Abstract:
Disclosed herein are an ice-making unit, which uses a cooling unit in which a refrigerant pipe is received, and a refrigerator having the same. The cooling unit includes a cooler for conduction of coldness, an inner surface of the cooler coming into direct contact with the refrigerant pipe, realizing a direct cooling type ice making operation. A rotatable tray is provided under the cooling unit, so that an ice-separating member attached to the cooling unit pushes ice upon rotation of the tray, allowing the ice to be discharged in a direction opposite to the rotating direction of the tray.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
       [0001]    This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 2009-0055778, filed on Jun. 23, 2009 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0002]    1. Field 
         [0003]    Embodiments relate to a refrigerator including a direct-cooling type ice-making unit, which may enhance ice making performance and reduce energy loss caused during an ice making operation. 
         [0004]    2. Description of the Related Art 
         [0005]    Generally, a refrigerator includes a refrigerating compartment and a freezing compartment, which are separated from each other for optimum fresh storage of a variety of foods for a long time. The refrigerating compartment serves to keep food, such as vegetables, fruits, etc., at a temperature slightly above freezing. The freezing compartment serves to keep food, such as meats, fishes, etc., at a freezing temperature or less. 
         [0006]    An icemaker is installed in the freezing compartment and serves to freeze water into ice using cold air that circulates in the freezing compartment. 
         [0007]    The icemaker includes a tray in which water is frozen into ice, and a storage container for storage of ice. 
         [0008]    Icemakers may be classified, based on ice making methods thereof, into an indirect cooling type icemaker, a tray of which is cooled by forcible convection of cold air supplied thereto so that water received in the tray is frozen into ice, and a direct cooling type icemaker. The direct cooling type includes a tray. Either the tray, or water received in the tray, comes into direct contact with a refrigerant pipe for ice making. Generally, an automatic icemaker for a domestic refrigerator is of an indirect cooling type, in which water supply, ice making, and ice separating operations are automatically carried out based on a temperature of a tray. 
         [0009]    The above-described indirect cooling type icemaker adopts a relatively simple ice separating mechanism, simplified convenient cooling method, and easy manufacture thereof. However, due to the use of a high capacity heater for an ice separating operation, this type of icemaker may consume substantial electricity and increase the temperature of an ice-making chamber or a freezing compartment. Furthermore, the indirect cooling type icemaker may have low efficiency and tardy ice-making speed because cold air produced via heat exchange of an evaporator is forcibly circulated to cool the tray via operation of a blower fan. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0010]    Therefore, it is an aspect to provide an ice-making unit to achieve enhanced ice-making performance and reduced energy loss during an ice making operation and a refrigerator having the same. 
         [0011]    Additional aspects will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. 
         [0012]    The foregoing and/or aspects are achieved by providing an ice-making unit including a refrigerant pipe through which a refrigerant moves, a cooling unit in which at least a part of the refrigerant pipe is received, and a tray having a receiving region in which water or ice is received, at least a part of the cooling unit being placed in the receiving region to come into contact with the water received in the tray so as to freeze the water into ice. 
         [0013]    The cooling unit may include a case defining an external appearance of the cooling unit and a cooler to conduct coldness to the receiving region, and an inner surface of the cooler may come into direct contact with the refrigerant pipe arranged inside the cooler. 
         [0014]    The cooler may be located at a lower end of the cooling unit, and the tray may be located under the cooler. 
         [0015]    The refrigerant pipe arranged in the cooling unit may be wound into multiple layers to circulate the interior of the cooling unit. 
         [0016]    The refrigerant pipe arranged in the cooling unit may have a serpentine circulating pattern. 
         [0017]    At least a part of the cooling unit may have a curvature. The cooler may contain at least one of highly thermally conductive metal and plastic. The metal may include at least one of aluminum and copper. The cooler may include a coating layer for easy separation of the ice. 
         [0018]    The cooling unit may further include an ice-separating member provided at a side thereof to eject the ice. The cooling unit may be tilted from an imaginary vertical plane to a given direction. 
