KR102164577B1 - Ice water purifier to prevent internal pollution - Google Patents

Abstract

An ice water purifier for preventing internal contamination is disclosed. The ice purifier according to the present disclosure includes an ice making unit that generates ice, a filter unit that is present below the ice making unit and filters ice and residual water generated from the ice making unit, and is located below the filter unit. And an ice bucket for storing ice that has passed through the filter unit, wherein the filter unit is connected to a lower portion of the ice-making unit, a funnel portion for collecting ice generated from the ice-making unit, and a lower portion of the funnel portion, A first connection part configured in a vertical direction with the main body of the water purifier and a second connection part connected to the first connection part and configured to be inclined in an upper direction of the main body of the ice water purifier so that the ice discharge port faces the upper direction of the ice water purifier. do.

Description

Ice water purifier to prevent internal pollution}

The present disclosure relates to an ice water purifier, and more particularly, to a structure of an ice water purifier for preventing internal contamination of an ice reservoir inside the ice water purifier.

In recent years, not only simple water purifiers that purify and supply water, but also ice water purifiers that can provide ice have appeared. The ice purifier generates ice by deicing purified water, and includes a water purification tank, a cold water tank for ice making, a cooling means, an ice making unit, and the like to generate ice. A number of such ice-making means are disclosed in addition to Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2014-0144359 (2013.06.10, ice water purifier).

As shown in FIG. 1, the above-described prior literature is a main body 110, an ice bucket 115, an ice-making unit 120, an ice-making drip tray 122, an immersion plate 124, an evaporator 126, and a guide plate. (130), through hole 132, cold water tank 140, circulation pump 142, water level sensor 144, temperature sensor 146, cold water tank 150, dispersion unit 160, receiving hole It may include configurations such as 162 and guide hole 164.

However, most of these ice making means have a structure in which external air can be introduced, and there is a possibility that the generated ice is contaminated. In addition, during the process of ice being created and stored in the ice storage, some of the generated ice may melt, resulting in residual water in the ice making means and ice storage, and there is a possibility that bacteria and microorganisms multiply due to the combination of such residual water and external air. do.

Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2014-0144359 (2013.06.10, ice water purifier)

The present disclosure is conceived to solve the above-described problem, and relates to a method for reducing residual water generated in the process of storing ice generated by cooling purified water.

The ice purifier according to various embodiments of the present disclosure includes: an ice making unit for generating ice; A filter unit present under the ice making unit to filter ice and residual water generated from the ice making unit; And an ice bucket positioned below the filter unit to store ice that has passed through the filter unit, wherein the filter unit includes a funnel for collecting ice generated from the ice making unit under the ice making unit part; A first connection part connected to the lower part of the funnel part and configured in a vertical direction with the main body of the ice water purifier; And a second connection part connected to the first connection part and configured to be inclined in an upper direction of the body of the ice water purifier so that the ice outlet faces the upper direction of the ice water purifier. Includes.

In this case, the filter unit may further include a hose for discharging residual water at a junction point of the first connection part and the second connection part.

In this case, the ice purifier may further include a cooling fan positioned in front of the ice discharge port of the second connection part, and the cooling fan may spray cooling wind toward the ice discharge port of the second connection part.

In this case, the filter unit may include a first pressure sensor provided at a junction point of the first connection part and the second connection part; And a second pressure sensor provided at the ice outlet of the second connection unit, wherein the hose further includes a suction unit for inhaling residual water, and when a pressure higher than a preset value is sensed by the first pressure sensor , When the suction unit operates to suck residual water through the hose, and when a pressure higher than a preset value is sensed by the second pressure sensor, the cooling fan is operated to spray cooling wind toward the ice outlet of the second connection can do.

According to the exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure described above, the generated ice may be stored in an ice storage without residual water, and internal contamination caused by residual water may be prevented.

1 is an exemplary view for explaining the structure of a conventional ice water purifier.
2 is an exemplary view for explaining the structure of the ice water purifier according to the present disclosure.
3 is an exemplary diagram for describing a filter unit according to the present disclosure.

The terms used in the present specification will be briefly described, and the present disclosure will be described in detail.

