Patent Publication Number: US-2012024001-A1

Title: Refrigerator with ice dispenser

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2010-0074264, filed on Jul. 30, 2010, which is hereby incorporated by reference for all purposes as if fully set forth herein. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the invention 
     The present invention relates to a refrigerator having an ice dispenser, and more particularly, to a refrigerator having an ice dispenser for supplying ice. 
     2. Description of the related art 
     A typical refrigerator may include a freezing chamber and a refrigerating chamber, each maintaining a different temperature. On the other hand, various kinds of refrigerators having different numbers and arrangement forms of the freezing chambers and refrigerating chambers have been widely sold in the market over recent years, and so-called a bottom freezer type refrigerator having a refrigerating chamber, which is mainly used, disposed at an upper portion thereof and a freezing chamber disposed at a lower portion thereof has been widely used. Some of such bottom freezer type refrigerators may include an ice maker for making ice and a dispenser for taking it out to the outside of the door, and for the sake of convenience of use, the ice maker and dispenser may be provided at an upper side of the refrigerator, namely, at a refrigerating chamber door. 
     However, when an ice maker is disposed at the side of the refrigerating chamber maintaining a temperature above zero, the stored ice may be melted, thereby causing a problem of being adhered to one another at the time of making ice. In order to solve the foregoing problem, a separate insulating space maintaining a temperature below zero may be provided inside the refrigerating chamber, and an ice maker and an ice bank for storing the made ice may be located inside the insulating space, thereby preventing ice from being melted. 
     However, such an insulating space may cause a problem of occupying a lot of space of the refrigerating chamber as well as inefficiently using an inner space of the refrigerating chamber. Furthermore, an ice maker and an ice bank should be provided inside the limited refrigerating chamber, thereby causing a problem that the capacity of an ice bank cannot be sufficiently increased. In particular, both ice and water are frequently supplied through a dispenser, and thus an apparatus for supplying water should be additionally mounted inside the refrigerating chamber, and for this purpose, the capacity of an ice bank should be further reduced. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention is contrived to overcome the foregoing disadvantages in the related art, and it is a technical task of the present invention to provide a refrigerator capable of more efficiently using an inner space of the refrigerating chamber as well as minimizing the effect of melting ice stored in an ice bank. 
     In order to accomplish the foregoing technical task, according to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a refrigerator including a refrigerator body having a freezing chamber located at a lower portion thereof and a refrigerating chamber located at an upper portion of the freezing chamber; an ice maker located in the freezing chamber; a first ice bank located in the freezing chamber to store ice made by the ice maker; an ice dispenser located at an inner side of the refrigerating chamber; and an ice transfer means configured to transfer the ice stored in the first ice bank to the ice dispenser. 
     In the above aspect of the present invention, an ice maker for producing ice and an ice bank for storing the produced ice may be located in the refrigerating chamber, thereby allowing ice to be stored without being melted, and also ice may be supplied through an ice dispenser located at the side of the refrigerating chamber when ice is needed through an ice transfer means, thereby increasing the use convenience. 
     Here, the ice dispenser may further include a second ice bank for temporarily storing the ice transferred from the first ice bank, thereby allowing the second ice bank to be implemented as a buffer for smoothly supplying ice. Of course, an example of directly supplying ice through an ice dispenser from the first ice bank only when the need arises without using the second ice bank may be taken into consideration. 
     On the other hand, the ice dispenser may be provided at a door for opening and closing the refrigerating chamber, and may be provided inside the refrigerating chamber to be accessible when the refrigerating chamber door is open. When the ice dispenser is provided inside the refrigerating chamber as described above, then ice can be relatively prevented from being melted due to heat outside the refrigerator. 
     Here, the ice transfer means may use any means capable of transferring ice from the first ice bank to the ice dispenser or the second ice bank. As an example, the ice transfer means may include a transfer duct extending between the first ice bank and the second ice bank; an ice chute means configured to put the ice stored in the first ice bank into the transfer duct; and a ventilation means configured to blow air into the transfer duct to pneumatically transfer ice to the second ice bank. 
