An ice maker having fan assembly and fan assembly control method

Abstract

The present invention relates to an ice maker having a fan assembly. The ice maker (30) of the present invention comprises a main body (40) and a fan assembly (60) mounted to the main body (40) by means of resilient mounting hooks. A housing (62) defines an external appearance of the fan assembly (60), and comprises first and second housing portions (62a and 62b). The first and second housing portions (62a and 62b) are provided with concavo-convex coupling portions (63 and 63') at positions corresponding to each other so that the housing portions can be provisionally assembled by coupling the concavo-convex coupling portions to each other. The interiors of the first and second housing (62a and 62b) are partitioned by partition plates (64) to define a cold air flow passage (64f), and a discharge duct (66) is formed integrally to communicate with the cold air flow passage (64f). A box fan unit (80) is installed in the cold air flow passage (64f), and mounting ribs (65 and 65') corresponding to opposite corners of the box fan unit (80) are formed on the first and second housing portions (62a and 62b). The first and second housing portions (62a and 62b) are coupled to each other by fastening the box fan unit (80) to the mounting ribs (65 and 65') by means of screws. A housing cover (70) formed with an inlet (72) communicating the cold air flow passage (64f) is installed at a side of the housing (62). A fastening rib (74) of the housing cover (70) is simultaneously fastened together with the first and second housing portions (62a and 62b) by means of a screw.

Description

technical field [0001] The present invention relates to an ice maker, and more particularly, to an ice maker having a fan assembly in which cool air is supplied to an ice tray of the ice maker so that ice can be made more quickly. Background technique [0002] A refrigerator has an ice maker to make and provide ice to a user. In the ice maker, cool air having a relatively low temperature inside the refrigerator is supplied to the tray of the ice maker so that ice can be made more quickly. figure 1 A conventional ice maker having such a structure is shown in . According to the ice maker shown in this figure, the main body 1 of the ice maker has an ice tray 3 . Usually, the ice making tray 3 is a part that actually makes ice, and is divided into a plurality of spaces. Reference numeral 5 is an ice detection rod. The driving unit 7 is arranged on the side of the main body 1 of the ice maker, wherein the driving motor for driving the ice making tray 3 and the ice detecting r...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

In addition, since the fan case 14 is provided on the fan assembly 10, the overall weight of the fan assembly 10 increases

Therefore, considering the ice maker as a whole, the center of gravity of the ice maker is biased toward the fan assembly 10, and thus there is a problem that the installation design of the ice maker is complicated

[0015] Furthermore, since the openings of the inlet 18 and outlet 20 are not in a straight line on the conventional fan assembly 10, the cool air flow is not relatively smooth

That is to say, there is a problem that the cool air flow flowing in the fan assembly 12 produces a relatively large loss.

[0017] In the conventional ice maker controlled as described above, there is a problem that since the fan is operated twice during one cycle, the on / off operation of the fan is performed unnecessarily, thereby shortening the life of the fan

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