KR0182728B1 - Automatic ice making apparatus for a refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an automatic ice maker of a refrigerator, and more particularly, to an automatic ice maker of a refrigerator having a simple structure and a reliable operation. The present invention relates to an automatic ice making device of a refrigerator which performs ice making by cold air generated in a freezer of a refrigerator and automatically ices and stores iced ice, wherein the ice making container contains water used for ice making, and the ice making container A rotating motor, a means for heating the ice making container, a storage container for storing the ice removed from the ice making container, a means for detecting the completion of the ice making, and the motor so that the ice is separated from the ice making container by its own weight when the ice making is completed. It is characterized in that it comprises a control means for driving the heater to reverse the ice-making vessel and driving the heater to separate the ice from the ice-making vessel.

Description

Automatic ice maker of the refrigerator

1 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a configuration according to an embodiment of an ice maker of a conventional refrigerator.

2 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a configuration according to another embodiment of an ice maker of a conventional refrigerator.

Figure 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the structure of the ice making container according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4 is an exploded perspective view of the automatic ice making apparatus according to the present invention.

5 is an operating state diagram for explaining the operation of the automatic ice making device shown in FIG.

6 is a control block diagram showing the electrical configuration of the automatic ice making device of the refrigerator of the present invention.

7 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of the automatic de-icing device of the refrigerator of the present invention

8 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the structure of an ice making container according to another embodiment of the present invention.

* Explanation of symbols for main parts of the drawings

20: ice tray 21: heater

22: heater fixing member 23: temperature sensor

24: sensor support member 25: ice sensing rod

26: water supply pump 27: drive box

28: moving motor 29: drive gear

39: position detection projection 31: horizontal detection sensor

32: reverse detection sensor 33: driven gear

34: projection 35: projection contact member

36: ice sensor 40: control unit

41: reverse position detection unit 42: horizontal position detection unit

43: ice detection unit 44: ice making detection unit

45: moving motor driving unit 46: heater driving unit

47: pump driving part

The present invention relates to an automatic ice maker of a refrigerator, and more particularly, to an automatic ice maker of a refrigerator having a simple structure and a reliable operation.

Recently, an automatic deicing device is installed in a freezer compartment of a refrigerator to freeze water using an ice making container as a frame, and automatically removes the ice formed from the ice making container and stores the ice in the storage container.

1 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a configuration according to an embodiment of a conventional ice maker of the refrigerator. As shown in FIG. 1, a configuration according to an example of a conventional ice making apparatus includes a heater for separating ice from the ice making container 1 and the ice sticking to the ice making container 1 installed in the freezer compartment. (2), the temperature sensor (4) for detecting the completion of ice making, the rake member (3) for pushing the ice separated from the ice making container (1) out of the ice making container (1) and the water to be used for ice making (1) It consists of a feed water pump (5) to supply. In the conventional ice making apparatus having the above-described configuration, the water supplied to the ice making container 1 by the feed water pump 5 is then frozen by cold air in the freezing chamber. In this way, if the temperature of the ice making container 1 sensed by the temperature sensor 4 while the ice is being manufactured is below a predetermined reference value, the controller (not shown) determines that ice making is completed, and turns on the heater 2 to make ice making. The ice stuck to the container 1 is separated. At the same time, by driving the rake member (3) to continue to push the ice off the ice from the ice container (1).

However, in the conventional ice making apparatus having the above-described configuration, a special electric motor such as a hysteresis synchronous motor is required because the ice must be continuously pushed in the ice making process, and furthermore, the ice making container is considered in consideration of the heat conduction characteristics of the heater and the method of fixing the same. There is a problem that the manufacturing cost increases because it is manufactured as a casting.

2 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a configuration according to another embodiment of an ice maker of a conventional refrigerator. In the ice making apparatus shown in FIG. 2, the determination of whether ice making is completed based on the information provided by the temperature sensor 12, and when the ice making is completed, drive the related components embedded in the driving box 11 to make the ice making container 10. Turn over and twist to break the ice. In the ice making device having such a structure, a heater is not used, and further, an ice making container is made of an elastic material such as a thermoplastic resin in order to facilitate torsion.

However, in the conventional ice making apparatus having such a structure, a phenomenon in which the ice is not completely removed or only a part of the ice is frequently removed from the ice making container, and furthermore, when water is supplied for the next ice making in a state where the ice is not completely removed, There was a problem such as an operation occurs.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an automatic ice making apparatus for a refrigerator so that ice making and ice making operations can be smoothly performed while using general motor and plastic ice making containers.

