplies water to the ice tray 25 from the water supply pump 28 are provided.

As shown in FIG. 2 (see FIG. 3 as appropriate), the cooler 7 is provided in a cooler storage chamber 8 provided substantially at the back of the lower freezing chamber 5. A blower 9 is provided above the cooler 7. The air cooled by the heat exchange in the cooler 7 (hereinafter, the low-temperature air heat-exchanged by the cooler 7 is referred to as “cold air”) is blown by the blower 9 into the refrigerator compartment air duct 11, the vegetable compartment air duct 17, the ice making room. It is sent to each storage room of the refrigerator compartment 2, the vegetable compartment 6, the upper freezer compartment 4, the lower freezer compartment 5, and the ice making room 3 through the air duct 40, the lower freezer compartment air duct 41, and the upper freezer compartment air duct not shown. .
The ventilation to each storage room is controlled by opening and closing the refrigerator compartment cooling damper 20 and the freezer compartment cooling damper 21.

  Here, the refrigerating room cooling damper 20 is a so-called twin damper having two openings, the first opening 20a controls the air flow to the refrigerating room air duct 11, and the second opening 20b is the vegetable room air duct. It is the structure which controls the ventilation to 17.

  Incidentally, the air ducts to the refrigerator compartment 2, the ice making room 3, the upper freezer room 4, the lower freezer room 5, and the vegetable room 6 are provided on the back side of each storage room of the refrigerator body 1 as shown by broken lines in FIG. It has been.

  Specifically, when the first opening 20a of the refrigerating room cooling damper 20 is in the open state and the freezer room cooling damper 21 is in the closed state, the cold air passes through the air outlets 2c provided in multiple stages via the refrigerating room air duct 11. It is sent to the refrigerator compartment 2. When the second opening 20b of the refrigerator compartment cooling damper 20 is in the open state and the freezer compartment cooling damper 21 is in the closed state, the cold air is sent from the outlet 6c to the vegetable compartment 6 through the vegetable compartment air duct 17.

  Note that the cold air that has cooled the refrigerator compartment 2 is, for example, in the lower right portion as viewed from the front of the cooler storage chamber 8 through the refrigerator outlet return duct 16 from the return port 2d provided on the lower surface of the refrigerator compartment 2. Return. The return air from the vegetable compartment 6 returns to the lower part of the cooler storage compartment 8 through the return opening 6d.

  When the freezer cooling damper 21 is in the open state, the cold air exchanged by the cooler 7 is made from the blowout ports 3c and 4c through the ice making chamber air duct 40 and the upper freezing room air duct not shown by the internal fan 9 respectively. The air is blown into the chamber 3 and the upper freezing chamber 4. Further, the air is blown from the outlet 5 c to the lower freezer compartment 5 through the lower freezer compartment air duct 13. For this reason, the freezer compartment cooling damper 21 is attached above the blower cover 56 which will be described later to facilitate air blowing to the ice making chamber 3.

  In addition, the cold air that has cooled the upper freezer room 4, the lower freezer room 5, and the ice making room 3 returns to the cooler storage room 8 through the freezer return port 42 provided in the lower part of the lower freezer room 5.

  In FIG. 4, a partition 54 is formed with blowout ports 3c, 4c, and 5c. The partition 54 divides the upper freezing chamber 4, the ice making chamber 3 and the lower freezing chamber 5, and the cooler storage chamber 8.

  The blower 9 is attached to the blower attachment portion 55. The blower mounting portion 55 partitions the cooler storage chamber 8 and the partition 54.

  A blower cover 56 covers the front surface of the blower 9. A lower freezer compartment air duct 41 is formed between the blower cover 56 and the partition 54. Moreover, the freezer compartment cooling damper 21 is provided in the upper part of the air blower cover 56, and the blower outlet 56a is formed.

  The blower cover 56 includes a rectifying unit 56 b on the front surface of the blower 9. This rectifies the turbulent flow caused by the cold air blown out and prevents the generation of noise and the like.

  Further, the blower cover 56 is provided with an ice making chamber blow duct 40, an upper freezer compartment blow duct (not shown), and a lower row for guiding the cold air blown by the blower 9 to the outlets 3c, 4c, 5c, etc. A freezer compartment air duct 41 is formed.

  Further, the blower cover 56 also plays a role of blowing cold air blown by the blower 9 toward the refrigerator compartment cooling damper 20 side. That is, the cold air that does not flow to the freezer compartment cooling damper 21 side provided in the blower cover 56 is guided to the refrigerator compartment cooling damper 20 side via the refrigerator compartment duct 15 as shown in FIG.

  And the cooler 7 is put in the storage room of the temperature zone where both the freezing temperature zone room (the upper freezing room 4, the lower freezing room 5 and the ice making room 3) and the refrigeration temperature zone room (the refrigeration room 2 and the vegetable room 6) are different. When the passed cool air is sent, most of the cool air is sent to the freezer compartment cooling damper 21 side, and the remaining other cool air is guided to the refrigerating compartment cooling damper 20 side.

  Furthermore, when only the first opening 20a of the cold room cooling damper 20 is opened, the cold air led to the cold room duct 15 is led to the cold room air duct 11, and only the second opening 20b is opened. In the case where the first opening 20a and the second opening 20b are both opened, both the refrigerator compartment air duct 11 and the vegetable room air duct 17 are guided. Led.

  The refrigerating room cooling damper 20 is attached to the rear of the refrigerating room 2 as shown in FIG.

  Further, a defrost heater 46 as a defrosting unit is installed below the cooler 7, and in order to prevent defrost water from dripping onto the defrost heater 46 above the defrost heater 46. An upper cover 47 is provided.

  The defrost water generated by the defrosting (melting) of the frost attached to the wall of the cooler 7 and the surrounding cooler storage chamber 8 flows into the eaves 43 provided at the lower part of the cooler storage chamber 8, It reaches an evaporating dish 44 disposed in a machine room 19 to be described later via the drain pipe 27 and is evaporated by heat of a compressor 45 and a condenser (not shown) to be described later.

  Further, a cooler temperature sensor 35 attached to the cooler is shown in the upper right portion when viewed from the front of the cooler 7, the refrigerator temperature sensor 33 is placed in the refrigerator compartment 2, the freezer compartment temperature sensor 34 is placed in the lower freezer compartment 5, and ice making. Each of the chambers 3 is provided with an ice-making chamber temperature sensor 39. The temperature of the cooler 7 (hereinafter referred to as “cooler temperature”), the temperature of the refrigerator 2 (hereinafter referred to as “refrigerator chamber temperature”), The temperature in the freezer compartment 5 (hereinafter referred to as “freezer compartment temperature”) and the temperature in the vicinity of the ice tray 25 (hereinafter referred to as “ice making temperature”) can be detected.

  Furthermore, the refrigerator body 1 includes an outside air temperature sensor and an outside air humidity sensor (not shown) that detect a temperature and humidity environment (outside air temperature, outside air humidity) outside the refrigerator. In addition, the vegetable room temperature sensor 33a may be arranged also in the vegetable room 6, and the temperature control of each storage room can be performed more finely.

  A machine room 19 is provided on the lower back side of the heat insulating box 10. The machine room 19 contains a compressor 45 and a condenser (not shown). Is removed. Incidentally, in this embodiment, isobutane is used as a refrigerant, and the amount of refrigerant enclosed is as small as about 80 g.

  On the top surface side of the refrigerator main body 1, a control board 31 on which a CPU, a memory such as a ROM and a RAM, an interface circuit, and the like are mounted is disposed as a control means. The control board 31 includes the above-described outside air temperature sensor, outside air humidity sensor, cooler temperature sensor 35, refrigerating room temperature sensor 33, freezer room temperature sensor 34, ice making room temperature sensor 39, doors 2a, 2b, 3a, 4a, 5a, Connected to a door sensor for detecting the open / closed state of 6a, a temperature setter (not shown) provided on the inner wall of the refrigerator compartment 2, a temperature setter (not shown) provided on the inner wall of the lower freezer compartment 5, and the like. And by the program previously mounted in the aforementioned ROM, the compressor 45 is turned on / off, the number of revolutions is controlled, the control of the respective drive motors for individually driving the refrigerating room cooling damper 20 and the freezing room cooling damper 21, the storage Control of ON / OFF and rotation speed of the internal blower 9, control of ON / OFF and rotation speed of the external fan, ON / OFF of alarm to notify the door open state, and ice detection operation of the automatic ice making machine 22 And control such as deicing operation and ON / OFF of the water supply pump 28 are performed.

  Next, only the freezing temperature zone (the ice making chamber 3, the upper freezing chamber 4, and the lower freezing chamber 5) is cooled with the refrigerating chamber cooling damper 20 closed and the freezer cooling damper 21 open. If so, the cold air blown to the ice making chamber 3 via the ice making chamber blow duct 40 and the cold air blown to the upper freezer compartment 4 via the upper freezer compartment blow duct go down to the lower freezer compartment 5. And it flows like the freezing room return air shown by the arrow C in FIG. 4 with the cold air sent to the lower freezing room 5 via the lower freezing room ventilation duct 41 (refer FIG. 2). That is, it flows into the cooler storage chamber 8 from the lower front of the cooler storage chamber 8 via the freezer return port 42 arranged at the lower back of the lower freezing chamber 5, and a large number of fins are attached to the cooler piping 7a. Heat exchange is performed with the cooler 7 configured as described above.

