Transparent Ice Formation with Dynamic Heating and Cooling
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Summary
Problems
Existing refrigerators struggle to produce ice with uniform transparency regardless of shape, as previous solutions fail to effectively control the heating and cooling processes to manage bubble dispersion and solidification rates, leading to opaque or non-uniform ice formation.
Innovation solutions
A refrigerator system with a dual-tray ice making cell and a controller that adjusts the heating amount of a transparent ice heater and the cooling power of a cooler based on heat transfer changes and space temperature, ensuring uniform transparency by managing bubble movement and solidification rates across different ice heights.
TRIZ Analysis
Specific contradictions:
General conflict description:
Principle concept:
If water is cooled rapidly to increase ice making rate, then productivity is improved, but bubbles are trapped in the ice making transparency deteriorates
Why choose this principle:
The heater is activated before cooling begins to pre-warm the water and suppress bubble formation. This preliminary action prevents the harmful effect of bubble trapping that would occur during rapid cooling, allowing high ice making rates without sacrificing transparency.
Principle concept:
If water is cooled rapidly to increase ice making rate, then productivity is improved, but bubbles are trapped in the ice making transparency deteriorates
Why choose this principle:
The heater operates intermittently during the ice making process, alternating with cooling periods. This periodic heating maintains water temperature within an optimal range that promotes bubble rise while allowing sufficient cooling for ice formation, achieving both high productivity and transparency.
Application Domain
Data Source
AI summary:
A refrigerator system with a dual-tray ice making cell and a controller that adjusts the heating amount of a transparent ice heater and the cooling power of a cooler based on heat transfer changes and space temperature, ensuring uniform transparency by managing bubble movement and solidification rates across different ice heights.
Abstract
A refrigerator includes an ice maker, which includes an ice making cell, a heater configured to supply heat to the ice making cell during an ice making process, and a controller configured to control the heater. A cooling power of the cooler when a temperature sensed by a temperature sensor is greater than or equal to a limit temperature during an ice making process is greater than a cooling power of the cooler when the temperature is less than the limit temperature. A heating amount of the heater when the temperature sensed by the temperature sensor is greater than or equal to the limit temperature during the ice making process is greater than a heating amount of the heater when the temperature is less than the limit temperature.