KR100574634B1 - Ice supplying apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an ice supply device installed in a door of a refrigerator of the present invention, and more particularly, an ice supply device for supplying ice that is iced and supplied from a freezer of a refrigerator or externally supplied to various devices installed in a door of a refrigerator. It is about.

The ice supply apparatus of the present invention includes an ice maker for supplying ice cubes and / or an ice bucket for storing iced ice, and an ice maker and a crusher installed in a seating part of the refrigerator door partially protruded into the refrigerator. In the refrigerator, the lid-shaped guide is installed so as to cover any one of the ice-water crusher or crusher at all times, the supply device is provided to be supplied to the ice-water crusher or crusher that does not cover the falling ice covering the other one It becomes the structure to say.

Therefore, the present invention is easy to install and can be applied to any type of device, with the convenience that is obtained in the state to take ice without opening and closing the door, such an ice supply device is easy to install the door of the refrigerator It is a useful and effective invention to prevent the safety accidents that may occur by interlocking when the blade and the like to cover the ice-water is embedded.

Refrigerator, Ice Maker, Ice Machine, Feeder, Storage Feeder

Description

Ice supplying apparatus

1 is a perspective view of an installation state of the present invention.

Figure 2 is a side cross-sectional view of the installation state of the present invention.

3 is a configuration diagram of the present invention.

Figure 4 is an exploded view of the present invention.

Figure 5 is a side cross-sectional view of another installation state of the present invention.

<Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

1. Door

11. Seating part

2. Freezer

21. Supply passage

3. ice maker

31.Ice Bucket

4. Ice machine

5. Shredder

6. Supply device

61.Guide 611.Slope 612.Protrusion Wall

62. Link 63. Drive 631. Motor

64. Sensor

The present invention relates to an ice supply device installed in a door of a refrigerator of the present invention, and more particularly, an ice supply device for supplying ice that is iced and supplied from a freezer of a refrigerator or externally supplied to various devices installed in a door of a refrigerator. It is about.

In general, a refrigerator used as a device for low temperature storage of food is installed separately from a refrigerator compartment and a freezer compartment, the freezer compartment freezes ice or stores frozen preservatives, and a refrigerator compartment stores fresh fruits and vegetables or foods. In order to achieve this purpose, a door for separately opening and closing the refrigerating compartment and the freezing compartment separately inside the refrigerator main body is separately installed to open and close the refrigerating compartment and the freezing compartment.

In the freezing chamber, the container is conventionally made to be frozen in order to freeze the ice by cold air supplied by storing and storing the purified water. However, the freezing chamber automatically freezes the ice according to the well-being fashion so that it can be taken out whenever necessary. The prevalence of refrigerators with ice makers in the freezer is growing exponentially. In ice makers, ice is automatically iced and stored in ice buckets. Or withdrawal is used according to the operation of the operation button (large lever pressing knob is common) is most preferred.

However, in response to such demands, when an ice maker is installed in a freezer compartment of a refrigerator and ice is frozen and stored therein and used by an external operation, the ice maker varies depending on the performance and shape of the ice maker. A device that breaks the ice into small pieces of ice or processes it into slush powdered ice (hereinafter referred to as 'ice water') to meet the intended use. Preferably, the present invention relates to an ice feeder which is suitably used in a refrigerator equipped with such a device to improve its efficacy.

The main purpose of the present invention is to provide the ice maker or other device (including the manual type) installed inside the freezer according to the user's request so that the ice flowing into the door can be properly supplied to the crusher or the ice maker or the specific device. The present invention provides an ice supply device installed in an apparatus stored in a door of a refrigerator that can obtain ice in a form of ice or ice water to take ice without opening or closing the door.

In addition, another object of the present invention is to provide an ice supply device that can be easily installed while being applicable to any type of device because the device is simple.

In addition, another object of the present invention is to prevent such a safety accident that may occur by the ice supply device to cover the ice water in which the blade or the like is interlocked when the door of the refrigerator is opened.

In order to achieve the above object, in the ice supply apparatus of the present invention, the ice maker for supplying ice cubes and / or the ice bucket for storing iced ice, and the seating portion of the refrigerator door partially protruded into the refrigerator In the refrigerator having an ice machine and a crusher, which is installed in the refrigerator, the lid-shaped guide is installed so as to cover any one of the ice or crusher at any time, the ice crusher or crusher does not cover the falling ice to cover any other It is a structure which installs the feeder which is supplied to a side.

In order to achieve another object of the present invention, in the above-mentioned supply apparatus, the guide is preferably inclined to one side inclined, it is preferable that the protruding wall is formed on three surfaces except the inclined lower surface.

