Ice Maker Heater Control for Uniform Transparent Ice
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing ice makers struggle to produce ice with uniform transparency across different shapes and sizes, as well as maintaining transparency when temperature changes or cold air supply varies, due to inconsistent ice making rates and bubble distribution.
Innovation Solution
A refrigerator system with an ice maker that includes a controller to adjust the heating amount of a transparent ice heater and cooling power of the cold air supply based on the mass per unit height of water in the ice making cell, ensuring uniform transparency by varying heat transfer between water and cold air, and an additional heating process to complete ice making even under temperature fluctuations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If water is cooled rapidly to increase ice making rate, then productivity is improved, but bubbles are trapped in the ice making transparency deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The heater operates periodically during the ice making process, turning on and off at specific intervals to control bubble movement. This periodic heating action allows bubbles to be expelled from the ice making cell at appropriate times without continuously interfering with the freezing process, thus maintaining both transparency and productivity
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the temperature parameter dynamically by activating the heater at specific stages of the ice making process. By adjusting the heating parameter periodically, the system controls the movement of bubbles and the solidification rate, achieving transparent ice while maintaining efficient production
2Manufacturing precision
If heater heating amount is increased to maintain transparency, then ice transparency is improved, but ice making rate decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The heater operates periodically during the ice making process, turning on and off at specific intervals to control bubble movement. This periodic heating action allows bubbles to be expelled from the ice making cell at appropriate times without continuously interfering with the freezing process, thus maintaining both transparency and productivity
Solution Approach 2:
The heater is activated only for specific durations and at specific stages of the ice making process, rather than operating continuously. This partial action provides sufficient heating to expel bubbles and maintain transparency without excessive heating that would overly slow down the freezing process
3Manufacturing precision
If ice making cell volume is reduced to improve transparency control, then manufacturing precision is improved, but productivity deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The heating action is applied locally and selectively within the ice making cell at specific stages, rather than uniformly throughout. This localized periodic heating allows precise control over bubble expulsion in critical areas without affecting the entire ice making process uniformly, maintaining both transparency control and productivity
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 system achieves uniform transparency of ice regardless of shape and ensures complete ice formation in each ice making cell by controlling the heater and cooler in response to temperature and cold air changes, maintaining ice quality across varying conditions.
Implementation Method 1
a heater configured to supply heat into the ice making cell
Implementation Method 2
an ice maker including an ice making cell that is a space in which water is phase-changed into ice by cold
Implementation Method 3
a cooler configured to supply cold into a storage chamber in which food is stored
Data Source
AI summary
A refrigerator of the present disclosure can include an ice making cell, a heater configured to supply heat to the ice making cell during an ice making process, and a controller configured to control the heater. The process for controlling the heater includes a basic heating process and an additional heating process that is performed after the basic heating process. In the basic heating process, the controller performs control so that a heating amount of the heater varies according to a mass per unit height of water in the ice making cell. In at least partial section of the additional heating process, the controller controls the heater to operate with a heating amount that is equal to or less than a heating amount of the heater in the basic heating process.