Patent Publication Number: US-8528356-B2

Title: Auger style ice maker and refrigeration appliance incorporating same

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The subject matter disclosed herein relates generally to single ice cube makers using an auger to remove the ice cube from a mold wherein leakage through the mold is prevented. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Various ice maker designs have been proposed for refrigeration appliances such as commercial or home refrigerators and/or freezers. In certain compact refrigeration appliances, space is at a premium within the refrigeration cabinet. Accordingly, traditional ice makers where a plurality of ice cubes are made simultaneously within a number of ice cube molds and then harvested to an ice bucket may not be suitable for such compact devices. 
     One type of ice maker suggested for compact refrigeration appliances is known as an auger style ice maker. In such ice makers, a single ice cube is made at a time in an ice cube mold. An auger extends upward from within the ice cube mold with a distal end above the mold. Rotation of the auger lifts the ice cube up out of the mold toward the distal end. The motor or other gearing for driving the auger are connected to the distal end of the auger, with some sort of interconnection through the base of the mold. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,082,121, 6,470,701 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,490,873 all disclose such compact auger style ice makers. 
     Due to the connection of the motor drive through the base of the mold, a seal must be present at the base to prevent leakage of water down through the mold. However, in such an environment where water is repeatedly frozen into ice, the ice cube is removed mechanically via rotation, and then water refills the mold, leakage of water from the mold at the seal interface is possible. That water will then likely travel further into the refrigeration appliance, either onto the motor and/or gears or beyond. The water may pool in a refrigerated location or may freeze if in a cold enough location. Accordingly, an improved auger type ice maker that avoids leakage issues as described above would be welcome. 
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Aspects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the following description, or may be obvious from the description, or may be learned through practice of the invention. 
     According to certain aspects of the disclosure, an ice making assembly includes a mold configured for forming an ice cube. The mold has a base, a side wall attached to the base, and an opening in the side wall spaced from the base. An auger removes the ice cube from the mold. The auger has a shaft with a proximal end outside of the mold, a distal end within the mold, and a central section between the distal end and the proximal end and extending through the opening. The auger further has a threaded portion configured for moving the ice cube out of the mold through the opening via rotation of the auger. Various options and modifications are possible. 
     According to certain other aspects of the disclosure, an ice making assembly includes a mold configured for forming an ice cube. The mold has a base, a side wall attached to the base, an opening in the side wall spaced from the base, and at least one dividing wall at least partially within the side wall for forming a gap within the ice cube. An auger removes the ice cube from the mold. The auger has a shaft with a proximal end outside of the mold, a distal end within the mold, and a central section between the distal end and the proximal end and extending through the opening. The auger further has a threaded portion configured for moving the ice cube out of the mold through the opening via rotation of the auger. An ice cube splitter is located outside of the mold configured for splitting the ice cube at the gap as the auger moves the ice cube. As above, various options and modifications are possible. 
     According to still other aspects of the disclosure, a refrigeration appliance includes a refrigerated compartment and includes a mold within the refrigerated compartment configured for forming an ice cube. The mold has a base, a side wall formed continuously and unitarily with the base, and an opening in the side wall spaced from the base. An auger has a shaft with a proximal end above and outside of the mold, a distal end within the mold, and a central section between the distal end and the proximal end and extending through the opening. The auger further has a threaded portion configured for moving the ice cube out of the mold through the opening via rotation of the auger. A motor is located above the mold and attached to the proximal end of the shaft for rotating the auger to lift the ice cube from the mold. Again, various options and modifications are possible. 
     These and other features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the following description and appended claims. The accompanying drawings, which 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. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       A full and enabling disclosure of the present invention, including the best mode thereof, directed to one of ordinary skill in the art, is set forth in the specification, which makes reference to the appended figures, in which: 
         FIG. 1  provides a front view of a refrigeration appliance with its doors closed; 
         FIG. 2  provides a front view of the refrigeration appliance of  FIG. 1  with its doors opened; 
         FIG. 3  provides a perspective view of an ice making assembly according to certain aspects of the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 4  provides a cross-sectional view of a portion of the assembly of  FIG. 3  taken along line  4 - 4 ; 
         FIG. 5  provides an alternate cross-sectional view of a portion of the assembly of  FIG. 3  taken along line  5 - 5 ; 
         FIG. 6  provides a cross-sectional diagrammatical view of the assembly as in  FIG. 3 , showing one ice cube forming and one ice cube finishing; 
         FIG. 7  provides a cross-sectional diagrammatical view as in  FIG. 6 , with the auger being rotated to move the ice cubes upward; 
         FIG. 8  provides a side view of an ice making assembly with an alternate ice cube splitter; 
         FIG. 9  provides a partial perspective view an auger for an ice making assembly with another alternate ice cube splitter; and 
         FIG. 10  provides a perspective view of a split ice cube formed by any of the above assemblies. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Reference now will be made in detail to embodiments of the invention, one or more examples of which are illustrated in the drawings. Each example is provided by way of explanation of the invention, not limitation of the invention. In fact, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. For instance, features illustrated or described as part of one embodiment can be used with another embodiment to yield a still further embodiment. Thus, it is intended that the present invention covers such modifications and variations as come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents. 
