KR101573540B1 - Ice bucket for refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an ice bucket for a refrigerator having an anti-fogging unit which is moved up and down by a body for storing ice that has been frozen in an ice maker and which separates the stored ice so that they do not adhere to each other.

To this end, the present invention provides an ice maker for ice making, A body provided below the ice maker for storing ice supplied from the ice maker; And an anti-fogging unit provided in the body so as to be movable up and down to allow ice stored in the body to flow. According to the present invention having such a configuration, defective ejection of ice can be improved.

Refrigerator, ice bucket, ice, filling

Description

Ice bucket for refrigerator}

The present invention relates to an ice bucket of a refrigerator.

BACKGROUND ART [0002] Generally, a refrigerator is a household appliance that can store food in an internal storage space that is shielded by a door at low temperature. The refrigerator is stored by cooling the inside of the storage space using cool air generated through heat exchange with a refrigerant circulating in a refrigeration cycle It is configured to store foods in optimal condition.

Such a refrigerator has become increasingly multifunctional in accordance with changes in dietary life and product quality, and a refrigerator having various structures and convenience devices considering user's convenience has been introduced.

For the convenience of the user, the refrigerator has an ice maker for making ice and an ice bucket for storing the ice. The ice bucket is further provided with an auger which is rotated to prevent the stored ice from clinging to each other.

Also, the refrigerator door may be provided with drinking water and a dispenser for taking out the ice. In this case, the ice stored in the ice bucket can be taken out to the outside through the dispenser when the user operates the ice dispenser.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an ice bucket for a refrigerator that prevents the ice in the ice bucket from being entangled by a clog prevention mechanism that moves up and down in association with driving of a driving motor.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, an ice bucket of a refrigerator is provided on one side of a door or on a door, and includes an ice maker for making ice; A body provided below the ice maker for storing ice supplied from the ice maker; And an anti-fogging unit provided in the body so as to be movable up and down to allow ice stored in the body to flow.

In addition, the body may further include a driving motor for providing power for driving the anti-fouling unit.

Further, the body is detachably provided on one side of the inside or the rear side of the door.

The body is further provided with a drive connection portion selectively connected to a motor outside the body to transmit power for driving the anti-collision unit.

In addition, the anti-fouling unit may include a driving motor for providing a rotating power, a shaft rotatably mounted on the motor, a pinion provided on the shaft, and a space for storing ice inside the van, And a moving member that is gear-engaged with the pinion and moves up and down.

In addition, one end of the moving member is fixed to one side of the inside of the body, and the other end is gear-engaged with the pinion and moved up and down.

In addition, the moving member is formed of an elastically deformable material.

In addition, a plurality of moving members are provided.

According to the ice bucket of the refrigerator according to the embodiment of the present invention, the overall flow of the ice stored in the ice bucket is forced by the vertical movement, thereby effectively separating the accumulated ice. Therefore, there is an effect that the blow-out failure due to the entrainment of ice can be solved.

Hereinafter, specific embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, it should be understood that the present invention is not limited to the embodiment shown in the drawings, and that other embodiments falling within the spirit and scope of the present invention may be easily devised by adding, .

In particular, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to an ice maker and an ice bucket provided in a freezer compartment door of a side by side refrigerator for convenience of explanation and understanding, and the present invention can be applied to various types of refrigerators It is possible to apply it to both inside and outside doors.

1 is a front view of a door of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, a refrigerator 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a cabinet 10 having a storage space therein and forming an outer shape, a door 10 for selectively shielding the opened front face of the cabinet 10, And the outer shape can be formed by the outer case 20.

The inside of the cabinet 10 is partitioned to the left and right by the barrier 12 to form a freezing chamber 30 and a refrigerating chamber 40. Inside the freezing chamber 30 and the refrigerating chamber 40, A number of shelves and drawers may be provided.

The door 20 may include a freezing compartment door 20 and a refrigerator compartment door 20 for shielding the freezing compartment 30 and the refrigerating compartment 40. The freezing compartment door 20 and the refrigerating compartment door 20 Is rotatably mounted to selectively block the freezing compartment 30 and the refrigerating compartment 40.

Meanwhile, door handles are provided on the front surfaces of the freezing chamber door 20 and the refrigerator chamber door 20, respectively, and a dispenser (not shown) may be provided on the front surface of the freezing chamber door 20. The dispenser is configured to be able to extract purified water used as drinking water or ice stored in the ice bucket 200 described below from the outside.

The ice maker 100 and the ice bucket 200 are provided on the rear surface of the freezing chamber door 20. The ice maker 100 may be configured to freeze water to automatically cool the supplied water to automatically separate the ice from the ice maker 100 after the ice is produced.

The ice maker 100 may be a general ice maker 100 including a manual and automatic ice maker, and the present invention is not related to the structure of the ice maker 100, so a detailed description thereof will be omitted do.

An ice bucket 200 is provided below the ice maker 100. The ice bucket 200 stores ice made by the ice maker 100, and ice cubes separated from the ice maker 100 can be dropped and supplied.

