KR20060135325A - Refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

A refrigerator is provided to prevent ice pieces from being stuck together by moving the ice placed at sides of a transfer wing to a transfer device by an ice flowing device and by discharging the ice to an outside of an ice storage case by the transfer device. In a refrigerator, a main body includes a cold room(11). An ice storage case(41) is installed in the cold room and has an outlet(41a) for discharging an ice. A transfer wing in a shape of a spiral is rotated by a driving motor to exert a rotation force and transfer the ice to the outlet. And, in the ice storage case, an ice flowing device(50) allows the ice placed at sides of the transfer device to move toward the transfer device.

Description

Refrigerator {REFRIGERATOR}

1 is a cross-sectional view showing a schematic configuration of a refrigerator according to the present invention.

2 is a perspective view of an ice supply device applied to a refrigerator according to the present invention.

3 is a schematic view showing an operating state of the ice supply apparatus according to the present invention.

Explanation of symbols on the main parts of the drawings

10: body 11: freezer

11a: guide protrusion 20: door

30: ice maker 40: ice supply device

41: Ice Reservoir 41a: Outlet

41b: through hole 41c: flow preventing hole

42: feeder 43: grinding device

50: ice flow device 51: fluid plate

52: rotation bar 52a: first locking portion

53: power transmission lever 53a: second locking portion

53b: guide hole

The present invention relates to a refrigerator, and more particularly to a refrigerator having an ice supply device for supplying ice.

Conventional refrigerators include refrigeration cycle components therein, and are devices that allow cooling or freezing of stored matter stored therein by generating cold air, which are disclosed in Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2002-59479. As described above, a refrigerator including an ice making device for making ice and an ice supply device for allowing the ice produced in the ice making device to be supplied to the outside without opening the door are disclosed.

The ice supply device holds the ice produced in the ice making device and has an ice storage container provided with an outlet for discharging ice on one side, a spiral feeder disposed in the ice storage container and rotated by a motor to transfer the ice to the discharge port, and an discharge port. And a crushing device for crushing the ice conveyed by the conveying device, and a pressurizing device for pressing the ice into the crushing device.

Recently, these refrigerators are gradually increasing in order to meet the needs of users, and correspondingly, the size of ice makers and ice storage bins applied to large-capacity refrigerators is also increasing. However, the conveying apparatus has the same size regardless of the size of the refrigerator because the size of ice commonly used in homes is not different from a large-capacity refrigerator and a general refrigerator.

However, when using the same size transfer device as the conventional size in the ice storage container which has been enlarged and widened, the ice stored in the position adjacent to the transfer device is discharged to the outlet by the transfer device even when the ice usage is low, whereas it is frequently replaced. In other words, ice stored at a location relatively far from the ice conveying device is discharged to the outlet through the conveying device only when the ice is heavily used, and thus it is not discharged for a long time and remains stacked in the ice storage container. There is a problem that there is a possibility of freezing and agglomeration of each other if you keep the stacked state in the ice bin for a long time.

The present invention is to solve such a problem, an object of the present invention is to provide an ice supply apparatus and a refrigerator having such an ice supply device that can reduce the ice agglomeration phenomenon that is likely to occur in a large ice storage container is enlarged It is.

The present invention for achieving the object, the body is provided with a freezer compartment inside, the ice reservoir is installed in the freezer compartment and the discharge port for the discharge of ice, and formed in a spiral shape is disposed on one side of the inside of the ice reservoir and the rotational force A refrigerator having a conveying device including a conveying vane rotating by an exerting driving motor and conveying ice to the discharge port, wherein the ice storage container has an ice flow device for moving ice located on the side of the conveying device to the conveying device side. It is characterized in that the provided.

In addition, the ice flow device is a plate-shaped flow plate which is installed on the other side of the ice storage container rotatably, the rotary bar extending radially outward from the rotation axis of the drive motor and rotated by the drive motor, One end is disposed within the rotation radius of the rotation bar to be caught by the rotation bar, the other end is characterized in that it comprises a power transmission lever to be installed in the fluid plate to move the lower end of the fluid plate to the transfer device side.

In addition, the ice storage container is characterized in that one end is installed on the fluid plate and the other end is installed on the other inner side of the ice storage container is provided with an elastic member for returning the fluid plate to the other side of the ice storage container.

In addition, the freezing chamber has a guide protrusion for guiding the operation of the power transmission lever, characterized in that the middle of the power transmission lever is provided with a guide hole in which the guide projection is movable.

In addition, a first locking portion protrudes in the rotational direction of the end of the rotary bar, and a second locking portion engaging the first locking portion protrudes from one end of the power transmission lever.