       FIG. 1  is a frontal view of an exemplary refrigeration appliance  10  depicted as a refrigerator in which dispenser target indicating assemblies in accordance with aspects of the present invention may be utilized. It should be appreciated that the appliance of  FIG. 1  is for illustrative purposes only and that the present invention is not limited to any particular type, style, or configuration of refrigeration appliance, and that such appliance may include any manner of refrigerator, freezer, refrigerator/freezer combination, and so forth. The present disclosure may be especially suitable for a compact refrigerator and/or freezer appliance where space is at a premium and an ice-making capability is desired. However, the disclosed ice-making assembly may be used with any such appliance. 
     Referring to  FIG. 2  the refrigerator  10  includes a fresh food storage compartment  12  and a freezer storage compartment  14 , with the compartments arranged side-by-side and contained within an outer case  16  and inner liners  18  and  20  generally molded from a suitable plastic material. In smaller refrigerators  10 , a single liner is formed and a mullion spans between opposite sides of the liner to divide it into a freezer storage compartment and a fresh food storage compartment. The outer case  16  is normally formed by folding a sheet of a suitable material, such as pre-painted steel, into an inverted U-shape to form top and side walls of the outer case  16 . A bottom wall of the outer case  16  normally is formed separately and attached to the case side walls and to a bottom frame that provides support for refrigerator  10 . 
     A breaker strip  22  extends between a case front flange and outer front edges of inner liners  18  and  20 . The breaker strip  22  is formed from a suitable resilient material, such as an extruded acrylo-butadiene-styrene based material (commonly referred to as ABS). The insulation in the space between inner liners  18  and  20  is covered by another strip of suitable resilient material, which also commonly is referred to as a mullion  24  and may be formed of an extruded ABS material. Breaker strip  22  and mullion  24  form a front face, and extend completely around inner peripheral edges of the outer case  16  and vertically between inner liners  18  and  20 . 
     Slide-out drawers  26 , a storage bin  28  and shelves  30  are normally provided in fresh food storage compartment  12  to support items being stored therein. In addition, at least one shelf  30  and at least one wire basket  32  are also provided in freezer storage compartment  14 . 
     The refrigerator features are controlled by a controller  34  according to user preference via manipulation of a control interface  36  mounted in an upper region of fresh food storage compartment  12  and coupled to the controller  34 . As used herein, the term “controller” is not limited to just those integrated circuits referred to in the art as microprocessor, but broadly refers to computers, processors, microcontrollers, microcomputers, programmable logic controllers, application specific integrated circuits, and other programmable circuits, and these terms are used interchangeably herein. 
     A freezer door  38  and a fresh food door  40  close access openings to freezer storage compartment  14  and fresh food storage compartment  12 . Each door  38 ,  40  is mounted by a top hinge  42  and a bottom hinge (not shown) to rotate about its outer vertical edge between an open position, as shown in  FIG. 1 , and a closed position. The freezer door  38  may include a plurality of storage shelves  44  and a sealing gasket  46 , and fresh food door  40  also includes a plurality of storage shelves  48  and a sealing gasket  50 . 
     The freezer storage compartment  14  may include an automatic ice maker  52  and a dispenser  54  provided in the freezer door  38  such that ice and/or chilled water can be dispensed without opening the freezer door  38 , as is well known in the art. Doors  38  and  40  may be opened by handles  56  is conventional. A housing  58  may hold a water filter  60  used to filter water for the ice maker  52  and/or dispenser  54 . 
     As with known refrigerators, the refrigerator  10  also includes a machinery compartment (not shown) that at least partially contains components for executing a known vapor compression cycle for cooling air. The components include a compressor, a condenser, an expansion device, and an evaporator connected in series as a loop and charged with a refrigerant. The evaporator is a type of heat exchanger which transfers heat from air passing over the evaporator to the refrigerant flowing through the evaporator, thereby causing the refrigerant to vaporize. The cooled air is used to refrigerate one or more refrigerator or freezer compartments via fans. Also, a cooling loop can be added to directly cool the ice maker to form ice cubes, and a heating loop can be added to help remove ice from the ice maker. Collectively, the vapor compression cycle components in a refrigeration circuit, associated fans, and associated compartments are conventionally referred to as a sealed system. The construction and operation of the sealed system are well known to those skilled in the art. 
