Ice-Maker Weight-Sensing Bin for Energy-Efficient Production Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Household ice-makers often consume excess energy and produce stale ice due to their inability to accurately measure the amount of ice in the bin, leading to overproduction and inefficient usage.
Innovation Solution
An ice-maker equipped with an electronic scale that provides multi-value weight measurements to control ice production based on bin fill levels, allowing for variable production rates and preventing overfilling, thereby minimizing energy usage and maintaining fresh ice availability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the ice bin is completely filled to ensure ice availability, then ice can be available on demand, but excess energy is consumed and stale ice is created
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a weight sensor that continuously monitors the ice bin fill level and provides feedback to the control system. This feedback mechanism allows the ice maker to adjust its operation dynamically - producing ice when the bin is below the threshold level and stopping when the threshold is reached, thereby avoiding unnecessary energy consumption from producing ice that isn't needed while ensuring adequate ice availability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system transitions from a static, binary full/empty detection approach to a dynamic, multi-level weight measurement system. The weight sensor provides continuous analog information about the bin fill state, enabling the control system to adaptively manage ice production rates and timing, optimizing the balance between ice availability and energy efficiency.
2Quantity of substance
If the ice bin is completely filled to accommodate high ice usage periods, then ice reserves are sufficient, but ice becomes stale over time
Solution Approach 1:
The weight sensor provides continuous feedback on the ice quantity in the bin, enabling the control system to manage ice production strategically. By maintaining the bin at or near the threshold level rather than completely filling it, the system ensures adequate ice reserves for typical usage while minimizing the time ice sits in the bin, thereby reducing stale ice formation.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the operational parameter from maintaining a fixed full bin state to dynamically adjusting the target fill level based on weight sensor feedback. This parameter change allows the system to optimize between having sufficient ice quantity and minimizing ice storage time to prevent staleness.
3Device complexity
If a simple binary sensor is used to detect full/empty bin status, then the system is simple, but it cannot detect intermediate fill levels for optimized control
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces complex mechanical measurement systems with an electronic weight sensor that directly measures the total weight of the bin and its contents. This substitution provides precise measurement of ice quantity without requiring complex mechanical linkages, multiple discrete sensors, or intricate measurement mechanisms, achieving high measurement precision while maintaining relatively simple system architecture.
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 energy savings and reduces stale ice by adjusting ice production according to consumption patterns, ensuring the ice bin is only partially filled when needed, and alerting users to stale ice, thus optimizing energy efficiency and freshness.
Implementation Method 1
An ice bin holder supports the ice bin and has a weight sensor providing a multi-value weight measurement signal indicating at least four different weights
Implementation Method 2
the coil of the inductor can be used as a heater to defrost the induction mechanism
Data Source
AI summary
An ice-maker (12) provides a weight-sensing ice bin (16) that provides multiple levels of ice measurement thereby allowing improved control strategies that reduce ice making or ice making rate in accordance with anticipated ice usage to eliminate energy costs and the need to discard stale ice cubes. The weight sensor may be an induction sensor where the coil also serves a heating function for defrosting.