KR100360863B1 - Ice dispenser for refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an ice dispenser of a refrigerator, comprising: an ice storage container having an ice accommodation space and an ice grinding chamber having a fixed blade disposed on one side of the ice accommodation space to crush the ice; An ice feed screw having a spiral section formed to correspond to the ice containing space so as to transfer the ice to the ice grinding chamber, and having a rotating blade formed corresponding to the fixed blade so as to be rotatable in the ice storage container; An ice conveying direction which is rotatably coupled with the ice conveying screw and rotates so that the ice in the ice receiving space is conveyed to the ice grinding chamber; and an opposite direction to the ice conveying direction when the ice conveying screw is constrained by ice. It characterized in that it comprises a screw drive motor capable of rotation. Thereby, the ice dispenser of the refrigerator which can solve the state of restraint by causing the drive motor to rotate in the direction opposite to the ice extraction direction when the restraint occurs by the ice is provided.

Description

ICE DISPENSER FOR REFRIGERATOR}

The present invention relates to an ice dispenser of a refrigerator. More particularly, the present invention relates to an ice dispenser of a refrigerator in which a driving motor is rotated in a direction opposite to an ice extraction direction when ice is arrested. .

The refrigerator includes a main body and a refrigeration system in which at least one cooling chamber is formed to store food in a frozen or refrigerated state. In recent years, as refrigerators become more advanced and larger in capacity, refrigerators equipped with water / ice dispensers, which enable the extraction of chilled water or ice without opening the door, have been on the rise.

1 is a view showing an installation state of the ice dispenser of the conventional refrigerator. As shown, the refrigerator rotates the main opening 110 of the freezer compartment 111 and the refrigerating compartment 113 and the front openings of the freezer compartment 111 and the refrigerating compartment 113 with the partition formed in the center between them. It has a freezing chamber door 115 and the refrigerating chamber door 117 is coupled to the main body 110 to enable. An automatic ice maker 121 for automatic ice making is provided in an upper region of the freezing chamber 111, and an ice storage container for accommodating / storing ice falling from the automatic ice maker 121 at the lower side of the automatic ice maker 121 123 is provided.

A water storage tank 124 is formed in the refrigerating chamber 113 to store water in a refrigerated state, and the water is supplied to the automatic ice maker 121 and the water storage tank 124 in the rear region of the main body 110. The water supply unit 125 is provided so that the water supply unit 125 includes a water supply pipe 126 to which water from the outside is supplied, and a water supply valve 127a and a flow path provided in the water supply pipe 126 to open and close the flow path. It is comprised including the switching valve 127b and the filter 128 provided between these.

On the other hand, in the freezer compartment 115, the dispenser 131 to selectively withdraw the water or ice without opening the freezer compartment 115 and the refrigerating compartment door 117 from the ice storage container 123 and the water storage tank 124. ) Is provided. The dispenser 131 includes a dispenser casing 132 recessed from the surface of the freezing chamber door 115 to form a supply space for water or ice, and an operation lever 133 rotatably coupled to the dispenser casing 132; It comprises an ice selection button 134a and a water selection button 134b provided to select ice or water in the upper region of the dispenser casing 132.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along line II-II of FIG. 1. As shown, an ice storage space (S) is formed inside the ice storage container (123) to accommodate the ice that has fallen from the automatic ice maker (121), and ice is formed on one side of the ice storage space (S). The grinding chamber 141 is formed to be pulverized. A plurality of fixed blades 143 are disposed in the grinding chamber 141 to crush the ice, and a discharge port 144 is formed in the lower region to discharge the ice. The outlet 144 is provided with a shutter 148 to open and close the outlet 144.

The ice receiving space S is provided with a rotating shaft 147 formed to be integrally rotatable along the axis of the transfer spring 145 and the transfer spring 145 so as to transfer the received ice to the grinding chamber 141. The ice guide member 149 is integrally coupled to one side of the rotating shaft 147 to guide the ice conveyed along the axial direction of the rotating shaft 147 by the transfer spring 145 to the grinding chamber 141. On the lower side of the rotating shaft 147, the shutter 148 is opened to allow the ice conveyed by the transfer spring 145 to be discharged to the outlet 144 without being crushed, or to be discharged after the ice is crushed. Opening and closing lever not shown is provided to open and close the.

