Refrigeration appliance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional refrigerators with bottom-mount configurations face challenges in placing ice makers due to impracticality in the freezer compartment, requiring elaborate conveyor systems or placing ice makers in the fresh food compartment, where temperature fluctuations affect ice making operations.
Innovation Solution
An ice maker system with a mold and freezing fingers is integrated into the fresh food compartment, utilizing a conduit for refrigerant cooling and a temperature sensor with a controller to initiate ice harvesting, allowing ice production in a compartment maintained above 0°C.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the ice maker is placed in the freezer compartment of a bottom-mount refrigerator, then ice can be made at appropriate temperatures, but the ice pieces are difficult to retrieve as they would be located close to the floor
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of placing the ice maker in the freezer compartment (traditional location) and using a conveyor to transport ice upward, the invention inverts the approach by placing the ice maker directly in the fresh food compartment at an accessible height. This eliminates the need for a conveyor system while making ice easily retrievable by users.
Solution Approach 2:
The ice making function is extracted from the freezer compartment and relocated to the fresh food compartment. This separation allows the ice maker to be positioned at an ergonomically convenient height in the fresh food compartment while still receiving cooling from the refrigeration system.
2Ease of operation
If the ice maker is placed in the fresh food compartment, then ice is easily accessible, but temperature fluctuations above 0°C affect ice making operations
Solution Approach 1:
The invention introduces freezing fingers as an intermediary cooling element that is directly connected to the refrigeration system via a conduit. These fingers extend into the water in the mold cavities, providing direct thermal coupling to the ice making location. This mediator allows the ice maker to operate reliably at temperatures below 0°C while being positioned in the fresh food compartment that is maintained above 0°C.
Solution Approach 2:
The cooling system is segmented into separate cooling zones: the freezing fingers and mold are cooled independently by a dedicated refrigerant conduit, while the rest of the fresh food compartment is maintained at refrigeration temperatures above 0°C. This segmentation allows the ice making portion to operate at sub-zero temperatures without affecting the overall compartment temperature.
3Temperature
If conventional refrigerant cooling is used in the fresh food compartment, then cooling is provided, but temperature control precision is insufficient for ice making
Solution Approach 1:
The invention incorporates a temperature sensor positioned adjacent to one of the mold cavities to monitor the temperature at the ice making location. The controller receives signals from this sensor and uses the temperature feedback to control the refrigerant flow through the conduit, maintaining the freezing fingers at the precise temperature needed for reliable ice making (below 0°C) while the rest of the fresh food compartment remains above 0°C.
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
Enables efficient ice production in the fresh food compartment with temperature control, overcoming the limitations of traditional placements and temperature fluctuations.
Implementation Method 1
A conduit is provided in thermal communication with the plurality of freezing fingers for transporting refrigerant and cooling an exposed surface of the freezing fingers to a temperature below zero degrees (0°C) Centigrade to freeze the water into ice pieces
Implementation Method 2
An evaporator is provided to evaporate the refrigerant
Implementation Method 3
A compressor is provided to compress the refrigerant
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 2A
AI summary
Provided is a method and system for forming ice pieces with an ice maker that includes a mold defining a plurality of cavities for receiving water to be frozen into ice pieces. A processor controls delivery of a refrigerant to freeze water received in the plurality of cavities into ice pieces. A freeze signal transmitted by a temperature sensor embedded within the mold is received by the processor, the freeze signal indicating that a temperature of a portion of the mold adjacent to the temperature sensor has reached a freeze temperature where the water in at least one of the cavities has achieved a frozen state to initiate harvesting of the frozen ice pieces. Defrosting a system evaporator can also be coordinated with operation of the ice maker.