         [0019]    The tray may be rotatably provided. The ice-separating member may be arranged to come into contact with the ice so as to push the ice by rotation of the tray, causing the ice to be discharged in a direction opposite to a rotating direction of the tray. A tilting angle of the cooling unit from the vertical plane may be in a range of about 30° to about 60°. A rotating angle of the tray may be in a range of about 0° to about 150°. 
         [0020]    The receiving region may include a plurality of cubes divided by a plurality of partitions, and two of the cubes located at opposite distal ends of the receiving region may have narrower water receiving spaces than the other cubes. 
         [0021]    The cooling unit may include a heater for easy separation of the ice. 
         [0022]    The cooling unit may include a heat insulating material filled therein. 
         [0023]    The ice-making unit may further include a tray motor to rotate the tray, and an ice-full lever to sense whether or not a storage container, in which the ice discharged from the ice-making unit is stored, is full of ice, and operation of the tray motor may be linked to operation of the ice-full lever. 
         [0024]    The foregoing and/or other aspects may be achieved by providing a refrigerator including an ice-making unit to make ice, and an ice-making container in which the ice discharged from the ice-making unit is stored, the ice-making unit including a refrigerant pipe through which a refrigerant circulated by a refrigeration cycle moves, a cooling unit to surround a part of the refrigerant pipe, and a rotatable tray having a receiving region in which water or ice is received, a lower portion of the cooling unit being immersed in the water received in the receiving region to freeze the water into ice. 
         [0025]    The lower portion of the cooling unit may contain at least one of highly thermally conductive metal and plastic. 
         [0026]    The cooling unit may include a case defining an external appearance of the cooling unit and a cooler to conduct coldness to the receiving region, and the case may include an ice-separating member fixed to a side of the case to eject the ice. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0027]    These and/or other aspects will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which: 
           [0028]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view illustrating an entire configuration of a refrigerator according to one embodiment; 
           [0029]      FIG. 2  is a side sectional view illustrating a freezing compartment of the refrigerator according to the embodiment; 
           [0030]      FIG. 3  is a perspective view illustrating an ice-making unit according to the embodiment; 
           [0031]      FIG. 4  is an exploded perspective view illustrating the ice-making unit of  FIG. 3 ; 
           [0032]      FIG. 5  is a sectional view taken along the line I-I of  FIG. 3 ; 
           [0033]      FIG. 6  is a sectional view taken along the line II-II of  FIG. 3 ; 
           [0034]      FIG. 7  is a plan sectional view of a cooling unit according to another embodiment; and 
           [0035]      FIG. 8  is a perspective view illustrating the interior of a refrigerator according to a further embodiment. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0036]    Reference will now be made in detail to the embodiments, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout. 
         [0037]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view illustrating a refrigerator according to one embodiment, and  FIG. 2  is a side sectional view illustrating a freezing compartment of the refrigerator. 
         [0038]    The refrigerator, as shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 , includes a body  10  defining an external appearance of the refrigerator, storage compartments  20  and  30  defined vertically lengthwise in the body  10  and having open front sides, doors  11  and  12  to open or close the open front sides of the storage compartments  20  and  30 , an icemaker  100  provided in one of the storage compartments  20  and  30 , i.e. the freezing compartment  30 , and a dispenser  40  to discharge ice made in the icemaker  100  to a front surface of the door  12  of the freezing compartment  30 . 
         [0039]    An evaporator  13  used to produce cold air is mounted to a rear wall of the body  10 , and a machine room  14  is defined in a rear bottom region of the body  10 . Also, a foam material  57  for heat insulation is filled between an outer shell  10   b  and an inner shell  10   a  of the body  10 . 
         [0040]    Electric elements, such as a compressor  16 , etc., are arranged in the machine room  14  defined in the body  10 . Both the storage compartments  20  and  30  are located above the machine room  14 . 
