Ice Tray Assembly Control for Transparent Ice Making
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing ice makers struggle to produce transparent ice with uniform transparency and high ice making rates, as heat transfer between trays in the ice making process can lead to bubble entrapment and reduced transparency, and existing solutions do not effectively control ice making rates to maintain transparency and efficiency.
Innovation Solution
A refrigerator system with a first and second tray assembly, where the second tray is connected to a driver to contact and space apart from the first tray during ice making, and a controller manages the cooler and heater to control heat transfer and ice making rate, ensuring bubbles are moved from the frozen portion to the liquid state, maintaining transparency and efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If water is cooled simultaneously in upper and lower cells to make spherical ice, then ice making rate is improved, but transparency of ice deteriorates due to bubble entrapment
Solution Approach 1:
The ice making process is divided into two distinct stages: first cooling only the upper cell to form transparent ice, then cooling the lower cell to form spherical shape. This segmentation of the cooling process prevents bubble entrapment while achieving both transparency and spherical shape.
Solution Approach 2:
The upper cell is cooled first to establish a transparent ice structure before the lower cell cooling begins. This preliminary action ensures that the ice forms in a controlled manner, preventing bubbles from being trapped in the final spherical ice product.
2Manufacturing precision
If heater heating amount is increased to maintain transparency, then transparency is improved, but ice making rate deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The heater operates periodically with varying heating amounts during the ice making process. The heating amount is adjusted based on the solidification rate, providing sufficient heat to maintain transparency while minimizing impact on ice making rate.
Solution Approach 2:
The heating control system uses feedback from the solidification rate to dynamically adjust the heater heating amount. This feedback mechanism ensures that the heater provides exactly the right amount of heat needed to maintain transparency without unnecessarily slowing down the ice making process.
3Productivity
If solidification rate is increased to improve ice making rate, then productivity is improved, but transparency deteriorates due to insufficient convection
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically changes the heating parameter (heater heating amount) based on the solidification rate. When solidification rate increases, the heater heating amount is adjusted to maintain the balance between convection and solidification, ensuring transparency is maintained even at higher productivity levels.
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 produces transparent ice with uniform transparency while maintaining a high ice making rate, by controlling heat and cold supply based on mass per unit height of water in the ice making cell, ensuring consistent ice quality and efficiency.
Implementation Method 1
convection occurs in the water to make transparent ice
Implementation Method 2
a first tray assembly defining a portion of an ice making cell that is a space in which water is phase-changed into ice by cold
Data Source
AI summary
Provided is a refrigerator. The refrigerator includes: a storage chamber configured to store food; a cooler configured to supply cold into the storage chamber; a first tray assembly configured to define a portion of an ice making cell that is a space in which water is phase-changed into ice by the cold; a second tray assembly configured to define another portion of the ice making cell, the second tray assembly being connected to a driver to contact the first tray assembly in an ice making process and to be spaced apart from the first tray assembly in an ice separation process; a heater disposed adjacent to at least one of the first tray assembly or the second tray assembly; and a controller configured to control the heater and the driver. The controller controls the heater to be turned on in at least partial section while the cooler supplies the cold so that bubbles dissolved in the water within the ice making cell moves from a portion, at which the ice is made, toward the water that is in a liquid state to make transparent ice.