The ice bucket 200 is configured to communicate with the dispenser to supply ice stored in the dispenser. The ice maker 100 and the ice bucket 200 may be integrally mounted on the door liner forming the back surface of the freezing chamber door 20. [

FIG. 2 is a front perspective view of an ice bucket according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is an upper perspective view of an ice bucket according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 and 3, the ice bucket 200 includes a body 210 forming an overall contour, a bucket cover 220 through which ice can be received inside the body 210, And an anti-fouling unit 400 for preventing the ice stored in the body 210 from being entangled.

In detail, the body 210 accommodates the ice made by the ice maker 100 and also mounts the ice bucket 200 on the freezing room door 20, And may be formed to be coupled to the ice maker 100 and the ice chute 300 communicating with the dispenser. In addition, the body 210 may be configured to be easily detachable from the freezer compartment door 20.

An opening 212 is formed below the body 210 and ice stored through the opening 212 under the body 210 can be discharged to the ice chute 300. The opening 212 is provided with a shutter 214 for selectively opening and closing the opening 212 by a user's operation so that ice can be selectively discharged. Further, the opening 212 may further include a crusher (not shown) for crushing ice into pieces when discharging the ice during storage.

A bucket cover 220 is provided on the upper portion of the body 210. The bucket cover 220 forms a space for storing ice contained in the body 210 and is formed to form a part of the outer surface of the upper surface and both sides of the body 210.

The bucket cover 220 is configured to form a predetermined space opened upward by engagement with the body 210. The bucket cover 220 may be formed of transparent or semitransparent material so that the state of ice stored in the ice bucket 200 can be confirmed from the outside. Of course, the bucket cover 220 and the body 210 may be integrally formed. At this time, the bucket cover 220 may be opaque.

A drive unit 230 having a plurality of components for driving the crusher and the shutter 214 is formed on the lower portion of the body 210.

The driving unit 230 defines a space for storing the ice cubes, and the upper surface of the driving unit 230 may be inclined. The driving unit 230 protrudes forward from the rear surface of the body 210 to a predetermined height and the front surface of the driving unit 230 is spaced apart from the inner front surface of the body 210 to smoothly move the ice. Respectively.

A plurality of through holes 232 are formed on the sloped upper surface of the driving unit 230. The through-hole 232 is formed with a plurality of openings continuously formed at predetermined intervals, through which the moving member 440, which is a constitution of the anti-fouling unit 400 described below, is passed.

A driving connection part 216 is formed on the rear surface of the ice bucket 200 and more specifically on the rear surface of the driving part 230 to be selectively connected to a driving device such as a motor provided in the refrigerator door 20, do. The driving connection portion 216 may be connected to the crusher and / or the anti-fog prevention unit 400. When the ice bucket 200 is mounted, the driving connection portion 216 rotates the crusher or the anti- ) Can be operated.

The ice bucket 200 further includes a lever 218 for operating the shutter 214. The lever 218 may be controlled by a solenoid valve or a motor provided separately do.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view schematically showing the inside of the ice bucket according to the embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a perspective view schematically showing the configuration of the anti-fogging unit according to the embodiment of the present invention.

4 and 5, the anti-jamming unit 400 includes a driving motor 410, a shaft 420 connected to the rotation shaft of the driving motor 410, a pinion 430 mounted on the shaft 420, And a moving member 440 interlocked with the pinion 430. In addition, the unfolding prevention unit 400 is provided inside the driving unit 230 of the body 210, except for a part of the moving member 440.

In detail, the driving motor 410 is provided on one side of the driving unit 230. The driving motor 410 provides power for driving the anti-fouling unit 400. The driving motor 410 is connected to the freezing chamber door 20 by a contact or a connector so that power can be applied when the ice bucket 200 is mounted. As shown in FIG.

The driving motor 410 is provided at one side of the inside of the driving unit 230, and the shaft 420 extending in the transverse direction and the rotating shaft may be connected to each other. Therefore, the shaft 420 rotates together with the rotation of the driving motor 410. The shaft 420 is installed so as to cross the plurality of moving members 440 by extending a length for operating the plurality of moving members 440.

A plurality of pinions 430 may be mounted on the shaft 420. The pinion 430 is rotated together with the shaft 420 to transmit the rotational force of the shaft 420 so that the moving member 440 can be moved. That is, the pinion 430 mounted on the shaft 420 is gear-engaged with the moving member 440 so that the moving member 440 can be moved up and down. Therefore, the rotational motion of the shaft 420 can be converted to the rectilinear motion of the moving member 440 by the pinion 430. A plurality of the pinions 430 may be disposed at predetermined intervals and may be provided at positions corresponding to the moving member 440.

The moving member 440 may be formed as a rod or a band having a predetermined thickness and width to prevent ice from being entangled with each other by forcibly flowing the ice stored in the ice bucket 200, It can be formed as a possible material.