         [0041]    The body  10  also contains a variety of constituent elements of a refrigeration cycle, such as, e.g., a condenser (not shown) and an evaporator (not shown). To realize the refrigeration cycle, refrigerant circulates through the compressor  16 , condenser, evaporator, and an ice-making unit  105  that will be described hereinafter. 
         [0042]    The storage compartments  20  and  30  are horizontally separated from each other by a vertical partition  17 . The refrigerating compartment  20 , which is located at the right side of the drawing, preserves food in a refrigerated state, and the freezing compartment  30 , which is located at the left side of the drawing, preserves food in a frozen state. 
         [0043]    An inner panel  19  is erected in a rear region of the storage compartments  20  and  30 , to define a cold air producing chamber  23  in which cold air to be supplied into the storage compartments  20  and  30  is produced. The evaporator  13  is arranged in the cold air producing chamber  23  and serves to produce cold air via heat exchange with air. 
         [0044]    The inner panel  19  is perforated with a plurality of discharge holes  19   a  by predetermined intervals, to allow cold air to be uniformly distributed and discharged into the storage compartments  20  and  30 . The inner panel  19  also defines a cold air path  19   b  to guide cold air to the discharge holes  19   a . A circulating fan  18  is provided to blow cold air, which is heat-exchanged while passing through the evaporator  13 , toward the cold air path  19   b  and discharge holes  19   a.    
         [0045]    The storage compartments  20  and  30  contain shelves  21  and  31  and storage boxes  22  and  32 , for food storage. 
         [0046]    A pair of the doors  11  and  12  is provided to open or close the refrigerating compartment  20  and freezing compartment  30 , respectively. Specifically, the doors  11  and  12  include a refrigerating compartment door  11  rotatably coupled to the body  10  to open or close the refrigerating compartment  20 , and the freezing compartment door  12  rotatably coupled to the body  10  to open or close the freezing compartment  30 . 
         [0047]    A plurality of door shelves  11   a  and  12   a  for food storage is provided at inner surfaces of the refrigerating compartment door  11  and freezing compartment door  12 . 
         [0048]    The dispenser  40  is provided at the freezing compartment door  12 , to allow a user to discharge a substance, such as water or ice, without opening the door  12 . The icemaker  100  is arranged in a top region of the freezing compartment  30  and serves to supply ice to the dispenser  40 . 
         [0049]    The dispenser  40  includes a discharge region  42  in the form of a space indented inward from the front surface of the freezing compartment door  12 , a discharge opening  41  located at a side of the discharge region  42  for discharge of a substance therethrough, an opening/closing member  43  to open or close the discharge opening  41 , an operating lever  44  arranged in the discharge region  42  and serving not only to operate the opening/closing member  43  but also to operate the icemaker  100  provided in the freezing compartment  30 , and an ice discharge passage  45  extending from a rear surface to the front surface of the freezing compartment door  12  to guide ice from the icemaker  100  to the discharge opening  41 . 
         [0050]    The icemaker  100  provided in the top region of the freezing compartment  30  may include the ice-making unit  105  to make ice, a storage container  180  arranged under the ice-making unit  105 , in which the ice made in the ice-making unit  105  is stored, a delivery unit  190  to deliver the ice stored in the storage container  180 , and a crusher  200  in which the ice delivered from the delivery unit  190  is crushed into crushed ice. 
         [0051]    The ice-making unit  105  will be described in detail hereinafter. 
         [0052]    The storage container  180  is arranged under the ice-making unit  105 . The storage container  180  includes a receiving region  181  extending lengthwise from the front to the rear and having an open upper side to receive ice falling from the ice-making unit  105 , an ice outlet  183  perforated in a front bottom position thereof for discharge of ice, and a cover  185  coupled to a front end of the storage container  180  to cover a front side of the icemaker  100 . 
         [0053]    The storage container  180  takes the form of a drawer to be pushed into or pulled out of the freezing compartment  30 . The cover  185  has vent holes  186  for interchange between cold air of the freezing compartment  30  and cold air of the icemaker  100 . 