     Besides, the ice transfer means may include a transfer duct extending between the first ice bank and the second ice bank; and a conveyer belt provided inside the transfer duct to transfer the ice stored in the first ice bank to the second ice bank. 
     Furthermore, the ice transfer means may include a transfer duct extending between the first and the second ice bank; and a spiral-shaped transfer screw provided inside the transfer duct to transfer the ice stored in the first ice bank to the second ice bank by a forward-reverse rotation. 
     On the other hand, the second ice bank may be provided to be exposed to an inner space of the refrigerating chamber, or may be provided in an insulating space insulated from the inner space of the refrigerating chamber. If the second ice bank is provided inside an insulating space, then an internal temperature of the insulating space can be independently controlled from the inside of the refrigerating chamber, thereby preventing ice from being melted. 
     For this purpose, the refrigerator may further include a cool air supply duct extending between the insulating space and the refrigerating chamber. A return duct may be added to allow cool air supplied through the cool air supply duct to be returned to the freezing chamber through it or discharged to the inside of the refrigerating chamber, thereby maintaining an internal temperature of the refrigerating chamber. In this case, cool air can be returned to the freezing chamber through the transfer duct without using a separate return duct. 
     Furthermore, the transfer duct, cool air supply duct or return duct may be embedded in an inner wall of the refrigerator body. More specifically, the ducts may be disposed between an inner case and an outer case constituting the refrigerator body, thereby more efficiently using an inner space of the refrigerator. Here, the refrigerator may further include a damper configured to control an opening angle of a discharge port of the cool air supply duct. According to aspects of the present invention having the foregoing configuration, the produced ice can be stably stored as well as taken out from the freezing chamber without being melted, thereby enhancing the use convenience. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the invention. 
       In the drawings: 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view illustrating a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a longitudinal cross-sectional view schematically illustrating an internal structure of the refrigerator illustrated in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3  is an enlarged cross-sectional view illustrating part of  FIG. 2 ; 
         FIG. 4  is a longitudinal cross-sectional view illustrating a refrigerator according to another embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 5  is a longitudinal cross-sectional view illustrating a refrigerator according to still another embodiment of the present invention; and 
         FIG. 6  is a perspective view illustrating part of a conveyer belt in the embodiment illustrated in  FIG. 5 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Hereinafter, a refrigerator having an ice dispenser according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view schematically illustrating a refrigerator according to a first embodiment of the present invention, and  FIG. 2  is a longitudinal cross-sectional view schematically illustrating an internal structure of the foregoing embodiment, and  FIG. 3  is an enlarged cross-sectional view illustrating part of  FIG. 2 . Referring to  FIGS. 1 through 3 , the refrigerator illustrated in  FIG. 1  is so-called a French door type refrigerator in which a refrigerating chamber is disposed at an upper portion thereof and a freezing chamber is disposed at a lower portion thereof, and the refrigerating chamber can be opened and closed by two doors. Here, the refrigerator may not necessarily have two doors, and an example of opening or closing the refrigerating chamber by one door may be also taken into consideration. 
     As illustrated in the drawing, in a refrigerator according to the present invention, a freezing chamber  2  for storing foods in a freezing state may be formed at a lower side of the refrigerator body  1 , and a refrigerating chamber  3  for storing foods in a refrigerating state may be formed at an upper side of the refrigerator body  1 . Furthermore, a freezing chamber door  4  for opening or closing the freezing chamber  2  in a sliding manner may be provided at the freezing chamber  2 , and a plurality of refrigerating chamber doors  5  for opening or closing the refrigerating chamber  3  at both sides thereof in a hinged manner may be provided at both sides of the refrigerating chamber  3 . Furthermore, a machine chamber  6  provided with a compressor  10  and a condenser  12  may be located at a lower rear portion of the refrigerator body  1 . 
