Classifications

• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F25—REFRIGERATION OR COOLING; COMBINED HEATING AND REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS; HEAT PUMP SYSTEMS; MANUFACTURE OR STORAGE OF ICE; LIQUEFACTION SOLIDIFICATION OF GASES
  • F25C—PRODUCING, WORKING OR HANDLING ICE
  • F25C5/00—Working or handling ice
  • F25C5/18—Storing ice
  • F25C5/182—Ice bins therefor
• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F25—REFRIGERATION OR COOLING; COMBINED HEATING AND REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS; HEAT PUMP SYSTEMS; MANUFACTURE OR STORAGE OF ICE; LIQUEFACTION SOLIDIFICATION OF GASES
  • F25C—PRODUCING, WORKING OR HANDLING ICE
  • F25C5/00—Working or handling ice
  • F25C5/20—Distributing ice
  • F25C5/22—Distributing ice particularly adapted for household refrigerators
• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F25—REFRIGERATION OR COOLING; COMBINED HEATING AND REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS; HEAT PUMP SYSTEMS; MANUFACTURE OR STORAGE OF ICE; LIQUEFACTION SOLIDIFICATION OF GASES
  • F25C—PRODUCING, WORKING OR HANDLING ICE
  • F25C2500/00—Problems to be solved
  • F25C2500/08—Sticking or clogging of ice

