693 results about "Ice storage" patented technology

A refrigerator with an ice feeding unit allows an outlet control unit which opens or closes an outlet of an ice container, to be quietly operated. The refrigerator with the ice feeding unit includes an ice container in an ice storage compartment. A control member is installed at a position around an outlet of the ice container to open or close the outlet of the ice container. A connection rod is rotatably installed at a predetermined position of the ice container to operate the control member. A first eccentric part is provided at a first end of the connection rod which is in contact with the control member, to be eccentric from a center of rotation of the connection rod, and a second eccentric part is provided at a second end of the connection rod which is opposite to the first end of the connection rod, to be eccentric from the center of rotation of the connection rod. A rotary cam is installed to be in contact with the second eccentric part of the connection rod, and functions to rotate the second eccentric part of the connection rod at a predetermined angle. A motor drives the rotary cam.

In the related art refrigerator, its structure for supplying water to a dispenser and water tank was complicated. In addition, since an icemaker is installed in a refrigerating chamber of the refrigerator, there is a problem in that the water supplied into the icemaker is frozen. Furthermore, if the icemaker is installed in the freezing chamber of the refrigerator in which the refrigerating chamber is formed at a lower portion thereof and a refrigerating chamber is formed at an upper portion thereof, there is another problem in that it is difficult to control the temperature in the refrigerating chamber or ice-making capability of the icemaker is lowered. The present invention is directed to a refrigerator. According to an aspect of the present invention for solving the above problems, there is provided a refrigerator including a refrigerating chamber formed at a relatively upper portion of a refrigerator body and a freezing chamber formed at a relatively lower portion of the refrigerator body, which comprises an ice-making chamber which is partitioned in the refrigerating chamber by means of insulating walls and includes an icemaker for making ice and an ice storage for storing the ice made in the icemaker, a first heat exchanger for generating cold air to regulate the temperature in the ice-making chamber, and a second heat exchanger for generating cold air to regulate the temperature in the freezing and refrigerating chambers, wherein the first and second heat exchanger are components of a heat exchange cycle. According to the refrigerator of the present invention so configured, there are advantages in that the temperature in the refrigerating chamber can be accurately controlled, the loss of cold air can be minimized and the structures for supplying water into the icemaker and the dispenser can be simplified.

A refrigerator includes a housing having at least one refrigerator compartment, a door for accessing the at least one refrigerator compartment, and an ice-dispensing assembly. The ice-dispensing assembly includes an insulated housing arranged within the at least one refrigerator compartment, an ice-making device arranged within the insulated housing and configured to produce ice, an ice-storage container arranged within the insulated housing, and a dispenser arranged within the door and communicating with the ice-storage container, wherein the dispenser is configured to transfer ice from the ice-storage container to an external portion of the refrigerator.

The present invention relates to an ice dispenser apparatus having an ice storage bin removably mounted to the refrigerator for receiving and storing ice pieces from an ice maker, a metering device for separating individual ice pieces, and a sensing device for detecting the presence of ice pieces. Actuation of a motor causes the metering device to separate individual ice pieces and the sensing device detects ice pieces before, after, or during dispensing.

A variable ice storage assembly for a refrigerator includes a storage cavity adapted to receive ice from an ice maker. The storage assembly is positioned between a light emitter and a receiver of an ice level sensor. The storage assembly can be utilized in a non-reflecting configuration wherein the ice level sensor functions in a standard manner, or a reflecting configuration wherein the sensing level is effectively lowered within the storage assembly. In the reflecting configuration, first and second mirrored inserts, supported by respective insert portions on the storage assembly, cooperate with first and second reflecting plates on the storage assembly to redirect light from the emitter in a circuitous path. A user may position the mirrored inserts at various angles, depending on the level of ice desired within the storage assembly. The storage assembly may be utilized alone, or as in insert within an ice bucket.

A refrigerator includes an ice storage container coupled to a mounting space of an inner wall of a freezing chamber door, and the ice storage container is attachable to and detachable from the mounting space by elastic lever units to maintain and release locking of the ice storage container with the mounting space, and elastic coupling units to maintain coupling of the ice storage container to the mounting space by elastic deformation and restrict movement of the ice storage container in the horizontal direction of the mounting space when the ice storage container is mounted on the mounting space, thereby preventing abrasion and breakdown of components due to user's ease in the assembly of the ice storage container and increase in the fixing force of the ice storage container.

