WO2006076975A1

WO2006076975A1 - Ice-making machine

Info

Publication number: WO2006076975A1
Application number: PCT/EP2005/056280
Authority: WO
Inventors: Helen Lewis; Craig Duncan Webster; Nathan Wrench; Bernd Heger
Original assignee: BSH Bosch und Siemens Hausgeräte GmbH
Priority date: 2005-01-24
Filing date: 2005-11-28
Publication date: 2006-07-27
Also published as: ES2377433T3; EP1844279B1; DE102005003239A1; US20090193824A1; ATE541168T1; EP1844279A1

Abstract

The invention relates to an ice-making machine comprising a tray provided with at least one compartment that can be automatically emptied and in which a chunk of ice can be formed, a storage region (50) for receiving chunks of ice produced in the compartment, and a sensor (57, 59) for detecting the presence of chunks of ice in the storage region (50). Said sensor (57, 59) comprises an emitter (57) and a receiver (59) for receiving and emitting a detection beam.

Description

Ice makers

The present invention relates to an automatic ice maker comprising a tray having at least one automatically deflatable compartment for forming a piece of ice, a storage compartment for receiving pieces of ice formed in the compartment and a sensor for detecting the presence of pieces of ice in the storage compartment.

Such an icemaker is known from US Pat. No. 6,571,567 B2.

In this known ice maker, the sensor is formed by a motor-driven pivoting lever which dips from above into the storage chamber until its further movement is hindered by pieces of ice therein. In order to make a decision as to whether ice pieces are to be automatically generated, the position in which the pivotable lever comes into contact with the ice pieces present in the storage container must be recorded and evaluated.

The use of moving parts makes this known ice maker prone to failure. Failure of the motor can lead to false detection of the level in the storage chamber, so that no ice is generated, although the amount contained in the pantry is not sufficient, or so that the automatic ice production is continued even when the pantry is already full is. The known sensor is also unable to detect when a container for the ice pieces should be missing. If this is the case, the pieces of ice may reach places of the refrigerator receiving the icemaker, where they are not desirable.

Object of the present invention is to provide an ice maker, which allows a simple, reliable and inexpensive realizable detection of ice pieces in a pantry.

The object is achieved in that the sensor of the ice maker has a transmitter and a receiver for a detection beam, which can interact with pieces of ice in the storage chamber in interaction. Preferably, the transmitter and the receiver are disposed on opposite sides of the storage chamber. This makes it possible to detect the presence of ice from a weakening of the detection beam due to absorption and / or scattering of the beam on the ice pieces. Although it would also be possible to arrange transmitter and receiver adjacent to one side of the storage chamber and a reflector for the detection beam on an opposite side of the storage chamber, but there is an increased possibility of a falsification of the detection result by scattered radiation.

Preferably, the sensor is an optical sensor. This is inexpensive realizable. If the sensor uses light in the visible spectral range, the functionality of its transmitter is recognizable to a user without aids.

Preferably, a sensor is further provided which serves to detect the presence of a removable reservoir in the storage chamber. With the aid of such a sensor, it is possible to suppress the automatic operation of the ice maker, even if no ice is detected in the pantry, but if the reservoir is missing and therefore there is a risk that finished pieces of ice removed from the tray will reach places where they are not wanted.

The storage container should expediently be permeable to the detection beam, so that transmitter and / or receiver can be arranged below an upper edge of the storage container placed in the storage chamber and thus are able to detect pieces of ice before the level of the reservoir exceeds its upper edge.

The permeability can be achieved by using a workpiece for the reservoir, which is transparent to the detection beam, but it is also conceivable to form a window for the passage of the detection beam in the reservoir, which window can easily be made so small that Ice pieces can not fall through.

It is also expedient that the detection beam in the ice maker runs inclined, because this makes it possible to detect that the ice pieces in the storage container have a Henen exceed maximum level, which is below the upper edge of the container, even if only one of transmitter and receiver is located below the upper edge of the reservoir. Therefore, the detection beam crosses the wall of the reservoir only once and is only slightly attenuated at this.