  Incidentally, the width dimension of the freezer return port 42 is a width substantially equal to the width dimension of the cooler 7.

  On the other hand, when the refrigerating room cooling damper 20 is in the open state and the freezing room cooling damper 21 is in the closed state and only the refrigerating temperature zone room (the refrigerating room or the vegetable room 6) is being cooled, The return cold air flows into the cooler storage chamber 8 from the lower side of the cooler storage chamber 8 via the refrigerator return duct 16 like the cooler return air indicated by arrow D in FIG. Heat exchange with 7

  In addition, the cold air which cooled the vegetable compartment 6 via the 2nd opening 20b of the refrigerator compartment cooling damper 20 flows into the lower part of the cooler storage chamber 8 via the vegetable compartment return port 6d, as shown in FIG. However, the air volume is smaller than the air volume circulating in the freezing temperature zone and the air volume circulating in the refrigerator compartment 2.

  As described above, switching of the cool air to be blown to each storage chamber of the refrigerator main body 1 is performed by appropriately opening and closing each of the refrigerator compartment cooling damper 20 and the freezer compartment cooling damper 21.

<Configuration of automatic ice making machine>
Next, the automatic ice making machine 22 according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described.

The ice tray 25 can be kept clean by adopting a detachable structure that can be cleaned.
In order to make the ice tray 25 detachable, the ice tray 25 is arranged on the front side of the ice making chamber 3 and the drive unit 23 for driving the ice tray 25 is arranged on the back side of the ice making chamber 3. That is, it is preferable to dispose the drive means (drive unit 23) behind the ice tray 25 (on the back side of the refrigerator body 1).

  Here, the suitable structure of the ice making chamber ventilation duct 40 and the discharge port (blow-out port 3c) which supplies cold air to an ice making chamber is demonstrated. It goes without saying that it is desirable to improve the ice making speed and to make ice in a short time. For this purpose, it is desirable to flow a large amount of cold air toward the ice tray 25 and cool it rapidly. Therefore, it is preferable to increase the cross-sectional area of the ice making chamber air duct 40 to reduce the air blowing resistance and to increase the area of the outlet 3c.

  As shown in FIG. 3, since the blower 9 is generally provided in the vicinity of the center of the back of the refrigerator body 1, in order to increase the cross-sectional area of the ice making chamber blow duct 40 up to the blowout port 3c, first, the blowout port 3c is provided near the center of the refrigerator main body 1 on the right side of the automatic ice making machine 22 in the figure. Further, the ice detecting lever 24 for determining the amount of ice in the storage container 3b (ice storage container) is disposed on the left side of the drawing, that is, on the side wall side of the refrigerator main body 1 opposite to the ice making chamber air duct 40 and the outlet 3c. When the ice detecting lever 24, the ice making chamber air duct 40 and the outlet 3 c are on the same side in the left-right direction with respect to the ice tray 25, the ice making air fan duct 40 and the air outlet 3 c are complicated to avoid the ice detecting lever 24. It must be shaped and arranged. Therefore, there is a limit in enlarging a cross-sectional area, and ventilation resistance becomes large because it becomes a bent shape.

  In the present embodiment, an ice detecting lever 24 is arranged on one side of the driving means 23 in the left-right direction, and cold air is supplied to the ice making chamber 3 across the driving means 23 on the opposite side of the ice detecting lever 24 in the left-right direction. A discharge port (blowout port 3c) is arranged. Thereby, the cooling efficiency of the water in the ice tray 25 can be improved, and the time until completion of ice making can be shortened.

  A schematic configuration and a schematic operation of an embodiment of the automatic ice making machine 22 will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6 are perspective views showing an outline of the automatic ice making machine 22. In FIG. 5, the time of ice making, which is the origin of the operation, is shown by a solid line, and the time of ice detecting operation for judging the degree of ice is shown by a broken line. Yes. FIG. 6 illustrates a deicing operation in which the ice 53 is dropped into the storage container 3 b of the ice making chamber 3.

  5 and 6, a drive shaft 85 is provided on the front surface of the drive unit 23 and is connected to the drive end 60 of the ice tray 25. As described above, the ice tray 25 is arranged on the front side in the refrigerator body 1 and the drive unit 23 is arranged on the back side. A support shaft 49 is provided on the surface of the ice tray 25 opposite to the drive end 60. That is, the ice tray 25 is rotatably supported by the support shaft 49 and the drive end 60, and the drive unit 23 rotates the ice tray 25 around the drive shaft 85.

  An ice detecting shaft 50 is provided on the side surface of the drive unit 23. An ice detecting lever 24 is connected to the ice detecting shaft 50, and the ice detecting lever 24 descends into the ice making chamber 3 from above. The ice detection lever 24 has a small descending angle when the ice is full with sufficient ice accumulated in the storage container 3b. On the other hand, when the ice in the storage container 3b is absent or insufficient, the descending angle becomes large. That is, it is a configuration in which the degree of ice is determined based on the change in the descending angle. The details will be described later, but when it is determined that the ice is full, it returns to the ice making position without deicing, and when it is determined that the ice is insufficient, it is deiced and falls to the storage container 3b and then returns to the ice making position. Water is supplied to the ice tray 25 and the next ice making is automatically performed.

<Ice detection operation>
An ice making tray 25 shown by a solid line in FIG. 5 is substantially horizontal and the ice detecting lever 24 is raised, and shows a state of an ice making position where water is supplied to make ice. During ice making, cold air is blown out from the outlet 3c through the ice making chamber air duct 40 to the periphery of the ice tray 25 to freeze the water in the ice tray 25.

  The ice tray 25 shown with the broken line of FIG. 5 has shown the ice detection operation | movement which determines the some degree of ice as mentioned above. The ice tray 25 and the ice detecting lever 24 are interlocked and rotated in the direction of the broken arrow (ice detecting direction) shown in the figure, and the amount of ice is determined according to the descending angle of the ice detecting lever 24.

  When the descending angle of the ice detecting lever 24 is smaller than a predetermined angle and there is sufficient ice in the storage container 3b and it is determined that the ice is full, the ice tray 25 and the ice detecting lever 24 are linked to each other in the direction indicated by the solid line arrow in the figure. Rotate (in the direction of deicing) to return to the ice making position and wait.

<Ice-breaking action>
FIG. 6 shows the operation when deicing. During the ice detecting operation, when the descending angle of the ice detecting lever 24 is larger than a predetermined angle and it is determined that the ice is insufficient, the ice making tray 25 and the ice detecting lever 24 are rotated in the deicing direction in conjunction with the ice making operation. Return to position. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 6, the ice tray 25 and the ice detecting lever 24 are not interlocked, and only the ice tray 25 is rotated in the deicing direction to be reversed. In other words, with the ice detecting lever 24 stopped, the ice making tray 25 is rotated in the ice removing direction from the ice making position.

  In FIG. 6, a protrusion 51 is provided on the side of the spindle 49 of the ice tray 25. A stopper 52 is provided on the ice making chamber 3 side. In this configuration, when the ice tray 25 is inverted to a predetermined angle, the protrusion 51 comes into contact with the stopper 52. Since the drive shaft 85 continues to rotate in the deicing direction thereafter, the ice tray 25 is rotated only on the drive unit 23 side and twisted as shown by the broken line, and the ice 53 is separated from the ice tray 25 and the ice making chamber 3. Let it fall inside. Thereafter, the ice tray 25 is reversed and rotated in the ice detecting direction and returned to the ice making position as shown in FIG. Thereafter, the water supply pump 28 is driven to supply the water in the water supply tank 26 into the ice tray 25 to perform the next ice making.

  By repeating the above operation, the water in the water supply tank 26 is supplied to the ice tray 25 to make the ice, and then the automatic ice making that accumulates in the storage container 3b is performed.

<Drive unit configuration>
The configuration of the drive unit 23 will be described with reference to FIGS.

  7 is a perspective view showing the configuration of the drive unit 23 as seen from the direction of arrow C in FIG. 8 is a rear view seen from the direction of arrow D in FIG. 7, FIG. 9 is a front view seen from the direction of arrow E in FIG. 7, that is, from the ice tray 25 side, and FIG. FIG.

  7 to 10, the drive end 60 of the ice tray 25 is connected to a first gear 61 that outputs drive torque via a drive shaft 85. The first gear 61 is rotatably supported between a shaft hole 63 of the first case 62 on the ice tray 25 side and a rotation support shaft 65 protruding from the second case 64 on the opposite side. . In a space surrounded by the first case 62 and the second case 64, a motor 66 that is a drive source, a reduction gear group, and a first gear 61 are arranged.

  A worm 67 is connected to the rotation shaft of the motor 66 and meshes with a worm wheel 68 that is rotatably supported as a first reduction gear so as to decelerate. The worm wheel 68 is provided with a first pinion 69 so as to rotate integrally. The first pinion 69 meshes with the second reduction gear 70 rotatably supported by the second reduction gear 70, and the second reduction gear 70 is provided so that the second pinion 71 rotates integrally therewith. ing. The second pinion 71 meshes with a third reduction gear 72 rotatably supported by the third reduction gear 72 so that the third pinion 73 rotates integrally with the third reduction gear 72. Yes. The third pinion 73 meshes with the first gear 61 and is configured to reduce the rotation of the motor 66 in three stages and transmit it to the first gear 61.