In one end region of the rotating shaft 147, a plurality of rotating blades 150 are formed to cooperate with the fixed blade 143 of the grinding chamber 141 to crush the ice, and the other end region has an ice storage container ( The guide bush 152 rotatably coupled to 123 is rotatably integrated. A receiving hole is formed in the central region of the guide bush 152 so that the output shaft of the reducer 153 can be accommodated and the drive motor 160 is coupled to the input terminal of the reducer 153.

3 is an enlarged front view of the driving motor of FIG. 2. As shown, the drive motor 160 is a shaded pole induction motor (Shaded Pole) is widely used as a fan motor of household appliances such as refrigerators, microwave ovens, dishwashers, dish dryers, etc., because the output is relatively small and inexpensive. As a kind of induction motor, a stator core 162 formed by insulation laminating a plurality of forming iron cores, a bobbin 163 coupled to one side of the stator core 162, and a stator coil wound around the bobbin 163 And a stator 161a composed of 164 and a rotor 161b coupled to be rotatable with respect to the stator 161a.

On the other hand, two pairs of shading poles 167a and 167b are formed at edges of the receiving holes (not shown) formed in the stator core 162 such that an auxiliary magnetic flux having a predetermined phase difference with respect to the main magnetic flux generated by the stator coil 164 may be formed. Are formed symmetrically with each other, and a pair of shading coils 168a and 168b are provided in each shading pole 167a and 167b, respectively.

By this configuration, when the ice selection button 134a is operated and the operation lever 133 is pressed backward with a cup or the like, the driving motor 160 rotates in the ice conveying direction, whereby the conveying spring 145 rotates. The ice contained in the ice receiving space (S) is transferred along the axial direction. At this time, the opening and closing lever blocks the shutter 148 so that the ice introduced into the grinding chamber 141 is not discharged, so that the ice is crushed by the fixed blade 143 and the rotary blade 150.

However, in the ice dispenser of the conventional refrigerator, when the ice has a strength greater than the crushing strength that can be crushed by the rotary blade 150, the ice between the fixed blade 143 and the rotary blade 150 A “restraint phenomenon” occurs that stops in the intervening state. If so, there is a problem that the ice is not supplied to the dispenser casing 132, causing user dissatisfaction.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an ice dispenser of a refrigerator which can eliminate the state of restraint by causing the driving motor to rotate in a direction opposite to the direction of ice extraction when ice restraint occurs.

1 is a view showing an installation state of the ice dispenser of the conventional refrigerator,

2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along line II-II of FIG. 1;

3 is an enlarged front view of the driving motor of FIG. 2;

4 is a cross-sectional view of an ice dispenser region of a refrigerator according to one embodiment of the present invention;

5 is an enlarged view of the ice storage container region of FIG.

Figure 6 is an enlarged front view of the screw drive motor of Figure 4,

7A and 7B are side views of an ice storage container of an ice dispenser of a refrigerator according to another embodiment of the present invention, respectively.

Explanation of symbols on the main parts of the drawings

10 body 12: freezer

13: refrigerating chamber 19: water supply pipe

21: automatic ice maker 23: ice storage container

24: dispenser casing 41: grinding chamber

43: fixed blade 44: ice outlet

45: ice feed screw 46a: spiral section

46b: rotary shaft portion 47: rotary blade

51: screw drive motor 53: reducer

54: guide bush 55: stator

56: stator core 57: rotor

58: stator coil 59: rotating shaft

65: shading pole 67: shading coil

The object is, according to the present invention, an ice storage chamber, and an ice storage chamber having an ice grinding chamber having a fixed blade disposed so as to crush ice on one side of the ice accommodation space; An ice feed screw having a spiral section formed to correspond to the ice containing space so as to transfer the ice to the ice grinding chamber, and having a rotating blade formed corresponding to the fixed blade so as to be rotatable in the ice storage container; An ice conveying direction which is rotatably coupled with the ice conveying screw and rotates so that the ice in the ice receiving space is conveyed to the ice grinding chamber; and an opposite direction to the ice conveying direction when the ice conveying screw is constrained by ice. It is achieved by the ice dispenser of the refrigerator, characterized in that it comprises a screw drive motor rotatable.

Here, the drive motor, a rotor disposed to be rotatable about a rotation axis, a receiving hole is formed on one side to accommodate the rotor and a stator core to form a magnetic path, and wound on one side of the stator core magnetic flux And a stator coil generating a stator coil and an auxiliary magnetic flux which is disposed at one side of the receiving hole and has a phase difference with the main magnetic flux by the main magnetic flux generated by the stator core, and at the same time having a rotational force smaller than the rotational inertia of the rotor. It is preferable to include a shading coil.