Terms used in the embodiments of the present disclosure have selected general terms that are currently widely used as possible while taking functions of the present disclosure into consideration, but this may vary according to the intention or precedent of a technician working in the field, the emergence of new technologies, etc. . In addition, in certain cases, there are terms arbitrarily selected by the applicant, and in this case, the meaning of the terms will be described in detail in the description of the corresponding invention. Therefore, the terms used in the present disclosure should be defined based on the meaning of the term and the contents of the present disclosure, not the name of a simple term.

Since the embodiments of the present disclosure may apply various transformations and may have various embodiments, specific embodiments will be illustrated in the drawings and described in detail in the detailed description. However, this is not intended to limit the scope of the specific embodiment, it is to be understood to include all conversions, equivalents, or substitutes included in the disclosed spirit and technical scope. In describing the embodiments, if it is determined that a detailed description of a related known technology may obscure the subject matter, the detailed description thereof will be omitted.

Terms such as first and second may be used to describe various components, but the components should not be limited by terms. The terms are only used for the purpose of distinguishing one component from another component.

Singular expressions include plural expressions unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. In the present application, terms such as "comprise" or "comprise" are intended to designate the existence of features, numbers, steps, actions, components, parts, or a combination thereof described in the specification, but one or more other It is to be understood that the presence or addition of features, numbers, steps, actions, components, parts, or combinations thereof, does not preclude in advance the possibility of being excluded.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings so that those of ordinary skill in the art may easily implement the present disclosure. However, the present disclosure may be implemented in various different forms and is not limited to the exemplary embodiments described herein. In addition, in the drawings, parts not related to the description are omitted in order to clearly describe the present disclosure, and similar reference numerals are attached to similar parts throughout the specification.

2 is an exemplary view for explaining the structure of an ice purifier according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

The ice bucket 115 is a component for storing ice generated by the ice making unit 120. The ice making unit 120 is configured to generate ice, and is provided in the rotatable ice making drip tray 122, the immersion pipe 124 accommodated in the ice making drip tray 122, and the immersion pipe 124, It includes (122) and an evaporator 126 heat-exchanging with raw water for ice making. It goes without saying that the guide plate 130 is provided between the cold water tank 140 and the ice making unit 120, and the guide plate 130 according to the present disclosure may be formed as a part of the filter unit 170 to be described later. The cold water tank 140 is configured to store raw water for ice making, and may include a circulation pump 142, a water level sensor 144, a temperature sensor 146, and the like.

Hereinafter, the filter unit 170 according to the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3.

The filter unit 170 is configured to filter ice generated in the ice making unit 120 and residual water generated together with the ice. 2 and 3, the filter unit 170 may be located under the ice making unit 120. When ice is generated by the ice making unit 120, the ice making drip tray 122 may rotate and discharge the generated ice to the lower portion of the ice making unit 120. In this case, the filter unit 170 may be disposed at a position where the discharged ice can be obtained. Specifically, the generated ice may be discharged to the funnel portion configured on the upper portion of the filter unit 170. The ice discharged through the funnel may be stored in the ice bucket 115 by passing through the first connection and the second connection at the bottom of the funnel.

Specifically, the first connection unit is located at the bottom of the funnel to move ice, and may be in the form of a pipe configured in a direction perpendicular to the ice purifier 100. The second connection part is a connection part that is joined to the first connection part, and may be in the form of a pipe configured to face upward with respect to the ice purifier 100 or the ice bucket 115. That is, as the second connection part faces the top of the ice purifier 100 or the ice bucket 115, the ice generated in the ice making unit 120 is pushed by the ice generated later and stored in the ice bucket 115. , The residual water generated in the ice making unit 120 may be prevented from flowing into the ice bucket 155.

At this time, the residual water that has passed through the funnel is positioned at the junction between the first and second connectors by gravity. Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 3, a hose 171 for discharging residual water may be disposed at a junction point of the first connection part and the second connection part. Since residual water is discharged through the hose 171, the ice bucket 115 stores only ice without residual water, and contamination of ice due to residual water and external air can be prevented.