  Note that the worm wheel 68 and the first pinion 69 are integrally formed of resin, for example, so that they rotate together. Similarly, the second reduction gear 70 and the second pinion 71, and the third reduction gear 72 and the third pinion 73 are integrally formed of resin, so that they rotate integrally with each other.

  Here, the worm wheel 68 and the third reduction gear 72 are arranged so as to be coaxial or coaxial so as to coincide with each other. Further, the second reduction gear 70 is arranged on the opposite side of the worm wheel 68 with respect to the first gear 61 and so as to overlap the worm 67. In other words, when viewed from one surface of the first case 62 or the second case 64, the first gear 61, the first reduction gear (worm wheel 68), and the second reduction gear 70 are arranged in this order. Further, the rotation axis of the motor 66 and the rotation axis of the second reduction gear 70 are arranged so as to cross each other or to be different from each other. That is, the motor 66 and the second reduction gear 70 are arranged so that a plane orthogonal to the rotation axis of the motor 66 (drive source) and a plane orthogonal to the rotation axis of the second reduction gear 70 intersect. Thereby, even if it is the structure which decelerates with a three-stage reduction gear, the drive unit 23 whole can be reduced in size. That is, as shown in FIG. 7 to FIG. 10, by arranging the three-stage reduction gears within the projected area of the two reduction gears (within the projected area in the rotation axis direction of each reduction gear), the drive unit 23 is It has the effect that it can be reduced in size.

  Both ends of the worm wheel 68 are supported directly or indirectly by the first case 62 and the second case 64. Specifically, both ends of the rotating shaft of the worm wheel 68 are supported between the second case 64 and a bracket 82 described later, and both ends are supported instead of being cantilevered. Thus, the shaft support accuracy and rigidity are high, and the axial force generated by the engagement of the worm 67 and the worm wheel 68 can be supported by the second case 64 or the bracket 82 described later. The effect that it is high can be acquired.

  The first gear 61 has a rotation support recess 116 formed around the rotation axis so that the opposite side of the ice tray 25 extends in a substantially cylindrical shape along the rotation axis, and the center portion is concentric with the outer peripheral gear. It has become. The rotation support recess 116 is rotatably fitted to the rotation support shaft 65.

  An arc-shaped first cam 74 having a partially large radius is provided on the outer periphery of the portion extending in a substantially cylindrical shape along the rotation axis of the first gear 61. As the first gear 61 rotates, the first cam 74 acts, the switch lever 75 in contact with the first cam 74 swings around the swing center 76, and the tact switch 77 is turned on. The switch lever 75 is biased toward the first cam 74 by a switch lever spring 78. Details of the configuration and operation of the switch lever 75 will be described later.

  A second cam 79 that is a recess is provided on the back side of the first gear 61, and one end of a cam follower 81 that swings about a swing fulcrum 80 is fitted to the second cam 79. The cam follower 81 swings according to the rotation of the first gear 61.

  A side surface of the drive unit 23 that is orthogonal to the first gear 61 is connected to the ice detection lever 24 and is pivotally supported between the first case 62 and the second case 64 so as to be swingable. An ice shaft 50 is provided, and the ice detecting shaft 50 is configured to swing according to the swing of the cam follower 81.

  Details of the shape of the second cam 79, the operation of the cam follower 81, and the configuration and operation of the ice detecting shaft 50 will be described later.

  In FIG. 10, the first gear 61 is rotatably supported by a shaft hole 63 provided in the first case 62 and a rotation support shaft 65 provided in the second case 64. The worm wheel 68 is rotatably supported by a second case 64 and a bracket 82 described later, which is a support member provided between the first case 62 and the second case 64. The second reduction gear 70 is rotatably supported between the first case 62 and the bracket 82. The third reduction gear 72 is rotatably supported between the first case 62 and the bracket 82, and the second pinion 71 and the third reduction gear 72 provided integrally with the second reduction gear 70. Are configured to mesh with each other and decelerate. 7 to 9, the bracket 82 is omitted.

  A fan-shaped recess 83 is provided in a predetermined angle range on the front side of the first gear 61, which is the ice tray 25 side. Both ends of the fan-shaped recess 83 abut a part of the first case 62 with a stopper 84 provided in a protruding shape on the first gear 61 side, so that the rotation range of the first gear is within a predetermined angular range. Restricted to

  The configuration of the first gear 61 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 11 is a perspective view showing the first gear 61, and FIG. 11A is a perspective view seen from the first case 62 side, showing the front side of the first gear 61. FIG. 11B is a perspective view seen from the facing second case 64 side, and shows the back side of the first gear 61.

  On the front side of FIG. 11A, the rotating shaft portion is a drive shaft 85 extending in a substantially cylindrical shape, and the ice tray 25 is attached. In the vicinity of the tip of the drive shaft 85, there is a flat cut portion 86, and the cross section has a shape combining a flat portion and an arc portion. When the flat cut portion 86 is fitted to the driving end 60 of the ice tray 25, it is easy to transmit the rotational torque to the ice tray 25.

  As described above, at a predetermined distance between the rotation axis of the first gear 61 and the root of the tooth, a fan-shaped recess 83 is provided, and the rotation range of the first gear 61 is determined by contacting the stopper 84. Is limited to within the angular range. Further, a positioning recess 87 is provided, which will be described later in detail, but is used as a guide during assembly.

  The back side of the first gear 61 shown in FIG. 11B extends in a substantially cylindrical shape, and a first cam 74 is provided with a convex portion 74a and a convex portion 74b around it. A second cam 79 that is a recess is provided on the side surface of the first gear 61 outside the first cam 74. About 3/4 of the second cam 79 is an inner circumferential groove 88 provided concentrically on the inner circumferential side of the first gear 61, and one end of the second cam 79 is disposed on the outer circumference of the first gear 61 via a slope 89. It is smoothly connected to an outer peripheral groove 90 provided concentrically on a part of the side.

<First gear and cam follower>
The configuration of the first gear 61 and the cam follower 81 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 12A is a perspective view of the second case 64 viewed from an obliquely lower side, and FIG. 12B is a perspective view of the second case 64 viewed from an obliquely upper side.

  The cam follower 81 is pivotally supported around a swing fulcrum 80 of the second case 64, and the tip 91 that is the other end of the cam follower 81 is a groove of the second cam 79 of the first gear 61. It is slidably fitted to. In the second cam 79, the inner circumferential groove 88, the slope 89 and the outer circumferential groove 90 are smoothly connected, so that the tip 91 of the cam follower 81 fits into the inner circumferential groove 88 when the first gear 61 rotates. While it is running, it is in a position close to the rotation axis of the first gear 61. While being fitted in the outer circumferential groove 90, it is at a position farthest from the rotation shaft of the first gear 61. While fitted to the slope 89, the distance from the rotation axis of the first gear 61 changes.

  A part of the cam follower 81 is provided with an ice detecting drive unit 93 with which an ice detecting rotation protrusion 92 of an ice detecting shaft 50 described later contacts. Details of driving the ice detecting shaft 50 will be described later.

<Ice detection axis>
The configuration of the ice detecting shaft 50 will be described with reference to FIGS. 13 and 14. 13 is a perspective view of the ice detecting shaft 50 as seen from the direction of the arrow L in FIG. 7, and FIG. 14 is a cross-sectional view taken along line MM in FIG. One end of the ice detecting shaft 50 is an ice detecting shaft end portion 94 that fixes the ice detecting lever 24, and the other end is a rotating shaft 95 that is swingably supported with respect to the second case 64. The outer diameter of the portion of the rotating shaft 95 is larger than that of the other portion of the ice detecting shaft 50, and a cylindrical groove 121 is formed around the rotating shaft 95.

  A torsion spring 96 is provided in a cylindrical groove 121 portion around the rotation shaft 95. One end 96 a of the torsion spring 96 is inserted into an attachment hole 97 formed in the ice detecting shaft 50 so as to face the ice detecting shaft end portion 94, and rotates in synchronization with the ice detecting shaft 50. The other end 96b faces the rotation shaft 95 side and is rotatably supported around the rotation shaft 95, and is pressed against and supported by a second case 64 (not shown).

  With such a configuration, a rotational torque in the direction of the arrow in FIG. Due to the rotational torque, the ice detecting rotation protrusion 92 provided on the ice detecting shaft 50 is urged in a direction to press against the ice detecting drive portion 93 (see FIG. 12) provided on the cam follower 81.

  The rotation stopper 50a protruding from the ice detecting shaft 50 is provided on a protrusion such as a step or a rib (not shown) provided in the second case 64 when the ice detecting lever 24 shown by a broken line in FIG. It abuts and regulates the operation of the ice detecting shaft 50.

  The blocking lever 98 protruding from the ice detecting shaft 50 is configured to inhibit the operation of the switch lever 75 (see FIG. 8) when the ice detecting lever 24 is lowered more than a predetermined angle due to lack of ice. To do.

  15 and 16 are cross-sectional views in the JJ direction in FIG. In FIGS. 15 and 16, rotational torque in the direction indicated by the arrow acts on the ice detecting shaft 50.

  FIG. 15 shows a state other than during ice detection, and the tip 91 of the cam follower 81 is engaged with the inner peripheral groove 88 of the second cam 79. The ice detecting rotation protrusion 92 of the ice detecting shaft 50 moves upward in the figure to keep the ice detecting lever 24 in the raised position.

  FIG. 16 shows a state at the time of ice detection, and the tip 91 of the cam follower 81 is fitted in the outer peripheral groove 90 of the second cam 79. The ice detecting rotation protrusion 92 of the ice detecting shaft 50 moves downward in the drawing to lower the ice detecting lever 24.

