Patent Description:
A refrigerator is a home appliance for storing food in a refrigerated or frozen state using a refrigerant cycle. Such a refrigerator includes a body having a storage compartment such as a freezing compartment or a refrigerating compartment, and a door mounted to the body, to open or close the storage compartment.

An ice making compartment, in which ice is made and stored, is provided at the storage compartment or door. An ice making device, which includes an ice making tray, is arranged in the ice making compartment. A water supplying device is also arranged in the ice making compartment, to supply water to the ice making tray.

In an ice making operation carried out in the conventional refrigerator, water is supplied to the ice making tray, and is then frozen by cold air introduced into the ice making compartment, thereby forming ice having a particular shape.

After the ice making operation is completed, the ice is separated from the ice making tray as the ice making tray rotates, and is then stored in an ice storage box arranged near the ice making tray. The separation of ice may be achieved using a separate ice separating device. <CIT> discloses a refrigerator according to the preamble of claim <NUM> and describes a refrigerator, wherein the inside of an ice-making chamber provided in a cooling chamber door is provided with the dewing prevention member to suppress a dewing phenomenon generated in the outer surface of the ice-making chamber by colliding the cold air discharged to the inside of the ice-making chamber with the inner wall of the ice-making chamber and the cold air guide is provided in the cold air passing hole of the ice-making chamber to prevent the infiltration of foreign materials in the inside of the ice-making chamber as well as to smoothly perform the circulation of cold air in the inside of the ice-making chamber. <CIT> discloses an ice making machine having a rotating ice making tray and a cold air duct for discharging cold air in the vicinity of the ice making tray. The ice-making cold air duct retreats out of a range of inversion operation during a reversing operation of the ice making tray. With this, it is possible to place the ice-making cold air duct close to the ice tray without hindering the reversing operation of the ice tray. <CIT> discloses an ice making machine installed in a freezing compartment of a refrigerator. <CIT> discloses a further ice making machine installed in a freezing compartment of a refrigerator. <CIT> presents an ice and water dispenser for a bottom freezer refrigerator positioned on a refrigerator compartment door. The ice maker and ice cube storage bin can have below <NUM> air provided to maintain the ice maker and ice cube storage bin below <NUM>. Supply and return ducts can convey below <NUM> air to the ice maker and ice cube storage bin. The supply and return ducts can lead from the bottom freezer compartment or from an evaporator compartment. The ice maker and ice cube storage bin can be located in insulated sub-compartment to allow normal refrigerator compartment temperatures to be maintained in the above freezing refrigerator compartment.

In the ice making operation, the time taken to make ice is determined in accordance with how much cold air is concentratedly supplied to the ice making tray.

Therefore, it is necessary to achieve an enhancement in user convenience by reducing the ice making time.

The object is solved by the features of the independent claim <NUM>.

In one aspect, a refrigerator includes an ice making compartment, an ice making device arranged in the ice making compartment, and an ice making tray provided at the ice making device and configured to receive and retain liquid be frozen into ice. The refrigerator also includes a cold air inlet provided at the ice making compartment and configured to allow cold air to be introduced into the cold air compartment. The refrigerator further includes a cold air guide configured to guide cold air entering the ice making compartment through the cold air inlet toward the ice making tray.

Implementations may include one or more of the following features. For example, the cold air inlet may be arranged at a side wall of the ice making compartment and the cold air guide may be mounted to an inner surface of the side wall of the ice making compartment while being arranged over the ice making tray.

In some implementations, the cold air guide may include a hollow guide body, an inlet section provided at the guide body such that the inlet section communicates with the cold air inlet, and an outlet section provided at the guide body and configured to discharge cold air toward the ice making tray. In these implementations, the cold air guide may include a guide rib arranged in the guide body and configured to guide cold air flowing from the inlet section toward the outlet section. The guide rib may be inclined with respect to a surface of the ice making tray and configured to change a flow direction of a portion of cold air flowing from the inlet section toward the outlet section.

