Ice making unit and refrigerator having the same

Abstract

An ice making unit taking the form of a kit separably installed in a freezing compartment of a refrigerator. The ice making unit includes a water supply tank to supply water, an ice making case defining an external appearance of the ice making unit, the ice making case being formed, at an upper portion of a front surface thereof, with a water supply tank installation hole to allow the water supply tank to be slidably installed therethrough, at least one ice making tray installed in the ice making case to receive the water supplied from the water supply tank, and an ice separating device to separate ice from the ice making tray, and the water supply tank is coupled to or separated from the ice making case via forward and rearward sliding movement thereof. Supply of water into the ice making unit can be accomplished via simple coupling or separation of the water supply tank, resulting in convenient use of the ice making unit.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application claims the priority benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 2008-0004970, filed on Jan. 16, 2008 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.BACKGROUND[0002]1. Field[0003]The present invention relates to an ice making unit and a refrigerator having the same, and, more particularly, to an ice making unit separably installed in a freezing compartment and a refrigerator having the same.[0004]2. Description of the Related Art[0005]In general, a refrigerator is an apparatus incorporating a refrigeration cycle, to refrigerate or freeze articles stored therein using cold air generated from components of the refrigeration cycle. Some refrigerators have an ice making unit installed in a freezing compartment.[0006]Korean Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 10-2003-0060633 discloses an ice making unit and a refrigerator having the same. The disclosed conventional refrigerator...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0011]In an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ice making unit to achieve more easy supply of water for use in ice making, and a refrigerator having the same.

[0012]In an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ice making unit to achieve more easy supply of water into a plurality of ice making trays, and a refrigerator having the same.

[0013]In an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ice making tray to achieve more convenient separation of ice made in a plurality of ice making trays, and a refrigerator having the same.

Problems solved by technology

However, the above-described conventional ice making unit and refrigerator having the same have a problem of inconvenient supply of water for use in ice making because the ice making tray must be separated from the ice maker body in order to fill water in the water receiving members of the ice making tray.

Another problem of the above-described conventional ice making unit and refrigerator having the same is that it is necessary to fill water in the plurality of water receiving members one by one, and this further complicates supply of water for use in ice making.

In addition, in the above-described conventional ice making unit and refrigerator having the same, every grip used to rotate each of the plurality of water receiving members must be rotated to separate ice made in the plurality of water receiving members, resulting in inconvenient separation of ice made in the water receiving members.

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