<Switch lever>
FIG. 17 is a perspective view showing the configuration of the switch lever 75. The switch lever 75 includes a swing center 76 that is a substantially U-shaped groove, and is placed on a swing fulcrum 99 (details will be described later) provided fixed to the drive unit 23. A first protrusion 100 for turning on / off the tact switch 77 is provided at one end which is the upper side in the drawing. A spring seat 101 urged by a switch lever spring 78 is provided on the opposite side of the first protrusion 100 with respect to the swing center 76. A second protrusion 102 operated by a first cam 74 provided on the first gear 61 is provided further away from the swing center 76 than the spring seat 101. Distant from the second protrusion 102 is a blocking protrusion 103 that inhibits the operation of the switch lever 75 with the blocking lever 98 of the ice detecting shaft 50 when ice is insufficient.

  That is, the first protrusion 100, the swing center 76, the spring seat 101, the second protrusion 102, and the blocking protrusion 103 are provided in this order from the upper side in FIG. The second protrusions 102 are provided at two locations of the second protrusions 102a and 102b so as to have a symmetrical shape. The second protrusions 102 a and 102 b are arranged outside the first protrusion 100, the spring seat 101, and the blocking protrusion 103.

  Temporary fixing protrusions 125 and 126 are provided on the inner side of the substantially U-shaped groove of the swing center 76 so as to narrow the groove width, and the switch lever 75 is snap-fitted to the swing fulcrum 99 of the bracket 82 as will be described in detail later. And used for temporary fixing.

  18 is a diagram showing the positional relationship between the switch lever 75 and the first gear 61, and is a side view seen from the direction of arrow K in FIG. Since the second protrusions 102a and 102b are in contact with the first cam 74 provided on the first gear 61 at two points apart from each other, the posture of the switch lever 75 is stabilized. At least one side 103 a of the blocking projection 103 is located on or near the straight line connecting the first projection 100 and the spring seat 101, and the other side is arranged extending to the first gear 61 side. Is done.

<Ice detection operation>
The ice detection operation for determining the amount of ice by the operation of the switch lever 75 and the on / off of the tact switch 77 will be described with reference to FIGS. 19 to 22 show the main relationship among the first cam 74, the switch lever 75, the switch lever spring 78, and the blocking lever 98.

  FIG. 19 shows the ice making position where the ice tray 25 is the origin, as indicated by the solid line in FIG. 5, and the second protrusion 102 of the switch lever 75 is the concave portion (convex portion 74 a) of the first cam 74. And the convex portion 74b). The urging force f2 by the switch lever spring 78 is supported by the second protrusion 102 and the swing center 76 of the switch lever 75, and receives the reaction force of the arrow f3 and the arrow f1, respectively. The first protrusion 100 is separated from the tact switch 77, and the tact switch 77 is in an off state.

  FIG. 20 shows a state where the first gear 61 is being rotated in the ice detection direction, that is, in the direction of the broken line arrow in FIG. The second projection 102 of the switch lever 75 is pushed up by the convex portion 74a of the first cam 74 and swings counterclockwise in the figure, and the first projection 100 pushes the tact switch 77 to turn it on. At this time, the swing center 76 of the switch lever 75 is lifted from the fixed swing support point 99, and the switch lever 75 is supported by the second protrusion 102 and the tact switch 77. The urging force f2 generated by the switch lever spring 78 is subjected to reaction forces indicated by arrows f3 and f4 at the second protrusion 102 of the switch lever 75 and the tact switch 77, respectively. At this time, as described above, the ice detecting shaft 50 is rotated and the ice detecting lever 24 is lowered into the ice making chamber 3.

<When ice is insufficient>
When ice is insufficient in the ice making chamber 3 and the ice detecting lever 24 is lowered by a predetermined angle or more, the blocking lever 98 provided on the ice detecting shaft 50 is connected to the blocking protrusion 103 and the second protrusion 102 of the switch lever 75. Get in between. When the first gear 61 further rotates, the second protrusion 102 separates from the convex portion 74 a of the second cam 79, but the blocking lever 98 inhibits the movement of the blocking protrusion 103. That is, as shown in FIG. 21, the switch lever 75 is supported by the tact switch 77 and the blocking protrusion 103, and the tact switch 77 remains on. The urging force f2 due to the switch lever spring 78 receives the reaction force of the arrow f5 and the arrow f4 at the blocking projection 103 of the switch lever 75 and the tact switch 77, respectively.

<When full ice>
When the ice making chamber 3 has enough ice and the ice detecting lever 24 does not descend to a predetermined angle, the blocking lever 98 provided on the ice detecting shaft 50 is connected to the blocking protrusion 103 and the second protrusion 102 of the switch lever 75. Do not get in between. When the first gear 61 further rotates, as shown in FIG. 22, the second protrusion 102 is fitted into the concave portion of the second cam 79, and is in the same state as the origin shown in FIG. Is turned off.

  The tact switch 77 determines whether or not the descending angle of the ice detecting lever 24 is equal to or larger than a predetermined angle based on the on state shown in FIG. 21 and the off state shown in FIG. Can be determined.

<Ice detection shaft and switch lever operation>
The operation of the ice detecting shaft 50 and the switch lever 75 when determining the degree of ice will be described with reference to FIGS. 23 to 25 are schematic views showing the operation of the switch lever 75, the ice detecting shaft 50, and the cam follower 81, and are side views similar to FIG.

  FIG. 23 shows a state other than the ice detection operation. The cam follower 81 is in a state along the inner peripheral groove 88 shown in FIG. 12 by the second cam 79 of the first gear 61. The ice detecting rotation projection 92 is pushed up to rotate the ice detecting shaft 50, and the ice detecting lever 24 is in the raised position as shown by the solid line in FIG.

  24 and 25 show a state during the ice detecting operation, and the cam follower 81 is along the outer peripheral groove 90 shown in FIG. 12 by the second cam 79 of the first gear 61, and the ice detecting rotation protrusion is shown. 92 is lowered, the ice detecting shaft 50 is rotated, and the ice detecting lever 24 is lowered.

  FIG. 24 shows a case where the ice detecting lever 24 is lowered more than a predetermined angle due to lack of ice as in FIG. The blocking lever 98 inhibits the operation of the switch lever 75 via the blocking protrusion 103, and the tact switch 77 is turned on to determine that ice is insufficient.

  In FIG. 25, the ice detection lever 24 does not descend to a predetermined angle because the ice is full, the ice detection rotation protrusion 92 is lifted from the ice detection drive unit 93, and the blocking lever 98 is not in contact with the blocking protrusion 103. In this case, without disturbing the operation of the switch lever 75, the tact switch 77 is turned off as in FIG.

<Ice detection and deicing operation>
After confirming the completion of ice making using FIG. 26 to FIG. 32, the ice detection operation is performed from the ice making position which is the origin, and when it is determined that the ice is full, it returns to the origin without deicing and it is determined that the ice is insufficient. In this case, a series of operations for performing ice removal will be described. There is a temperature sensor 39 in the ice tray 25 or in the vicinity of the ice tray 25 (see FIG. 4), and the ice making is completed when a predetermined time elapses after the temperature decreases to a predetermined temperature, for example, −18 ° C. judge.

  FIGS. 26 to 32 are schematic diagrams showing the on / off relationship of the first cam 74 of the first gear 61, the second cam 79, the switch lever 75, the cam follower 81, and the tact switch 77. A part of the ice tray 25 is also illustrated.

  FIG. 26 shows the origin position, that is, the ice making position. At this time, the ice making tray 25 is in a substantially horizontal state. Similarly to FIG. 19, the switch lever 75 is supported by the swing fulcrum 99 and the recess of the first cam 74, and the tact switch 77 is in an OFF state. Similarly to FIG. 15, the cam follower 81 is fitted with the inner circumferential groove 88 of the second cam, and the ice detecting lever 24 is in the raised position.

  FIG. 27 shows a state in which the ice detection operation is started, the motor 66 rotates in the ice detection direction, and the ice tray 25 rotates in the ice detection direction. The second protrusion 102 of the switch lever 75 is being pushed up by the convex portion 74a of the first cam 74, and the first protrusion 100 presses the tact switch 77 to turn on. When the tact switch 77 is turned on, it can be seen that the ice tray 25 has rotated away from the origin.

  FIG. 28 shows a state in which the ice detection operation is further continued and the ice tray 25 is further rotated in the ice detection direction (clockwise in the drawing). The second protrusion 102 of the switch lever 75 rides on the convex portion 74a of the first cam 74 and maintains the state supported by the first protrusion 100 and the second protrusion 102 as shown in FIG. The tact switch 77 is in an on state. The cam follower 81 is on the slope between the inner peripheral groove 88 and the outer peripheral groove 90 of the second cam 79, and the ice detecting lever 24 is in the middle of being lowered to a predetermined angle.

  Here, if the ice making chamber 3 is deficient in the ice making chamber 3 and the ice detecting lever 24 descends below a predetermined angle, the blocking lever 98 enters the blocking cam 103 on the first cam 74 side as in FIG. On the other hand, if the ice making chamber 3 is full and the ice detecting lever 24 is not lowered to a predetermined angle, the blocking lever 98 does not enter the first cam 74 side of the blocking protrusion 103.