In the automatic ice making apparatus of the refrigerator of the present invention for achieving the above object is the automatic ice making apparatus of the refrigerator to perform the deicing by the cold air generated in the freezer of the refrigerator and to automatically ice the iced ice storage, Ice making container containing water used for ice making, motor for rotating the ice making container forward and reverse, means for heating the ice making container, ice storage container for storing the ice removed from the ice making container, means for detecting the completion of ice making and ice making When this is completed, it is characterized in that it comprises a control means for driving the motor so that the ice is separated from the ice making container by its own weight to reverse the ice making container and drive the heater to separate the ice from the ice making container.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described in detail a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the structure of an ice making container according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 3, the ice making container 20 used in the automatic ice making device according to the present invention may be implemented in a plastic material, for example, a thermoplastic resin. The heater fixing member 22 fixing the heater 21 for separating the ice stuck to the ice making container 20 and the temperature sensor 23 detecting the temperature of the ice making container 20 at the bottom of the ice making container 20. Sensor support member 24 for supporting the ice is formed integrally with the ice container (20).

4 is an exploded perspective view of the automatic ice making apparatus according to the present invention. Looking at the overall configuration of the automatic ice making apparatus according to the present invention with reference to Figure 4, the drive box (27) in which various drive parts such as an ice motor (not shown) that is driven at the time of the ice operation in the refrigerator's freezer compartment Is installed, the ice making vessel 20 is axially coupled to the rotating shaft of the ice motor is rotated forward and reverse. An end portion of the water supply pipe for supplying water used for ice making is located in the upper space of the ice making container 20, and the water stored in the reservoir (not shown) is forcibly sprayed to supply the ice making container 20 in the middle of the water supply pipe. The feed pump 26 is mounted. In FIG. 4, reference numeral 25 denotes an ice stick to detect whether ice is completely filled in the storage container (not shown).

FIG. 5 is an operating state diagram for explaining the operation of the automatic ice making apparatus shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 5, the ice making container 20 and the driving gear 29 are coupled to the shaft of the ice motor 28, and the driven gear 33 is gear-coupled to the driving gear 29. The rotation axis of the ice motor 28 is also coupled to the position detecting projection 30 for detecting the horizontal position and the positive inverted position of the ice making container 20, the radius of rotation of the position detecting projection 30 is Sensors 31 and 32 are mounted on and off by the protrusions 30 to detect the horizontal position and the positive inversion position of the ice making container 20, respectively. The rotating shaft of the driven gear 33 is axially coupled to the projection member 34 for rotating the ice sensing rod 25 by pushing the projection contact member 35 of the ice sensing rod 25 to be described later. The ice sensing rod 25 is implemented as a crank-shaped rod, and the spring member 37 is connected to a place where the ice sensing rod 25 is in an upward state as shown by a dotted line. have. One end of the ice sensing rod 25 is also formed with the above-described protrusion contact member 35, and receives the rotational force of the protrusion member 34 to rotate the ice sensing rod 25 as shown by the solid line. . In place on the rotation radius of the ice sensor 25 is equipped with a ice sensor 36, which is well implemented as a micro switch, if the ice container (not shown) is completely filled with ice sensor 25 ) Is prevented from rotating due to the filled ice, and the ice sensor 36 is turned off. On the other hand, when the ice is not completely filled in the ice container, the ice sensor rod 25 is rotated without jamming, and thus the ice sensor 36 is turned on to detect whether or not the ice is being filled.

6 is a control block diagram showing the electrical configuration of the automatic ice maker of the refrigerator of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 6, the electrical configuration of the automatic ice maker of the refrigerator of the present invention is the overall operation of the automatic ice maker. The control unit 40 for controlling the control, the half-lower position detecting unit 41 for detecting the arrival of the antistatic position of the ice making container 20, the horizontal position detecting unit for detecting the reaching of the horizontal position of the ice making container 20 (42), the ice-covering unit 43 for detecting whether the ice container is completely filled with ice, the ice-making unit 44 for detecting whether the ice is completed, and the ice-driving motor driving unit for driving the ice motor 28 forward and backward. 45, a heater driver 46 driving the heater 23 and a pump driver 47 driving the feed water pump 26.

In the above-described configuration, the moving motor 28 may be implemented as a general small induction motor, and the inverted position detecting unit 41, the horizontal position detecting unit 42, and the ice detection unit 43 may each include the above-described detection sensor ( 32, 31, 36 and peripheral circuit elements thereof, and the ice making unit 44 includes a temperature sensor 23 and peripheral circuit elements thereof.

Hereinafter, the operation of the automatic ice making device of the present invention will be described in detail.