       FIGS. 3-7  show one example of an ice making assembly  70  according to certain aspects of the disclosure. Ice making assembly  70  could comprise a device such as ice maker  52  as shown above or could comprise a device in another location or refrigeration appliance. 
     As shown, ice making assembly includes a mold  72 , an auger  74  and a motor assembly  76  for driving the auger. The motor assembly  76  may have gearing and the like for stepping down rotation to a desired rotation rate for auger  74 . Mold  72  is placed in or above a representative container  78  such as an ice bucket. Container  78  may be removable or fixed in place, or may have conventional emptying equipment such as augers, trap doors, etc., as desired in an application. A water source  80  provides water to mold  72  periodically. 
     Mold  72  includes a base  82 , a side wall  84  and an opening  86  in the side wall spaced from the base. As shown, opening  86  is at a top of mold  72  facing upward. Water fills mold  72  and ice cubes exit the mold through opening  86 . Mold  72  can be air-cooled or direct-cooled if desired. 
     Auger  74  includes a shaft  88  with a proximal end  90  outside mold  72 , a distal end  92  inside the mold and a central section  94  between the ends and extending though opening  86 . Auger  74  includes a threaded portion  96  configured for moving an ice cube  98  out of mold  72  via rotation of the auger. 
     Proximal end  90  of auger  74  is attached to motor assembly  76 . By placing motor assembly  76  above the mold (rather than below it with the auger extending through base  82 ), no seals between moving surfaces or potential other leakage paths are present at the mold  72 . Base  82  and side wall  84  can be formed unitarily if desired to further prevent leakage paths. 
     Mold  72  can include various structures to assist in removal of ice cube  98  from the mold. For example, mold  72  may include at least one dividing wall  100  at least partially within side wall  84  for forming a gap  106  within ice cube  98 . As shown, two such walls  100  may be provided. If desired, such structure may extend out of opening  86  above mold  72 . Such non-symmetrical structure may help move ice cube  98  out of mold  72  by preventing rotation of the ice cube relative to the mold when auger  74  rotates, thereby moving the ice cube up the auger and out of the mold. Further, walls  100  provide preselected fracture locations for ice-cube  98  at gaps  106  to assist in removing ice cubes from auger  74 . 
     If desired, as shown in  FIG. 6 , a first ice cube  98  may be lifted from mold  72  for finishing in a cold temperature environment while a second ice cube  102  is being formed in mold  72 . Doing so can increase the ice cube making rate. 
     If desired, a splitter structure may also be provided to help remove ice cubes from auger  74 . As shown, wedge members  104  are provided above walls  100 . When ice cubes  98  are driven upward far enough, they contact wedge members  104  and split at gaps  106  in the ice cubes caused by formation of the ice cube adjacent to walls  100  of mold  72 .  FIGS. 6 and 7  show such process, whereby ice cubes  98  and  102  are driven upward by rotation of auger  74 , and ice cube  98  splits along gaps  106 . If desired, a lifting cam  108  can be located on a distal end of auger  74  to assist in initially lifting ice cubes  98  out of mold  72 . 
     Alternate splitter designs may be employed. For example,  FIG. 8  shows an alternate mold  172  having walls  173  with wedge members  175  at a top end. Therefore, wedge members  175 , walls  173  and mold  172  can all be formed integrally. Alternately, walls  173  could taper more gradually outward from mold  172  upward or have other shapes for assisting in splitting ice cubes.  FIG. 9  shows an enlarged portion  177  of auger  174  near where the auger is connected to a motor (not shown in  FIG. 9 ). Enlarged portion  177  will cause ice cubes to split when driven upward to that point, thereby avoiding the need to place a wedge portion on a wall or other surface as in the previous embodiments. Similarly, auger  174  could taper more gradually outward in an upward direction or have other shapes to assist in splitting ice cubes. 
     Accordingly, in view of the above, various types and options for compact single cube type ice makers are disclosed. An auger raises the ice cube upward out of the mold when ready. By mounting the auger from above and not piercing the mold from below, there are no leakage paths in the mold and no moving parts to seal between. The ice cube maker of the various above designs can operates according to conventional methods by controller  34 . Optional sensors, controls, etc. can be provided. Ice cube making can be commenced on a timed schedule wherein an ice cube is moved up out of the mold for finishing or directly driven until it fractures off the auger, whether or not a splitter is employed. Water can then be provided to the mold from the water source to begin the cycle again. A full bucket sensor can be employed to stop the ice making process. 
     This written description uses examples to disclose the invention, including the best mode, and also to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the invention, including making and using any devices or systems and performing any incorporated methods. The patentable scope of the invention is defined by the claims, and may include other examples that occur to those skilled in the art. Such other examples are intended to be within the scope of the claims if they include structural elements that do not differ from the literal language of the claims, or if they include equivalent structural elements with insubstantial differences from the literal languages of the claims.