  FIG. 29 shows a case where it is determined that ice is insufficient at the ice detection position. The cam follower 81 is fitted into the outer peripheral groove 90 of the second cam 79, and the ice detecting lever 24 is lowered from a predetermined angle to be in the same state as in FIG. The blocking lever 98 inhibits the operation of the switch lever 75 via the blocking protrusion 103, and determines that the ice is insufficient while keeping the tact switch 77 on.

<Full ice judgment>
FIG. 30 shows a case where it is determined that the ice is full at the ice detection position. Although the cam follower 81 is engaged with the outer peripheral groove 90 of the second cam 79, the ice detecting lever 24 is not lowered to a predetermined angle as shown in FIG. Since the blocking lever 98 does not come into contact with the blocking protrusion 103, the tact switch 77 is turned off from the on state in the same manner as in FIG.

  29 and 30, after determining the amount of ice in the ice making chamber 3, the motor 66 is reversed and rotated in the ice removing direction (counterclockwise in the figure). When it is determined that the ice is full, it rotates to the origin position shown in FIG. 26 through the states of FIGS. When the tact switch 77 is turned from on to off, the ice tray 25 is stopped and waits at the origin until the next ice detection operation.

<Ice lack judgment>
If it is determined that the ice is insufficient, the motor 66 is further rotated in the deicing direction (counterclockwise in the figure) without stopping at the origin. From the origin to the deicing position, as shown in FIG. 31, the cam follower 81 is fitted in the inner peripheral groove 88 of the second cam 79, and the ice detecting lever 24 is in the raised position. The second protrusion 102 of the switch lever 75 is pushed up by the convex portion of the first cam 74 and is supported in the same manner as in FIG. 20 so that the tact switch 77 is turned on.

<Ice position>
FIG. 32 shows the deicing position. As shown in FIG. 6, the ice tray 25 is rotated by approximately 160 ° and reversed, and the ice tray 25 is further twisted to drop the ice into the ice making chamber 3. The ice detecting lever 24 remains in the raised position, and the second protrusion 102 of the switch lever 75 is engaged with the concave portion of the first cam 74, so that the tact switch 77 is turned from on to off, and the deicing position is changed. Detect.

  As described with reference to FIGS. 10 and 11, the fan-shaped concave portion 83 and the rotation stopper 84 are brought into contact with each other to limit the rotation range of the first gear within a predetermined angle range. The rotation angle range is, for example, from the first mechanical stop position further rotated in the ice detection direction by about 15 ° from the ice detection position shown in FIGS. 29 and 30, and from the ice removal position shown in FIG. In addition, for example, the second mechanical stop position is further rotated in the direction of deicing by about 15 °. Since these positions are mechanical stop positions, they are called mechanical stops.

<Ice detection and deicing operation>
FIG. 33 is a chart for explaining a series of operations described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 33A illustrates the rotation operation of the ice tray 25, and the horizontal axis indicates the rotation angle. The left side in the figure is the ice detection direction and the right side in the figure is the deicing direction with respect to the origin position. (A1) shows the operation when the ice is full, (A2) shows the operation when the ice is insufficient, and (A3) shows the operation when the power is turned on. FIG. 32B shows the on / off state of the tact switch 77. FIG. 33C shows the descending operation of the ice detecting lever 24.

  During ice making, the ice tray 25 is at the origin position (d). If it is determined that the ice making is completed, the ice is first rotated in the direction of ice detection. The tact switch 77, which was off at the origin, is turned on at the point (c) rotated about 10 °, for example, and further rotated in the ice detecting direction. The ice detecting lever 24 starts to descend from the (k) point by the action of the second cam 79 and the cam follower 81 of the first gear 61. Instead, as shown by the broken line, it is in a state of descending at a substantially constant angle. For example, this angle is about 30 °. At this time, the operation of the switch lever 75 is not hindered. (B) When the point is further rotated by a predetermined angle in the ice detection direction after the point, the tact switch 77 is turned from on to off, and it is determined that the ice is full. At this time, it is preferable to stop the rotation in the ice detecting direction before coming into contact with the first mechanical stop because the stress applied to the fan-shaped recess 83 and the rotation stopper 84 can be reduced.

  Thereafter, as shown in (A1), the motor 66 is reversed and rotated in the direction of deicing, and when the point (c) near the origin is reached, the tact switch 77 changes from on to off. After that, when it stops by rotating at a predetermined angle, for example, about 10 °, it returns to the origin (d) point, and the ice detecting lever 24 becomes the raised position. Since the ice in the ice tray 25 remains without being deiced, it waits for a predetermined time until the next ice detection is performed.

  Next, the operation when ice is insufficient will be described with reference to FIG. When the ice is insufficient, the ice detecting lever 24 is lowered to the maximum lowering angle at the point (h). At this time, since the operation of the switch lever 75 is hindered, even if the ice tray 25 further rotates in the ice detecting direction and reaches the point (b), the tact switch 77 remains on and it is determined that the ice is insufficient. Invert and rotate in the direction of deicing. (M) As described with reference to FIG. The protrusion 51 of the ice tray 25 is in contact with the stopper 52 and twisted. When the tact switch 77 further turns in the deicing direction and reaches the point (f), the tact switch 77 changes from on to off. Therefore, it is determined that the deicing position has been reached, the motor 66 is reversed, and the ice tray 25 is moved in the ice detecting direction. Rotate to. When reaching the point (e) in the vicinity of the origin, the tact switch 77 changes from on to off, and then returns to the origin (d) point when stopped by rotating a predetermined angle, for example, about 10 °. Since the ice tray 25 is at a substantially horizontal ice making position and the ice removal is completed and empty, the water supply pump 28 is driven again to supply water and the next ice making is performed.

<Initialization operation>
Next, an operation at initialization will be described with reference to FIG. When the power source of the refrigerator body 1 is turned on, the position of the ice tray 25 may be out of the origin (ice making position), so an initialization operation for reliably returning to the origin is performed. In the present embodiment, at the time of initialization, the ice tray 25 is rotated in the deicing direction for a predetermined time and brought into contact with a second mechanical stop provided on the deicing side. When the power is turned on, the ice tray 25 may be in a state of rotating in the ice detecting direction. Therefore, at initialization, the ice tray 25 is separated for a longer time than the operation time from the first mechanical stop to the second mechanical stop. It is desirable to rotate in the ice direction.

  In this embodiment, when the second mechanical stop on the deicing side comes into contact and the motor 66 is forcibly stopped, the ice tray 25 is twisted past the (m) point, so the second The torque applied to the mechanical stop is a torque obtained by subtracting the torque for twisting the ice tray 25 from the output torque of the motor 66 and is smaller than the output torque of the motor 66. Therefore, since the stress applied to the concave portion 83 of the first gear and the rotation stopper 84 of the first case 62 is small, a highly reliable automatic ice maker can be provided.

  That is, when the motor 66 is forcibly stopped by contacting a mechanical stop (in this embodiment, the first mechanical stop on the ice detection side) provided in the direction opposite to the direction in which the ice tray 25 is twisted, the ice tray No torque to twist 25 is generated or very small. Although all the torque generated from the motor 66 is applied to the mechanical stop, in this embodiment, an effect of reducing stress can be obtained by performing the initialization operation using the mechanical stop on the deicing side.

  After that, when it reverses and rotates in the ice detection direction to reach the point (e) near the origin, the tact switch 77 changes from on to off. Thereafter, when it stops after rotating at a predetermined angle, for example, about 10 °, it returns to the origin (d) point. By such an initialization operation, it is possible to reliably return to the origin.

<Block diagram>
FIG. 34 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a refrigerator including an automatic ice maker according to an embodiment of the present invention. The control board 31 is connected to a power source 104 that generates a direct current of a predetermined voltage from a commercial power source. Furthermore, it is connected to an operation panel 36 having an operation means 37 such as a push button switch for adjusting temperature and a display means 38 such as a blinking LED. In addition, the temperature sensors 33, 34, 35, the refrigerator compartment cooling damper 20 and the freezer compartment cooling damper 21, the feed water pump 28, the automatic ice maker 22, the compressor 45, etc. are connected to drive and control them. .

  In FIG. 1, the operation panel 36 is arranged on the front surface of the refrigerator body 1, for example, the front surface of the refrigerator compartment door 2 a, and improves the usability when the user changes or confirms various functions. ing.

<Initialization operation flow>
FIG. 35 is a flowchart showing control of initialization operation when power is turned on in automatic ice maker 22 according to the embodiment of the present invention. The control board 31 is activated when the power is turned on, and executes the initialization program shown in FIG.

(Step S101) The state of the tact switch 77 and the temperature sensors 33, 34, and 35 is confirmed, and initial setting is started.
(Step S102) The motor 66 is energized to rotate the ice tray 25 to the ice removing side.
(Step S103) It is determined whether or not a predetermined time has elapsed.
(Step S104) It is determined that the second mechanical stop on the deicing side has been reached.
(Step S105) The motor 66 is reversed and the ice tray 25 is rotated in the ice detecting direction to return to the origin position (ice making position).
(Step S106) The tact switch 77 is turned on from the off state of the deicing position.
(Step S107) It is determined whether or not the tact switch 77 has changed from on to off.
(Step S108) If the tact switch 77 changes from on to off, it is near the ice making position as the origin, and then it is determined whether or not a specified time has passed.
(Step S109) When the specified time has elapsed, it is determined that the origin is located, and the motor 66 is stopped.

  Thus, the initialization operation is completed.

