Ice mold for a clear ice making assembly

Abstract

An ice making assembly includes an ice mold including two or more separable portions that collectively define one or more mold cavities. Each of the mold portions define a plurality of recessed passages that at least partially surround the mold cavity and are configured to receive evaporator conduit of a sealed refrigeration to cool the ice mold and facilitate formation of an ice billet.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]The present application is the National Stage Entry of and claims the benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. § 371 to PCT Application Serial No. PCT / CN2020 / 128636 filed Nov. 13, 2020 and entitled ICE MOLD FOR A CLEAR ICE MAKING ASSEMBLY, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]The present subject matter relates generally to ice making appliances, and more particularly to ice molds for an ice making appliance that produces large, clear pieces of ice.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]In domestic and commercial applications, ice is often formed as solid cubes, such as crescent cubes or generally rectangular blocks. Specifically, certain ice makers include a freezing mold that defines a plurality of cavities that can be filled with liquid water that freezes within the plurality of cavities to form solid ice cubes. Typical solid cubes or blocks may be relatively small in order to accommodate a large nu...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The invention provides an ice making assembly with a sealed refrigeration system and a pump assembly for urging an ice-building spray into the ice mold to form an ice billet. Additionally, a mold assembly for the ice making assembly is also provided. These features allow for efficient ice making and improved ice quality.

Problems solved by technology

Notably, ice formed using conventional ice making appliances often suffers from impurities and gases that are trapped within ice cubes during formation.

These impurities and gases may impart undesirable flavors into a beverage being cooled (i.e., a beverage in which the ice cube is placed) as the ice cube melts.

In addition, these impurities and gases may cause an ice cube to melt unevenly or faster (e.g., by increasing the exposed surface area of the ice cube).

Notably, however, conventional ice molds used in such a system have limited cooling capacity, resulting in long ice formation times to achieve a clear ice billet.

In addition, temperature distribution within such molds is very non-uniform, resulting in temperature gradients within the ice billet that cause cracking during formation or release.

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