Asymmetric Ice Discharge Guide for Crushed-Ice Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing ice supplying apparatuses fail to effectively prevent crushed ice from scattering when discharged, due to limitations in the design of the discharge guide unit, which is not optimized for ice scattering direction and is influenced by the size of ice cubes.
Innovation Solution
An ice supplying apparatus with a discharge guide unit featuring a scattering preventing unit of different inclination from the discharge guide unit, positioned to counteract the gravitational direction, and a blade unit with rotating blades for crushing ice, which reduces scattering by guiding crushed ice in a biased manner.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If a conventional discharge guide unit is used, then the structure is simple, but crushed ice scatters to the periphery of the cup
Solution Approach 1:
The discharge guide unit employs an asymmetric inner guide structure where one side has a different inclination than the other side. This asymmetric design creates a scattering prevention effect by guiding crushed ice preferentially toward the center of the cup, preventing ice from scattering to the periphery while maintaining structural simplicity
Solution Approach 2:
The inner guide of the discharge guide unit features localized quality variations with different inclination angles on different sides. Specifically, one side has a gentler inclination while the other has a steeper inclination, creating localized flow control zones that direct ice movement without requiring complex overall structural changes
2Adaptability or versatility
If the discharge guide unit size is increased to accommodate larger ice cubes, then larger ice can be processed, but the amount of scattered ice increases
Solution Approach 1:
The asymmetric design of the inner guide allows the discharge guide unit to accommodate larger ice cubes while preventing scattering. The different inclination angles on each side create a converging effect that channels even large crushed ice pieces toward the center, maintaining control over ice flow regardless of ice cube size variations
3Stability of the object's composition
If a cover fixing unit is added to prevent cover movement, then cover stability is improved, but the ice scattering problem is not substantially reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts and addresses the root cause of ice scattering by modifying the discharge guide unit's inner guide structure, rather than adding auxiliary components like cover fixing units. This targeted modification directly tackles the scattering problem at its source while maintaining overall system simplicity
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution effectively prevents crushed ice from scattering by altering the shape of the discharge guide unit to align with the ice scattering direction, reducing ice dispersion and enhancing applicability without adding new structures.
Implementation Method 1
a scattering preventing unit having a different inclination, in a gravitational direction of the earth, from another side of the discharge guide unit is formed at one side of the discharge guide unit
Data Source
AI summary
An ice supplying apparatus includes: an ice bank configured to store therein ice made by an ice maker; a blade unit having a fixed blade, and a rotary blade formed to be relatively-rotatable with respect to the fixed blade, the rotary blade configured to crush ice when rotated in one direction; and a discharge guide unit provided below the blade unit, and configured to discharge the crushed ice, wherein a scattering preventing unit having a different inclination, in a gravitational direction of the earth, from another side of the discharge guide unit is formed at one side of the discharge guide unit, so as to prevent scattering of the crushed ice when the crushed ice is taken out.