Ice Maker Two-Volume Water Fill Design to Reduce Air Bubble Entrapment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing ice makers in refrigerators often produce ice with trapped air bubbles, resulting in a cloudy or opaque appearance, and methods to release air bubbles during the ice-making process can lead to irregular ice shapes.
Innovation Solution
An ice maker design featuring an upper and lower assembly, where the lower tray is made of a flexible material and rotates relative to the upper assembly, allowing for the formation of ice making chambers that fill with water from two volumes, and includes a circumferential wall to contain water and facilitate spherical ice shape formation, with ejector pins to remove ice efficiently.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If water is supplied to ice making chambers to form ice pieces, then ice production is achieved, but air bubbles become trapped inside the ice resulting in cloudy appearance
Solution Approach 1:
The lower tray is pre-filled with a first volume of water before the upper tray is positioned. This preliminary action allows air bubbles to escape from the bottom upward as the upper tray is lowered, preventing bubble entrapment in the final ice structure while maintaining efficient ice production
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a vertical dimension to water filling by supplying water from both above (second volume) and below (first volume) the ice making chambers. This multi-directional filling approach allows air bubbles to escape upward while ensuring complete chamber filling, resolving the contradiction between production efficiency and ice clarity
2Adaptability or versatility
If the lower tray is made of flexible material to accommodate ice expansion, then ice making flexibility is improved, but structural support may be insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The lower tray is constructed from flexible material that can deform to accommodate the outward expansion of freezing water. This flexibility prevents structural failure while maintaining the integrity of the ice making chambers, allowing the tray to adapt to volume changes during the freezing process
3Productivity
If the lower assembly rotates relative to the upper assembly to fill chambers from two volumes, then water filling efficiency is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The lower assembly is designed to rotate relative to the upper assembly, transforming the static ice making structure into a dynamic system. This rotation allows the lower tray to be positioned for efficient water filling from below, then rotated into place for ice formation, improving productivity while using a relatively simple rotational mechanism
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 design produces clear, spherical ice pieces by minimizing air bubble entrapment and ensuring efficient ejection, maintaining a consistent shape and quality.
Implementation Method 1
a lower support that is configured to receive the lower tray and that is configured to restrict an outward expansion of the lower portions of the plurality of ice making chambers
Implementation Method 2
Each of the plurality of ice making chambers is configured to: based on rotation of the lower assembly to a first position relative to the upper assembly, receive water through the water receiving hole; and based on joining of the upper portions and the lower portions of the plurality of ice making chambers at a second position different from the first position, generate an ice piece within an ice making chamber among the plurality of ice making chambers
Data Source
AI summary
An ice maker includes an upper assembly having an upper tray that defines upper portions of a plurality of ice making chambers. The ice maker also includes a lower assembly that is located vertically below the upper assembly and configured rotate relative to the upper assembly. The lower assembly includes a lower tray that defines lower portions of the plurality of ice making chambers, and a lower support that is configured to receive the lower tray and restrict an outward expansion of the lower portions of the plurality of ice making chambers. The lower tray includes a lower tray body configured to hold a first volume of water, and a circumferential wall that extends upward from the lower tray body and is configured to hold a second volume of water above the first volume of water.