In some examples, the guide rib may include an upper guide rib provided at an inner surface of a top of the guide body and a lower guide rib provided at an inner surface of a bottom of the guide body. In these examples, the upper guide rib may be arranged in a zone where cold air flowing in the guide body has a maximum flow velocity, and may have an inclined portion having a predetermined inclination angle to guide cold air flow through the cold air guide. The upper guide rib may include a plurality of upper guide ribs arranged at the inner surface of the top of the guide body while being spaced apart from one another by a predetermined spacing.

In addition, the lower guide rib may include a plurality of lower guide ribs arranged at the outlet section while being inclined with respect to a surface of the ice making tray at different inclination angles. The lower guide rib may be configured to redirect cold air flow to a direction opposite to a flow direction of cold air flowing from the inlet section toward the outlet section.

In some implementations, the cold air inlet may be arranged at a top wall of the ice making compartment and the cold air guide may be mounted to an inner surface of the top wall of the ice making compartment. In these implementations, the cold air guide may be arranged to extend over an entire top surface of the ice making tray and may be configured to uniformly distribute cold air passing through the cold air inlet to the entire top surface of the ice making tray.

In some examples, the cold air guide may include a hollow guide body, an inlet section provided at a top of the guide body such that the inlet section communicates with the cold air inlet, and an outlet section provided at a bottom of the guide body such that the outlet section directs cold air toward the ice making tray. In these examples, the cold air guide may include a guide rib arranged in the guide body and configured to uniformly distribute cold air flowing from the inlet section toward the outlet section over the entire top surface of the ice making tray. The guide rib may include a plurality of guide ribs arranged at the outlet section while being inclined toward a top surface of the ice making tray at different inclination angles.

Further, the guide body may have an extension extending downwardly from a side wall of the guide body. The extension may be configured to reduce lateral leakage of cold air from the guide body after entering through the cold air inlet. The cold air guide may include a seal member interposed between the inlet section and the cold air inlet. The inlet section may extend toward the cold air inlet such that an extension of the inlet section is arranged in the cold air inlet.

In some implementations, the ice making compartment may be arranged in a refrigerator body or at a refrigerator door and the cold air guide may be connected to the cold air inlet, and may be arranged beneath the ice making tray such that the cold air guide directs cold air over a bottom portion of the ice making tray. In these implementations, the cold air guide may include a bottom wall arranged to be spaced apart from a bottom of the ice making tray and a side wall extending upwardly from a side of the bottom wall while being spaced apart from a side of the ice making tray.

The details of one or more implementations are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description, below. Other potential features and advantages of the disclosure will be apparent from the description and drawings, and from the claims.

It will be understood that various modifications may be made provided they are within the scope of the claims. Accordingly, other implementations are within the scope of the following claims.

As apparent from the above description, in some implementations, there is an advantage in that it is possible to more rapidly achieve ice making because cold air introduced into the ice making compartment is guided to flow directly toward the ice making device.

In some examples, since the cold air guided to the ice making device is uniformly distributed over the entirety of the ice making tray, there is another advantage in that uniform ice making is achieved.

<FIG> illustrates an example refrigerator. Referring to <FIG>, a refrigerator according to the present invention is illustrated. As shown in <FIG>, the refrigerator includes a body <NUM> having a refrigerating compartment <NUM> and a freezing compartment <NUM>, a refrigerating compartment door <NUM> pivotally mounted to the body <NUM>, to open or close the refrigerating compartment <NUM>, and a freezing compartment door <NUM> slidably mounted to the body <NUM>, to open or close the freezing compartment <NUM>.

In the illustrated example, the refrigerating compartment <NUM> is arranged at an upper portion of the body <NUM>, and the freezing compartment <NUM> is arranged at a lower portion of the body <NUM>. However, the disclosure is not limited to the illustrated example. For instance, the freezing compartment <NUM> may be arranged at the upper portion of the body <NUM>. A side-by-side type structure, in which the refrigerating compartment <NUM> and freezing compartment <NUM> are horizontally arranged in parallel, also may be used.