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

As shown in FIG. 1, the refrigerator according to the present invention forms an exterior and is opened to the front side so as to store food and the like in the front side, and the main body 10 forming the freezer compartment 11 and a hinge to one side of the main body 10. It is coupled to rotate and has a door 20 for opening and closing the freezer compartment 11, the main body 10 in the compressor 12 to generate cold air, a condenser (not shown), evaporator 13, expansion valve ( Refrigeration cycle components, such as (not shown) is installed to cool the inside of the freezer compartment 11 with the cold generated through them. In this embodiment, the compressor 12 is disposed below the main body 10, and the evaporator 13 is disposed behind the freezing chamber 11.

In addition, the refrigerator according to the present invention is provided with an ice making device 30 for manufacturing ice on the upper portion of the freezer compartment 11, and the ice is discharged to the outside if necessary to store the prepared ice in the lower portion of the ice making device (30) The ice supply device 40 is provided, and the door 20 communicates with the inside of the freezer compartment 11 so that the user can take out the ice produced by the ice making device 30 without opening the door 20. Discharge guide tube 21 for guiding discharge is installed, the front of the door 20 is provided with an ice discharge portion 22 recessed inward to facilitate receiving the ice discharged through the discharge guide tube 21.

As shown in FIG. 2, the ice supply device 40 includes ice that has fallen from the upper ice making device 30, and has an ice storage container 41 having an outlet 41 a for discharging ice on one side thereof. It is rotatably installed on one side of the ice reservoir 41 and rotated to transfer the ice contained in the ice reservoir 41 to the discharge port (41a) side, and disposed in the discharge port (41a), the discharge port (41a) It includes a crusher 43 for selectively crushing the ice discharged through.

The ice container 41 is open to the upper side to receive the ice that has fallen from the ice making device 30 disposed on the upper side, the lower surface of the transfer device to move the ice to the conveying device 42 side by its own weight ( 42) is formed to be inclined toward both sides around the site where it is installed.

The conveying device 42 is formed to have a predetermined length and is installed in the ice storage container 41 in the front and rear direction and is connected to the driving motor 44 generating the rotational force so that one end thereof can be transmitted to the driving motor 44. The feed shaft 42a is connected to the outer peripheral surface of the feed shaft 42a and the feed blade 42b which rotates together with the feed shaft 42a and feeds the ice to the discharge port 41a side.

Referring to FIG. 1 again, the grinding device 43 includes a fixed cutter 43a fixed to the discharge port 41a side of the ice storage container 41 and a rotation cutter 43b that rotates together with the transfer device 42. At the lower side, a discharge port 43c is provided so that the crushed ice can be discharged to the discharge guide tube 21. Therefore, the ice introduced into the grinding device 43 by the transfer device 42 is crushed while being sandwiched between the fixed cutter 43a and the rotating cutter 43b and then discharged through the discharge port 43c to discharge the discharge guide tube 21. ) Will be discharged to the outside.

In addition, in order to reduce the agglomeration of ice that is likely to occur in the wide ice storage container 41 according to the present invention, the ice storage container 41, as shown in FIG. Ice flow device 50 for moving the ice disposed on the conveying device 42 side is provided.

The ice flow device 50 includes a flow plate 51 disposed long in the front-rear direction on the side of the transfer device 42 and having an upper end hinged to the inside of the ice storage container 41. The device 42 is installed long in the front-rear direction on one side of the ice reservoir 41, and the flow plate 51 is installed long in the front-rear direction on the other side of the ice reservoir 41. Therefore, the lower end of the flow plate 51 rotates around the upper end hinged to the ice storage container 41 and pressurizes the ice to move the ice toward the transfer device 42.

The flow plate 51 is to receive the power from the drive motor 44 to press the ice to the conveying device 42 side, for this purpose it is rotated by the drive motor 44 in the ice flow device (50) The rotation bar 52 and the power transmission lever 53 which is caught by the rotation bar 52 and moves toward the transfer device 42 and moves the lower end of the flow plate 51 to the transfer device 42 side are further included. .