The sensor for detecting the presence of the reservoir preferably comprises a detection body, which is displaced by the reservoir present in the storage chamber from an equilibrium position to an alternative position. Since the detection body assumes the equilibrium position, unless it is prevented from the reservoir, the presence of the reservoir at the position of the detection body can be seen.

In order to reliably bring the detection body in the absence of the reservoir in the equilibrium position, it is preferably acted upon by a spring in the latter.

It is particularly preferred that the detection body interacts differently with the detection beam in its equilibrium position and in the avoidance position. This makes it possible to detect, based on the intensity of the detection radiator received by the transmitter, in which position the detection body is located, and consequently, whether the reservoir is present or not.

Conveniently, the interaction is designed so that the detection body in the equilibrium position attenuates the detection beam stronger than in the equilibrium position. Since ice present in the beam path also weakens the detection beam, if the intensity of the detection beam received by the receiver is greater than a predetermined limit value, it can be inferred that the reservoir is present and that it is not filled to the intended maximum, so that Ice may be produced. Conversely, if the intensity detected by the receiver is less than the limit, it may be due to the absence of the reservoir or the presence of ice; both are reasons to interrupt the ice cream production. A particularly space-saving and robust construction results when the detection body is hollow and at least in the displaced position engages the transmitter or the receiver in the detection body.

Further features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description of embodiments with reference to the accompanying figures. Show it:

Fig. 1 is an exploded view of an automatic ice maker according to a preferred embodiment of the invention;

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the ice maker of Figure 1 in the assembled state with Eisbereiter tray in tilted position.

Fig. 3 is a front view of the ice maker of Fig. 1 and 2 in the direction of

Pivot axis;

4 shows the view of Figure 3 with partially cut sensor housing.

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Figure 2 view with ice maker tray in an upright position.

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 4 with the ice maker tray in upright

Position;

Fig. 7 is a perspective view similar to Figures 2 and 5 with the

Ice maker tray in emptying position;

FIG. 8 is a view analogous to FIGS. 4 and 6; FIG.

9 is a perspective exploded bottom view of the

Ice-maker tray;

10 is a view of the ice maker from below; Fig. 11 is a section through the ice maker along the line Xl-Xl of Fig. 10, with

Detecting body in alternate position;

12 is an enlarged detail of FIG. 11, partially in section along the line T-

T of Fig. 11;

Fig. 13 is a section through the ice maker along the line Xl-Xl of Fig. 10, with

Detecting body in equilibrium position; and

14 is an enlarged detail of FIG. 13, partially in section along the line T-

T from FIG. 13.

1 shows an automatic ice cube maker according to the present invention for installation in a refrigerator in an exploded perspective view. It comprises a tray 1 in the form of a channel with a semi-cylindrical bottom, which is closed at their end sides in each case by transverse walls 2 and divided by uniformly spaced intermediate walls 3 in a plurality of identically shaped compartments 4, here seven pieces, with semi-cylindrical bottom , While the intermediate walls 3 are flush with the longitudinal wall 5 facing away from the observer, the longitudinal wall 6 facing the observer is extended beyond the upper edges of the intermediate walls 3. While the intermediate walls 3 are exactly semicircular, the transverse walls 2 in each case corresponding to the projection of the front longitudinal wall 6 on a sector 7 extending beyond the semicircular shape.

The tray is shown 1 in a tilted position, in which the upper edges of the segments 7 are substantially horizontal, while the intermediate walls 3 to the longitudinal wall 6 are downhill.

The tray 1 may be a plastic molding, preferably, because of the good thermal conductivity, it is designed as a cast aluminum.

