Ice maker and refrigerator including same
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional ice makers in refrigerators produce opaque ice due to air trapped inside, making it difficult to create transparent and spherical ice shapes, which are not feasible at sub-zero temperatures.
Innovation Solution
A refrigerator design featuring a dual-tray ice making system with a full ice detection lever and a heater, allowing for controlled ice formation and separation, enabling the production of transparent and spherical ice shapes by managing heat generation and ice detection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If water is frozen in all directions in a conventional ice maker, then ice is produced quickly, but air is collected inside and opaque ice is made
Solution Approach 1:
The ice making cell is divided into two separate trays (first tray and second tray) that can move relative to each other. This segmentation allows controlled freezing from one direction only, preventing air entrapment while maintaining efficient ice production. The dual-tray design enables water to freeze progressively from one end, creating transparent ice without sacrificing productivity.
Solution Approach 2:
The second tray is designed to move relative to the first tray during the ice making process. This dynamic adjustment allows the freezing front to progress in one direction only, ensuring transparent ice formation. The movement mechanism enables the system to adapt the freezing process while maintaining high production rates, resolving the contradiction between speed and quality.
2Manufacturing precision
If water is spilled or sprinkled to make transparent ice, then transparent ice can be made, but this method cannot be applied in sub-zero temperature refrigerators
Solution Approach 1:
A heater is introduced to locally change the temperature parameter in the ice making cell. By heating specific regions, water can be kept in liquid state or controlled to freeze in a specific direction, enabling transparent ice formation without requiring water spilling or sprinkling. This parameter change makes the transparent ice making method adaptable to sub-zero refrigerator environments.
Solution Approach 2:
The heater acts as an intermediary element between the cold environment and the water. It mediates the freezing process by providing localized heat, allowing controlled one-directional freezing that produces transparent ice. This intermediary enables the adaptation of transparent ice making technology to refrigerator conditions where direct water spilling is not feasible.
3Manufacturing precision
If a heater is used to control ice formation, then transparent ice can be made, but excessive melting may occur
Solution Approach 1:
The heater is positioned to provide localized heating only in specific regions of the ice making cell, not uniformly across the entire cell. This local quality approach allows controlled melting or prevention of freezing in specific areas to achieve transparent ice, while maintaining the overall stability and structure of the ice being formed in other regions. The selective heating prevents excessive melting while enabling transparent ice formation.
Solution Approach 2:
The heater operates in periodic cycles rather than continuously. Heating is applied intermittently to control the freezing process and prevent air entrapment, then stopped to allow ice formation and maintain structural stability. This periodic action enables transparent ice making while preventing excessive melting that would compromise ice structure.
4Manufacturing precision
If the second tray moves relative to the first tray, then transparent ice can be formed, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The tray movement mechanism is designed to be self-driven or automatically controlled without requiring complex external actuators. The system uses the freezing process itself or simple mechanical advantages to drive the relative movement between trays, reducing device complexity while maintaining the capability to form transparent ice through controlled one-directional freezing.
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 ensures consistent ice making rates, prevents excessive melting, and reliably separates ice, maintaining transparency and shape, even in high ice production regions.
Implementation Method 1
a heater disposed adjacent to the first tray rather than the second tray
Implementation Method 2
a first tray configured to form one portion of an ice making cell that is a space in which water is phase-changed into ice by cold air supplied to the storage chamber
Implementation Method 3
water is phase-changed into ice by cold air supplied to the storage chamber
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention comprises: a first tray for forming a portion of an ice-making cell; a second tray forming the other portion of the ice-making cell, and capable of moving relative to the first tray; an ice bin for storing ice separated from the first and second trays; and a full-ice sensing lever for moving together with the second tray in a predetermined range.