Patent Publication Number: US-11397036-B2

Title: Ice maker and refrigerator

Description:
The present application is a 35 U.S.C. § 371 National Phase conversion of International (PCT) Patent Application No. PCT/CN2018/123734, filed on Dec. 26, 2018, which claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 201810380405.0, filed on Apr. 25, 2018 and titled “Ice maker and refrigerator”, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. The PCT International Patent Application was filed and published in Chinese. 
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present invention relates to the field of household appliances, and in particular, to an ice maker and a refrigerator. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Usually, an ice maker provided in a refrigerator makes ice with cold energy of the refrigerator. Generally, the ice maker is supplied with air by a dedicated ice-making air duct, not only causing a complicated structure, but also usually making the ice maker share an air supply fan with a freezing compartment; when a freezing process is stopped, the cold energy of the ice maker is required to be obtained by means of heat conduction. When the refrigerator is not provided with the dedicated ice-making air duct for air supply, the cold energy of the ice maker is obtained by way of heat conduction, and a heat exchange is relatively slow, resulting in a low ice making rate. 
     SUMMARY 
     An object of the present invention is to provide an ice maker and a refrigerator achieving a high ice making efficiency. 
     In order to achieve one of the above-mentioned objects, one embodiment of the present invention provides an ice maker, comprising an ice making tray having a plurality of ice making spaces, a motor assembly for driving the ice making tray, and a bracket, wherein the ice making space has an opening, the motor assembly is connected to the bracket, and the ice making tray has one end rotationally supported at the bracket and the other end connected with and driven to rotate by the motor assembly; the ice maker further comprising a fan mounted at the bracket, the bracket comprises a top plate located at an upper portion of the opening and a side plate located at one side of the top plate, one end of the ice making tray is supported at the side plate, a supporting plate extends from a side edge of the side plate relative to the ice making tray, and the fan is connected to the supporting plate and has an air guide direction towards the ice making tray. 
     As a further improvement of an embodiment of the present invention, the fan is configured as a blowing fan, provided adjacent to an air port of a refrigerator, so as to blow cold air to the ice making tray. 
     As a further improvement of an embodiment of the present invention, the fan is configured as a sucking fan, provided adjacent to the air port of the refrigerator, so as to suck the cold air into the ice making tray. 
     As a further improvement of an embodiment of the present invention, an inclined angle less than or equal to 75 degrees is formed between an extension direction of the supporting plate and a direction from one end to the other end of the ice making tray. 
     As a further improvement of an embodiment of the present invention, further comprising a control board electrically connected with the motor and the fan, for controlling operations thereof. 
     As a further improvement of an embodiment of the present invention, an opening is provided at a joint between the side plate and the supporting plate, and an electric wire of the fan passes through the opening. 
     As a further improvement of an embodiment of the present invention, a rotary center line of the fan is located between an upper surface and a lower surface of the ice making tray. 
     As a further improvement of an embodiment of the present invention, the supporting plate is provided with a fan hole, a plurality of screw holes are provided around the fan hole uniformly, and the fan is connected to the screw holes by screws, so as to be fixed to a side of the supporting plate towards the ice making tray. 
     As a further improvement of an embodiment of the present invention, a fixed block is provided at a middle portion of the ice making tray and fixedly clamped to a bottom of the ice making space, an ice twisting rod has one end movably inserted into the fixed block circumferentially and the other end abutted against the motor assembly, extends from the middle portion of the ice making tray to a position of the ice making tray connected with the motor assembly, and is then bent by 90 degrees to extend towards one side of the ice making tray, and the ice making tray is rotated in a first direction to abut against the ice twisting rod to be deformed for releasing ice, and in a second direction opposite to the first direction to be separated from a part of the ice twisting rod. 
     In order to achieve one of the above-mentioned object, an embodiment of the present invention provides a refrigerator, comprising a cabinet, a door for opening or closing the cabinet, and the ice maker according to any one of the embodiments as described above, wherein the ice maker is provided at the cabinet or the door. 