Disclosed are a method and device for a refrigerant-based thermal energy storage and cooling system with isolated external melt cooling. The disclosed embodiments provide a refrigerant-based ice storage system with increased reliability, lower cost components, and reduced power consumption compared to a single phase system such as a glycol system.

The present invention refers to an ice-making machine provided with an ice formation reservoir (2), an auxiliary tank (6) and an ice storage region (5). Inner part of reservoir (2) is provided with a transport element (16), a shovel (4) with angular movement and a finger-type evaporator (3) forming ice pieces. During ice manufacturing process, shovel (4) moves periodically at low frequencies so as to attract impurity particles and water salts, leaving them far from ice piece formation regions. Through the machine of the present invention, impurity-free ice pieces are produced.

An ice storage bin and an icemaker apparatus are disclosed. The ice storage bin has a body for defining an ice collection cavity and a channel surrounding at least a substantial portion of the body for permitting fluid flow through the channel. The icemaker apparatus is disposed in a fresh food compartment of a refrigerator. The icemaker apparatus has an ice maker, above the ice storage bin, and an icemaking compartment for accommodating the ice maker and the ice storage bin.

An ice supply device and a refrigerator having the same are disclosed. The ice supply device includes an ice breaking unit having a breaker to break ice and a housing to house the breaker, an ice storage container removably coupled to the ice breaking unit and having a discharge hole to discharge ice, and a binding device to bind the ice storage container and the ice breaking unit. Accordingly, the ice storage container can be separated from the ice breaking unit, thereby facilitating handling of the ice storage container.

A portable ice storage and dispensing device has a portable container for housing the ice to be dispensed. An opening is formed on the portable insulated container. The opening is used for dispensing the ice out of the portable insulated container. An ice dispenser is located internal to the portable insulated container and extends partially out of the portable insulated container. The ice dispenser is used for moving and directing the ice out of the opening.

A refrigerator includes a refrigerator cabinet having at least one door, an ice dispenser operatively connected to one of the at least one door having an opening for dispensing ice, an ice storage receptacle for storing ice disposed within the refrigerator cabinet, an ice crusher, an ice transfer mechanism for moving ice from the ice storage receptacle to the ice crusher, an ice chute for conveying ice from the ice crusher to the ice dispenser, and an intrusion barrier positioned within the ice chute to assist in preventing objects entering the ice chute through the ice dispenser from reaching the ice crusher without stopping ice flow through the ice chute. The ice dispenser may include a first switch and a second switch, the first switch being spaced apart from the second switch, and the ice dispenser adapted to require simultaneous activation of the first switch and the second switch to dispense ice. The ice dispenser may also include one or more sensors in the ice chute to detect objects moving toward the ice crusher.

A refrigerator having: an ice storage container in a freezer formed with an opening at a side thereof; an ice breaking part for receiving ice cubes stored in the ice storage container and making shaved ice; a rotating blade which is rotatably provided in the opening; a first discharging part for discharging the ice cubes released to the opening and crushed ice broken by the rotating blade; a second discharging part that communicates with the ice breaking part to cause the ice cubes to be released from the opening and transferred by the rotating blade into the ice breaking part; and first and second discharging levers for opening and closing the first discharging part and the second discharging part, respectively. Thus, the invention provides a refrigerator for selectively distributing and supplying ice stored within an ice storage part to a single transferring unit.

A refrigerator includes an ice storage bin, an opening provided in the ice storage bin through which ice is discharged, and a plurality of blades provided in the ice storage bin, such that the plurality of blades can rotate in a forward direction or in a reverse direction, to selectively discharge ice through the opening as whole ice or crushed ice, where gravity and the plurality of blades are the only forces exerted on the ice collected in the ice storage bin.

An icemaker for a refrigerator having a cabinet with a refrigerated compartment and an unrefrigerated machine compartment includes a body portion formed with an inlet, an outlet and an opening. A flexible mold is positioned in the opening. A water supply is positioned to provide water to the flexible mold. A fluid supply circuit, including a pump mounted in the machine compartment, a first fluid conduit connected between the pump and the inlet, and a second fluid conduit connected to the outlet, provides warm fluid to the body portion. The icemaker forms ice during an ice production cycle and the fluid warmed in the machine compartment is used to partially melt and aid in releasing the ice which is then deposited in a ice storage bin during a harvest cycle.

In an embodiment of the invention, a refrigerator comprising an ice storage bucket and a cooling system in thermal communication with the ice storage bucket is shown. A first transmitter is configured in the ice storage bucket. A first pulse signal is transmitted from the first transmitter. A first receiver is configured in the ice storage bucket and is further configured to receive the first pulse signal. A first pre-signal response from the first receiver is generated before the first pulse signal. A first pulse signal response from the first receiver generated during the first pulse signal.

