Dispensing control device for icemaker

Abstract

A dispensing control device for an icemaker includes a dispensing structure and a control structure assembled with the dispensing structure. The dispensing structure includes at least a first dispensing portion and a second dispensing portion for dispensing at least two kinds of materials, wherein the first and the second dispensing portion and the dispensing structure form a dispensing area in which a first position and a second position are defined respectively. The control structure includes a first trigger unit and a second trigger unit, for respectively triggering the corresponding first and second dispensing portion to dispense materials respectively thereof, wherein the first and the second trigger units respectively include a first and a second actuating element mounted at the first position and the second position in the dispensing area, and a first and a second trigger components which are respectively triggered by the first and the second actuating elements to control the material dispensing of the first and second dispensing portion. Therefore, the user can obtain different desired materials by operating at different positions in the dispensing area.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0001]The present invention is related to a dispensing control device for an icemaker, and more particularly to a dispensing control device which can control the icemaker to dispense liquids or solids.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]The dispensing control device which can control the dispensing of liquids or solids (e.g., ice cubes) provides great convenience for the industrial or home users. This type of dispensing control device is always applied to the loading machine in the beverage store, the beverage dispenser in the fast food restaurant, the water / ice dispenser mounted on the refrigerator, the coffee maker and the water dispenser etc.[0003]Some prior arts, like U.S. Pat. No. 7,266,951, U.S. Pat. No. 7,104,085, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,050,777, disclosed a dispensing device for the refrigerator or the beverage machine, and the feature they have in common is that the dispensing device has an ice dispensing outlet and one or more liquid dispensing outlet aside ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0008]The object of the present invention is to solve the problems described above by integrating multiple dispensing outlets and thus reducing the volume of the dispensing machine, so as to facilitate the operation of the user.

[0009]For achieving the object described above, the present invention provides a dispensing control device for an icemaker including a dispensing structure and a control structure assembled with the dispensing structure. The dispensing structure includes at least a first dispensing portion and a second dispensing portion for dispensing at least two kinds of materials, and a dispensing area with a first position and a second position defined therein respectively corresponding to the first and the second dispensing portion. The control structure includes a first trigger unit and a second trigger unit, for respectively triggering the corresponding first and second dispensing portion to dispense materials respectively. The first trigger unit includes a first actuating element mounted at the first position in the dispensing area, and a first trigger component which is triggered by the first actuating element to control the material dispensing of the first dispensing portion. The second trigger unit comprises a second actuating element mounted at the second position in the dispensing area, and a second trigger component which is triggered by the second actuating element to control the material dispensing of the second dispensing portion. Therefore, the user can obtain different desired materials from the first or the second dispensing portion by operating at different positions in the dispensing area.

[0010]Accordingly, as compared with the prior arts, the present invention is advantageous of reducing the machine volume by saving the moving space between two side by side outlets, which not only the operation time can be reduced, but also the operation can be speed up.

Problems solved by technology

1. Because the ice and the liquid dispensing outlets are arranged side by side, a larger space will be occupied, so that if the dispenser is designed to integrate with the refrigerator, the inner space of the refrigerator might be reduced thereby. And, if it keeps the inner space of the refrigerator unreduced, the entire volume of the refrigerator must be increased.

2. If the dispenser is applied to the beverage machine for dispensing multiple kinds of beverages, the machine might become too big or too wide to be arranged, or the remainder space after arrangement might become too small.

3. Because there are multiple outlets, if the cup is not placed at a correct position for receiving, it is easy to cause a spill of ice cubes or water. And, if the user wants to access the ice cubes and the water at the same time, then a proper movement of the cup must be executed between the outlets. Therefore, the operation is not convenient.

Images