     Compared with a prior art, the present invention has the following beneficial effects. In the technical solution of the present invention, a fan is connected to a bracket of the ice maker and enables cold air to enter an ice making tray directly, such that cold energy of the ice maker comes from forced-convection cold air, with a high forced convection efficiency, simple structure, and high ice making efficiency. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic perspective diagram of an ice maker according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a front view of the ice maker in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3  is a bottom view of the ice maker in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 4  is a schematic sectional diagram along line A-A in  FIG. 3 . 
         FIG. 5  is a schematic perspective diagram of the ice maker in  FIG. 1  from another perspective; and 
         FIG. 6  is a schematic perspective diagram of the ice maker in  FIG. 1  from still another perspective. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the specific embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings. However, these embodiments are not intended to limit the present invention, and modifications in structures, methods, or functions made by those common skilled in the art according to these embodiments are all included in the protection scope of the present invention. 
     In the description about the embodiments of the present invention, the orientation or positional relation indicated by terms such as “upper,” “lower,” “front,” “rear,” “left,” “right,” “vertical,” “horizontal,” “bottom,” “inner,” and “outer” should be construed to refer to the orientation or positional relation as shown in the drawings. Usually, these terms are used by taking the ice maker in a normal state as a reference, and are not intended to indicate that the position or element in question must have a specific orientation. 
     Also, it should be understood that although the terms of first, second, etc. may be used herein to describe various elements or structures, the above-mentioned objects should not be limited by them. The above-mentioned terms are merely used to distinguish these described objects. For example, a first side portion may be referred to as a second side portion, and similarly, the second side portion may also be referred to as the first side portion, without departing from the protection scope of the application. 
     A first preferred embodiment of the present invention discloses a refrigerator, comprising a cabinet (not shown) defining a storage chamber and a door (not shown) for opening or closing the cabinet, wherein a number and a structural form of the storage chamber may be configured according to different needs. Usually, the storage chamber comprises a refrigerating compartment and a freezing compartment. 
     As shown in  FIGS. 1 to 6 , the refrigerator further comprises an ice maker  100  provided at the cabinet or the door. The ice maker  100  comprises an ice making tray  14  having a plurality of ice making spaces  12  with openings, and further comprises a bracket  20  and a motor assembly  30  for driving the ice making tray  14  to rotate, wherein the motor assembly  30  is connected to the bracket  20 , and the ice making tray  14  has one end rotationally supported on the bracket  20  and the other end connected with and driven to rotate by the motor assembly  30 , such that the ice making tray  14  may be twisted to release ice after the ice is made. 
     In the preferred embodiment, the ice maker  100  further comprises a fan  40  mounted on the bracket  20 , the bracket  20  comprises a top plate  21  located at an upper portion of the opening and a side plate  22  located at one side of the top plate  21 , one end of the ice making tray  14  is supported at the side plate  22 , a supporting plate  23  extends from a side edge of the side plate  22  relative to the ice making tray, and the fan  40  is connected to the supporting plate  23  and has an air guide direction towards the ice making tray  14 . Cold air is blown to the ice making space  12  directly by the fan  40 , such that cold energy of the ice maker  100  comes from the forced-convection cold air; furthermore, the fan  40  is close to the ice maker  100 , and a forced convection efficiency is high, such that a structure is simple, and an ice making efficiency is high. 
     In detail, the fan  40 , configured as a blowing fan  40 , is provided adjacent to an air port of the refrigerator, so as to blow the cold air to the ice making tray. Certainly, the fan  40  may also be configured as a sucking fan  40 , provided opposite to the air port of the refrigerator, so as to suck the cold air into the ice making tray. 
     In the preferred embodiment, the supporting plate  23  and the bracket  20  may be arranged detachably. Certainly, the supporting plate  23  and the bracket  20  may also be integrally formed. Specifically, the supporting plate  23  is provided with a fan hole  24  configured as a square hole, four screw holes  28  are provided around the fan hole  24  uniformly, and the fan  40  is connected to the screw holes  28  by four screws, so as to be fixed to a side of the supporting plate  23  towards the ice making tray  14 . Certainly, the fan may also be connected to the supporting plate in other ways, such as riveted connection, clamped connection, or the like. An inclined angle α less than or equal to 75 degrees is formed between an extension direction of the supporting plate  23  and a direction from one end to the other end of the ice making tray  14 , and is preferably 60 degrees in the present embodiment, such that the furthest ice making space may be blown. An opening  231  is provided at a joint between the side plate  22  and the supporting plate  23 , and an electric wire of the fan  40  passes through the opening  231 . In addition, a rotary center line of the fan  40  is located between an upper surface and a lower surface of the ice making tray  14 , such that the cold air may be blown to not only an upper water surface of the ice making space, but also a bottom surface of the ice making space, thereby speeding up an ice making process. 