And, at least one of the ice transfer screw and the ice storage container, the rotational force in the ice transfer direction of the ice transfer screw is twisted in the ice transfer direction and accumulates the elastic force, the drive motor is the ice transfer When the rotational torque is smaller than the elastic force accumulated in at least one of the screw and the ice storage container, it is effective to reverse the rotation by the elastic force.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described in detail with respect to the present invention.

4 is a cross-sectional view of the ice dispenser region of the refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention, Figure 5 is an enlarged view of the ice storage container region of FIG. As shown in these drawings, the refrigerator includes a main body 10 in which a freezing compartment 11 is formed, and a freezing chamber door 15 hinged to the main body 10 so as to be openable and openable. Have An evaporator 16 is installed in the rear region of the freezing chamber 11 so that the air can be cooled while circulating. A blower fan 18 is provided above the evaporator 16 to promote the flow of air. A water supply pipe 19 is provided in the upper region of the freezing chamber 11 to supply water from the outside, and an automatic ice maker 21 is disposed in the distal region of the water supply pipe 19.

Freezer door 15 is provided with an ice dispenser of the refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention. The ice dispenser is installed at the lower side of the automatic ice maker 21 and is combined with the ice storage container 23 for storing and storing the ice falling from the automatic ice maker 21 and the freezing chamber door 15 and the ice storage container ( And a dispenser casing 24 for receiving the ice from the outside 23.

The ice storage container 23 has an upwardly open rectangular parallelepiped shape, and an ice storage space S is formed therein to accommodate / store ice. One side of the ice receiving space (S) is formed with a grinding chamber 41 to crush the ice, a plurality of fixed blades 43 are disposed inside the grinding chamber 41 to crush the ice. . An ice outlet 44 is formed in the bottom region of the grinding chamber 41, and a shutter 48 is provided at one edge of the ice outlet 44 to open and close the ice outlet 44.

Inside the ice storage container 23, the ice transfer screw 45 having a spiral shape is rotatable to transfer the ice contained in the ice storage space (S) to the grinding chamber 41. The ice conveying screw 45 has a spiral spiral section 46a and a rotating shaft section 46b over a predetermined length section so that ice can be conveyed.

The grinding chamber 41 side end portion of the rotary shaft portion 46b has an arc shape and is disposed to extend in a radial direction around the rotary shaft portion 46b, and is fixed relative to the fixed blade 43 while being rotated relative to the fixed blade 43. The rotary blade 47 for crushing the ice is arranged cooperatively, the ice guide member 49 is installed in the ice receiving space (S) to guide the ice.

One side of the ice storage container 23 is provided with a screw drive motor 51 to rotate the ice transfer screw 45, between the screw drive motor 51 and the ice storage container 23 screw drive motor ( The speed reducer 53 which transmits the rotational force of 51 to the ice feed screw 45 with a predetermined reduction ratio is provided so that it may interpose. A guide bush 54 rotatably supporting the ice feed screw 45 is rotatably coupled to one side of the ice storage container 23, and the guide bush 54 is integral to the output shaft of the reducer 53. It is coupled to be rotatable.

Here, in the spiral section 46a of the ice feed screw 45, ice is caught between the fixed blade 43 and the rotary blade 47 during rotation of the screw drive motor 51 in the ice transfer direction, thereby causing a restraint. When the screw drive motor 51 is rotated to the static torque exceeding the load torque value for crushing the ice, the torsion spring (torsion spring) that rotates together with the screw drive motor 51 and accumulates the elastic force It is formed to perform a function.

6 is an enlarged front view of the screw driving motor of FIG. 4. As shown, the screw drive motor 51 includes a stator core 56 formed by insulating and stacking a plurality of molded iron cores, and a stator coil 58 wound around one side of the stator core 56 to form a main magnetic flux. And a rotor 57 that is rotatably received in the receiving hole 63 formed therethrough in the thickness direction of the stator core 56.

Rotating shaft 59 is integrally rotatably coupled to the shaft center of the rotor 57, and bearing members 59 are provided at both ends of the rotating shaft 59 so as to support rotation of the rotating shaft 59. Fixed to

On the other hand, a pair of shading poles 65 are formed at the edge of the receiving hole 63 to generate an auxiliary magnetic flux having a predetermined phase difference compared to the main magnetic flux generated by the stator coil 58 to form a rotating magnetic field cooperatively with the main magnetic flux. ) Is formed. Shading coils 67 are disposed on the shading poles 65 so as to be coupled to the stator core 56 in the form of short-circuit coils so that induced currents can flow by electromotive force generated by the main magnetic flux.