         [0054]    The delivery unit  190  includes a spiral delivery member  191  and a delivery motor  193 . The spiral delivery member  191  is rotatably installed in the storage container  180  and serves to deliver ice inside the discharge container  180  toward the ice outlet  183 . The delivery motor  193  is secured at a rear position of the storage container  180  and serves to rotate the spiral delivery member  191 . The spiral delivery member  191  is separated from a shaft of the delivery motor  193  when the storage container  180  is separated from the freezing compartment  30  and is coupled to the shaft of the delivery motor  193  when the storage container  180  is mounted into the freezing compartment  30 . 
         [0055]    The crusher  200  is located toward the ice outlet  183  in the storage container  180 . The crusher  200 , as shown in  FIG. 2 , includes a stator blade  201  kept at a fixed position near the ice outlet  183 , and a plurality of rotator blades  203  installed to be rotated relative to the stator blade  201 . The rotator blades  203  are coupled to a shaft  205  extending from the spiral delivery member  191  of the delivery unit  190 . Thus, the rotator blades  203  of the crusher  200  are rotated when the spiral delivery member  191  is rotated by operation of the delivery motor  193 . 
         [0056]    The crusher  200  may further include a shutter (not shown), which is designed to partially close or open the ice outlet  183  for discharge of ice cubes or crushed ice. The configuration of the shutter is generally known and thus, illustration thereof in the drawings is omitted. 
         [0057]    For example, the shutter may include an opening/closing member rotatably coupled to the ice outlet  183 , a solenoid drive device to enable opening/closing operation of the opening/closing member, and a connecting member to connect the solenoid drive device and opening/closing member to each other. 
         [0058]    Hereinafter, the ice-making unit  105  according to the embodiment will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
         [0059]      FIG. 3  is a perspective view illustrating the ice-making unit according to the embodiment,  FIG. 4  is an exploded perspective view illustrating the ice-making unit of  FIG. 3 ,  FIG. 5  is a sectional view taken along the line I-I of  FIG. 3 , and  FIG. 6  is a sectional view taken along the line II-II of  FIG. 3 . 
         [0060]    As shown in  FIGS. 3 to 6 , the ice-making unit  105  includes a cooling unit  110  for ice making, a tray  150  located under the cooling unit  110 , in which a receiving region  155  for storage of water or ice is defined, an ice-full lever  175  to sense whether or not the storage container  180  is full of ice, and a fixing member  177  to fixedly mount the ice-making unit  105  to the body  10 . 
         [0061]    The cooling unit  110  includes a case  120  defining an external appearance of the cooling unit  110 , a cooler  115  provided at a lower end of the case  120  for conduction of coldness, and a plurality of ice-separating members  130  arranged on a side of the case  120  and serving to eject ice into the storage container  180 . A refrigerant pipe  13   a  extending from the evaporator  13  is connected to an upper lateral position of the cooling unit  110 . 
         [0062]    The cooling unit  110 , as shown in  FIGS. 4 and 5 , is tilted from an imaginary vertical plane by a predetermined angle X 1  to the right side of the drawing. The refrigerant pipe  13   a  connected to the evaporator  13  penetrates through the cooling unit  110  to circulate the interior of the cooling unit  110 . 
         [0063]    The tilting angle X 1  of the cooling unit  110  is in a range of 30° to 60° and more specifically, may be 45°. The reason for tilting the cooling unit  110  is to assist an ice discharge function of the ice-separating members  130  attached to the cooling unit  110  when ice is discharged by rotation of the tray  150 , as will be described hereinafter. 
         [0064]    The cooling unit  110  contains a single refrigerant pipe  112  therein. The refrigerant pipe  112  is wound into multiple layers and circulates throughout the interior of the cooling unit  110 . Specifically, the refrigerant pipe  112  inside the cooler  115  comes into direct contact with the cooler  115  such that the wound layers of the refrigerant pipe  112  densely overlap one another. This arrangement is adopted to facilitate conduction of coldness via the cooler  115 . A heat-insulating material  125  is filled in an interior region of the cooling unit  110 , except for the region where the refrigerant pipe  112  is arranged. 