<Automatic ice making operation flow>
36 and 37 are flowcharts showing the control of a series of operations described with reference to FIGS. 26 to 32 in the automatic ice making machine according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  The temperature sensor 39 determines that ice making is completed when a predetermined time has elapsed since the temperature of the ice tray 25 or the vicinity of the ice tray 25 has decreased to a predetermined temperature, for example, −18 ° C., and then the operation is started. To do. FIG. 36 shows the operation when it is determined that the ice is full.

(Step S201) After confirming completion of ice making, the ice detecting operation is started.
(Step S202) The motor 66 is rotated in the ice detecting direction.
(Step S203) The tact switch 77 changes from off to on.
(Step S204) The ice detecting lever 24 is lowered by the operation of the second cam 79, the cam follower 81, and the ice detecting shaft 50.
(Step S205) After a predetermined time has elapsed, it is determined whether or not the tact switch 77 has changed from on to off. If the tact switch 77 does not change to OFF, the process branches to A, and the process when the ice is insufficient (FIG. 37) is performed.
(Step S206) When the tact switch 77 is turned off, it is determined that the ice is full.
(Step S207) The motor 66 is reversed and rotated in the deicing direction.
(Step S208) The tact switch 77 changes from off to on.
(Step S209) It is determined whether or not the tact switch 77 changes from on to off.
(Step S210) Since the tact switch 77 changes from on to off in the vicinity of the origin, it is determined whether or not a predetermined time has passed.
(Step S211) When the predetermined time has elapsed, the motor 66 is stopped because it is the origin position.
Since it is determined that the ice is full, ice remains in the ice tray, and the process waits until the next ice detection operation.

<Flow when determining ice shortage>
FIG. 37 shows the operation when it is determined that the ice is insufficient.

(Step S212) It branches from A of FIG. 36, and it is determined whether the predetermined time has passed with the tact switch 77 turned on. When the tact switch 77 remains on, the ice detecting lever 24 is lowered from a predetermined angle due to insufficient ice, and the operation of the switch lever 75 is hindered.
(Step S213) Since the predetermined time has elapsed, it is determined that the ice is insufficient.
(Step S214) The rotation direction of the motor 66 is reversed to rotate in the deicing direction.
(Step S215) The tact switch 77 is temporarily turned off from on, and after the ice tray 25 has passed through the origin position, the tact switch 77 is turned on again from off and continues to rotate toward the deicing position.
(Step S216) It is determined whether or not the tact switch 77 has changed from on to off.
(Step S217) When the tact switch 77 changes from on to off, it is the ice-off position, the ice tray 25 is reversed and twisted, and the ice falls into the ice making chamber 3.
(Step S218) Since the ice removal is completed, the rotation direction of the motor 66 is reversed to rotate in the ice detection direction.
(Step S219) The tact switch 77 is reversed from off to on by leaving the deicing position.
(Step S220) It is determined whether or not the tact switch 77 has changed from on to off. When the tact switch 77 changes to OFF, it is in the vicinity of the ice making position that is the origin.
(Step S221) Since the tact switch 77 changes from on to off in the vicinity of the ice making position which is the origin, it is determined whether or not a predetermined time has passed thereafter.
(Step S222) When the predetermined time has elapsed, the motor 66 is stopped because the ice making position is the origin. Since the ice tray 25 is horizontal and has already been deiced, the ice tray 25 is empty.
(Step S223) The water supply pump 28 is activated to supply water for the next ice making.
(Step S224) It is determined whether a predetermined time has elapsed.
(Step S225) When a predetermined amount of time has elapsed, since a predetermined amount of water supply has been completed, the water supply pump 28 is stopped. A series of automatic ice making operations are performed by repeating the above steps.

<Bracket components>
FIG. 38 and FIG. 39 show a bracket 82 as a support member provided between the first case 62 and the second case 64, a motor 66, and a worm 67 in the automatic ice maker according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a partially assembled state of a tact switch 77 and a switch lever 75. This state is referred to as a bracket component 105.

  38 is a perspective view seen from the direction of arrow G in FIG. 7, and FIG. 39 is a perspective view seen from the direction of arrow H in FIG. 42 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line P-P in FIG. 38, and is a cross-sectional view showing attachment of the tact switch 77. 43 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line NN in FIG. 39 and shows a state where the switch lever 75 is snap-fitted to the swing fulcrum 99 of the bracket 82 and temporarily fixed. 44 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line Q-Q of FIG.

  38 and 39, a worm 67 is press-fitted into the rotating shaft of the motor 66, and the tip of the worm 67 is rotatably fitted in a worm bearing hole 106 provided in the bracket 82. On the surface of the motor 66 on the worm 67 side, a cylindrical boss 107 formed by protruding a part of the bracket 82 is fitted into a hole provided in the motor 66 to fix the motor 66 in the rotation direction.

  Extending portions 108 that extend a part of the bracket 82 from both sides along the motor 66 to the back surface of the motor 66 are provided, and both ends of the extending portion 108 are integrally connected to the back surface of the motor 66 by the connecting portions 122. The motor 66 is fixed to the bracket 82 by adopting a configuration in which the motor 66 is fitted on both sides in the axial direction.

<Warm support>
The arrangement of the motor 66, the worm 67, and the bracket 82 will be described in detail with reference to FIG. A part of the bracket 82 is a motor positioning hole 138, which fits with a cylindrical portion protruding from the motor 66 coaxially with the motor shaft 134 with high accuracy. The worm 67 is provided with a worm shaft hole 137 and is fitted to the motor shaft 134. For example, a square rotation stopper 135 is fixed to the motor shaft 134 so as to be firmly and firmly adhered thereto, and the worm 67 is provided with, for example, a square hole that fits the rotation stopper 135. 135 is pressed against an abutting surface 136 provided on the worm 67 to determine the position in the axial direction.

<Warm tip support>
The bracket 82 is configured to support the motor 66 and support the worm tip 139 that is the tip of the worm 67 with the worm bearing hole 106. The worm tip 139 has a hemispherical tip, and when the bracket component 105 is assembled in the second case 64, the tip and the inner wall of the lower case have a gap corresponding to a minute backlash in the axial direction of the worm 67. It arrange | positions so that it may become. By making the tip of the worm tip 139 hemispherical, even if the worm 67 is in contact with the second case 64 during rotation, the contact point is only about one point at the center of rotation, so the load torque generated by friction is small. The rotation of the motor 66 is stabilized.

  As described above, the bracket component 105 includes the worm side of the motor 66, the connecting portion 122 side opposite to the worm 67, and the worm tip 139 that is the tip of the worm 67 by the bracket 82 that is the same component. Therefore, it is easy to obtain the accuracy of the coaxiality. Therefore, the core of the worm 67 is hard to be displaced, the meshing with the worm wheel 68 is stable, and an automatic ice making machine having a reduction gear with low vibration and low noise can be obtained.

<Warm thrust direction support>
Next, the relationship between the rotational direction of the worm 67 and the axial thrust load will be described. FIG. 45 is a view in which a part of the ice tray 25 and arrows indicating the rotation directions of the gears are added to the same perspective view as FIG.

  In FIG. 45, when rotating from the ice-making position in the deicing direction as shown in FIG. 6, the first gear 61 rotates in the direction of the arrow W1. The third reduction gear 72 meshed with the first gear 61 rotates in the direction of arrow W2, the second gear rotates in the direction of arrow W3, and the worm wheel 68 rotates in the direction of arrow W4. W1 and W3 are counterclockwise in the figure, and W2 and W4 are clockwise in the figure. The worm 67 meshing with the worm wheel 68 rotates in the direction of arrow W5, that is, in the direction of feeding teeth from the motor 66 side toward the tip in order to rotate the worm wheel 68 in the W4 direction.

  Here, as shown in FIG. 6, when the ice tray 25 is inverted and the projection 51 is pressed against the stopper 52 to twist the ice tray 25 in order to release the ice in the ice tray 25, the load torque required for ice removal Is applied to each gear and the worm 67 as a reaction force opposite to the arrow in FIG. The worm 67 tries to rotate in the direction to feed the teeth toward the tip side, but the worm wheel 68 tries to stop by the load torque, so that the force received by the worm 67 from the worm wheel 68 is such that the worm 67 presses the worm 67 against the motor 66 side. Become.

  When the worm 67 is pressed to the motor 66 side, the contact surface 136 of the worm 67 is pressed against the rotation stopper 135 as described above with reference to FIG. As a result, the concentricity between the worm 67 and the motor shaft 134 can be easily obtained, and vibration and noise can be reduced with high accuracy.

  The bracket 82 rotatably supports the first support shaft 110 that rotatably supports the worm wheel 68, the second support shaft 111 that rotatably supports the second reduction gear 70, and the third reduction gear 72. A third spindle 112 is provided. The first support shaft 110 and the third support shaft 112 have a shape that is convex on the opposite side so as to be concentric with the bracket 82 interposed therebetween.

<Fix tact switch>
As shown in FIG. 42, the tact switch 77 is fixed by a snap fit so as to be sandwiched between the first claw 109 and the second claw 129 so as to be in contact with the switch reference surface 132 provided on the bracket 82. The second claw 129 is provided so that a part of a so-called doubly supported beam supported at both ends by the second claw fulcrums 130 and 131 protrudes opposite to the first claw 109. Since the second claw 129 is provided on the both-end supported beam, a larger reaction force can be generated as compared with the case of the cantilever beam, and a snap fit is sure and preferable.