Here, each shading coil 67 generates a starting torque for starting the rotor 57 when the initial power is applied in a stopped state, and at the same time, a magnetic flux capable of generating a rotating torque smaller than the rotational inertia of the rotor 57. The thickness and length are formed to such an extent that they can have an intensity of.

By such a configuration, the ice selection button (not shown) formed in the dispenser casing 24 of the freezer compartment 15 is operated so that the ice can be crushed and drawn out, and the cup 28 is operated by the operation lever of the dispenser casing 24. Press back against (25). When the operation lever 25 rotates backward to press the power switch 27, power is applied to the screw driving motor 51 so that the screw driving motor 51 rotates.

The rotational force of the screw drive motor 51 rotates the ice conveying screw 45 along the ice conveying direction through the speed reducer 53, whereby the ice accommodated in the ice accommodating space S is rotated by the spiral section 46a. By the axial direction. The ice conveyed along the axial direction is introduced into the grinding chamber 41 by the ice guide member 49, and the introduced ice is crushed by the fixed blade 43 and the rotary blade 47 to open the shutter 48. Is provided to the dispenser casing 24 through an ice outlet 44 formed at the bottom of the grinding chamber 41.

On the other hand, ice having a strength greater than the ice grinding strength of the rotary blade 47 and the fixed blade 43 at the time of load torque of the screw drive motor 51 is interposed between the fixed blade 43 and the rotary blade 47. When the rotary blade 47 is constrained, the screw drive motor 51 is rotated in the same direction until the static torque is reached, and the spiral section 46a of the ice feed screw 45 is the screw drive motor ( 51), the twisting force and the elastic force are accumulated.

The screw drive motor 51 is rotationally stopped at a point when the elastic force, that is, the resistance of the spiral section 46a, increases to equal the static torque that is the maximum value of the output of the screw drive motor 51. At this time, when the magnetic flux generated by the current applied to the stator coil 58 decreases due to the nature of alternating current, the rotational torque generated by the magnetic flux is generated by the magnetic flux of the elastic force accumulated in the spiral section 46a of the ice feed screw 45. The rotor 57 is rotated in a direction opposite to the ice transfer direction by the elastic force, that is, the anti-elastic force of the spiral section 46a.

Since the rotational inertia of the rotor 57 reversely rotated by the anti-elasticity of the ice feed screw 45 has a value larger than the torque generated by the shading coil 67, the rotor 57 continues in the opposite direction to the ice feed direction. The rotor 57 is maintained in the reverse rotation state by the magnetic flux generated alternately by the stator coil 58. Accordingly, while the ice feed screw 45 rotates in reverse and the rotary blade 47 rotates in the opposite direction, the rotary blade 47 pushes the ice to the opposite edge of the grinding blade, thereby eliminating the restrained state.

On the other hand, if the user presses the operation lever 25 of the dispenser casing 24 and the ice does not withdraw even after a predetermined time elapses, the user removes the cup 28 from the operation lever 25 and then opens the operation lever 25 again. Pressurized. When the cup 28 is removed from the operating lever 25, the driving power of the screw driving motor 51 is cut off, and the screw driving motor 51 stops rotating. At this time, when the operating lever 25 is pressurized again with the cup 28 or the like, driving power is applied to the screw driving motor 51, and a rotor magnetic field is formed by the stator coil 58 and the shading coil 67, and the rotor 57 is rotated in the ice transfer direction. As a result, the ice in the ice storage container 23 is transferred to the grinding chamber 41 and pulverized, and then discharged into the dispenser casing 24 region through the ice discharge port 44 opened by the shutter 48.

7A and 7B are side views of an ice storage container of an ice dispenser of a refrigerator according to another embodiment of the present invention, respectively. The same reference numerals are given to the same and equivalent parts as the above embodiments, and detailed description thereof will be omitted. As shown, in the present embodiment, the spiral section 46a of the ice transfer screw 45 described above with reference to FIGS. 4 to 6 is twisted during the rotation of the screw drive motor 51 to accumulate elastic force. Unlike one embodiment, the upper region of the ice storage container 23 is formed with a support shaft 71 for supporting the ice storage container 23 to be rotatable, the lower one side of the ice storage container 23 ice A compression spring 73 is installed to be compressed at the time of rotation of the storage container 23. The compression spring 73 is formed to have an elastic force to the extent that can be compressed when the rotation torque action of the drive motor 51 having the crushing strength of the ice more than the load torque.

