Ice Storage Box Stirrer Layout for Faster Ice Discharge
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing ice storage devices face difficulties in efficiently discharging ice cubes due to smooth surfaces, resulting in a low discharge rate and difficulty opening the ice discharging door, as the pushing force from ice cubes is insufficient to overcome the resistance.
Innovation Solution
An ice storage device with a rotating shaft and stirrer featuring obliquely or perpendicularly arranged stirring fingers, which increases the contact area and pushing force to facilitate easier opening of the ice discharging door, combined with a motor-driven mechanism for synchronous rotation of the ice crushing blades to crush and discharge ice cubes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If ice cubes are stored in a conventional ice storage device, then ice cubes can be stored, but the discharge rate is low and it is difficult to open the ice discharging door due to insufficient pushing force from smooth ice cube surfaces
Solution Approach 1:
The stirring body is divided into multiple stirring fingers (at least three) that are distributed around the circumference, allowing multiple contact points with ice cubes simultaneously. This segmentation increases the total contact area and distributes the stirring force effectively, improving both the discharge rate and ease of opening the door.
Solution Approach 2:
The stirring fingers are arranged obliquely or perpendicular to the axial direction of the rotating shaft, creating a three-dimensional stirring action. This spatial arrangement increases the contact area between the stirring fingers and ice cubes, generating sufficient pushing force to overcome the resistance of the ice discharging door.
2Ease of operation
If a stirrer with obliquely or perpendicularly arranged stirring fingers is added to increase contact area and pushing force, then ease of opening the ice discharging door is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The stirrer is integrated with the rotating shaft of the ice crushing device, sharing the same rotation axis and drive mechanism. This merging eliminates the need for a separate drive system for the stirrer, reducing overall device complexity while achieving the desired stirring effect.
Solution Approach 2:
The rotating shaft serves dual functions: driving both the ice crushing blades and the stirrer simultaneously. This multi-functionality reduces the number of independent components and simplifies the overall device structure while maintaining the improved ease of operation.
Data Source
AI summary
An ice storage device includes an ice storage box. An ice discharging door is provided at an outlet of the ice storage box, and an ice crushing device is provided inside the ice storage box. The ice crushing device includes at least one fixed ice crushing blade and at least one moving ice crushing blade which is provided on a rotating shaft and rotates synchronously to the rotating shaft. The rotating shaft is connected to a driving device. At least one stirrer is provided on the rotating shaft and rotates synchronously to the rotating shaft.