         [0065]    The cooler  115  has a curvature, more particularly, a constant curvature. That is, the cooler  115  has a curved surface of a constant bending degree. In addition, the cooler  115  may have the same center of curvature O as the receiving region  155  that will be described hereinafter. Also, it may be effective to make the cooler  115  of a highly thermally conductive material, in order to enhance conduction efficiency of coldness. The cooler  115  contains highly thermally conductive metal or plastic and thus, may be made of aluminum or copper. In the embodiment, the cooler  115  may take the form of a curved aluminum plate  124 . 
         [0066]    A coating layer  126  may be provided on an outer surface of the cooler  115 , to assure easy separation from ice A made in the tray  150 . 
         [0067]    Also, a heater  122  may be attached to an inner surface of the cooler  115 , to facilitate easy separation of the ice A. 
         [0068]    The tray  150  is rotatably provided at the bottom of the cooling unit  110 . For rotation thereof, the tray  150  is connected to a tray motor  170  that is installed in the fixing member  177 . 
         [0069]    The tray  150  includes the receiving region  155  for storage of water or ice and in turn, the receiving region  155  is divided into a plurality of cubes  160  by a plurality of partitions  163 . Although the term ‘ice cubes’ is used, it would be understood that this is a general term, and the formed ice does not necessarily have to be cubical. The receiving region  155  may have a curvature, more particularly, a constant curvature. The receiving region  155  has the same center of curvature O as the cooler  115  and this configuration serves to facilitate an ice separating operation by rotation of the tray  150 . 
         [0070]    A pair of cubes  165   a  and  165   b , located at opposite distal ends of the receiving region  155 , provides narrower water receiving spaces than the other cubes  160 . As shown in  FIG. 6 , although the refrigerant pipe  112  comes into contact with the cooler  115 , both distal portions  112   a  and  112   b  of the refrigerant pipe  112  are distant from a surface of the cooler  115 , thus having reduction in conduction efficiency of coldness. Thus, by reducing the width of the cubes  165   a  and  165   b  provided at opposite distal ends of the receiving region  155  to achieve the narrower water receiving space, uniform ice-making speed of the respective cubes  160  may be accomplished. 
         [0071]    The tray  150  is rotated by the tray motor  170  during the ice separating operation to discharge the ice A from the receiving region  155  into the storage container  180 . A rotating angle X 2  of the tray  150  is in a range of 0° to 150°. The range of the rotating angle X 2  may be changed variously in consideration of the tilting angle X 1  of the cooling unit  110 . The tray  150  may be rotated until the tray  150  comes into contact with the surface of the case  120  of the cooling unit  110 . 
         [0072]    The ice-full lever  175  is attached to a side surface of the fixing member  177  and serves to sense whether or not the storage container  180  is full of ice. The ice-full lever  175  is vertically movable to sense the presence of ice in the storage container  180  and the sensed information is transmitted to a controller (not shown). The controller (not shown) controls operation of the tray motor  170  based on the information, causing the tray  150  to be rotated in a tilted direction of the cooling unit  110 . That is, the operation of the tray motor  170  is linked to operation of the ice-full lever  175 . 
         [0073]    The fixing member  177  is coupled to the body  10  of the refrigerator and serves not only to receive the tray motor  170  therein, but also to support the ice-full lever  175 . 
         [0074]    Hereinafter, operation of the ice-making unit according to the embodiment will be described. 
         [0075]    Water is filled into the receiving region  155  of the tray  150  through a water supply pipe  15 , and refrigerant flowing through the refrigerant pipe  13   a  is moved to the cooling unit  110 . In particular, as the refrigerant pipe  112  comes into contact with an inner surface of the cooler  115  of the cooling unit  110 , coldness of the refrigerant pipe  112  is directly conducted to the outside, serving to freeze the water in the receiving region  155 . Direct conduction of coldness prevents heat and flow losses, achieving enhanced ice-making performance. Moreover, ice is successively formed radially about the cooling unit  110 , facilitating discharge of dissolved gas in the water and resulting in improvement in the transparency of ice. 
