Ice Making Tray and Pipe Support Structure for Easy Cooling Unit Repair
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Solution Overview
Problem
Refrigerators with ice making compartments face challenges in achieving enhanced cooling performance and easy replacement/repair of ice making units, with existing designs often resulting in inefficient cooling and complex assembly processes.
Innovation Solution
The design incorporates a refrigeration cycle with a refrigerant pipe seated on an ice making tray, a drainage duct for water collection, and fixers to reduce air flow resistance, along with a fan for air circulation and heat-exchanging ribs to enhance cooling, allowing for easy installation and removal of the ice making unit.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If the refrigerant pipe is directly installed in the ice making compartment, then cooling performance is improved, but the structure becomes complex and difficult to repair
Solution Approach 1:
The ice making unit is divided into separate modular components: the ice making tray, drainage duct, and fixers can be independently assembled and disassembled. This segmentation allows the refrigerant pipe to be easily connected and disconnected without complex structural modifications, resolving the contradiction between achieving good cooling performance and maintaining structural simplicity for easy repair.
Solution Approach 2:
The drainage duct serves as an intermediary component that integrates multiple functions: it collects condensed water, provides mounting positions for fixers, and facilitates the connection of the refrigerant pipe. This intermediary structure simplifies the overall assembly by consolidating multiple elements into a single integrated component, making installation and repair easier while maintaining effective cooling.
2Reliability
If the ice making unit is firmly fixed for stability, then reliability is improved, but replacement and repair become difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The fixing system uses detachable fixers that can be easily installed and removed, transforming the static fixed connection into a dynamic, reversible connection. This allows the ice making unit to be firmly secured during operation for reliability, while enabling quick removal for replacement or repair by simply detaching the fixers, thus resolving the contradiction between stability and ease of repair.
3Productivity
If the drainage duct is positioned close to the ice making tray for efficient water collection, then water drainage is improved, but air flow resistance increases
Solution Approach 1:
The drainage duct is positioned to be locally close to the ice making tray only at the necessary points for water collection, while maintaining adequate spacing in other areas to preserve air flow passages. This localized positioning approach ensures efficient water drainage where needed without creating excessive air flow resistance, resolving the contradiction between water collection efficiency and energy loss from air flow restriction.
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 configuration improves cooling performance, reduces energy loss, and simplifies the assembly and maintenance of the ice making unit, enhancing energy efficiency and ease of replacement.
Implementation Method 1
an evaporator may be installed in the ice making compartment or storage compartment. In this case, cold air may be supplied from the evaporator to the ice making compartment in accordance with forced convection thereof after exchanging heat with the evaporator
Implementation Method 2
cold air may be supplied from the evaporator to the ice making compartment in accordance with forced convection thereof after exchanging heat with the evaporator
Implementation Method 3
The ice making tray may include at least one heat-exchanging rib to exchange heat with the air in the ice making compartment, which flows through the flow passage
Data Source
AI summary
A refrigerator including a refrigeration cycle including a refrigerant pipe to supply cooling energy to an ice making compartment, an ice making tray, on which at least a portion of the refrigerant pipe is seated, a drainage duct to collect condensed water falling from the ice making tray or from at least a portion of the refrigerant pipe, and to drain the collected water, and at least one fixer to fix at least a portion of the refrigerant pipe to the ice making tray. The fixer is protruded from the drainage duct.