Abstract:
An icemaker to freeze water into ice, includes an ice cube tray formed with cubes to be filled with the water. The icemaker also includes an ultrasonic vibrator attached to the ice cube tray, to apply ultrasonic vibration to the ice cube tray to undulate the water filled in the cubes. Thus, air included in water filled in cubes of an ice cube tray is uniformly removed.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
       [0001]     This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 2004-63617, filed on Aug. 12, 2004, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0003]     The present invention relates to an icemaker, and more particularly, to an icemaker having an improved structure of an ultrasonic vibrator.  
         [0004]     2. Description of the Related Art  
         [0005]     Generally, an icemaker is used to freeze water into ice, and is widely employed in household appliances such as a refrigerator and a water purifier. Quality of the icemaker is determined according to transparency and strength of ice made thereby.  
         [0006]     A conventional icemaker includes an ice cube tray, a water supply to supply water into the ice cube tray, and a driver to twist the ice cube tray to release the ice from the ice cube tray. The conventional icemaker also includes an ice reservoir to receive the ice fallen from the ice cube tray and an air removing unit to remove air from water filled in the ice cube tray.  
         [0007]     When an icemaking process begins, the water is frozen at a surface thereof. Thus, the air included in the water cannot be discharged from the water. The air included in the ice deteriorates the transparency and the strength of the ice, thereby causing the ice to be easily broken when the ice is released from the ice cube tray. To solve this problem, there has been used a method of undulating the water filled in the ice cube tray. An icemaker, which undulates the water filled in the ice cube tray includes a reciprocating unit to reciprocate the ice cube tray or an ultrasonic vibrator to directly vibrate the water. The icemaker including the reciprocating unit and ultrasonic vibrator are disclosed in Korean Patent Application Nos. 1995-18572 and 2001-26283, respectively.  
         [0008]     A structure of the reciprocating unit is complicated and difficult to install. Also, efficiency of removing the air from water filled in the ice cube tray is not good.  
         [0009]     The structure of the ultrasonic vibrator is relatively simple. However, ultrasonic vibration of the ultrasonic vibrator is not uniformly applied to the water filled in the ice cube tray and partitioned into a plurality of cubes. Thus, the efficiency of removing the air from water filled in the ice cube tray is not uniform.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0010]     Accordingly, it is an aspect of the present invention to provide an icemaker in which air included in water filled in cubes of an ice cube tray is uniformly removed.  
         [0011]     Additional aspects and/or advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.  
         [0012]     The foregoing and/or other aspects of the present invention are also achieved by providing an icemaker to freeze water into ice. The icemaker includes an ice cube tray formed with cubes to be filled with the water, and an ultrasonic vibrator attached to the ice cube tray, to apply ultrasonic vibration to the ice cube tray to undulate the water filled in the cubes.  
         [0013]     According to an aspect of the present invention, the ultrasonic vibrator is attached to an outer side of the ice cube tray.  
         [0014]     According to an aspect of the present invention, the ultrasonic vibrator is detachably provided in the ice cube tray.  
         [0015]     According to an aspect of the present invention, the ultrasonic vibrator is plurally provided in the ice cube tray. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0016]     The above and/or other aspects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompany drawings of which:  
         [0017]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of an icemaker, according to an embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0018]      FIG. 2  is an exploded perspective view of the icemaker of  FIG. 1 ;  
         [0019]      FIG. 3  is a perspective view illustrating an operation of the icemaker of  FIG. 1 ; and  
         [0020]      FIG. 4  is a plan view of an ice cube tray of the icemaker of  FIG. 2 . 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0021]     Reference will now be made in detail to the embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout. The embodiments are described below in order to explain the present invention by referring to the figures.  
         [0022]     As shown in  FIGS. 1 through 4 , an icemaker according to an embodiment of the present invention includes an ice cube tray  20  formed with a plurality of cubes  22 , a driver  30  coupled with the ice cube tray  20 , to rotate the ice cube tray  20 , and a stopper  40  cto contact one end of the rotated ice cube tray  20  to cause the ice cube tray  20  to be twisted. The icemaker also includes a supporting bracket  50  to support the ice cube tray  20  and the driver  30 , an ice reservoir  60  placed under the ice cube tray  20  to receive ice released from the ice cube tray  20 , and an ultrasonic vibrator  70  coupled to the ice cube tray  20 , to vibrate the ice cube tray  20 .  