  Furthermore, a part of the second case 64 is formed as a switch stopper 133 that protrudes close to the tact switch 77, and when the bracket component 105 is placed on the second case 64, the switch stopper 133 The tact switch 77 can be securely fixed by arranging so as to prevent the deformation of the claw 129.

  The snap fit is a joining method in which the members are fixed by a combination of members without bonding with an adhesive or the like, and the members are mainly elastically locked together.

<Switch lever fixed>
A swing fulcrum 99 of the switch lever 75 having a semi-cylindrical shape is integrally formed in the vicinity of the tact switch 77 of the bracket 82.

  As shown in FIG. 43, the right side of the swing fulcrum 99 provided on the bracket 82 has a substantially semicircular cross section, and the swing center 76 of the switch lever 75 is placed thereon. Steps 127 and 128 are provided on the left side of the swing fulcrum 99 in the figure, and the temporary fixing protrusions 125 and 126 provided on the switch lever 75 are loosely fitted to the steps 127 and 128. The degree of this fitting is such that the switch lever 75 is swung as shown in FIGS. 19 to 20, although the switch lever 75 is engaged with the bracket component 105 so that the switch lever 75 is not detached from the bracket 82. A clearance is provided to such an extent that the swing center 76 can be lifted from the swing support point 99 as shown in FIG.

  On the surface along the worm 67 of the bracket 82 and the outer surface facing the first case 62 or the second case 64 orthogonal to the worm bearing hole 106, there is a wiring groove 113 through which the wiring 117 from the motor 66 passes. Is provided. Further, a plurality of wiring stoppers 114 for temporarily fixing the wiring 117 in the wiring groove 113 are provided. The wiring 123 from the tact switch 77 is connected to the contact of the tact switch 77 by means such as soldering or caulking, and is drawn out of the bracket component 105 together with the wiring 117 from the motor 66.

  By providing a wall surface over the entire circumference of the wiring groove 113, the wiring 117 from the motor 66 can be prevented from coming into contact with the worm 67 and the reduction gear, which are rotating members, and a highly reliable automatic ice maker can be obtained.

  The worm storage space 118 around the worm 67 and the worm wheel 68 is configured such that the entire periphery is surrounded by a wall by the bracket 82 and the second case 64. Thereby, the lubricating grease applied to the worm 67 is not scattered by the centrifugal force of the worm, and the lubricity is maintained for a long time, which is preferable.

  The bracket 82 is provided with a positioning boss 119 that protrudes toward the second case 64 through the central axis of the swing fulcrum 99 that is the swing center of the switch lever 75. The second case 64 is preferably provided with a recess that fits with the positioning boss 119 so that the second case 64 and the swing fulcrum 99 can be accurately aligned.

  Furthermore, a screw boss 120 is provided at a substantially intermediate position between the swing fulcrum 99 and the cylindrical boss 107 (which is a positioning portion of the motor 66). Since the bracket component 105 and the second case 64 are fastened with screws via the screw bosses 120, the swing fulcrum 99 of the switch lever 75 and the motor 66 as a drive source are firmly attached. .

  Since the bracket 82 integrally forms the snap fit portion (first claw 109 and second claw 129) of the tact switch 77 and the swing fulcrum 99 of the switch lever 75, the tact switch 77 and the switch. It is easy to ensure dimensional accuracy with the lever 75, the tact switch 77 is reliably turned on / off by the switch lever 75, and a highly reliable automatic ice maker can be obtained.

<Temporary assembled state>
40 and 41 are perspective views showing a state during assembly when the first gear 61 is assembled. FIG. 40 is a perspective view showing a state during the assembly of the automatic ice making machine 22 according to the embodiment of the present invention. Components other than the first gear 61 and the first case 62 are incorporated in the second case 64. Shows the state. Here, the outer shape of the second case 64 is indicated by a one-dot chain line.

  First, the worm wheel 68 is attached to the second case 64, and the bracket component 105 shown in FIGS. 38 and 39 is attached to the second case. Thereafter, the second reduction gear 70 and the third reduction gear 72 are placed on the bracket component 105. 13 and 14, with the torsion spring 96 attached to the ice detection shaft 50, the rotation shaft 95 of the ice detection shaft 50 is attached to the ice detection shaft support portion 115 protruding from the second case 64. Fit. Then, the cam follower 81 is fitted to the swinging fulcrum 80 of the second case 64, and the ice detecting rotation protrusion 92 which is a part of the ice detecting shaft 50 is placed on the ice detecting drive unit 93 of the cam follower 81. The ice detecting rotation projection 92 is pressed against the ice detecting driving portion 93 of the cam follower 81 by the rotational torque of the torsion spring 96, and the tip 91 of the cam follower 81 is away from the rotation center of the first gear 61, that is, as shown in FIG. Near the upper right direction, the position substantially coincides with the position of the outer peripheral groove 90 of the second cam 79 provided in the first gear 61. This state is the same as in FIG. 16 or FIG. 29 except for the presence or absence of the first gear 61.

  At this time, the ice detecting shaft 50 is in the most rotated position, that is, the position where the ice detecting lever 24 is lowered to the maximum angle when the ice is insufficient.

  Next, the switch lever spring 78 is fitted between the switch lever 75 and the side wall of the second case 64 while being urged. Further, when the blocking protrusion 103 is hooked on the blocking lever 98 provided on the ice detecting shaft 50, the switch lever 75 is urged by the switch lever spring 78 and the tact switch 77 and the ice detecting are performed in the same manner as shown in FIG. The shaft 50 is supported by the blocking protrusion 103 of the shaft 50.

  As described above, in the state during the assembly shown in FIG. 40, the tip 91 of the cam follower 81 is the outer periphery of the second cam 79 provided on the first gear 61, as shown in FIG. It coincides with the position of the groove 90. The switch lever 75 is supported by the tact switch 77 and the blocking protrusion 103 of the ice detecting shaft 50 by the urging force of the switch lever spring 78.

  Here, while the first gear 61 is held at the same angular position as shown in FIG. 29 as shown in FIG. 40, the rotation is the rotation fulcrum of the first gear 61 provided in the second case 64 from above. Installed by descending toward the support shaft 65.

  The tip 91 of the cam follower 81 matches the position of the outer peripheral groove 90 of the second cam 79 provided in the first gear 61 and fits smoothly. The switch lever 75 is supported by the tact switch 77 and the blocking projection 103 of the ice detecting shaft 50, and the second projection 102 is lifted from the concave portion of the first cam 74. The gear 61 fits smoothly. FIG. 41 shows a state after the first gear 61 is attached and after the first case 62 is further attached. Here, if the first gear 61 is provided with a positioning recess 87 that serves as a mark for angular positioning at the time of attachment, and the positioning recess 87 faces the one side 64 a of the second case 64, Positioning when attaching one gear 61 is easy.

  The wirings 117 and 123 drawn out from the bracket component 105 are drawn out from the driving unit 23 through wiring outlets 140 provided in the first case 62 and the second case 64.

<Compression spring stabilization>
As described above, since the switch lever spring 78 is urged and attached between the switch lever 75 and the second case 64, both ends are supported during the assembly shown in FIG. 40 and are stable. The state can be visually confirmed before the first case 62 is attached, and the switch lever spring 78 is not assembled while being detached or displaced.

<Switch-on confirmation>
Furthermore, in the state in the middle of the assembly shown in FIG. 41, the tact switch 77 is pushed by the first protrusion 100 of the switch lever 75 and is in an on state, and the tact switch is in a state before the first case 62 is attached. Since 77 energization can be confirmed, inspection at the time of mass production and parts replacement as necessary are easy.

  Next, another embodiment of the automatic ice making machine and the refrigerator according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 46 is a perspective view showing the outline of the automatic ice making machine 22 as in FIG. 5, in which the time of ice making, which is the origin of the operation, is indicated by a solid line, and the time of ice detecting operation for determining the degree of ice is indicated by a broken line. 5 is different from FIG. 5 in that an ice detecting side protrusion 141 that contacts the stopper 52 of the ice tray 25 is provided during the ice detecting operation. It is set as the structure by which the ice tray 25 is twisted by contact | abutting.

  The twist angle during the ice detection operation may be smaller than the twist angle during the ice removal operation shown in FIG. The ice detection operation must be performed immediately before the ice removal operation due to lack of ice. Therefore, since the ice making operation is performed after the ice making tray 25 is twisted in the opposite direction at the time of deicing, the ice 53 is easily peeled off from the inner wall of the ice making plate 25, and the inside of the ice making chamber 3 at the time of deicing. The ice drop to the will be sure.

  As described above, the automatic ice maker and the refrigerator including the automatic ice maker according to the embodiment of the present invention have the following effects.

  An ice tray that is supplied with water to make ice, a driving means that is disposed behind the ice tray and rotates the ice tray after ice making, and drops ice from below by being driven by the driving means. And an ice detection lever for detecting the amount of ice dropped in step 1.The ice detection lever for supplying water to the ice tray and making ice from the ice making position rotates the ice tray opposite to the direction in which the ice is dropped. Place the ice lever. As a result, the ice detection lever is arranged closer to the left side surface of the refrigerator body, so there is no need to avoid the ice detection lever at the cold air outlet to the ice making room, and the area of the cold air outlet can be expanded and Since the shape does not need to be bent, the air blowing resistance is low, and the cooling performance of the ice making chamber can be improved.