7 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the automatic ice maker of the refrigerator according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 7, in step S1, when the power is applied and automatic deicing is performed, the moving motor 28 is reversely rotated (reverse rotation to the horizontal position is referred to as reverse rotation). In S2) it is determined whether the ice making container 20 has reached the water level position. If the ice making container 20 does not reach the horizontal position in step S2, the ice motor 28 continues to operate, and when it reaches, the process moves to step S3 to stop the ice motor 28. . Next, in steps S4 to S6, the water supply pump 26 is operated for a predetermined time to supply water to the ice making container 20. In this way, when the water supply is completed, ice is formed by the cold air of the freezer compartment. In the eye system S7, the temperature t of the ice making vessel 20 detected by the temperature sensor 23 is a predetermined value t _I , For example, it is determined whether ice making is completed based on the lobe of reaching 0 ° C. When the temperature of the ice making container 20 is 0 ° C. or lower in step S7, it is determined that ice making is completed, and the ice making operation is performed in steps S8 to S14. In more detail, in step S8, the inversion of the ice maker 20 is started by rotating the ice motor 28 forward. In step S9, it is determined whether the ice is completely filled in the ice storage container. When the ice is completely filled, the icemaking operation is stopped by stopping the driving of the ice motor 28. On the other hand, when no ice is detected in step S10, by operating the heater 21 in step S11 to separate the ice stuck in the ice making container 20 from the ice making container 20. Next, in step S12, if the ice making container 20 has reached the ice making position, that is, the positive reversing position, if it does not reach, the driving motor 28 continues to be driven, and if the ice making container 20 reaches, It is determined whether the temperature reaches the predetermined value. When the temperature of the ice making container 20 rises, the ice is separated from the ice making container 20. At this time, since the ice making container 20 is inverted, the ice is caused by the weight of the ice making ice container 20. Depart from Therefore, when the temperature of the ice-making container 20 reaches the predetermined value (t _H ) in step S13, it is determined that the ice is completely removed from the ice-making container 20, and stops the operation of the heater 21 again. Step S1 and below are repeated.

8 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the structure of an ice making container according to another embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 8, the ice making container 50 according to another embodiment of the present invention may be made of a metal plate, and in this case, the heater 52 and the temperature sensor (at the bottom of the ice making container 50) Fixing members 53 and 55 fixing the 54 may be integrally formed with the ice making container 50. In the figure, reference numeral 51 denotes a plastic support part which is injection molded together with the ice making container 50.

According to the automatic de-icing device of the refrigerator of the present invention as described above, the manufacturing cost is reduced because no special motor or metal casting ice making container is used, and the ice-making operation is performed without twisting the ice making container. Therefore, there is an advantage in that an ice making container having a low strength can be used in addition to a motor having a low torque.

Claims (4)

Defrosting is completed by the temperature sensor 23 and the temperature sensor 23 installed in contact with the ice-making container 20 to detect the ice-making container 20 and the temperature of the ice-making container 20 to detect the ice-making state. When detected, the ice maker 20 is axially coupled with the ice maker 20 to rotate the ice maker 20 in an inverted position for ice-making, and the ice maker 20 is driven by the ice maker motor 28. When the inverted position is reached, a heater 21 installed in contact with the ice making vessel 20 to heat the ice making vessel 20 to remove ice from the ice making vessel 20, and by heating of the heater 21. In the automatic ice-making apparatus of the refrigerator having a storage container installed under the ice-making container (20) to store the ice which is separated from the ice-making container (20); Drive gear 29 axially coupled with the ice motor 28 to sense the inverted position of the ice making container 20 when the ice making container 20 is rotated to an inverted position to ice the ice in the ice storage container. An inverted position detecting sensor 32 positioned on the same circumference as the position detecting protrusion 30 of the; The drive box 27 is provided with the moving motor 28 so that the inverted position of the ice-making container 20 is sensed by the inverted position detecting sensor 32 to detect the ice-covered state of the ice-making container during the ice-making operation. Rotatingly coupled to one side of the) is rotated by the drive gear 29 and the gear driven gear 33 coupled to the gear sensing rod 25 and on / depending on the position of the ice sensing rod 25 An off-sealing detection unit 43 which is turned off and includes an out-of-sea detection sensor 36 for sensing the full ice state of the ice storage container; Then, when the ice-covering unit 43 detects the ice-covered state of the ice-saving container and rotates the ice-making container 20 to the horizontal position after the ice-making operation is completed, the horizontal position of the ice-making container 20 is changed. In order to detect, with the drive gear 29 interposed therebetween the inverted position detecting sensor 32 and having a horizontal position detecting sensor 31 located on the same circumference as the position detecting projection 30 The inverted position is a position where the bottom surface of the ice making container 20 faces upwards, and the water level position indicates a position where the bottom face of the ice making container 20 faces downward. The automatic ice making apparatus of the refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the moving motor (28) comprises an induction motor. The automatic ice making apparatus of claim 1, wherein the ice making container is made of a thermoplastic resin, and a fixing member for fixing the heater and the temperature sensor is integrally formed on the bottom surface of the ice making container. The automatic ice making apparatus of claim 1, wherein the ice making container is formed of a metal plate, and a bottom fixing member integrally fixes the heater and the temperature sensor.