Ice Crusher Seal Assembly for Iron Chip Contamination Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing ice crushing devices in refrigerators face issues such as ice cubes falling out due to shaking, contamination from iron chips, and clogging due to piled crushed ice, leading to reduced efficiency and safety concerns.
Innovation Solution
The design incorporates a housing assembly with a rotating ice bucket, an ice-discharging plate, a motor-driven gear assembly, and a seal assembly that includes a stop ring and seal gasket to prevent iron chips and crushed ice from entering the mechanism, along with an ice agitating rod to prevent ice cubes from freezing together, ensuring safe and reliable operation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Power
If gears are used in the driving mechanism, then the ice bucket can be driven to rotate effectively, but iron chips may fall off during long-term use and contaminate the ice cubes
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the harmful element (gears) from the driving mechanism and replaces it with a magnetic driving mechanism. The motor directly drives the ice bucket through magnetic coupling, eliminating the gear assembly that generates iron chips. This resolves the contradiction by removing the source of contamination while maintaining effective driving capability.
2Productivity
If the ice crushing blade assembly rotates positively to crush ice cubes, then crushed ice is produced, but the crushed ice piles at the bottom of the ice bucket affecting transmission of motive power
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic rotation direction changes of the ice crushing blade assembly. After completing one crushing cycle, the blade assembly automatically reverses rotation direction to discharge crushed ice from the bottom. This dynamic adjustment prevents ice pile-up that would otherwise block motive power transmission, maintaining both crushing productivity and power transmission efficiency.
3Ease of operation
If the ice agitation amount one time is large or the ice crushing amount one time is large, then ice cubes are separated or crushed effectively, but the ice crushing mechanism might get stuck and the ice crushing rate is small
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs periodic action with multiple small-amplitude agitation cycles instead of one large agitation action. The ice agitating rod performs several gentle stirring motions to gradually separate frozen ice cubes, followed by incremental crushing cycles. This periodic approach prevents mechanism overload and sticking while maintaining effective ice separation and crushing over time.
4Ease of operation
If the rotating shaft rotates reversely to drive and stir the ice cube, then the ice cube slides out of the outlet, but ice cubes are prone to drop out of the outlet due to shake when the refrigerator door is opened or closed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary anti-action by using the ice agitating rod to gently press and position ice cubes against the inner wall of the ice bucket before discharge. This preliminary action secures the ice cubes in place, counteracting the destabilizing effect of door-induced shaking. The ice cubes are held firmly until the discharge moment, preventing premature dropping while maintaining ease of discharge when needed.
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 iron chips and crushed ice from contaminating the ice cubes, reduces the likelihood of ice cubes falling out, and maintains efficient ice crushing and discharge, enhancing the safety and reliability of the ice crushing process.
Implementation Method 1
the driver comprises a motor and a gear assembly driven by the motor
Implementation Method 2
a first bevel gear connected to the motor and a second bevel gear meshing with the first bevel gear
Implementation Method 3
a stop ring and a seal assembly that engage with each other are disposed between the second bevel gear and the cylindrical gear, the seal assembly matches the housing to separate the space between the second bevel gear and the cylindrical gear
Implementation Method 4
an ice crusher disposed in the ice bucket... the ice crusher... crushes the ice cube
Implementation Method 5
a driver for driving the ice bucket to rotate... ice cubes prepared by an ice maker are discharged out of the ice-discharging port after being crushed in the ice bucket
Data Source
AI summary
An ice crushing device and a refrigerator are provided, the ice crushing device includes a housing assembly having a housing and an ice bucket supported in the housing; a driver for driving the ice bucket to rotate; an ice crusher disposed in the ice bucket; wherein the driver includes a motor and a gear assembly driven by the motor. The gear assembly includes a first bevel gear connected to the motor, a second bevel gear meshing with the first bevel gear, and a cylindrical gear coaxially arranged with the second bevel gear. A stop ring and a seal assembly that engage with each other are disposed between the second bevel gear and the cylindrical gear, the seal assembly matches the housing to separate the space between the second bevel gear and the cylindrical gear.