Driving device for automatic ice-making machine
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Solution Overview
Problem
The driving device for automatic ice-making machines is prone to frost formation due to temperature changes, causing the ice-cube quantity detecting arm to freeze and malfunction, and its side-rotating design complicates structural modifications and compactness.
Innovation Solution
The cam gear is improved to instantaneously shake the ice-cube quantity detecting arm in a vertical direction by forming a protrusion between the cam plane and cam groove, allowing the operating lever to ascend and descend, which releases freezing and enables stable operation, and a spin gear is positioned at the front to facilitate horizontal swinging, enhancing compactness.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the ice-cube quantity detecting arm is designed to rotate downward into the ice-cube storage bin, then the detection function is achieved, but the arm becomes frozen due to frost formation and cannot operate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a shaking mechanism that causes the ice-cube quantity detecting arm to vibrate or shake in the vertical direction. This mechanical vibration prevents frost accumulation by disrupting the freezing process, thereby maintaining the operational reliability of the detecting arm in cold environments.
Solution Approach 2:
The detecting arm is designed to perform periodic shaking movements rather than remaining static. This periodic action creates intervals where frost cannot continuously form, allowing the arm to maintain its mobility and detection function despite the cold operating conditions.
2Ease of operation
If the ice-cube quantity detecting arm uses a side rotating method, then the detection function is achieved, but the device structure becomes complex and difficult to modify
Solution Approach 1:
The patent inverts the rotation direction of the detecting arm from the conventional side-rotating method to a downward rotation into the storage bin. This inversion simplifies the overall device structure by eliminating the need for complex side-rotation mechanisms and making the driving device more compact and easier to modify.
3Reliability
If the cam gear structure is improved to shake the detecting arm vertically, then freezing is released and stable operation is induced, but the cam gear design becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the shaking function directly into the cam gear structure by forming the cam groove with specific geometric features that automatically generate the shaking motion during normal operation. This integration eliminates the need for separate shaking mechanisms, reducing overall device complexity while maintaining the reliability benefits.
Solution Approach 2:
The cam groove is pre-designed with specific shapes that incorporate the shaking action as an inherent part of the rotation cycle. This preliminary design ensures that the detecting arm receives the necessary shaking motion automatically during each rotation, preventing frost accumulation before it can cause operational failures.
Data Source
AI summary
Provided is a driving device for an automatic ice-making machine, the driving device including: a cam gear that rotates a tray; and an operating lever that organically operates along a cam plane for an ice-cube quantity detecting arm formed at the cam gear and allows the ice-cube quantity detecting arm to rotate downward into an ice-cube storage bin, wherein a cam groove for the ice-cube quantity detecting arm is formed in the cam plane for the ice-cube quantity detecting arm of the cam gear and allows the operating level to descend so that the ice-cube quantity detecting arm rotates downward into the ice-cube storage bin, and a protrusion is formed between the cam plane for the ice-cube quantity detecting arm and the cam groove for the ice-cube quantity detecting arm and allows the operating lever to ascend so that the ice-cube quantity detecting arm that rotates downward into the ice-cube storage bin rotates upward.