The moving member 440 may be formed of a material such as rubber to increase frictional force with the ice, and may be formed in a concave-convex shape or may have a separate protruding member or the like so as to increase interference with ice May be provided.

And a gear portion 442 that is gear-engaged with the pinion 430 is formed at a portion of the outer surface of the moving member 440. The gear portion 442 is gear-engaged with the pinion 430 and is configured such that the moving member 440 can be moved up and down according to the rotation of the pinion 430. The gear portion 442 may be continuously formed by a predetermined length at one end of the shifting member 440 and the length of the gear portion 442 may be formed by the vertical stroke length of the shifting member 440 have.

One side of the moving member 440 on which the gear part 442 is formed is inserted into the driving part 230 through the through hole 232 of the driving part 230 and is inserted from the inside of the driving part 230 And is gear-engaged with the pinion 430.

The other end of the moving member 440 is fixedly coupled to one side of the front half of the body 210. At this time, the position where the other end of the moving member 440 is coupled may be coupled to various places such as the bottom surface or the front surface of the space where the ice is stored. The moving member 440 can be formed in a shape of approximately "? &Quot; when the upper end of the moving member 440 is rounded when mounted on the body 210. [ Therefore, the bent upper end of the moving member 440 can be moved up and down inside the space where the ice is stored by the other side of the moving member 440, which is moved up and down by the rotation of the pinion 430.

Hereinafter, the operation of the ice bucket according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 6 is a view showing an operation state of the ice bucket according to the embodiment of the present invention.

1 to 6, when water is supplied to the ice maker 100 to make ice, the ice cubes are separated from the ice maker 100 and transferred to the inside of the ice bucket 200 And is kept waiting for the user to take out before the operation.

The ice maker 100 continues to be driven until the inside of the ice bucket 200 is filled with ice and the ice is continuously moved into the ice bucket 200.

The flooding prevention unit 400 is continuously operated for a predetermined time or a set time interval while the ice is stored in the ice bucket 200 to prevent the storage ice in the ice bucket 200 from being clogged with each other .

In detail, when the operation of the unwind prevention unit 400 is started, the driving motor 410 operates. When the driving motor 410 is operated, the shaft 420 connected to the rotating shaft of the driving motor 410 is rotated, and the plurality of pinions 430 provided on the shaft 420 rotate together .

The gear portion 442 geared to the pinion 430 moves when the pinion 430 rotates. At this time, the moving direction of the moving member 440 is determined according to the rotation direction of the pinion 430.

Since the movable member 440 is fixed at one end and the other end moves up and down in accordance with the rotation of the pinion 430, the upper end of the movable member 440 stores ice according to the rotation of the pinion 430 And moves up and down from the inside of the space.

As the movable member 440 moves upward and downward, the ice adjacent to the movable member 440 also moves up and down. When the ice moves, the ice in the ice bucket 200 The overall flow of the ice stored in this stored space can take place.

Therefore, the ice stored in the ice bucket 200 can be separated from each other so that they do not cling to each other. When the dispenser for taking out the ice is operated, the flocculation prevention unit 400 is driven to discharge the ice, Each of the ice cubes stored at the time of extraction may be separated from each other.

The refrigerator according to the present invention may have various embodiments other than the above-described embodiments. For example, a separate drive motor 410 may not be provided in the ice bucket 200 but may be driven by a motor provided in the freezer compartment door 20 for the operation of the anti-trap unit 400. At this time, the motor provided in the freezer compartment door 20 may be configured to adjust the operation of the crusher and to control the operation of the anti-fouling unit 400 by being connected to the anti-fouling unit 400.

1 is a front view of a door of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a front perspective view of an ice bucket according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is an upper perspective view of an ice bucket according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a perspective view schematically showing the interior of the ice bucket according to the embodiment of the present invention.

5 is a perspective view schematically showing a configuration of an anti-fogging unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a view showing an operation state of the ice bucket according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Claims (8)

An ice maker provided on one side of the door or one side of the door, for making ice; A body provided below the ice maker for storing ice supplied from the ice maker; An anti-fouling unit provided inside the body for allowing ice stored in the body to flow; And a drive motor for providing rotational power to the anti-fouling unit, The anti- A shaft coupled to the drive motor and rotated by rotation of the drive motor, A pinion provided on the shaft, And a moving member which is provided in a space where ice inside the body is stored and which is gear-engaged with the pinion and moved up and down. The method according to claim 1, Wherein the driving motor is installed inside the body. The method according to claim 1, Wherein the body is detachably provided on one side of the inside or the rear side of the door. The method of claim 3, Wherein the driving motor is provided outside the body, Wherein the body is provided with a driving connection part selectively connected to the driving motor to transmit power for driving the anti-fouling unit. delete The method according to claim 1, Wherein one end of the moving member is fixed to one side of the inside of the body and the other end is gear-engaged with the pinion to move up and down. The method according to claim 1, Wherein the moving member is formed of an elastically deformable material. The method according to claim 1, The ice bucket of claim 1,

Images