Door-Mounted Ice Maker Layout to Prevent Tray Water Overflow
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional ice makers installed inside the freezing chamber of refrigerators reduce storage capacity and cause water to flood outside when the door is opened or closed, making it difficult to move made ice efficiently.
Innovation Solution
An ice maker is mounted on the rear side of the refrigerator door with a rotatable ice tray, a tray cover that selectively opens and closes, and a sealing member to prevent water flooding, along with a water flood prevention rib and rotation guide to minimize space reduction and prevent water overflow.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the ice maker is installed inside the freezing chamber, then the ice making function is achieved, but the storage capacity of the freezing chamber is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The ice maker is extracted from the freezing chamber and relocated to the refrigerator door. The door serves as a separate mounting location, allowing the ice making function to be independent from the freezing chamber space. This extraction resolves the contradiction by removing the space conflict while maintaining the ice making capability.
2Ease of operation
If the ice tray rotates during door opening/closing, then ice movement is simplified, but water floods outside the ice tray
Solution Approach 1:
The sealing member is positioned to contact the ice tray before rotation occurs, creating a preliminary seal that prevents water from escaping during the rotation process. This preliminary protective action counteracts the potential harmful effect of water flooding that would otherwise occur during door opening/closing operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The sealing member is designed with elastic deformation capability, allowing it to dynamically adapt to the ice tray's position during rotation. The sealing member deforms elastically to maintain continuous contact with the ice tray throughout the rotation movement, ensuring the seal remains effective while enabling the dynamic ice movement function.
3Object-generated harmful factors
If the sealing member is rigid to prevent water leakage, then water flooding is prevented, but the ice tray rotation is hindered
Solution Approach 1:
The sealing member's physical parameter of rigidity is changed to elasticity. By using an elastic material, the sealing member can deform under the force of ice tray rotation while still maintaining its sealing function. This parameter change allows the sealing member to accommodate the dynamic movement of the ice tray without compromising water leakage prevention.
Solution Approach 2:
The sealing member is implemented as a flexible elastic component that can deform and recover. This flexible structure allows the sealing member to conform to the ice tray's movement during rotation while maintaining continuous contact to prevent water leakage, resolving the contradiction between rigidity for sealing and flexibility for movement.
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
This configuration minimizes storage capacity reduction, prevents water flooding, and simplifies the movement of made ice, allowing for efficient operation and increased user utility.
Implementation Method 1
a sealing member provided on one side of the tray cover to selectively contact an upper surface of the ice tray when the ice tray rotates, and which is elastically deformed by rotation of the ice tray
Data Source
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AI summary
Provided are an ice maker and a refrigerator including the same. The ice maker for making ice is provided on a rear side of a refrigerator door. A tray cover, a water flood prevention rib, and a rotation guide are provided to prevent flooding of water stored in an ice tray forming the ice maker while the refrigerator door is opened/closed. According to the ice maker and the re¬ frigerator, reduction in a storage capacity of the refrigerator is prevented, flooding of water for making ice is prevented, and the ice maker can be more easily used.