Tilting Refrigerator Ice Bucket for Easier Door Access
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing ice storage solutions in refrigerators, particularly those on the fresh food compartment door, are inconvenient for users as they require additional insulation and often necessitate complete removal of the ice storage bucket for access, making it difficult to store and retrieve ice.
Innovation Solution
A removable and tiltable ice storage bucket with cylindrical protrusions and a mounting plate system that allows for secure fixation and rotation, enabling convenient access and removal of ice by sliding along guide members and resting at hemispherical indentations, facilitating manual ice harvesting.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If ice is stored in the fresh food compartment door with additional insulation, then ice storage capability is improved, but user accessibility to the ice bin becomes more inconvenient
Solution Approach 1:
The ice storage bucket is divided into a stationary mounting plate and a removable tiltable bucket component. The mounting plate remains fixed in the door while the bucket can be independently tilted or removed, allowing users to access ice without removing the entire ice storage assembly from the door.
Solution Approach 2:
The ice storage bucket is designed with dynamic movement capability through cylindrical protrusions that fit into guide members with hemispherical indentations. This allows the bucket to tilt forward for ice access while maintaining connection to the door, transforming the static ice bin into a dynamically accessible component.
2Ease of operation
If the ice storage bucket is made removable for easy access, then user convenience is improved, but secure fixation and stability during operation become problematic
Solution Approach 1:
The cylindrical protrusions on the bucket nest within the guide members of the mounting plate, with hemispherical indentations providing nested positioning features. This nested structure allows the bucket to be securely held in both the retracted storage position and the tilted access position, ensuring stability during operation.
3Ease of manufacture
If the ice storage bucket requires complete removal for ice access, then ice retrieval is simplified, but user convenience and time efficiency deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of requiring complete removal of the ice storage bucket, the design allows for partial action - tilting the bucket forward on its cylindrical protrusions to expose the ice. This partial movement is sufficient for ice access while avoiding the time-consuming complete removal and reinstallation process.
Data Source
AI summary
A refrigerator includes a refrigerator housing and at least one compartment displaced within the refrigeration housing. There is a door for providing access to one or more of the at least one compartments. There is an ice storage bucket placed beneath an ice making unit for collecting and storing ice. The ice storage bucket includes an open top end and an opposite bottom surface. A first and a second cylindrical protrusion are positioned proximate the bottom surface of the ice storage bucket. There is a mounting plate beneath the ice storage bucket, the mounting plate operatively connected to the door. The first and the second cylindrical protrusions assist in fixation and rotation of the ice storage bucket relative to the mounting plate.