The invention discloses a hybrid energy supply system coupling a natural gas based distributed energy source system with a ground source heat pump. The hybrid type energy supply system comprises a gas turbine, a lithium bromide absorption unit, an exhaust heat boiler, a first water source heat pump unit, a second water source heat pump unit, a first heat exchanger, a second heat exchanger, a third heat exchanger, an absorption dehydrating device, an underground heat exchanger, a paralleling set, an ice storage device, a first heat storage water tank, a second heat storage water tank, a construction energy consumption monitoring and controlling device and a signal feedback control network. Exhaust heat of the distributed energy source system is utilized sufficiently, and efficiency of a total energy system is further improved. Two energy source technologies of fossil clean energy and renewable energy are comprehensively utilized to couple and integrate, and advantageous complementation of the two energy sources is realized. Compared with an existing hybrid energy supply system, the hybrid energy supply system has the advantages that energy utilization efficiency is greatly improved, huge environmental protection benefit can be created, and practical significance is great.

The invention discloses an experimental device for simulating the generation and the exploition of benthonic combustible ice and an application method thereof. The experimental device comprises a stainless steel cylinder body, a middle penetration plate, a bottom rubber airbag, a top sealing device and an external frame, wherein the cylinder body is divided into three parts by the middle penetration plate of the whole device, i.e., a simulated seawater layer, a sedimentation layer (hydrate layer) and a free air layer from top to bottom; three windows are respectively designed in the front surface and the rear surface of the cylinder body, thereby being convenient for observation of phenomena during the generation and the decomposition of hydrates; the top sealing device works in a combined mechanical sealing mode, so that the sealing effect of the device can be guaranteed; the pore ratio of a combustible ice storage layer can be controlled according to experimental designs; and a magnetizer-induced heating temperature controller is wrapped around the combustible ice storage layer, so that the temperature can be accurately controlled so as to realize the heating of the storage layer. According to the experimental device, the conventional hydrate synthesis and decomposition experiment can be carried out; meanwhile, the large-scale simulation of the benthonic hydrates can be realized; and particularly, the phenomena in synthesis and exploition processes can be recorded by a high-speed CCD (Charge Coupled Device) camera during the generation and the exploition of seepage-type hydrates, so that the simulation visualization is realized.

The invention discloses a refrigerating/heating system of an air-conditioner of an LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) power-driven vessel; the refrigerating/heating system comprises an LNG vaporization loop, an ice storage circulation loop, a heat recycling loop and a seawater loop. In summers, a two-stage refrigerant and cold energy transferring manner is adopted, cold energy produced by the LNG vaporization during the running of the LNG power-driven vessel is recycled and stored in a cold and heat accumulating device and used as a cold source of an air-conditioning system to meet the cold supplying demand of vessel cabins; in winters, the vaporized LNG enters a power system of a vessel main engine and is combusted to generate a large amount of residual heat for recycling, and the residual heat is used as a heat source of the air-conditioning system to meet the heating demand of the vessel cabins. The cold energy produced during the LNG vaporization and the heat capacity released during combustion are used as the cold and heat sources of the air-conditioning system; therefore, not only the cold and heat demands of the vessel cabins are solved, but the large amount of investment in the refrigerating unit of the air-conditioning system of the vessel is saved; and meanwhile, the refrigerating/heating system solves the mismatching of the LNG vaporization capacity and cold/heat capacities the technical bottleneck of the non-synchronization between the vaporization time and the cold/heat utilization time.

The invention relates to a multi-split air conditioning system. A compressor, an outdoor heat exchanger and an indoor heat exchanger form a connection loop through two four-way valves, electronic expansion valves, electromagnetic valves, wherein a terminal a of a first four-way valve is connected with the refrigerant outlet of the compressor; the terminal d of the first four-way valve is connected with the terminal w of a second four-way valve by virtue of a check valve; the terminal c of the first four-way valve is connected with the terminal y of the second four-way valve in parallel and then is connected with the refrigerant inlet of the compressor by virtue of a gas-liquid separator; the terminal w of the second four-way valve is connected with the refrigerant outlet of the compressor through a first electromagnetic valve; the terminal x of the second four-way valve is sequentially connected with the outdoor heat exchanger, a high pressure liquid storage tank, a second electromagnetic valve, a second electronic expansion valve, an indoor unit electronic expansion valve and the terminal s1 of the indoor heat exchanger; and the terminal s2 of the indoor heat exchanger is connected with the terminal b of the first four-way valve. The multi-split air conditioning system disclosed by the invention is mainly applied to a heat pump air conditioning hot water system and has an ice storage function. The multi-split air conditioning system disclosed by the invention can save more energy, and has high working efficiency and wider practical range.

