Ice Bin Stir Stick and Breaker Walls for Clump Prevention
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Solution Overview
Problem
Ice clumps form in ice containers due to melting and refreezing, making it difficult to ensure all ice cubes remain at a temperature to prevent melting, and existing stir sticks cannot reach all areas to break up clumps effectively.
Innovation Solution
A stir stick with cam action that drives a cam rod, providing a rocking motion to breaker walls, which mechanically breaks up ice clumps and prevents their formation by ensuring all areas of the ice container are accessed.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If a simple stir stick is used to prevent ice clumping, then the device complexity is reduced, but the effectiveness in breaking up ice clumps deteriorates because the stir stick cannot reach all areas of the container
Solution Approach 1:
The single stir stick is segmented into multiple breaker walls (first breaker wall, second breaker wall, third breaker wall, fourth breaker wall) positioned at different locations within the container. Each breaker wall independently addresses ice clumping in specific zones, ensuring complete coverage of the container space while maintaining structural simplicity.
Solution Approach 2:
The breaker walls extend in multiple dimensions from the stir stick shaft, with walls positioned at different heights and angles. This three-dimensional arrangement allows the breaker walls to reach all areas of the container including corners and depths that a simple linear stir stick cannot access.
2Temperature
If air is passed into the ice container to cool cubes, then the cooling effectiveness is improved, but ice clump formation increases due to melting and refreezing cycles
Solution Approach 1:
The breaker walls are positioned to preemptively disrupt ice cube arrangements before clumping can occur. By continuously breaking up emerging clumps and redistributing cubes, the system prevents the harmful effect of clumping rather than addressing it after formation.
Solution Approach 2:
The melting and refreezing process, which normally causes clumping, is converted into a beneficial redistribution mechanism. As cubes melt slightly and refreeze, the breaker walls utilize this movement to redistribute cubes evenly, preventing clump formation while maintaining temperature control.
3Volume of moving object
If the ice container size is increased to provide more storage capacity, then the volume is improved, but the stir stick effectiveness deteriorates because it cannot reach the full area within the container
Solution Approach 1:
The stir stick functionality is segmented into multiple breaker walls distributed throughout the container volume. This segmentation allows each breaker wall to effectively serve a specific zone, ensuring that even in a large container, all areas are adequately covered and ice clumping is prevented throughout the entire storage space.
Solution Approach 2:
The breaker walls are arranged in three-dimensional space extending from the central shaft to various peripheries of the container. This spatial distribution ensures that regardless of container size, the breaker walls maintain appropriate reach and coverage, allowing the system to scale effectively with container dimensions.
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 ice clumping and ensures all ice cubes are accessible for dispensing, maintaining their frozen state and preventing large clumps from forming, thus allowing for efficient ice distribution.
Implementation Method 1
a stir stick providing cam action to a cam rod, which in turn provides rocking action to a pair of breaker walls
Data Source
AI summary
A refrigerator having a cabinet, a door for providing access within the cabinet, an ice maker for making ice operably connected to the cabinet, and an ice bin with a pair of opposite-facing walls and a bottom wall. The ice bin is disposed within the cabinet and located adjacent the ice maker, and has a stir stick assembly having a stir stick, a cam rod, and a pair of breaker walls and is positioned within the ice bin. The stir stick oscillates about an axis of rotation and the cam rod is coupled to the stir stick. The pair of breaker walls are engaged with the cam rod near the bottom of the breaker walls, and hingedly attached to the pair of opposite-facing walls.