As a result, when ice having a crushing strength or more is interposed between the fixed blade 43 and the rotary blade 47 and the load torque abnormality is applied to the fixed blade 43, the ice storage container 23 is formed in the upper region. It rotates about the support shaft 71. Accordingly, the compression spring 73 accumulates the elastic force while being compressed, and the screw drive motor 51 continues to rotate while the rotational speed is reduced by the elastic force of the compression spring 73 acting as a rotational resistance, and then the compression spring ( The rotation is stopped when the elastic force of 73) becomes equal to the static torque value that is the maximum value of the output.

If the current flows through the stator coil 58 in the state in which the rotation of the screw drive motor 51 is stopped and the current value flowing in the stator coil 58 decreases so that the magnetic flux is reduced, the elastic force of the ice storage container 23 increases the rotation axis of the rotor 57. It acts as a rotating force that rotates in the opposite direction of the ice transport direction. As a result, the rotor 57 rotates in the opposite direction to the ice conveying direction, and at this time, the rotor which rotates in the opposite direction compared to the starting torque to rotate the rotor 57 in the ice conveying direction by the shading coil 67. Since the inertia of the 57 is increased, the rotor 57 is maintained in the rotational direction opposite to the ice conveying direction. Accordingly, the ice transfer screw 45 is rotated in the direction opposite to the ice transfer direction to release the restrained state.

In the above-described and illustrated embodiments, a separate compression spring is arranged on the spiral section of the ice transfer screw or on one side of the ice storage container to accumulate elastic force when the ice transfer screw is restrained, and then rotate the rotor by using the anti-elastic force Although each case is described as an example, the upper area of the opposite side of the grinding chamber of the ice storage container is fixed, and the elastic force can be accumulated while twisting the area except the fixed area, and crushed between the fixed blade and the rotary blade. When the ice having more than strength is interposed, the ice storage container may be twisted to accumulate elastic force, and may be configured to reverse the rotor by using the anti-elastic force.

In the above-described and illustrated embodiments, the case in which the screw drive motor is configured to enable reverse rotation by applying a physical external force is described, for example. However, when the direction of the rotating magnetic field is changed, such as a stepping motor, the rotor rotates in reverse. Of course, the motor can be adopted as a screw drive motor.

As described above, according to the present invention, there is provided an ice dispenser of a refrigerator capable of prematurely releasing the confinement by causing the ice conveying screw to rotate in the opposite direction to the ice conveying direction when constraining by ice occurs.

Claims (3)

An ice storage container having an ice accommodation space and an ice grinding chamber having a fixed blade disposed on one side of the ice accommodation space to crush the ice; An ice feed screw having a spiral section formed to correspond to the ice containing space so as to transfer the ice to the ice grinding chamber, and having a rotating blade formed corresponding to the fixed blade so as to be rotatable in the ice storage container; An ice conveying direction which is rotatably coupled with the ice conveying screw and rotates so that the ice in the ice receiving space is conveyed to the ice grinding chamber; and an opposite direction to the ice conveying direction when the ice conveying screw is constrained by ice. Ice dispenser of the refrigerator comprising a screw drive motor capable of rotating. The method of claim 1, The drive motor includes a rotor disposed to be rotatable about a rotating shaft, a receiving hole formed at one side to accommodate the rotor, and a stator core which forms a magnetic path, and is wound on one side of the stator core to generate magnetic flux. Shading to generate a stator coil and the auxiliary magnetic flux so as to have a rotational force smaller than the rotational inertia of the rotor, while having a phase difference with the main magnetic flux by the main magnetic flux generated by the stator core disposed on one side of the receiving hole An ice dispenser of the refrigerator comprising a coil. The method of claim 2, At least one of the ice conveying screw and the ice storage container, when the rotation of the ice conveying screw in the ice conveying direction is twisted in the ice conveying direction accumulates the elastic force, the drive motor and the ice conveying screw When the rotation torque is smaller than the elastic force accumulated in at least one of the ice storage container, the ice dispenser of the refrigerator characterized in that the reverse rotation by the elastic force.