Door-Mounted Ice Maker with Rotatable Tray to Prevent Water Flooding
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional ice makers installed inside the freezing chamber of refrigerators reduce storage capacity and often cause water to flood outside when the door is opened or closed.
Innovation Solution
An ice maker is mounted on the rear side of the refrigerator door, featuring a rotatable ice tray with a tray cover and water flood prevention ribs, guided by a rotation guide, and driven by a motor and gears, which separates ice into an ice bank, minimizing flooding and optimizing storage space.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If an ice maker is installed inside the freezing chamber, then ice can be made using circulating cooling air, 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 door assembly. The door assembly includes a door body with an ice maker mounted thereon, separating the ice making function from the storage space. This extraction resolves the contradiction by enabling ice production while preserving the full storage capacity of the freezing chamber.
2Ease of operation
If the refrigerator door is opened or closed during ice making, then access to the refrigerator is enabled, but water for making ice floods into the outside
Solution Approach 1:
The ice tray is designed to be rotatable relative to the door body, allowing dynamic adjustment of the ice tray's position and orientation. This rotational capability enables the ice tray to adapt to door opening/closing movements, preventing water flooding while maintaining ease of operation. The ice tray can rotate to a protected position during door operation, eliminating the harmful water flooding effect.
3Ease of manufacture
If ice is made in a stationary tray, then ice production is simple, but moving the made ice is difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The ice tray is designed with rotational capability, transforming from a stationary structure to a dynamic one. After ice is formed in the stationary tray, the entire tray can be rotated to facilitate easy removal of the ice cubes. This dynamic design maintains the simplicity of ice production while dramatically improving ice removal convenience.
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 ice production, allowing for efficient operation and increased user utility.
Implementation Method 1
a motor to provide driving force for rotating the ice tray
Implementation Method 2
gears to deliver the driving force of the motor to the ice tray
Implementation Method 3
making ice using cooling air circulating through the freezing chamber
Implementation Method 4
maintaining food in a cooling state or a freezing state of low temperature
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3~4
Figure 5~6
AI summary
An exemplary embodiment of the present invention provides a refrigerator comprising: a main body including a storage space; a door for selectively opening/closing the storage space; and an ice maker, including: a frame provided on a rear side of the refrigerator door; an ice tray rotatably installed in the frame and including: a plurality of ice cavities; and a rotational shaft extending from a short side surface of the ice tray; a tray cover provided to the frame; an elastic member provided between the frame and the tray cover; a water flood prevention rib extending upward from each of upper edges of long side surfaces of the ice cavities and preventing water stored in the ice cavities from flooding while the refrigerator door rotates; a rotation guide extending upward from each of upper edges of the short side surfaces of the ice tray, to guide rotation of the ice tray; and a control box including: a motor to provide driving force for rotating the ice tray; and gears to deliver the driving force of the motor to the ice tray, wherein an end portion of the tray cover is closely attached on an one side surface of one of the water flood prevention ribs by elastic force of the elastic member, wherein the tray cover is elastically deformed by rotation of the ice tray.