JPH0526550A - Ice-making device for refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent such troubles that fingers are pinched even when a user carelessly touches an ice-making device or that an ice storage detecting lever is deformed, by providing a means for detecting the opening or closing of door of a freezing chamber and suspending operation of an ice chipper tray driving motor when the door of the freezing chamber is opened during ice-making operation. CONSTITUTION:A microcomputer 10 operates a water feed pump 7 through a water feed pump drive circuit 13 to pour water into an ice chipper tray from a water feed port and starts to make ice. An ice chipper tray temperature sensor 9 detects a temperature of the ice chipper tray and sends the detected results to the microcomputer 10. When a temperature of the ice chipper tray becomes lower than a predetermined temperature, the microcomputer 10 drives an ice chipper tray driving motor 2 to rotate the ice chipper tray by 180 degrees so that formed ice chips are dropped into a stocker. In the case where a door of a freezing chamber is opened when the ice chipper tray driving motor 2 is driven, the microcomputer 10 detects the opening of the door on the basis of a signal level from a detection circuit 14 for the opening or closing of the door of the freezing chamber, suspends operation of the ice chipper tray driving motor 2, and then resumes operation of said motor 2 when the door of the freezing chamber is closed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ice making device for a refrigerator, and more particularly to a safety device during an ice making tray reversing operation.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an automatic ice making device for a refrigerator is provided in a freezer compartment by a water supply pump provided in a water supply tank from a water supply tank stored at a predetermined location in a refrigerating room. It is guided to the ice tray in the ice making room, cooled by cold air, and the fact that it is frozen is detected by the temperature sensor provided in the ice tray, the ice tray is inverted by the motor and the ice tray is twisted to the stocker provided with ice below. Repeating the dropping operation, when the stocker becomes full of ice, lower the ice storage detection lever before turning the ice tray to detect it, stop the rotation of the ice tray, stop the operation of the water supply pump, and remove the ice from the stocker. It prevents it from overflowing. However, since the motor that drives the above ice tray takes a large amount of torque to give a twist to the ice tray when removing ice from the ice tray, there is a risk of pinching your fingers if you inadvertently touch it during reversing operation. In some cases, the ice storage detection lever is deformed and becomes undetectable, which causes a malfunction such as the inability to stop the ice making operation.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems of the prior art. When the freezer compartment door is opened during the reversing operation of the ice tray, the reversing operation of the ice tray is stopped and carelessly performed. It is an object of the present invention to provide an ice making device for a refrigerator that does not cause problems such as pinching a finger or deforming the ice storage detection lever even if the hand makes contact with the ice making device.

[0004]

In order to achieve the above object, means for detecting opening / closing of a freezer compartment door is provided, and a signal is sent to a control unit when the freezer compartment door is opened during the reversing operation of the ice tray. The control unit temporarily stops the reversing operation of the ice tray and restarts the reversing operation of the ice tray when the freezer compartment door is closed.

[0005]

According to the above construction, means for detecting the opening / closing of the freezer compartment door is provided, and when the freezer compartment door is opened during the reversing operation of the ice making tray, the signal is sent to the microcomputer of the control unit, and the microcomputer makes the ice making. The dish drive motor is stopped to stop the reversing operation, and when the freezer compartment door is closed, the microcomputer restarts the operation of the ice tray drive motor by the signal, drops the ice tray ice into the stocker, and reverses the ice tray motor. Return the ice tray to the state it was in when the ice was started.

