Ice making assemblies and removable nozzles therefor
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing ice making technologies struggle to produce large, clear ice billets efficiently, often resulting in cloudy or misshapen ice due to trapped impurities and gases, and require significant time and energy, with existing methods being inefficient and prone to cracking.
Innovation Solution
An ice making assembly comprising a conductive ice mold, a sealed refrigeration system, and a water dispenser with a nozzle head and attachment wing, which directs a controlled ice-building spray of water into a mold cavity, ensuring even heat distribution and preventing impurities from forming cloudy ice, while allowing for precise temperature control to prevent cracking.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If a large ice billet is formed using typical ice making appliances, then the ice billet may be used for various purposes, but impurities and gases are trapped within the billet resulting in cloudy or opaque ice
Solution Approach 1:
The ice making process is divided into two distinct stages: first forming a clear ice shell, then filling the interior with ice. This segmentation allows each stage to optimize for its specific purpose - the shell formation excludes impurities while the interior filling maximizes volume, resolving the contradiction between large size and clarity.
Solution Approach 2:
The clear ice shell is formed in advance before the interior filling process. This preliminary action creates a barrier that prevents impurities from contaminating the final ice product, while still allowing large volumes to be filled subsequently.
2Manufacturing precision
If a large ice billet is formed to ensure clear final ice cubes, then clarity may be improved, but the time and energy required to melt or shape the billet significantly increases
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the ice billet into a clear shell and an interior core, the system produces ice that requires minimal melting or reshaping. The shell provides structural integrity and clarity while the interior can be directly used, dramatically reducing processing time compared to traditional methods that require complete melting of large billets.
3Quantity of substance
If a large ice billet is formed, then larger ice cubes may be produced, but the risk of cracking increases due to significant temperature gradients
Solution Approach 1:
The ice billet has different properties in different regions: the shell is formed with controlled freezing to exclude impurities and minimize stress, while the interior is filled with ice that has different thermal and mechanical characteristics. This local differentiation allows the large billet to maintain structural integrity without cracking.
4Manufacturing precision
If water is sprayed to a chilled mold to generate clear ice, then clarity may be improved, but the system is only suitable for relatively small ice cubes and nozzle cleaning becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses a dynamic two-stage process where the mold is initially chilled to form a shell, then the freezing conditions are modified to fill the interior. This dynamic approach allows the same nozzle to be used for both stages without requiring cleaning, as the process conditions change rather than the physical nozzle structure.
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 enables rapid and reliable production of clear ice billets by minimizing impurity entrapment and controlling temperature gradients, resulting in efficient energy use and preventing cracking, thus producing high-quality, clear ice efficiently.
Implementation Method 1
The sealed refrigeration system may include an evaporator in thermal communication with the ice mold
Implementation Method 2
a sealed refrigeration system including an evaporator in thermal communication with the ice mold
Data Source
AI summary
An ice making assembly, a provided herein, may include a conductive ice mold, a sealed refrigeration system, and a water dispenser. The conductive ice mold may define a mold cavity. The sealed refrigeration system may include an evaporator in thermal communication with the ice mold. The water dispenser may be positioned below the ice mold to direct an ice-building spray of water to the mold cavity. The water dispenser may include a dispenser base and a spray cap selectively secured to the dispenser base. The spray cap may include a nozzle head defining an outlet aperture and an attachment wing extending radially from the nozzle head into the dispenser base.