         [0076]    After the ice A is made as described above, the heater  122  is operated and the tray motor  170  is driven to rotate the tray  150  in the tilted direction of the cooling unit  110 . As the ice A in the receiving region  155  is brought into contact with the ice-separating members  130  that are kept at fixed positions of the cooling unit  110 , the ice A is pushed by the ice separating members  130 , thereby being ejected in a direction opposite to a rotating direction of the tray  150  and falling into the storage container  180  to fill the storage container  180 . 
         [0077]    Once the storage container  180  is full of the ice A, the ice-full lever  175  senses the presence of ice filled in the storage container  180 , and the ice separating operation is completed. 
         [0078]    Then, if the user attempts to remove the ice via the dispenser  40 , the delivery unit  190  and opening/closing device (not shown) are operated to discharge the ice into the discharge region  42  through the ice outlet  183  and ice discharge passage  45 . As the ice stored in the storage container  180  is discharged and thus, the storage container  180  is no longer full of ice, water is again supplied into the tray  150  to prepare ice making. The above-described ice making and discharge operations are implemented under the control of the controller (not shown). 
         [0079]    Hereinafter, an ice-making unit according to another embodiment will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. A description of the same parts as in the first embodiment will be omitted. 
         [0080]      FIG. 7  is a plan sectional view of a cooling unit according to another embodiment. 
         [0081]    A cooling unit  210  in the secondly-described embodiment has the same configuration as the first embodiment with the exception of the arrangement of a refrigerant pipe  212  that comes into contact with an inner surface of a cooler  215 . The refrigerant pipe  212  is connected to the evaporator  13  and is placed on the inner surface of the cooler  215  in a serpentine circulating pattern. This arrangement of the refrigerant pipe  212  serves to assure efficient conduction of coldness via the cooler  215 . 
         [0082]    The operation of the cooling unit  210  according to the second embodiment is identical to that of the first embodiment. 
         [0083]    Hereinafter, a refrigerator according to still another embodiment will be described. A description of the same parts as in the first embodiment will be omitted. 
         [0084]      FIG. 8  is a perspective view illustrating the interior of a refrigerator according to a further embodiment. 
         [0085]    As shown in  FIG. 8 , the refrigerator includes an ice-making chamber  500  separately defined in the refrigerating compartment  20 , and an icemaker  600  is placed in the ice-making chamber  500 . 
         [0086]    Similar to the first embodiment, the icemaker  600  may include the ice-making unit  105 , storage container  180 , delivery unit  190 , and crusher  200 , and configurations and functions thereof may be identical to those of the first embodiment. 
         [0087]    Specifically, a conventional indirect cooling type ice-making method is greatly affected by a temperature of outside air. Therefore, even if an icemaker is arranged in the refrigerating compartment, the icemaker may exhibit considerable deterioration in ice-making performance under the influence of a temperature of the refrigerating compartment  20 . However, the embodiment of  FIG. 8  employs a direct cooling type ice-making method and thus, is not greatly affected by a temperature of outside air. 
         [0088]    Accordingly, the icemaker  600  may be installed in the refrigerating compartment  20 , and effective ice-making using the ice-making unit  105  may be accomplished in the refrigerating compartment  20  as well as the freezing compartment  30 . 
         [0089]    As is apparent from the above description, a refrigerator according to the embodiment of  FIG. 8  is configured such that a cooler provided with a refrigerant pipe comes into direct contact with water to freeze the water into ice. This direct cooling type ice making configuration may result in enhanced ice making performance (i.e. greater ice making capacity and faster ice making speed). 
         [0090]    Further, the refrigerator according to the embodiment may accomplish an ice making operation without heat exchange with an evaporator, achieving enhanced operational efficiency without heat and flow losses. 
         [0091]    Although a few embodiments have been shown and described, it would 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 embodiments, the scope of which is defined in the claims and their equivalents.