In order to achieve another object of the present invention, in the above-described supply apparatus, a sensor for sensing the weight is mounted on the lower axis of the link for moving the guide, the guide is moved according to the sensing of the sensor desirable.

In order to achieve another object of the present invention, in the above-described supply device, it is more preferable that the guide is moved to a position covering the ice water when the door switch installed in the door is operated.

Such a supply device installed in the refrigerator door of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a perspective view showing the present invention installed in the refrigerator, Figure 2 is a side cross-sectional view showing the internal relationship in the installation state of the present invention, Figure 3 is a configuration diagram of the present invention, Figure 4 Is an exploded state diagram showing the relationship between each component of the present invention separately.

The ice supply device of the present invention, the ice maker 3 is installed in the freezer compartment 2 or the ice container 31 for storing iced ice so as to provide ice cubes according to an external operation, and the ice maker 3 or ice. In the refrigerator having an ice maker 4 and a crusher 5 installed in parallel to the seating portion 11 of the refrigerator door 1 to receive the ice falling from the barrel 31, the ice maker 4 or The guide 61, which is installed to cover any one of the crushers 5 at all times, is moved according to an external command so that the falling ice is not covered by falling of the ice maker 4 or the other of the crushers 5. It is set as the structure which installs the supply apparatus 6 which is supplied to the said ice-water machine 4 or the crusher 5 side.

In addition, the guide 61 of the supply device 6 may be an inclined surface 611 which is inclined toward one side, and the protruding wall 612 is formed on three surfaces except the inclined lower surface.

5 is a side cross-sectional view of another installation state of the present invention.

In addition, the lower end of the support shaft of the link 62 for moving the guide 61 is more preferably characterized in that the sensor 64 for detecting the weight is mounted.

In addition, it is more preferable that the guide 61 cover the ice water device 4 with the operation of a door switch (not shown) installed in the door 1.

Hereinafter, a function of an operation for each component of the present invention will be described.

The ice supply apparatus of the present invention is usefully utilized only when the following devices are installed in the refrigerator. First, as an ice ice providing device to provide ice ice according to an external operation, an ice maker (2) is provided in the freezer compartment (2). 3) Or an ice bucket 31 for storing iced ice should be installed, and in an advanced refrigerator, an ice maker 3 for automatically freezing ice and storing it in the ice bucket 31 is basically installed. 3) If there is no ice cube 31 to provide a predetermined amount of ice in accordance with the external operation must be filled with ice cubes manually.

Furthermore, the present invention is a device for supplying ice cubes provided from the ice maker 3 or the ice bucket 31 to either the ice maker 4 or the crusher 5 according to the user's intention. In order to receive the ice falling from the ice container 31, the ice maker 4 and the crusher 5 are installed in parallel to the seating portion 11 of the refrigerator door 1 to be usefully utilized. In addition, the ice cubes supplied here vary depending on the specifications of the ice maker (3), but because the manufacturing method is large, they are suitable as ice to be filled during transportation of refrigerated / frozen food, but not as cocktail or drink ice. The crusher 5 breaks the ice into smaller ice cubes, and the ice crusher 4 grinds the ice cubes into powdered ice. Although it is also used, since its performance is poor, these devices tend to be used in parallel as a separate device, and the present invention is a device that can fully utilize its function when applied to such a refrigerator.

That is, according to the present invention, in the refrigerator provided with the above-mentioned devices, the guide 61 installed to cover either the ice maker 4 or the shredder 5 at all times is moved according to an external command, and thus the ice maker ( 4) or a feeding device 6 provided to cover the other of the crusher 5 so as to be supplied toward the ice maker 4 or the crusher 5 which is not covered with the falling ice. When 61 covers the ice machine 4, for example, and the user requests ice water by operating the operation panel outside the refrigerator, the guide 61 is moved to the upper surface of the crusher 5 and the ice maker 3 or the ice bucket 31 Ice cubes falling from) are dropped to the ice-watering machine 4 side. At this time, each ice falling from the ice maker 3 or the ice container 31 is installed on the supply passage 21 to be adjusted by an adjustment path (not shown) which leads to the upper surface of the ice maker 4 or the crusher 5. It is also possible, even if there is no such a control path in the present invention, the guide 61 is installed to guide the ice cubes do not cover the ice can be properly supplied. In addition, in the above description, the configuration in which the guide 61 covers the upper surface of the ice maker 4 at all times has been explained as an example, but the same function also applies to the configuration in which the guide 61 always covers the upper surface of the crusher 5. It is obvious that it is one of the configurations of the present invention, except that the ice maker 4 has a blade to cover the ice maker 4 at all times for the safety of the operator.

