Patent ID: 11920846
Assignee: LG ELECTRONICS INC.
Field: Thermal processes and apparatus (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC F | IPC F

Claim 10:
11. A refrigerator comprising: an ice maker comprising:
a first tray having a first portion of a cell;
a second tray having a second portion of the cell, the first portion and the second portion being configured to define a space formed by the cell;
a liquid supply configured to supply a liquid to the space;
a driver that moves the second tray relative to the first tray such that the second portion of the second tray contacts the first portion of the first tray to form the space of the cell in an ice making process in which the liquid in the space is phase-changed into ice, and that moves the second tray relative to the first tray such that the second portion of the second tray is spaced from the first portion of the first tray in an ice separation process in which the ice is removed from the space of the cell;
a heater provided to provide heat to the cell; and
a controller configured to operate the heater while the ice is being formed so that gas bubbles dissolved in the liquid within the cell move from a portion of space where the liquid that has phase-changed into the ice to another portion of the space where the liquid is in a fluid state,
wherein the first tray includes a first wall forming the first portion of the cell, and the second tray includes a second wall forming the second portion of the cell and made of a flexible material, and
wherein the second wall of the second tray includes a first region through which a vertical center line of the cell passes, and a second region having a distance from a center of the cell to an inner circumferential surface of the second wall that is greater than that of the first region such that the second wall has different degrees of restoration in a circumferential direction of the cell.