Ice maker and a refrigerator comprising it
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing ice makers in refrigerators face inefficiencies in ice making and unloading due to low heat transfer and uneven heating, affecting both speed and energy consumption.
Innovation Solution
An ice maker design featuring a switchable ice tray between a heating compartment and an ice making compartment, isolated by a partition plate with a sealing unit, allows for efficient ice making and unloading without heaters on the tray, utilizing a rotating mechanism and heat insulating materials to enhance energy efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If heaters are disposed at the ice tray to achieve ice unloading, then ice unloading function is enabled, but the heaters hinder cold air close to the ice tray and affect ice making efficiency
Solution Approach 1:
The invention divides the ice making system into two separate compartments: an ice making compartment for freezing and a heating compartment for unloading. The ice tray is moved between these compartments rather than having heaters attached to it, thus separating the freezing and heating functions spatially. This resolves the contradiction by enabling ice unloading without heaters on the tray, maintaining cold air circulation for efficient ice making.
Solution Approach 2:
The heating function is extracted from the ice tray itself and placed into a separate heating compartment. Instead of having heaters attached to the ice tray, the ice tray is moved to a dedicated heating compartment where heating is applied to the tray from outside. This extraction eliminates the problem of heaters hindering cold air near the ice tray during the ice making process.
2Stability of the object's composition
If heaters are evenly distributed within the ice tray to achieve uniform heating, then heating coverage is improved, but heat transfer efficiency of the ice tray decreases and ice making efficiency is low
Solution Approach 1:
The invention segments the heating process from the ice making process by using separate compartments. The ice tray is moved to the heating compartment for uniform heating, while the ice making compartment maintains optimal cold conditions. This spatial segmentation allows uniform heating when needed without compromising ice making efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The ice tray is made dynamically movable between the ice making compartment and the heating compartment. This dynamic positioning allows the system to apply heating uniformly when ice unloading is needed, while maintaining high ice making efficiency during the freezing phase by keeping the tray in the cold compartment without heaters interfering.
3Ease of operation
If the ice tray material is designed for twisting to enable ice unloading, then ice unloading is achieved, but heat transfer efficiency is low and ice making speed decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The ice unloading function is extracted from the ice tray material design and implemented as a separate heating compartment. Instead of requiring specific materials with low heat transfer properties to enable twisting unloading, the invention uses a dedicated heating compartment to provide the unloading function, allowing the ice tray to be made of materials optimized for heat transfer and fast ice making.
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
This design achieves faster and more energy-efficient ice making and unloading with improved heat exchange, reducing energy consumption and maintaining high ice making efficiency.
Implementation Method 1
a sealing unit is disposed between the ice tray and the partition plate to maintain that the heating compartment and the ice making compartment are isolated from each other
Implementation Method 2
each of the wall surfaces of the ice making compartment is provided with a heat insulating layer or is made of a heat insulating material
Implementation Method 3
the ice tray can be switched between the ice making compartment and the heating compartment to realize ice making and ice unloading
Implementation Method 4
by disposing the heating compartment and the ice making compartment and arranging the ice tray into a structure which can be switched inside the heating compartment and the ice making compartment, there is no need to arrange a heater on the ice tray under the premise of ensuring the ice making, heating and ice unloading, and thus better heat exchange effect
Data Source
Figure 1
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Figure 4
AI summary
The present disclosure provides an ice maker comprising: an ice tray, an ice making compartment and a heating compartment, wherein the ice tray can be switched between the ice making compartment and the heating compartment to realize ice making and heating for ice unloading, and there is no need to arrange a heater on the ice tray. The present disclosure also discloses a refrigerator, comprising a door body on which the ice maker as described above is disposed, wherein an ice outlet of the ice maker communicates with a distributor on the door body, thus facilitating ice taking without opening the door body. The present disclosure also discloses a refrigerator, comprising a refrigerating compartment in which the ice maker as described above is disposed, wherein the ice making compartment of the ice maker communicates with a freezer compartment or a cold air outlet of an evaporator.