Ice-Making Cold Air Guide for Uniform Tray Freezing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional ice making in refrigerators is inefficient due to non-uniform distribution of cold air, leading to longer ice making times.
Innovation Solution
A cold air guide system is introduced to direct and uniformly distribute cold air over the ice making tray, using a hollow guide body with inlet and outlet sections and guide ribs to optimize cold air flow, ensuring consistent ice formation across the tray.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If cold air is supplied to the ice making compartment without guidance, then the ice making compartment receives cold air, but the cold air is not uniformly distributed over the ice making tray resulting in longer ice making time
Solution Approach 1:
A cold air guide is introduced as an intermediary component between the cold air inlet and the ice making tray. The cold air guide includes a guide body with an inlet section communicating with the cold air inlet and an outlet section facing the ice making tray, thereby mediating the cold air flow to achieve uniform distribution across the tray surface.
Solution Approach 2:
The cold air guide extends in the width direction of the ice making tray, creating a three-dimensional flow distribution structure. The guide body spans across the width of the tray, delivering cold air from multiple positions simultaneously, which transforms the cold air distribution from a single-point source to a multi-dimensional uniform distribution pattern.
2Productivity
If a cold air guide is added to uniformly distribute cold air, then ice making time is reduced, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The cold air guide is segmented into distinct functional sections: a guide body portion, an inlet section, and an outlet section. This segmentation allows each part to perform its specific function efficiently while simplifying the overall design and manufacturing process. The guide body can be separately manufactured and then assembled with the inlet and outlet sections.
Solution Approach 2:
The cold air guide serves multiple functions simultaneously: it guides cold air flow, distributes cold air uniformly across the tray width, and structurally supports the inlet and outlet connections. This multi-functionality reduces the need for additional separate components, thereby limiting the increase in device complexity.
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 solution significantly reduces ice making time by ensuring uniform cold air distribution, allowing for faster and more consistent ice production.
Implementation Method 1
a cold air guide configured to guide cold air entering the ice making compartment through the cold air inlet toward the ice making tray
Implementation Method 2
an ice making tray provided at the ice making device and configured to receive and retain liquid be frozen into ice
Implementation Method 3
water is supplied to the ice making tray, and is then frozen by cold air introduced into the ice making compartment
Data Source
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AI summary
A refrigerator, which includes an ice making compartment, an ice making device arranged in the ice making compartment, and an ice making tray provided at the ice making device and configured to receive and retain water to be frozen to make ice. The refrigerator also includes a cold air inlet provided at the ice making compartment and configured to allow cold air to be introduced into the cold air compartment, and a cold air guide configured to guide cold air from the cold air inlet toward the ice making tray.