On one of the transverse walls 2 of the tray 1, a hollow cylinder 11 is mounted; he serves for the sheltered accommodation of a coiled supply cable 12, which for power supply to a not visible in the figure, on the underside of the tray. 1 mounted heater 13 (see Fig. 9) is used. The tray 1 lies completely within an imaginary extension of the lateral surface of the hollow cylinder 11, which also represents the smallest possible cylinder into which the tray fits. An axle journal 14 projecting from the transverse wall 2 facing the viewer extends on the longitudinal central axis of the hollow cylinder 11.

A molded plastic frame is designated 15. It has an upwardly and downwardly open cavity 16 which is provided to mount the tray 1 therein. On the end walls 17, 18 of the cavity 16 bearing bushes 19, 20 are formed for the pivotable mounting of the tray 1. A longitudinal wall of the cavity 16 is formed by a box 21 which is provided to receive a drive motor 22 as well as various electronic components for controlling the operation of the icemaker. On the shaft of the drive motor 22, a pinion 23 is mounted, which can be seen better in Figures 3, 4, 6 and 8 respectively as in Figure 2. When fully assembled icemaker 23 finds the pinion space in a cavity 24 of the end wall 17th It forms there with a gear 25, a reduction gear.

The gear 25 carries a projecting in the axial direction pin 26 which is provided to engage in a vertical slot 27 of a vibrating body 28. The vibrating body 28 is guided horizontally displaceable by means of the front wall 17 in the cavity 24 projecting pin 29 which engage in a horizontal elongated hole 30 of the vibrating body. A toothing 31 formed on a lower edge of the oscillating body 28 meshes with a toothed wheel 32, which is provided so as to be non-rotatably mounted on the stub axle 14 of the tray 1.

A to be screwed on the open side of the end wall 17 cover plate 33 closes the cavity 24. A mounting flange 34 with laterally beyond the end wall 17 protruding tabs 35 is used for mounting the icemaker in a refrigerator. A bottom plate 36 closes from below the box 21st

Fig. 2 shows, seen from the side of the end wall 18 and the box 21 ago, in a perspective view of the ice maker with the tray 1 in a tilted position. The upper edges of the sectors 7 on the transverse walls 2 of the tray 1 are horizontal. Fig. 3 shows a frontal view of the ice maker from the side of the end wall 17 ago, with cover plate 33 and mounting flange 34 are omitted to give the view into the cavity 24 of the end wall 17 free. The configuration shown here is the one where the icemaker is assembled. Various markings indicate a correct positioning of individual parts relative to each other. A first pair of markings 37, 38 is located on the end wall 17 itself, or on the gear 26 carrying the pin 26. If these markings 37, 38, as shown in the figure, are exactly aligned with each other, the pin 26 is located in a three o'clock position, that is, on the right-most point of his path, which he can reach. The mounted on the pin 26 and the stationary pin 29 vibrating body 28 is located at the right turning point of its path.

Aligned markings 39, 40 on a protruding beyond the sprocket flange 41 of the gear 32 and on the end wall 17 show a correct orientation of the gear 32 and consequently also with its journal 14 in a cross-sectionally T-shaped recess of the gear 32nd engaging tray 1 on. An inherently redundant pair of markers 42, 43 on the teeth 31 of the pivot body 28 and the gear 32 indicates the correct positioning of the gear 32 and the oscillating body 31 with respect to each other.