     The ice maker  100  further comprises an ice twisting rod  62  and a fixed block  61  connected with the ice twisting rod  62 , the ice making tray  14  has a bottom opposite to the opening, and the fixed block  61  is fixedly clamped to a bottom of the ice making space  12 . Specifically, a gap at a middle part of the bottom of the ice making space  12  is filled with the fixed block  61 , the ice twisting rod  62  has one end movably inserted into the fixed block  61  circumferentially and the other end abutted against the motor assembly  30 , extends from a middle portion of the ice making tray  14  to a position of the ice making tray  14  connected with the motor assembly  30 , and is then bent by 90 degrees to extend towards one side of the ice making tray  14 , and the ice making tray  14  is rotated in a first direction to abut against the ice twisting rod  62  to be deformed for releasing the ice, and in a second direction opposite to the first direction to be separated from a part of the ice twisting rod  62 . When the ice making tray  14  is rotated until the ice making space  12  has the downward opening, an ice cube is separated from the ice making space  12  to fall into an ice bin (not shown) below the ice maker  100 . Specifically, protruding columns  611  extend from two sides of the fixed block  61 , slots  121  are provided at the bottoms of the corresponding ice making spaces  12 , and the protruding column  611  is clamped in the slot  121  to fix the fixed block  61  relative to the ice making tray  14 . The ice twisting rod  62  has the end inserted into the fixed block  61  as a first end and the end abutted against the motor assembly  30  as a second end. Preferably, in the present embodiment, two 90-degree bends are formed from the first end to the second end, such that the second end is abutted against a protrusion  31  at a side portion of the motor assembly  30 . When the motor assembly  30  drives the ice making tray  14  to rotate in the first direction, one side of the ice making tray  14  is pressed against the ice twisting rod  62  to be deformed, such that the ice cube is separated from the ice making space  12 . Thus, when the motor assembly  30  drives the ice making tray  14  to rotate in the second direction until the ice making space  12  has the downward opening, the ice cube falls automatically under gravity. The ice maker  100  further comprises the ice bin (not shown) provided below the ice making tray  14 , for receiving the ice cube made by the ice making tray  14 . When the ice making tray  14  is driven to rotate in the second direction by the motor assembly  30 , the ice cube in the ice making space  12  falls into the ice bin. 
     The ice maker  100  further comprises a control board (not shown) electrically connected with the motor assembly  30  and the fan  40 , for controlling operations of the motor assembly  30  and the fan  40 . In addition, the motor assembly  30  is further connected with an ice detection rod  50  which may be rotated by a certain angle. When the ice bin is full of ice, the ice cube at a top layer will limit rotation of the ice detection rod  50 , a full ice signal is transferred to the control board to stop the fan  40 , and the cold air is stopped from being delivered to the ice making tray  14 , thereby stopping making ice. 
     In order to make ice release of the ice making tray  14  easier and further improve the ice making efficiency, the ice making tray  14  is made of an elastic plastic material, and in particular, rubber, silica gel, or the like. Certainly, the ice making tray  14  may also be made of other plastic materials. 
     It should be understood that although the description is described according to the above embodiments, each embodiment may not only comprise one independent technical solution. The presentation manner of the description is only for the sake of clarity. Those skilled in the art should take the description as an integral part. The technical solutions of the respective embodiments may be combined properly to form other embodiments understandable by those skilled in the art. 
     The above detailed description only illustrates the feasible embodiments of the present invention, and is not intended to limit the protection scope of the present invention. Equivalent embodiments or modifications within the scope and spirit of the present invention shall be embraced by the protection scope of the present invention.