     Furthermore, an evaporator (not shown) connected to the condenser and compressor to supply cool air to the freezing chamber  2  or refrigerating chamber  3  may be typically provided between an outer case and an inner case at a rear surface of the refrigerator body  1 , namely, a rear wall surface of the freezing chamber. However, the evaporator may be inserted and provided in the inside of a side wall surface or upper side wall surface of the freezing chamber or inserted and provided in the inside of the barrier partitioning the freezing chamber  2  and refrigerating chamber  3 . Only one evaporator may be may be provided in the freezing chamber to distribute and supply cool air to the freezing chamber  2  and refrigerating chamber  3 , or an evaporator for the freezing chamber and an evaporator for the refrigerating chamber may be provided therein, respectively, to independently supply cool air to the freezing chamber  2  and refrigerating chamber  3 , respectively. 
     On the other hand, an ice dispenser  100  may be provided inside the refrigerating chamber  3  of the refrigerator body  1 . The ice dispenser  100  may be formed of an insulating material or may have the form of being attached to insulating material to insulate an outer wall body thereof from the inside of the refrigerating chamber  3 . An opening portion  102  may exist at a front surface of the refrigerator. The opening portion  102  allows the user to place a cup or the like thereon to take out ice, and a lever  104  may be rotatably provided at an upper end portion of the opening portion  102 . Though not shown in the drawing, the lever  104  may be provided to receive an elastic force toward the front surface with reference to  FIG. 2  by an elastic means or elastic hinge. 
     A switch  106  may be provided at a rear surface of the lever  104 , and the switch  106  may be configured to be pressed while being rotated, and when the switch  106  is pressed, the supply of ice will be initiated through the ice dispenser  100  by the controller which is not illustrated in the drawing. 
     On the other hand, a transfer duct  110  may be provided at a lower portion of the ice dispenser  100 . The transfer duct  110  may have the shape of a pipe the inside of which is vacant, and may be extended to the freezing chamber through a partition wall  7  partitioning the refrigerating chamber and freezing chamber and extended to the vicinity of the first ice bank  120 . 
     An upper end portion  112  of the transfer duct  110  may be formed to be bend in a semicircular form, and a second ice bank  130  may be provided at a lower portion of the transfer duct  110 . The second ice bank  130  may be connected to a chute  140  via a through hole  132  formed at the bottom surface thereof to store part of ice stored in the first ice bank  120 . The chute  140  may serve as a passage for discharging ice stored in the second ice bank  130 , and a damper  142  may be provided thereinside to control the supply of ice. The operation of the damper  142  may be controlled by the foregoing controller. 
     On the other hand, a ventilation fan  150  may be provided at a lower end portion of the transfer duct  110 . The ventilation fan  150  generates a strong flow of air within the transfer duct  110 , thereby allowing ice to be transferred to the side of the second ice bank  130  through this. More specifically, the ventilation fan  150  may have the form of a centrifugal fan in which air is induced in an axial direction of the impeller by the rotation of the impeller (not shown) provided thereinside and then discharged in a radial direction thereof. The discharge side thereof may be connected to an end portion of the transfer duct  110  and the suction side thereof may be communicated with an inner space of the freezing chamber. Though air discharged by the ventilation fan  150  may be supplied to the inside of the ice dispenser  100  along with ice as described above, the transfer duct  110  may serve as a passage for moving cool air when the ventilation fan  150  is not operated. 
     Specifically, the inside of the ice dispenser  100  may be controlled to have a temperature lower than that of the refrigerating chamber  3 , and to this end, it may be configured that the cool air of the freezing chamber is supplied to the inside of the ice dispenser  100  through a suction port  9 . The supplied cool air may be returned to the freezing chamber through a return duct that can be separately provided therein, but it may be configured to be returned to the freezing chamber through the transfer duct  110 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 3 , the first ice bank  120  is located at a side of the transfer duct  110 , and an ice supply pipe  112  for connecting the first ice bank  120  to the transfer duct  110  is provided to transfer ice stored in the first ice bank  120  to the transfer duct  110 . An ice maker  122  may be provided at an upper portion of the first ice bank  120  to produce ice, and the produced ice may be supplied to the first ice bank  120 . 