         [0023]     The ice cube tray  20  has a rectangular shape, and its opposite sides thereof are provided with a driver coupling groove  24  to be coupled with a rotating shaft (not shown) of the driver  30 . The ice cube tray  20  also includes a supporting shaft  26  to be stably and rotatably supported in the supporting bracket  50 .  
         [0024]     The plurality of cubes  22  of the ice cube tray  20  are arranged along longitudinal and transverse directions, allowing the ice cube tray  20  to make a plurality of ice pieces. Ice may be released from the cube  22  when the driver  30  rotates and twists the ice cube tray  20 .  
         [0025]     The driver  30  includes a motor (not shown) to generate a rotational force. The driver  30  also includes the rotating shaft (not shown) to connect the motor with the driver coupling groove  24  and to transfer the rotational force from the motor to the ice cube tray  20 , rotating the ice cube tray  20  at a predetermined angle. The driver  30  may be selected among well-known drivers.  
         [0026]     The stopper  40  is provided in one side of the supporting bracket  50 , to stop one side of the ice cube tray  20  from rotating, twisting the ice cube tray  20 . A shape and position of the stopper may vary as long as the ice cube tray  20  is supported and twisted.  
         [0027]     The supporting bracket  50  is connected to the ice cube tray  20  and the driver  30 . The supporting bracket  50  has a supporting shaft coupling groove  52  at one side to which the supporting shaft  26  of the ice cube tray  20  is coupled and supported.  
         [0028]     The ultrasonic vibrator  70  vibrates the ice cube tray  20  and indirectly undulates water filled in the cubes  22  of the ice cube tray  20 , discharging air from the water. Thus, the air is uniformly removed from the water filled in the cubes  22  of the ice cube tray  20 .  
         [0029]     The ultrasonic vibrator  70  is attached to an outer side of the ice cube tray  20 . A position of the ultrasonic vibrator may vary as long the ice cube tray vibrates. Further, the ultrasonic vibrator may be plurally provided as necessary.  
         [0030]     Also, the ultrasonic vibrator may be detachably provided in the ice cube tray  20 . Therefore, when the quality of the ice is not important, for example, when a shattered ice is needed, the ultrasonic vibrator may be detached from the ice cube tray  20 .  
         [0031]     According to the configuration above, operations of the icemaker will be described hereinbelow with respect to  FIG. 3 .  
         [0032]     First, the cubes  22  of the ice cube tray  20  is filled with water supplied from a water supply. Then, the water filled in the cubes  22  is frozen into the ice by driving a freezing unit (not shown). While the water is frozen into the ice, the ultrasonic vibrator  70  vibrates the ice cube tray  20 , discharging the air from the water.  
         [0033]     After the water is frozen in to the ice, the driver  30  drives the ice cube tray  20  in order to release the ice from the cubes  22 . The ice cube tray  20  rotates at a predetermined angle and contacts the stopper  40  provided in one side of the supporting bracket  50 .  
         [0034]     The driver  30  continues to drive the ice cube tray  20  to rotate in a state in which one side of the ice cube tray  20  is supported by the stopper  40 , one side of the ice cube tray  20  is stopped by the stopper  40  and the other side thereof continues to rotate, thereby twisting the ice cube tray  20 . Thus, the ice is released from the cubes  22  and fallen into the ice reservoir  60  placed under the ice cube tray  20 .  
         [0035]     In the above-described embodiment, the ultrasonic vibrator  70  is applied to the icemaker to twist the ice cube tray  20  and to release the ice from the ice cube tray  20 . However, the ultrasonic vibrator may be applied to the icemaker including a heater and an ice releasing blade to release the ice from the ice cube tray. In this case, the ultrasonic vibrator should be placed such that the ultrasonic vibrator is not affected by the heater.  
         [0036]     As described above, the present invention provides an icemaker in which an ultrasonic vibrator is attached to an ice cube tray, so that the ultrasonic vibrator is easily installed and air is uniformly discharged from water filled in cubes of the ice cube tray, enhancing the transparency and the strength of the ice.  
         [0037]     Although a few embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the appended claims and their equivalents.