The invention discloses a supercooled liquid ice slurry continuous preparation device which comprises a refrigeration circulating system and a supercooled water liquid circulating system, wherein the supercooled liquid circulating system comprises a supercooler assembly, a supercooled liquid circulating assembly and an ice storage tank; the supercooler assembly is formed by connecting n supercoolers in parallel; and the refrigeration system comprises a compressor, a condenser, a liquid storage device, a dry filter, an evaporating pressure regulating valve, a master solenoid valve, n throttle control assemblies and n refrigerant flow reversing assemblies. When a certain supercooler is blocked by ice, the valve in the flow channel can be closed, and the refrigerant flow reversing assembly can be adjusted to melt the ice by hot gas produced by the refrigerant; and after the ice barrier is eliminated, the valve can be opened. In the process, the supercoolers in other flow channels still work normally, thereby realizing continuous preparation of ice slurry. The ice melting heat source of the supercoolers is the condensation heat of the refrigerant in the refrigeration system without consuming additional electric energy, thereby reducing the energy consumption of the device.

The invention discloses an ice storage device and a refrigerator, and relates to the technical field of household appliances. The technical problem that the ice yield is low can be solved. The ice storage device comprises an ice storage box. An ice outlet door is arranged at the position of an outlet of the ice storage box. An ice smashing device is arranged in the ice storage box and comprises ice smashing fixed blades and ice smashing movable blades. The ice smashing movable blades are arranged on a rotating shaft in a sleeving manner and rotate synchronously. The rotating shaft is connected with a drive device. A stirrer is further arranged on the rotating shaft in a sleeving manner. The rotating shaft and the stirrer rotate synchronously. The stirrer comprises a columnar stirring body. At least one stirring finger is arranged on the columnar outer surface of the stirring body. The stirring fingers incline relative to the axial direction of the rotating shaft or are vertically arranged. Gaps are reserved between the tail ends of the stirring fingers and the ice outlet door. By means of the ice storage device, the ice outlet door can be more easily opened, and therefore the ice yield is improved.

A clear ice maker unit has a clear ice maker mechanism with a cascading water evaporator configured to make clear ice during ice making cycles. A controller uses fuzzy logic to control the clear ice maker and determine whether to initiate a next ice making cycle based on input signals from a thermistor in the ice storage bin. The controller will prevent initiation of an ice making cycle when the ice bin is at or below a threshold temperature. The controller will also prohibit ice making when the ice bin is at or below a second, slightly higher temperature for more than a prescribed period of time. In this way, the clear ice maker can recognize an uneven distribution of ice and maintain an optimal amount of ice in the bin.

The invention discloses an ice-making device and the control method thereof. The ice-making device comprises a driver, a controller, an ice build-up tank, etc., and a switch control mechanism of the driver is provided with a switch control arm and a photoelectric signal generating part and drives the switch control arm through a camshaft gear wheel so as to trigger the photoelectric switching signal and drives a tumbler to drive an ice detecting arm so as to realize the action of detecting the ice back and forth in the longitudinal direction, and the tumbler restricts the movement of the switch control arm to result in that the switch is switched off at the position where the ice is detected. The control method is as follows: the invention tests the state that whether the ice storage box is full of ice, and then controls the movement action, the water supplementation control, fullness of the ice in the ice storage box of the ice build-up tank, thus resulting in that the ice making device stands by or stops the control of ice making. The lack of water in a water storage box results in that the ice-making device stands by or stops the control of the ice making and the control of position detection of the ice build-up tank; when the ice build-up tank is arranged at the position where the ice is made, the position where the ice is shed or the position where the ice is detected, the photoelectric switch can be turned off and the photoelectric switch is on when the ice build-up tank is arranged at other positions. The control is stable and reliable and realizes the goal that the system saves more energy and is more humanized.

A refrigerator includes an ice maker to make pieces of ice and an ice storage bin to receive the pieces of ice made by the ice maker. A plurality of blades is rotatably disposed at a bottom portion of the ice storage bin and an ice separating device to separate clumped pieces of ice discharged from the ice maker is disposed in the ice storage bin between the ice maker and the plurality of blades, where the ice separating device is disposed on at least a rear wall, a front wall, or a side wall of the ice storage bin.