Reference numeral 63 is a drive mechanism, the drive mechanism 63 is a mechanism for applying the power to push and pull the guide 61 to one side, such as a motor 631, a solenoid and a cylinder, for example, When the device is only pushing or pulling, as a restoring device (reducing device to the original position), it is possible to make the device cheaper and simpler if it is installed to support the guide 61 to one side with a holding force such as a spring or a rubber band. Preferably, as shown in FIGS. 3 to 5, in the case of using the motor 631 as the driving mechanism 63, a link 62 connected to the shaft of the motor 631 is inserted into one side of the inclined surface 611. In which the inclined surface 611 is positioned on the upper surface of the ice maker 4 or the crusher 5 by rotating the motor 631 by a predetermined angle, and again by rotating the predetermined angle when the motor 631 is operated. ) Or upper surface of ice machine 4 When the ice cube is cut off, the supply of ice cubes is cut off.In this case, the angle of rotation of the inclined surface 611 to be placed on the exact upper surface of the ice maker 4 or the crusher 5 is provided with a limit switch or a power supply to the motor. Either setting the time or any known method may be employed.

According to another configuration of the present invention, in addition to the above configuration, the guide 61 of the supply device 6 is an inclined surface 611 inclined to one side, and the protruding wall 612 is formed on three surfaces except the inclined lower surface. The guide 61 is always provided with ice cubes provided through the supply passage 21 while covering one of the ice maker 4 or the crusher 5, for example, but is provided to the ice maker 4, but the user's request (operation) ) Is a small cube of ice, which should serve to guide large cubes of ice provided to the ice maker (4) to the crusher, which is particularly suitable among several types that can be used as a tool. The ice cube falling to the ice-watering machine 4 to flow to the side when the inclined surface 611 inclines the ice cube while the protrusion wall 612 accommodates the ice cube falling like a waterfall without being separated from the guide 61. The crusher 5 is properly introduced into the crusher 5, and vice versa, that is, the guide 61 always covers the crusher 5 and the ice cube falling into the crusher 5 is properly introduced into the ice maker 4. Even in the case (see Fig. 5), the same operation is allowed. In addition, the guide 61 may not operate when, for example, the ice is provided toward the uncovered device 4, 5 while the guide 61 is always covering either the ice machine 4 or the crusher 5. Naturally, the guide 61 is maintained as it is.

According to another configuration of the present invention, in addition to the configuration described above, the sensor 64 for sensing the weight is mounted on the lower end of the support shaft of the link 62 for moving the guide 61, the weight sensor 64 ) Is to detect the falling ice to properly control the position of the guide 61, so that the supply of the ice can be re-calibrated, and this is particularly desirable in the PCB which performs a series of control. It is desirable to realize a high-precision refined device by enabling precise control.

According to another configuration of the present invention, in addition to the configuration described above, with the operation of the door switch (not shown) installed in the door 1, the guide 61 to cover the ice machine 4, As described above, since the ice blade (4) is a structure in which the rotary blade on the fan formed on the upper side pushes the ice cube to the blade side so that the ice is ground, the safety problem of the operator can be prevented in advance. When the door 1 is opened, a door switch (not shown) which is pressed and protrudes turns on a room lamp (not shown) to control the position of the guide 61 together. When the door 1 is opened, the upper surface of the ice maker 4 is opened. It is more preferable that the guide 61 cover the lid as if the lid is closed, so that it is possible to fundamentally prevent the injuries that may be handled by the operator's hand toward the blade or the rotating fan.

As described above, the ice supply device of the present invention can be properly supplied to the crusher or ice machine or a specific device according to the user's request, so that the ice or ice water of the form to take ice without opening and closing the door In addition to the convenience obtained in the state, the device is simple and can be applied to any type of device and is easily installed, and this ice supply device is interlocked when the door of the refrigerator is opened so as to cover the ice water device in which the blades are embedded. It is a useful and effective invention to prevent possible safety accidents.

Claims (4)

An ice container for storing ice or ice cubes installed in a freezer compartment to provide ice cubes according to an external operation, and an ice machine installed in parallel to a seating part of a refrigerator door to receive ice falling from the ice maker or ice bucket. In the refrigerator provided with a crusher, The guide is installed to cover any one of the ice machine or crusher at all times is supplied to the ice machine or crusher which is not covered by the falling ice covering the other one of the ice crusher or crusher Ice supply with device installed. The method of claim 1, The guide of the supply device is an inclined surface inclined toward one side, the ice supply apparatus characterized in that the three protruding walls are formed except the inclined lower surface. The method of claim 2, Ice supply apparatus, characterized in that the sensor for detecting the weight is mounted on the lower end of the support shaft of the link for moving the guide. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, The ice supply apparatus, characterized in that for the guide to cover the ice water in accordance with the operation of the door switch installed in the door.

Images