A sensor 44 for detecting the rotational position of the gear 32 is mounted adjacent thereto. It cooperates with a rib 45 projecting from the edge of the flange 41 on a part of its circumference in the axial direction, so that it can dive into a slot at the rear of the sensor housing. In the tilted position of FIG. 3, the rib 45 is largely hidden by the sensor 44 and the vibrating body 28. FIG. 4 differs from FIG. 3 in that the housing of the sensor 44 is shown partially cut away, so that two light barriers 46, 47 bridging the slot can be seen in its interior. The rib 45 is located just above the two light barriers 46, 47 so that an unillustrated control electronics can recognize from the fact that both light barriers are open, that the tray 1 is in the tilted position and the drive motor 22 can stop to hold the tray 1 in the tilted position and can fill. After a predetermined amount of water has been metered into the tray 1 under the control of the control circuit, the drive motor 22 is set in motion by the control unit to bring the tray 1 in the upright position in which the amounts of water in the compartments 4 of the tray. 1 neatly separated from each other. This position is shown in FIG. 5 in a perspective view corresponding to FIG. 2 and in FIG. 6 in a front view corresponding to FIG. 4. The gear 25 is further rotated with respect to the position of Fig. 4 in the clockwise direction, but the same position of the tray 1 could also be achieved by a rotation of the gear 25 in the counterclockwise direction. The achievement of the upright position is recognized by the fact that the rib 45 begins to obstruct the lower light barrier 47.

In the upright position, the tray 1 remains standing for a while until the water in the compartments 4 is frozen. The standing time in the upright position can be fixed; Alternatively, the control circuit may also be connected to a temperature sensor to determine a sufficient time at the measured temperature for freezing the water on the basis of a measured temperature in the environment of the tray 1 and a characteristic curve stored in the control circuit.

After elapse of this period, the drive motor 22 is restarted to rotate the gear 25 in the position shown in Fig. 8, with the pin 26 in the 9 o'clock position. The control circuit detects that this position is reached when both light barriers 46, 47 are open again. The rib 45 is now clearly visible in the figure over much of its length.

In this position, the compartments 4 of the tray 1 are open at the bottom, so that the pieces of ice contained therein can fall into a storage chamber, which is located below the frame 15. The storage chamber can be limited by a not shown in the figures housing part of the ice maker; In the simplest and preferred case, the storage chamber is only a free space below the installation position of the frame 15 in a refrigerator. Such free space can also be used to store refrigerated goods other than pieces of ice when the icemaker is not in operation. In order to facilitate the dissolution of the pieces of ice from the compartments 4, the already mentioned electric heater 13 is provided. As can be seen in FIG. 9, this heating device 13 is a looped electric heating rod which extends in close contact with the tray 1 between heat exchanger ribs 49 projecting from its underside and partly in one at the bottom of the tray 1 formed groove 48 is received.

By briefly heating the tray 1 by means of the heater 13, the pieces of ice in the subjects 4 are superficially thawed. The water layer thus produced between the tray 1 and the pieces of ice acts as a sliding film on which the pieces of ice are movable with very little friction. Due to the cylindrical segment cross-sectional shape of the compartments 4, the pieces of ice easily slide out of the compartments 4 and fall into a storage container 50 located in the storage compartment below the rack 15.

After draining the compartments 4, the drive motor is restarted, and the gear 25 is further rotated clockwise until it reaches the position shown in Fig. 2 to 4 again and begins a new cycle of operation of the icemaker.

As shown in FIG. 7, the receptacle 50 formed of clear plastic material has substantially the shape of a cuboid whose open upper side extends under the entire extent of the frame 15 with the exception of its hollow end wall 17. This end wall 17 has a downwardly directed projection 51, which extends to below the upper edge of the reservoir 50. At this projection 51 a concealed in Fig. 7 by the box 21 of the frame 15 detection body 52 is pivotally suspended about a vertical axis 53. The detection body 52 is largely hidden in the perspective of Figure 8 by the reservoir 50 facing the outer surface of the projection 51. Only through two windows 54, 55 of the outer wall parts of the detection body 52 can be seen. A coil spring 56 is wound around the axis 53 of the detection body 52 and has free ends engaging the outer wall of the projection 51; the spring 56 holds the detection body 52 pressed against the side wall of the reservoir 50.