  The drive means has a drive source and a reduction gear group that is rotationally driven by the drive source in a space surrounded by the first case and the second case, and the reduction gear group is rotated by the drive means. A first reduction gear, a second reduction gear rotated by the first reduction gear, and a third reduction gear rotated by the second reduction gear, wherein the first reduction gear And the third reduction gear are arranged so as to overlap in the direction of the rotation axis so that the respective rotation axes are coaxial or coaxial. As a result, even if the number of reduction gears is three, the projected area occupied by the reduction gear does not increase, and the size is the same as that of the two-speed reduction.

  Further, the rotation shaft of the first reduction gear (worm wheel) is supported at both ends directly or indirectly by the first case and the second case. As a result, the stress generated on the support shaft of the worm wheel due to the driving force and axial load from the worm and the reaction force received from the next reduction gear can be reduced, and the rigidity of the support shaft can be increased to improve the shaft accuracy. .

  In addition, when the ice tray was reversed to add ice to the ice making chamber from the ice tray, when the twist was applied, the worm was configured with a reduction gear so that the force to press against the motor was applied. Since the worm is supported stably with no play relative to the motor shaft, the accuracy is high and vibration and noise can be suppressed.

  Also, a tact switch that emits an on or off signal for determining whether ice in the ice tray is dropped, a switch lever that presses the tact switch, a first case that houses the tact switch and the switch lever, and a second case A case in which the spring is disposed in a compressed state between the second case and the switch lever, and the switch lever is tacted when the first case and the second case are not assembled. When the switch is pressed and the first case and the second case are assembled and the ice tray is in the ice making position, the spring force is applied to the switch lever so that the switch lever is away from the tact switch. To be granted. In other words, the switch lever that turns the tact switch on / off during ice making is always off by the biasing force of the coil spring, and is pushed on by the biasing force of the coil spring only when the cam provided on the first gear acts. In this configuration, one end of the coil spring is biased to the switch lever and the other end is biased to the second case. Thereby, before attaching the first case, each component is set at a position where it finally acts, so that it can be easily confirmed whether or not the coil spring is correctly set at a predetermined position of the switch lever.

  In addition, the tact switch is attached by being nipped by a nail by a snap fit, and the nail to be snap fitted is a projection provided on one side of a so-called doubly supported beam supported at both ends. It is fixed more stably than

The ice detecting lever is connected to an ice detecting shaft driven by a driving means and detects the amount of ice dropped by descending from above, and one end of the ice detecting shaft is an ice detecting lever for fixing the ice detecting lever. A shaft end, and the other end of the ice detecting shaft is a rotating shaft supported so as to be swingable with respect to the second case, and includes a torsion spring around the rotating shaft, and one end of the torsion spring Rotates in synchronization with the ice detecting shaft, and the other end of the torsion spring is rotatably supported by the second case to give a rotational torque to the ice detecting shaft. A second cam provided on the first gear for rotating the ice tray; a cam follower fitted to the second cam and swinging in accordance with the rotation of the first gear; and the ice detecting shaft. The ice detecting rotation protrusion is biased in a direction to be pressed against the cam follower by rotational torque. As a result, a rotational torque is applied to the ice detecting shaft by a torsion spring so that the sliding portion comes into contact with the cam surface, and only the torsion torque is applied to the ice detecting shaft.
Therefore, the urging force of the compression spring is not applied to the rotation fulcrum or spring seat of the ice detecting shaft, so there is little friction, and even if the ice detecting shaft rotates, the method of applying the force received from the torsion spring does not change. Becomes smooth.

  A worm is provided on the rotating shaft of the drive means and transmits power from the drive means to the first reduction gear, and the drive means and the worm tip are supported by an integral component. Furthermore, since a minute gap is provided between the tip of the worm and the inside of the case, the play in the axial direction of the worm can be reduced. As a result, the coaxial accuracy and the positional accuracy between the tip of the worm and the drive shaft can be increased, and vibration is reduced and noise is reduced.

  Also, when detecting the amount of ice dropped, rotate the ice tray in the first direction from the ice making position to lower the ice detecting lever and drop ice from the ice making tray. Rotate the ice tray in the second direction opposite the direction of. Thereby, at the time of ice detection, it can be rotated for a predetermined time until it is possible to reliably determine the amount of ice in the ice detection direction. Therefore, even when the rotational speed of the motor fluctuates, some determination of ice can be made reliably.

  When the power of the driving means is turned on, the ice tray is rotated to the rotation limit position in the second direction and then returned to the ice making position. As a result, the force applied to the stopper provided between the first gear and the case when rotating to the rotation limit position has reduced the twisting torque applied to the ice tray for ice removal from the rotational torque by the motor. Since only the reaction force is applied, the stress applied to the stopper portion can be reduced.

  Further, by twisting the ice tray during the ice detection operation, the ice tray and the ice can be easily peeled off in advance, and then the ice can be reliably dropped by performing the ice removing operation.

  In the present embodiment, the configuration in which the ice making chamber 3 is on the left side when the refrigerator main body 1 is viewed from the front is described. However, the configuration having the ice making chamber 3 on the right side is arranged symmetrically and the outlet 3c is automatically set. An ice detection lever for judging the amount of ice in the ice making chamber 3 is provided near the center of the refrigerator main body 1 on the left side of the ice making machine 22 in the drawing, and the right side in the drawing on the opposite side of the ice making chamber air duct or outlet 3c, ie, the refrigerator main body The same effect can be obtained by arranging it on the side wall side of 1.

1 Refrigerator body 2 Refrigeration room 3 Ice making room 3b Storage container (ice storage container)
4 Upper freezer room 5 Lower freezer room 6 Vegetable room 22 Automatic ice making machine 23 Drive unit (drive means)
24 Ice detection lever 25 Ice tray 26 Water supply tank 28 Water supply pump 29 Water supply path 49 Support shaft 50 Ice detection shaft 50a Rotation stopper 51 Protrusion 52, 84 Stopper 60 Drive end 61 First gear 62 First case 63 Shaft hole 64 First Second case 65 Rotating spindle 66 Motor (drive source)
67 Worm 68 Worm wheel (first reduction gear)
69 first pinion 70 second reduction gear 71 second pinion 72 third reduction gear 73 third pinion 74 first cam 75 switch lever 76 swing center 77 tact switch 78 switch lever spring 79 second Cam 80, 99 Oscillating fulcrum 81 Cam follower 82 Bracket 83 Recess 85 Drive shaft 86 Plane cut portion 87 Positioning recess 88 Inner groove 89 Slope 90 Outer groove 91 Tip portion 92 Ice detection turning projection 93 Ice detection drive portion 94 Ice detection shaft End 95 Rotating shaft 96 Torsion spring 97 Mounting hole 98 Blocking lever 100 First projection 101 Spring seat 102, 102a, 102b Second projection 103 Blocking projection 104 Power supply 105 Bracket component 106 Worm bearing hole 107 Cylindrical boss 108 Extending portion 109 Claw 110 First support shaft 111 Second support shaft 11 Third support shaft 113 Wiring groove 114 Wiring stopper 115 Ice detection shaft support portion 116 Rotation support concave portion 117, 123 Wiring 118 Warm storage space 119 Positioning boss 120 Screw boss 121 Groove 122 Connection portion 125, 126 Temporary fixing protrusion 127, 128 Step 129 Second claw 130, 131 Second claw fulcrum 132 Switch reference surface 133 Switch stopper 134 Motor shaft 135 Rotation stopper 136 Abutting surface 137 Warm shaft hole 138 Motor positioning hole 139 Warm tip 140 Wiring outlet 141 Ice detection side projection

Claims (6)

An ice making chamber formed in the refrigerator body;
An ice storage container installed in the ice making room for storing ice;
An ice tray installed above the ice storage container for making ice;
A driving means disposed behind the ice tray to rotate the ice tray after ice making to drop ice into the ice storage container;
An ice detecting lever that detects the amount of ice in the ice storage container by being driven by the driving means and lowered from above the ice storage container,
From the ice making position for supplying water to the ice tray and making ice, the ice detecting lever is arranged on the side opposite to the direction in which the ice tray is rotated to drop the ice ,
The ice detecting lever is arranged on one side of the driving means in the left-right direction, and a discharge port for supplying cold air to the ice making chamber is arranged on the opposite side of the ice detecting lever across the driving means in the left-right direction. A refrigerator characterized by that. A blower near the center of the back of the refrigerator, and a blower duct that brings the cool air of the blower to the discharge port,
The air duct and the discharge port are arranged near the center in the left-right direction of the refrigerator body, the ice detection lever is arranged near the side wall in the left-right direction of the refrigerator body, and the discharge port and the ice detection lever The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the driving unit is disposed therebetween.   When detecting the amount of ice dropped, rotate the ice tray in the first direction from the ice making position to lower the ice detecting lever,
  The refrigerator according to claim 1 or 2, wherein when the ice is dropped from the ice tray, the ice tray is rotated in a second direction opposite to the first direction from the ice making position. .   The refrigerator according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein a rotation angle of the ice tray from the ice making position is larger in the second direction than in the first direction.   The ice detection lever is
  When rotating the ice tray from the ice making position in the first direction, driving with the ice tray,
  The refrigerator according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein when the ice tray is rotated in the second direction from the ice making position, the ice detecting lever is in a stopped state.   6. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the power of the driving unit is turned on, the ice tray is rotated to the rotation limit position in the second direction and then returned to the ice making position. The refrigerator described.