On the other hand, in order to smoothly discharge ice through the first connection part and the second connection part, the ice may be in the shape of a cube or sphere having a similar height, horizontally, vertically, or horizontally. In this case, the first connection part and the second connection part may be manufactured to have a space equal to or greater than the maximum length of the generated ice so that the generated ice is discharged without being caught in the middle. For example, if the ice generated is in the shape of a cube having a width, length, and height of 1 cm, the first connection portion and the second connection portion may be manufactured to have a size of 3 cm or more, which is a diagonal length of the cube.

Meanwhile, the ice purifier 100 may further include a cooling fan 172. In this case, the cooling fan 172 is located in front of the ice outlet of the second connection portion and may spray cooling wind toward the ice outlet of the second connection portion. In this case, the cooling wind sprayed by the cooling fan 172 may be wind below a preset temperature. For example, the cooling wind is a wind of 0 degrees Celsius or less, and ice discharged by the cooling wind is not melted and may be discharged to the ice bucket 115. The cooling fan 172 may effectively block residual water by spraying cooling wind toward the ice before the ice is discharged to the ice bucket 115.

Meanwhile, in order to efficiently discharge residual water, the second connection unit may further include a first pressure sensor and a second pressure sensor. Specifically, the first pressure sensor may be disposed near a junction point of the first connector and the second connector, and the second pressure sensor may be disposed near the ice outlet of the second connector. At this time, the hose 171 may further include a suction unit for separating residual water and ice.

The first pressure sensor may detect whether ice exists near a junction point of the first connection part and the second connection part. When the pressure sensed by the first pressure sensor is greater than or equal to a preset value, the suction unit of the hose 171 may operate. Specifically, the suction unit may inhale air inside the first and second connection parts through a hose. The ice purifier 100 can effectively treat residual water through the suction unit.

Meanwhile, the second pressure sensor may detect whether ice exists near the ice outlet located at the rear end of the second connector. When the pressure sensed by the second pressure sensor is greater than or equal to a preset value, the cooling fan 172 may operate. That is, the cooling fan 172 is not always operated, but is operated when ice is located in the ice discharge portion of the second connection part and it is expected that the ice will soon be discharged to the ice bucket 115, thereby reducing power consumption. have.

In the above, embodiments of the present disclosure have been illustrated and described, but the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiments described above, and is not departing from the gist of the present invention claimed in the claims. Various modifications may be possible by those of ordinary skill in the art, and these modifications should not be individually understood from the technical spirit or prospect of the present invention.

100: ice water purifier 110: main body
115: ice bucket 120: ice making unit
130: guide plate 140: cold water tank
150: cold water tank 160: dispersion unit
170: filter unit 171: hose
172: cooling fan

Claims (4)

In the ice water purifier,
The ice water purifier,
An ice making unit for generating ice;
A filter unit present under the ice making unit to filter ice and residual water generated from the ice making unit; And
Including; an ice bucket located below the filter unit to store ice that has passed through the filter unit,
The filter unit may include a funnel part for collecting ice generated from the ice making unit under the ice making unit;
A first connection part connected to the lower part of the funnel part and configured in a vertical direction with the main body of the ice purifier; And
A second connection part connected to the first connection part and configured to be inclined in an upper direction of the main body of the ice water purifier so that an ice discharge port faces an upper direction of the ice water purifier; Ice water purifier comprising a ◈ Claim 2 was abandoned upon payment of the set registration fee. The method of claim 1,
The filter unit,
An ice water purifier further comprising a hose for discharging residual water at a junction point of the first connection part and the second connection part. The method of claim 1,
The ice water purifier,
A cooling fan positioned in front of the ice outlet of the second connection portion; further comprising,
The cooling fan is an ice purifier, characterized in that injecting cooling wind toward the ice outlet of the second connection portion. The method of claim 3,
The ice water purifier, hose; Including more,
The filter unit,
A first pressure sensor provided at a junction point of the first connection part and the second connection part; And
A second pressure sensor provided in the ice outlet of the second connection part; It further includes,
The hose further comprises a suction unit for sucking the residual water,
When a pressure greater than or equal to a preset value is sensed by the first pressure sensor, the suction unit operates to suck residual water through the hose,
When the second pressure sensor detects a pressure greater than or equal to a preset value, the cooling fan operates to inject cooling wind toward the ice outlet of the second connection part.

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