     Moreover, the ice stored inside the first ice bank  120  may move toward the bottom portion thereof through the ice supply pipe  112 , and the moved ice may be thrown into the inside of the transfer duct  110  by an auger  114 . The auger  114  may include a spiral-shaped blade in the form of a water turbine, and ice can be sequentially sent one by one to the inside of the transfer duct  110  by the rotation of the blade. Furthermore, an end portion of the spiral-shaped blade also may perform a role of blocking an ice inlet formed at a wall surface of the transfer duct  110  at the side of the freezing chamber, thereby blocking air blown by the ventilation fan  150  to some extent from being induced to the side of the ice supply pipe  112 . 
     Besides, an example of providing a damper for opening and closing a connecting portion of the transfer duct  110  and the auger may be taken into consideration. The damper may be configured to open and close only when ice is supplied by the auger, and provided to be vertically slid along the transfer duct  110 . 
     The ice thrown by the auger  114  may be placed on an ice support portion  116  formed to traverse an inner side of the transfer duct  110 . The ice support portion  116  may be made of a material capable of passing air therethrough, and made of a mesh material in the foregoing embodiment. Here, it may not be necessarily made of a mesh material and may also have a shape that a plurality of vent holes through which air passes are formed. 
     Hereinafter, the operation of the foregoing embodiment will be described. 
     Ice produced by the  122  is first supplied to the first ice bank  120 . Then, if it is detected by the controller that ice above a predetermined amount is stored in the first ice bank  120 , the ventilation fan and auger are operated to supply a predetermined amount of ice to the second ice bank  130 . Through this process, when ice is sufficiently stored in both the first and the second ice bank, then the controller suspends the operation of the ice maker. 
     In this case, because a storage capacity of the first ice bank is larger than that of the second ice bank, most of the produced ice is stored inside the second ice bank, namely, the freezing chamber, and thus the ice is stored while maintaining a state at the time of production. In this state, if the lever  104  is pressed by the user, then the damper  142  is operated to supply ice inside the second ice bank. 
     If it is detected that there is no ice in the second ice bank or the minimum amount has not been reached, then the controller operates the ice maker or operate the ventilation fan to additionally supply ice to the inside of the second ice bank. However, if there is an ice take-out command from the user before ice has been completely produced by the ice maker, then the controller checks the remaining amount of the ice within the first ice bank and then operates the auger and the ventilation fan when detecting the existence of ice to transfer the ice stored in the first ice bank to the first ice bank, and the transferred ice is directly supplied to the user without being stored in the first bank. 
     Here, the ice may have any shape, but as illustrated in  FIG. 3  the ice  20  may have the shape of a truncated cone as a whole, and have a shape formed with a pressure receiving portion  22  therein. The pressure receiving portion  22  may be formed to be concave from a surface of the ice to induce air supplied from the ventilation fan  150 , thereby allowing ice to be more easily moved along the air. Moreover, due to the existence of the pressure receiving portion  22 , a bulk density of the ice is decreased, thereby allowing ice to be smoothly transferred without increasing an air flow. Here, the ice will not be necessarily limited to a shape illustrated in the drawing, and may also have a semicircular or spherical shape the inside of which is vacant. 
     On the other hand, the transfer duct will not be necessarily embedded in the inside of the wall body of the refrigerator body, and an example of providing the transfer duct to be exposed to an inner portion of the refrigerator may be also taken into consideration. Furthermore, of course, an example of additionally providing a separate cool air return duct to return cool air supplied by the cool air supply duct to the freezing chamber may be also taken into consideration. 
     Furthermore, excluding the second ice bank, an example of operating the ventilation fan and auger when the lever is pressed to allow the ice of the first ice bank to be directly supplied may be also taken into consideration. In this case, the ice dispenser may be disposed to be exposed to the inside of the refrigerating chamber other than an insulating space. Through this, it may be possible to more efficiently use an inner space of the refrigerating chamber. 