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a refrigerator, in particular a household freezer or fridge-freezer combination device with a built-in ice dispenser.
• Such a refrigerator is known for example from US 4,176,627 A.
• the arranged in an interior of the refrigerator ice dispenser comprises a storage container for pieces of ice and a stirring tool which is rotatable about an axis extending through the reservoir.
• the bottom of the elongated reservoir is sloping towards one of its ends so that when the agitating tool is rotated, pieces of ice stored in the reservoir travel toward that end.
• an output chamber connects to the pantry through which the pieces of ice enter a passage extending through the housing of the refrigerator and to the outside. Knives arranged in the dispensing chamber are switchable between an operating condition in which ice pieces can pass intact through the dispensing chamber and an operating condition in which they crush the ice pieces.
• a stirring tool extends longitudinally through a storage container which has a discharge opening at one longitudinal end.
• the stirring tool is designed partly as a helix, partly as a worm, in order to act on ice pieces located in the reservoir through its rotation in the direction of the dispensing opening.
• the stirring tool can only be operated when an output of the conveyed ice is possible, and therefore ice pieces in the reservoir can freeze together when no ice is spent for a long time.
• Object of the present invention is to provide a refrigerator with an ice storage container, in which a stirring tool can be operated even if a simultaneous dispensing of ice is not desired.
• the object is achieved in that in a refrigerator with a housing enclosing a housing and arranged in the interior, a discharge opening having reservoir in which a stirring tool is arranged, the ice storage container is pivotable between two positions, which in terms of height of Differentiate output opening. Due to the pivoting mobility of the storage container, it is thus possible to ensure that pieces of ice displaced by the movement of the stirring tool move away from the dispensing opening or at least not toward it, or a conveying action possibly present depending on the shape of the stirring tool can be compensated for by the tilting of the storage container.
• an actuator for driving a pivoting movement of the ice storage container between the two positions is provided.
• an automatic tilt of the ice storage container to the position with low output port when a user wants the release of ice, and back to the high position when the ice dispensing is to be stopped, are driven.
• the stirring tool is preferably rotatable about an axis extending in the longitudinal direction of the reservoir.
• the stirring tool is a bar with a wave-shaped course in one plane.
• a stirring tool does not by itself develop a conveying action in the direction of its axis of rotation, but a preferred direction for the movement of the ice pieces can be determined by the bottom inclination of the ice storage container.
• the bottom of the ice storage bin is desirably sloping in one of the two positions toward the discharge opening while rising in the other position towards the discharge opening.
• the stirring tool is helical. Due to the helical shape, the rotation of such a stirring tool has a conveying action parallel to the axis of rotation on ice pieces in the ice storage bin. To ensure that no ice is forced to the dispensing opening when the dispensing is not desired, the stirring tool may conveniently be rotationally drivable in opposite directions.
• the direction of rotation of the stirring tool is expediently coupled to the position of the ice storage container.
• a switching gear coupled to the position of the ice storage container can be provided between the motor and the stirring tool.
• FIG. 1 shows a schematic section through a household refrigerator with an ice dispenser according to the present invention.
• FIG. 2 shows a cross section through the ice dispenser along the line A of Figure 1 according to a first embodiment.
• FIG. 3 shows a section analogous to FIG. 2 according to a second embodiment
• Fig. 4 is a section along the line B of Fig. 1 according to the second embodiment.
• the refrigerating appliance shown in a schematic section in FIG. 1 has a heat-insulating body 1 and a door 2 which delimit an interior space 3.
• the interior space 3 is maintained at a temperature below 0 ° C. by an evaporator which is accommodated in an evaporator chamber 4 divided off in the upper region of the body 1.
• An automatic ice maker 5 is arranged in the immediate vicinity of the evaporator chamber 4 in the interior 3, so that it can preferably be acted upon by cold air from the evaporator chamber 4.
• the icemaker 5 comprises in itself known, not shown in detail in the figure, a plurality of mold containers, means for automatically dosing water into the mold container and means for automatically ejecting the finished pieces of ice from the mold containers.
• an upwardly open storage chamber 6 of an ice dispenser assembly 7 is arranged, which receives the ejected pieces of ice.
• the Eisspenderbaueria 7 extends over a majority of the depth of the inner space 3 and may for example be injection molded in one piece of plastic or assembled from a plurality of injection molded elements.
• an electric motor 10 for driving a stirring rod 9 is housed in a rear niche 8 of the ice dispenser assembly 7.
• the electric motor 10 may be permanently mounted in the refrigeration device, or it may be integrated into the ice dispenser assembly 7 and be removable therewith.
• the stirring rod 9 extends through the entire storage chamber 6 in its longitudinal direction or in the depth direction of the inner space 3.
• the Eisspenderbaueria 7 is pivotally suspended in the interior 3 about a horizontal axis 1 1, which is adjacent to a rear end of the Eisspenderbaueria 7 in the embodiment shown here.
• the evaporator assembly 7 is pivotable by means of an actuator, not shown, for example, an electric motor with a worm gear between a rest position shown in FIG. 1 by solid lines and a dispensing position shown in dashed lines. In the rest position, a discharge opening 12, which is arranged at a door near the end of the Eisspenderbauage 7, higher than a majority of the storage chamber 6.
• the bottom of the storage chamber is in the depth direction of the body 1 downwardly sloping, so that pieces of ice in the storage chamber 6 tend to to gather at their rear end. This makes it possible, at predetermined time intervals irrespective of a user's request for the dispensing of ice pieces, to set the stirring rod 9 in rotation and thus to keep the ice pieces in the storage chamber 6 movable and possibly break away from each other without leaving the dispensing opening.
• a flap (not shown) may be provided on the discharge opening 12, which is closed in the rest position and open in the delivery position.
• a control circuit When a user indicates the desire to dispense ice by pressing a button 20 on the outside of the door 2, a control circuit, not shown, responds by first actuating the actuator to move the ice dispenser assembly 7 to a position shown in phantom in FIG to tilt, in which the bottom of the storage chamber 6 is sloping down to the door 2 and the discharge opening 12 comes to rest on a passage 13 which extends through the door 2 into a niche 14 open towards the front thereof. Then, the control circuit opens a flap 15 which is disposed in the passage 13 and which is normally closed to prevent the entry of warm outside air from the niche 14 into the inner space 3.
• control circuit sets the electric motor 10 in motion, and the rotation of the stirring rod 9 causes the pieces of ice in the storage chamber 6 set to the discharge opening 12 in motion. If enough ice is dispensed, the user signals this by releasing or re-pressing the button 20, whereupon the control circuit stops the electric motor 10 and pivots the ice dispenser assembly 7 back to the position shown in a solid line.
• a water tank 16 is embedded on the rear wall of the niche 14 in the insulating material of the door 2.
• the water tank 16 is on the one hand as the icemaker 5 via a supply line 17 and a check valve 18 connected to the drinking water network and on the other hand to a tap 19 in the niche 14.
• Fig. 2 shows a section through the Eisspenderbauage 7 along the designated in Fig. 1 with A plane according to a first embodiment of the invention.
• the stirring rod 9 is realized here as a metal rod which is bent in a zigzag shape in a plane parallel to its axis of rotation. This rake has no chirality, so that a preferred direction of movement of the pieces of ice displaced by it is determined solely by the slope of the bottom of the storage chamber 6.
• FIG. 3 shows a section along the plane designated A in FIG. 1 according to a second embodiment of the invention.
• the stirring rod 9 has the shape of a helix whose rotation in the counterclockwise direction drives pieces of ice in the storage chamber 6 in the direction of the delivery opening 12. Conversely, rotation of the stirring rod 9 in the clockwise direction drives the ice pieces from the discharge port 12 toward the rearward direction End of the storage chamber 6.
• Such control of the direction of rotation can be done electronically when the electric motor 10 supports different directions of rotation. But it can also be a simple electric motor with a fixed direction of rotation are used, the rotation of which is transmitted by a manual transmission in response to the position of the Eisspenderbauuite 7 on the stirring rod 9.
• Fig. 4 shows an example of such a gearbox on the basis of a section along the plane B of Fig. 1.
• the cutting plane extends through a gap between the motor 10 and a rear wall of the storage chamber 6. In this gap is located at one end of the Rownstange 9 rotatably anchored gear 21 and a driven by the electric motor 10 Radsay 22.
• the wheel disc 22 has on its the storage chamber 6 facing end face a wide circumferential groove 23 which is serrated on its inner and outer periphery and whose width is selected so that the gear 21 can mesh with only one of the two teeth 24, 25 of the groove 23 respectively. While the engine 10 and the wheel disc 22 are fixedly mounted in the inner space 3, the height of the gear 21 is variable according to the position of the Eisspenderbauage 7.
• the stirring rod 9 rotates rapidly in this case at a reduced torque, so that the Ice pieces with a short delay after starting the engine 10 reach the discharge opening 12 and can be issued quickly one after the other.
• the pieces of ice from the storage chamber 6 go directly to the dispensing opening 12.
• a crushing chamber are provided, which must pass through the pieces of ice on the way to the dispensing opening 12 and in which they are crushed by a grinder.

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Thermal Sciences (AREA)
• General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Devices That Are Associated With Refrigeration Equipment (AREA)
• Cold Air Circulating Systems And Constructional Details In Refrigerators (AREA)
• Production, Working, Storing, Or Distribution Of Ice (AREA)

Priority Applications (3)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=39335355

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (5)

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Citations (5)

Family Cites Families (7)

• 2006
  • 2006-12-22 DE DE102006061095A patent/DE102006061095A1/de not_active Withdrawn
• 2007
  • 2007-12-11 EP EP07857367A patent/EP2104815A1/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 2007-12-11 WO PCT/EP2007/063672 patent/WO2008077764A1/de active Application Filing
  • 2007-12-11 CN CN2007800473450A patent/CN101563573B/zh not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 2007-12-11 US US12/518,309 patent/US20100043477A1/en not_active Abandoned

Patent Citations (5)

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