The detection body 52 is part of a multi-purpose sensor, the structure and function of which is clearer from FIGS. 10 to 14. Figure 10 shows a view of the frame 15 and the tray 1 suspended therein from below, wherein the tray is in a position corresponding to Figure 5. An obliquely drawn over the box 21 of the frame 15 line Xl-Xl indicates the position of the sectional planes of the figures 11 and 13 at.

In the section of Figure 11, the motor 22 and parts of the transmission for driving the pivoting movement of the tray 1 can be seen. Below the gear are located on the projection 51 of the side wall 17 of the detection body 52 and, partially surrounded by this, in the infrared or visible emitting light-emitting diode 57th

The detection body 52 is pressed by the adjoining side wall of the reservoir 50 against the force of the spring 56 in an evasive position, in which he largely immersed in the hollow side wall 17. In this position, as seen more clearly in the detail enlargement of FIG. 11 in FIG. 12, which is partially cut along the plane TT, a window 58 of the detection body 52 is located on a straight line between the light emitting diode 57 and one sensitive to the light of the light emitting diode 57 Element 59, such as a photodiode, which is housed in the box 21 on a side opposite the wall 17 and is aligned by a window 60 in a sloping wall at the bottom of the box 21 to the light emitting diode 57. Thus, light from the light-emitting diode 57 can reach the photodiode 59 on a beam path 61 shown as a dot-dash line in FIG.

The icemaker operates only when the light intensity received by the photodiode 59 exceeds a predetermined threshold. If 50 pieces of ice are located on the beam path 61 between the light-emitting diode 57 and the photodiode 59 in the storage container, the light is scattered so strongly that the threshold at the photodiode 59 is undershot. Thus, the further generation of ice is suppressed when the level in the reservoir 50 reaches the beam path 61. Since this beam path 61 extends over part of its length below the upper edge of the storage container 50, the ice making is safely stopped before the storage container 50 can overflow.

FIG. 13 shows a section analogous to FIG. 11 through the frame 15, although here the reservoir 50 is removed. In this case, the detection body 52 can the Pressure of the spring 56 yield and extends into its in Figure 13 and enlarged shown in Figure 14 equilibrium position.

In this equilibrium position, the window 58 is no longer in the beam path 61, so that the detection body 52 blocks the light beam. Therefore, when the reservoir 50 is not present, sufficient light intensity does not arrive at the photodiode 59, and ice making is also stopped.

Claims

claims

An ice maker comprising a tray (1) having at least one automatically deflatable compartment (4) for forming a piece of ice, a storage compartment for receiving pieces of ice generated in the compartment (4) and a presence detector (57, 59) ice pieces in the storage chamber, characterized in that the sensor (57, 59) comprises a transmitter (57) and a receiver (59) for a detection beam.

2. Ice maker according to claim 1, characterized in that the transmitter (57) and the receiver (59) are arranged on opposite sides of the storage chamber.

3. Ice maker according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the sensor (57, 59) is an optical sensor.

4. Ice maker according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it comprises a sensor (52, 57, 59) for detecting the presence of a removable reservoir (50) in the storage chamber.

5. Ice maker according to claim 4, characterized in that the storage container (50) is permeable to the detection beam.

6. Ice maker according to claim 4 or claim 5, characterized in that the detection beam is inclined.

7. Ice maker according to claim 4, 5 or 6, characterized in that the sensor (52, 57, 59) comprises a present in the storage chamber reservoir (50) from an equilibrium position in an alternate position displaced detection body (52).

8. Ice maker according to claim 7, characterized in that the detection body (52) is acted upon by a spring (56) in the equilibrium position

9. icemaker according to 7 or 8, characterized in that the detection body (52) in its equilibrium position and the alternate position interacts differently with the detection beam.

10. Ice maker according to claim 9, characterized in that the detection body (52) in the equilibrium position attenuates the detection beam stronger than in the equilibrium position.

11. Ice maker according to claim 9 or 10, characterized in that the detection body (52) is hollow and that at least in the displaced position of the transmitter (57) or the receiver engages in the detection body (52).