An embodiment of the invention provides an ice breaking device and a refrigerator and relates to the technical field of preparation equipment of ice blocks in order to solve the problem that the ice blocks which are frozen together cannot pass through an ice outlet due to the fact that the ice blocks cannot be separated in an ice block mode in the prior art. The ice breaking device comprises an ice storage container, wherein an ice blade assembly is arranged in the ice storage container and comprises a spindle, fixed ice blades, movable ice blades and ice block separation structures, the spindle can drive the movable ice blades to rotate, the fixed ice blades and the ice block separation structures are located on two sides of the spindle respectively and are fixed relative to the ice storage container, when the spindle drives the movable ice blades to rotate in the first direction, the ice blocks in the ice storage container can be broken under the action of shearing force of the movable ice blades and the fixed ice blades, and when the spindle drives the movable ice blades to rotate in the second direction, the ice blocks which are frozen together can be separated under the matching of the movable ice blades and the ice block separation structures. The ice breaking device is applied to an attached ice maker of the refrigerator.

An ice-full state detecting apparatus and a refrigerator having the same are disclosed. The refrigerator including an ice-full state detecting apparatus includes: a refrigerator body including a cooling chamber; a cooling chamber door to open and close the cooling chamber; an ice maker installed at the cooling chamber or at the cooling chamber door; an ice storage container to store ice made by the ice maker; and the ice-full state detecting apparatus to detect an ice-full state of the ice storage container, wherein the ice-full state detecting apparatus includes: a ice-full state detecting sensor to detect an ice-full state of the ice storage container; a sensor heater to heat the ice-full state detecting sensor; a detecting unit to detect whether the ice-full state detecting sensor is in contact with external air; and a controller to control the operation of the sensor heater based on the detection result of the detecting unit. The ice-full state detecting sensor can be restrained from being frosted to thus prevent degradation of detection performance of the ice-full state detecting sensor. In addition, power consumption required for a defrosting operation can be reduced.

The invention provides a dynamic supercooled water circulation ice-making system, which is characterized in that a low-temperature refrigeration unit is connected with a supercooled heat exchanger; the supercooled heat exchanger is connected with an ice-making generator; the ice-making generator is connected with an ice storage tank; the ice storage tank is connected with the supercooled heat exchanger via a water circulating pump. In the running of the system, the heat provided by the low-temperature refrigeration unit changes the water running through the supercooled heat exchanger into supercooled water (less than 0 DEG C remaining in liquid state); and then through the function of the water circulating pump, the supercooled water runs through the ice-making generator to eliminate the supercooled state of the supercooled water, and the water is changed into ice and water mixture, i.e., crystalloid flowing binary ice, and finally flows into the ice storage tank to be stored for use by air-conditioning users. The dynamic supercooled water circulation ice-making system of the invention has the advantages of simple structure, low heat loss in each heat exchange, low energy consumption and high ice-making efficiency, and the ice-making system represents a new direction of development of binary ice-making system.

A tempering treatment method whereby the temperature of meat, which involves carcass prepared by slaughtering cattle or poultry and sterilizing and washing, is lowered as close to the ice storage temperature as possible to prevent a temperature rise caused by the actions of enzymes contained within the meat before transporting the meant to a refrigerated storage, which comprises surface-freezing the meat by blowing a cold air stream at about −20 to about −40° C. to the meant before conducting the tempering treatment, thus allowing the generation of freezing latent heat in the subcutaneous part owing to the surface-freezing (freezing the subcutaneous tissue), and then rapidly lowering the core temperature inside the meat due to the latent heat released at the melting of the freezing latent heat to thereby conduct the tempering treatment at a temperature of 0 to +15° C.

The invention of the refrigerator dispenser, refrigerator including frozen food from a refrigerated storage space room at the side of the freezer and a frozen food storage space refrigerator; the freezer and refrigerator of the opening up of the selective opening and closing freezer door and refrigerator doors in the refrigerator door with the side of the production and storage of ice-making room equipped with refrigerator doors to the outside side of the ice out of the ice storage room divider. Distributor including distributor base, and the deputy distributor cover printed circuit board carrier. It is also equipped with embedded installed on the side of the distributor of printed circuit board carrier, control rooms and ice-making electronic components distributor of the operation of the printed circuit board. As noted above, this invention is in the process of distributor prevent the use of printed circuit boards, the advantage of water seepage.