[0006]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a partially omitted front view showing an ice making device of the present invention. An ice making chamber is formed by partitioning one corner of a freezer compartment of a refrigerator, and an ice tray 1 having a rotating shaft is provided at the center, and one end of the rotating shaft is provided. A freezer is rotatably supported on the inner wall of the freezing chamber, the other end is connected to and held by a shaft of an ice tray drive motor 2 fixed to a partition plate, and a stocker 3 for stocking ice is placed below the ice tray 1, and further, An ice storage detection lever 17 is provided near the ice tray drive motor 2, and a water supply port 4 for supplying water from a water supply tank 5 is attached above the ice tray 1. Further, a compartment for holding the water supply tank 5 is provided along one side wall of the refrigerating room, and a tank detection switch 6 which is connected to the water supply tank 5 when the water supply tank 5 is placed is installed on the inner side wall. A water supply pump 7 is provided, and a water supply pipe 8 that penetrates the water supply pump 7 through the side wall of the housing and is connected to the water supply port 4 in the ice making chamber is formed. An ice tray temperature sensor 9 that detects the temperature of the ice tray 1 is fixed to the lower surface of the ice tray 1, and is connected to the microcomputer 10 of the control unit via a signal line.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the present invention.
The microcomputer 10 of the control unit receives a signal from the operation circuit 11 that sets operating conditions such as the inside temperature, compares it with the signal from the inside temperature sensor that detects the inside temperature, and compresses it with the compressor drive circuit 12. The machine is operating to perform cooling operation. further,
The microcomputer 10 has a water supply pump drive circuit for ice-making operation.
13, water supply pump 7, water supply tank detection switch 6, ice tray drive motor 2, ice tray temperature sensor 9, ice storage detection lever 17
And the freezer compartment door open / close detection circuit 14 and the like are connected. When the ice making operation is set by the operation circuit 11, it is confirmed by the signal from the water supply tank detection switch 6 that the water supply tank is set, and the microcomputer 10 of the control unit drives the water supply pump 7 by the water supply pump drive circuit 13. Then, a certain amount of water that does not overflow the ice tray 1 is poured into the ice tray 1 from the water supply port 4, and ice making is started by the cold air in the ice making chamber. When the water in the ice tray 1 freezes, the ice tray temperature sensor 9 detects the ice tray temperature and sends it to the microcomputer 10. When the ice tray temperature falls below a predetermined temperature (for example, -5 ° C), the ice tray is made. The drive motor 2 is driven to rotate the ice tray 1 by 180 degrees, a stopper is applied to the ice tray 1, and the ice tray 1 is twisted to drop the formed ice on the stocker 3. At this time, before the ice tray drive motor 2 rotates the ice tray 1 or after the rotation is completed, the microcomputer 10
Rotates the ice storage detection lever 17 downward to detect the storage state of ice in the stocker 3, and when the stocker 3 is full, the ice tray drive motor 2 is stopped and the ice making operation is terminated. When the freezer compartment door is opened while the ice tray drive motor 2 is being driven, the microcomputer 10 opens the freezer compartment door because the signal level from the freezer compartment door open / close detection circuit 14 becomes "LOW". When it is detected that the operation of the ice tray drive motor 2 is temporarily stopped, the freezer compartment door is closed, and the signal level from the freezer compartment door open / close detection circuit 14 becomes "Hi", the ice tray drive motor 2 I try to restart the operation. FIG. 3 shows a freezer compartment door opening / closing detection circuit 14, which is composed of a door switch 15 and a photocoupler 16 which are operated by opening and closing the freezer compartment door. When the door is opened, the door switch 15 is “OFF” and the microcomputer 10
The output level is "LOW", the door switch 15 is "ON" when the door is closed, and the output level is "Hi". FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing the details of the present invention. When it is confirmed that the ice tray temperature sensor 9 has frozen the ice tray 1 during the ice making operation (21), the ice tray motor 2 is started to operate. During operation (2) (22), the freezing compartment door opens (23), the operation of the ice tray motor 2 is temporarily stopped (24), and when the freezing compartment door is closed (25), the ice tray motor 2
When the ice is removed (27) and the stocker 3 is not full (28), the ice tray motor 2 is reversed to return the ice tray 1 to its original position and water is poured. After making it possible (29), the water pump 7 is operated to fill the ice tray 1 with water (30) and the ice making operation is repeated.

[0008]

As described above, in the present invention, the means for detecting the opening / closing of the freezer compartment door is provided, and the operation of the ice tray motor is temporarily stopped when the freezer compartment door is opened during the ice making operation. It is possible to provide an ice-making device for a refrigerator that does not cause problems such as pinching a finger or deforming the ice storage detection lever even if the hand is inadvertently touched by the ice-making device.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially omitted front view showing a configuration of an ice making device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram of a freezer compartment door open / close detection circuit of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing details of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Ice tray 2 Ice tray drive motor 3 Stocker 4 Water inlet 5 Water tank 6 Tank detection switch 7 Water supply pump 8 Water supply pipe 9 Ice tray temperature sensor 10 Microcomputer 11 Temperature setting circuit 12 Compressor drive circuit 13 Water supply pump drive circuit 14 Freezer compartment open / close detection circuit 15 Door switch 16 Photocoupler 17 Ice storage detection lever

Claims (1)

Claim: What is claimed is: 1. An automatic ice making device is provided in a freezing chamber, a fixed amount of water in a water supply tank is supplied to an ice making tray by a water supply pump to make ice, and after the ice making is completed, the ice making tray is inverted. In a refrigerator ice-making device that stores ice by dropping it in a stocker, a means for detecting opening / closing of the freezer compartment door is provided, and a signal is sent to the control unit when the freezer compartment door is opened during the reversing operation of the ice making tray, and control is performed. The ice making device of the refrigerator, wherein the section temporarily stops the reversing operation of the ice tray and restarts the reversing operation of the ice tray when the freezer compartment door is closed.