     Furthermore, a ventilation fan will not be necessarily provided as the transfer means, and an example of providing a conveyer belt or transfer screw may be also taken into consideration. 
       FIG. 4  is a cross-sectional view illustrating a second embodiment in which a conveyer belt is used as a transfer means, and  FIG. 5  is an enlarged perspective view illustrating part of the transfer means of  FIG. 4 . 
     In the following description, the same elements as in the first embodiment will be designated with the same numeral references and their redundant description will be omitted. Referring to  FIGS. 4 and 5 , a side end portion of the transfer duct  200  may be disposed inside the ice dispenser  100  and the other side end portion of the transfer duct  200  may be disposed inside the freezing chamber. Furthermore, the inside of the ice dispenser may maintain a temperature lower than that of the freezing chamber by the cool air supply duct  8  for supplying cool air to the inside of the ice dispenser  100 . Moreover, the supplied cool air may be returned to the freezing chamber through the transfer duct  200 . 
     On the other hand, a first ice bank  220  may be provided in the freezing chamber, and the transfer duct  200  may be provided between the first ice bank  220  and the ice dispenser  100 . The transfer duct  200  may have the shape of a pipe having a substantially rectangular cross section, and may be located to pass through a partition member  7  partitioning the refrigerating chamber and freezing chamber. A driving pulley  210  and a driven pulley  212  separated from each other to be mounted thereon in a rotatably manner, and a conveyer belt  214  extending between the driving pulley and driven pulley may be provided inside the transfer duct  200 . A plurality of ice support plates  216  may be mounted at regular intervals on the conveyer belt  214 , and a drop-preventing portion  218  may be formed at an end portion of the ice support plate  216  to form a T-shaped form with the ice support plate  216 . 
     Here, the driven pulley  212  may be located to be protruded from the transfer duct  200 , and more specifically, may be located adjacent to the bottom surface of the first ice bank  220 . Accordingly, if the conveyer belt  214  is rotated, then ice will be transferred in an upward direction by the ice support plate  216  and drop-preventing portion  218 . 
     On the other hand, the transfer duct  200  may be communicated with the inside of the ice dispenser  100  through an ice supply port  202 , thereby allowing the transferred ice to be supplied to the inside of the second ice bank  130  through the ice supply port  202 . Here, an ice separation member  206  may be located at an inner wall surface of the transfer duct  200  to be adjacent to the ice supply port  202 , and the ice separation member  206  may be located between a pair of ice support plates  216  as illustrated in  FIG. 5 , thereby preventing ice transferred by the ice support plate  216  from being returned to the first ice bank. 
     Hereinafter, the operation of the foregoing embodiment will be described. Here, excluding the transfer means, the elements of the embodiment illustrated in  FIG. 4  are similar to those of the embodiment illustrated in  FIG. 2  in the operation method, and the description thereof will be omitted. When ice is transferred from the first ice bank to the second ice bank, the drop-preventing portion  218  is passed thereby while being brushed against the bottom surface of the second ice bank by moving the conveyer belt  214 , and during the process, part of the ice is supplied to the inside of the transfer duct  200  by the ice support plate  216  and the drop-preventing portion  218 . Then, the ice is dropped downward by its own weight when passing through the driving pulley  210 , but blocked by the ice separation member  206  and thus cannot be further dropped and supplied to the second ice bank through the ice supply port  202 . 
     On the other hand, an example of providing a spiral-shaped transfer screw instead of using a conveyer belt inside the transfer duct may be also taken into consideration.  FIG. 6  is a view schematically illustrating an example of providing a spiral-shaped transfer screw inside the transfer duct  200 , and the spiral-shaped transfer screw  282  may be provided around a rotation shaft  280  extending in a length direction inside the transfer duct  200 , and ice can be transferred upward by using this.