refrigerator
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing refrigerators struggle to produce ice with uniform transparency regardless of shape, and the existing methods for controlling ice transparency and making rate are inadequate.
Innovation Solution
A refrigerator system with a controller that adjusts the amount of cold supply and heating of a transparent ice heater based on operation mode, user preference, and ice bin fullness to achieve uniform transparency and control the ice making rate.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If water is cooled in the ice making cell to produce ice, then ice is made, but bubbles are trapped in the ice making cell making the ice opaque
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies parameter changes by controlling the heater to operate during specific time periods in the ice making process. The heater is turned on during initial cooling to facilitate bubble movement and turned off or reduced when ice solidification is complete, dynamically adjusting thermal parameters to achieve both productivity and transparency.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements continuous useful action by maintaining heater operation throughout the ice making process rather than using intermittent heating. The heater continuously facilitates bubble movement from the ice making cell during the entire cooling period, ensuring consistent transparency while maintaining ice making rate.
2Manufacturing precision
If the heater heating amount is increased to maintain transparency when water volume is reduced, then ice transparency is improved, but the heating control becomes complex and cannot achieve uniform transparency throughout the ice
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by positioning the heater at a specific location adjacent to the ice making cell and controlling it to heat localized regions where bubbles are present. This targeted heating approach achieves uniform transparency throughout the ice without requiring complex overall heating control systems.
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 ice with uniform transparency by controlling cold and heating to manage bubble movement, ensuring consistent transparency and making rate, addressing shape and user-specific transparency needs.
Implementation Method 1
convection occurs in the water to make transparent ice
Implementation Method 2
a heater disposed adjacent to the second tray assembly, wherein the controller controls the heater to be turned on in at least partial section while the cooler supplies the cold
Implementation Method 3
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
Figure 1(a)~1(b)
Figure 2~3
Figure 4
AI summary
The present invention relates to a refrigerator. The refrigerator according to the present invention comprises: a first tray forming a part of an ice-making cells; a second tray forming the other part of the ice-making cells; a heater for supplying heat to the ice making cells; a cooler for supplying cold to a storage compartment; and a control unit for controlling the heater and the cooler. The operation modes of the refrigerator include a first mode and a second mode. The control unit may control so that either or both of the amounts of cooling by the cooler and the amount of heating by the heater vary in the first mode and the second mode.