The rotary bar 52 is formed in a bar shape having a predetermined length and extends radially outward from the rotation axis of the drive motor 44, and the power transmission lever 53 rotates so that one end thereof is caught by the rotary bar 52. It is disposed in the radius of rotation of the bar 52 and the other end is hinged to the flow plate (51). At this time, in order to allow the rotational force generated from the driving motor 44 to be transmitted to the fluid plate 51 through the rotation bar 52 and the power transmission lever 53, the end of the rotation bar 52 is rotated in the direction of rotation thereof. The first locking portion 52a is extended, and the second transmission portion 53a (see FIG. 3) is extended on the power transmission lever 53 so as to be caught by the first locking portion 52a. At this time, the rotary bar 52 and the power transmission lever is installed on the inner rear of the freezing chamber 11, the power storage lever 53, the power transmission lever 53 penetrates the ice storage container 41 in the fluid storage plate (41) An arc-shaped through hole 41b is provided to be installed at the lower end of 51).

Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 3, the second locking portion 53a provided on the power transmission lever 53 is the first locking portion 52a while the rotary bar 52 is rotated by the drive motor 44. When the power transmission lever 53 is moved toward the transfer device 42 by the rotation bar 52, the lower end of the flow plate 51 is rotated about the hinged upper end and moved to the transfer device 42 side. By moving the ice located on the side of the conveying device 42 to the conveying device 42 side.

The rotation bar 52 is arranged so that a plurality of the rotation bar 52 at a predetermined interval from each other in the circumferential direction to move the lower end of the flow plate 51 to the transfer device 42 side a plurality of times when the transfer blade (42b) rotates once. It is supposed to be. In this embodiment, four rotary bars 52 are arranged at intervals of 90 degrees in the circumferential direction so that the lower end of the flow plate 51 is moved toward the transfer blade 42b four times while the transfer blade 42b is rotated once. It is supposed to be.

In addition, the ice flow device 50 has an elastic member 54 so that the flow plate 51 and the power transmission lever 53 moved toward the transfer device 42 by the rotation bar 52 can be returned to their original positions. ) Is provided. In this embodiment, the elastic member 54 is formed of a coil spring, one end of the elastic member 54 is installed on the flow plate 51 and the other end is installed on the other inner surface of the ice storage container 41 so that the flow plate 51 is As it moves toward the transfer device 42 side, it is elastically deformed and elongated. Therefore, the elastic member 54 is elongated and elastically deformed as the flow plate 51 and the power transmission lever 53 move toward the transfer device 42, and then the driving motor 44 through the rotation bar 52. The force transmitted is elastically restored when it is released when it is released to return the flow plate 51 and the power transmission lever 53 to their original positions.

At this time, in order to guide the operation of the power transmission lever 53 to be made within a certain range, the guide projection (11a) is protruded to the front side inside the freezer compartment 11, the power transmission lever 53 ), A guide hole 53b formed as a long hole of a predetermined length is provided so that the operation of the power transmission lever 53 can be guided by the guide hole 53b and the guide protrusion 11a. At this time, the ice reservoir 41 is a flow preventing hole (41c, see Fig. 2) is installed through the guide projection (11a) to prevent the ice reservoir 41 is moved in a state installed in the freezing chamber (11) This is provided.

As described in detail above, the ice supply apparatus and the refrigerator having the same according to the present invention are arranged with an ice flow device for moving the ice on the side of the transfer wing, the ice placed on the side of the transfer wing by the ice flow device to the transfer device side By moving it can be discharged to the outside of the ice storage container by the transfer device has an effect that can reduce the aggregation of ice.

Claims (5)

The main body is provided with a freezer compartment therein, an ice reservoir provided in the freezer compartment and provided with an outlet for discharging ice, and is formed in a spiral shape and is rotated by a driving motor disposed on one side of the ice reservoir and exerting a rotational force to rotate the ice. In the refrigerator with a transfer device including a transfer blade for transferring to the discharge port, The ice storage container is provided with an ice flow device for moving the ice on the side of the conveying device to the conveying device side. The method of claim 1, The ice flow device includes a plate-shaped flow plate rotatably installed at the other end of the ice storage container, and a rotation bar extending radially outward from the rotation shaft of the drive motor to rotate by the drive motor. And a power transmission lever disposed in the rotation radius of the rotation bar so as to be caught by the rotation bar, and the other end of which is installed on the fluid plate to move the lower end of the fluid plate to the conveying device side. The method of claim 2, One end of the ice storage container is installed on the fluidized plate and the other end is installed on the other inner side of the ice storage container is provided with an elastic member for returning the fluidized plate to the other side of the ice storage container. The method of claim 2, And a guide protrusion for guiding the operation of the power transfer lever is protruded in the freezer compartment, and a guide hole in which the guide protrusion is movable is provided in the middle of the power transfer lever. The method of claim 2, And a first catching portion protrudes from the end of the rotating bar in a rotational direction thereof, and a second catching portion catching the first catching portion protrudes from one end of the power transmission lever.

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