Rotating Ice Tray Assembly for Fresh-Food Compartment Ice Making
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional refrigerators with bottom-mount configurations face challenges in placing ice makers within the fresh food compartment, which is typically above freezing temperature, leading to temperature fluctuations and partial melting of ice due to exposure to ambient conditions, requiring complex assembly and ice transportation systems.
Innovation Solution
An ice maker is disposed within the fresh food compartment with a rotatable ice mold and evaporator, allowing it to pivot between ice-forming and ice-harvesting positions, while maintaining a stationary evaporator for cooling, and includes a heater for ice separation and a drip tray for water collection, ensuring efficient ice production and storage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the ice maker is disposed within the fresh food compartment, then the ice maker can be accessed at a convenient height, but the ice pieces are exposed to ambient temperature causing partial melting
Solution Approach 1:
The ice maker is segmented into a rotatable ice mold assembly that can be positioned in different orientations. The mold rotates to an ice-harvesting position where ice pieces are deposited into a storage bin, separating the ice formation process from the storage area to minimize exposure to ambient temperature.
Solution Approach 2:
The ice mold is configured to rotate between an ice-forming position and an ice-harvesting position, utilizing rotational movement to transition between functions. This dimensional change allows the ice to be formed and then harvested into a protected storage area, reducing exposure to warm ambient air.
2Ease of operation
If the ice maker is disposed within the fresh food compartment, then convenient access is provided, but complex conveyor systems are required to transport ice pieces
Solution Approach 1:
The ice mold itself serves as the transportation mechanism. By rotating the mold to the ice-harvesting position, the ice pieces are automatically deposited into the storage bin through gravity, eliminating the need for separate conveyor systems or mechanical ice delivery mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of using a conveyor system to transport ice from the freezer to the fresh food compartment, the invention inverts the approach by having the ice mold rotate and deposit ice directly into a storage bin within the fresh food compartment, eliminating the need for complex transportation infrastructure.
3Device complexity
If the ice mold is stationary, then the structure is simple, but ice pieces cannot be efficiently harvested without complex mechanisms
Solution Approach 1:
The ice mold is made dynamic by enabling rotation between ice-forming and ice-harvesting positions. This simple rotational movement allows efficient ice harvesting by positioning the mold over the storage bin, where ice pieces are automatically deposited, improving productivity without adding complex mechanisms.
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 enables effective ice production and storage within the fresh food compartment without the need for elaborate conveyor systems, minimizing ice melting and simplifying assembly by maintaining controlled cooling and ice harvesting.
Implementation Method 1
an ice maker evaporator disposed adjacent the ice mold and dedicated to cooling the ice mold to a temperature below zero degrees Centigrade
Implementation Method 2
A heater is rotatable with the ice mold and operable to provide a heating effect to the ice mold to thereby separate congealed ice pieces from the ice mold during an ice harvesting operation
Implementation Method 3
A refrigeration system comprises a system evaporator for providing a cooling effect to at least one of the fresh food and freezer compartments
Data Source
AI summary
A refrigeration appliance includes a fresh food compartment and a freezer compartment. An ice maker with an ice mold is disposed within the fresh food compartment for freezing water into ice pieces. A refrigeration system includes a system evaporator and an ice maker evaporator dedicated to cooling the ice mold. A frame rotatably supports the ice mold within the fresh food compartment between an ice-forming position and an ice-harvesting position. The frame supports the ice maker evaporator at a stationary position that serves as a pivot axis for the ice mold so the ice mold can rotate around the ice maker evaporator between the ice-forming position and the ice-harvesting position, while the ice maker evaporator remains stationary. In one example, a heater is rotatable with the ice mold, and a drip tray is located underneath ice mold and rotatable with the ice mold.