An ice making compartment <NUM> is provided at a back surface of the refrigerating compartment door <NUM>. Installed in the ice making compartment <NUM> are an ice making device <NUM> to make ice, and an ice storage box <NUM> to store ice separated from the ice making device <NUM>.

The ice making device <NUM> includes an ice making tray <NUM> to receive water therein, and a driving unit <NUM> connected to the ice making tray <NUM>, to rotate the ice making tray <NUM>, or to drive an ice separating heater.

A water supply hose <NUM> is arranged over the ice making tray <NUM>, to supply water to the ice making tray <NUM>.

A cold air inlet <NUM> is provided at one side wall of the ice making compartment <NUM>, to introduce cold air into the ice making compartment <NUM>. A cold air outlet <NUM> is also provided at the side wall of the ice making compartment <NUM>, to discharge the cold air from the ice making compartment <NUM>.

The cold air inlet <NUM> and cold air outlet <NUM> are connected to a cold air guide duct <NUM> installed in a side wall of the body <NUM>.

The cold air guide duct <NUM> functions not only to feed the cold air from the freezing compartment <NUM> arranged at the lower portion of the body <NUM> to the ice making compartment <NUM>, but also to again feed the cold air from the ice making compartment <NUM> to the freezing compartment <NUM>.

In detail, when cold air is generated around an evaporator <NUM> arranged at the rear of the freezing compartment <NUM>, a major part of the cold air is introduced into the freezing compartment <NUM> in accordance with operation of the cold air fan <NUM>. The remaining part of the cold air is fed to the ice making compartment <NUM> by being guided by the cold air guide duct <NUM>.

When the user closes the refrigerating compartment door <NUM>, the cold air inlet <NUM> and cold air outlet <NUM> are connected to the cold air guide duct <NUM> in accordance with the above-described configuration.

A cold air guide <NUM> is arranged in the ice making compartment <NUM>, to concentrate the cold air discharged through the cold air inlet <NUM> into the ice making device <NUM>.

The cold air guide <NUM> is installed above the ice making device <NUM>, in particular, a portion of the ice making tray <NUM>, such that the cold air guide <NUM> is spaced apart from the ice making tray <NUM>. In particular, the cold air guide is mounted to an inner surface of the side wall of the ice making compartment <NUM> where the cold air inlet <NUM> is defined.

In this case, the cold air guide <NUM> may be installed at one side of the water supply hose <NUM>.

<FIG> illustrates an example configuration of the ice making device <NUM>. As shown in <FIG>, the ice making tray <NUM> is included in the ice making device <NUM>. The interior of the ice making tray <NUM> is divided into a plurality of spaces each having a certain size. The ice making device <NUM> also includes a water spattering preventing plate <NUM> arranged at one side of the ice making tray <NUM>. The driving unit <NUM>, which is arranged at one side of the ice making tray <NUM>, is also included in the ice making device <NUM>.

An ice fullness sensor <NUM> is arranged beneath the ice making tray <NUM>, to sense how full the ice storage box <NUM> is with ice (<FIG>). In the illustrated case, the ice fullness sensor <NUM> is constituted by an infrared sensor. Of course, a lever type sensor may be used for the ice fullness sensor <NUM>.

A fixing bracket <NUM> is arranged at the rear of the ice making tray <NUM>, to fix the ice making device <NUM> to the ice making compartment <NUM>. A water supply guide <NUM> is provided at the fixing bracket <NUM>, to guide water supplied to the ice making tray <NUM>.

The water supply guide <NUM> functions to receive water discharged from the water supply hose <NUM>, and to guide the received water to the ice making tray <NUM>.

The cold air guide has a duct shape. The cold air guide <NUM> includes a hollow guide body <NUM>, an inlet section <NUM> provided at the guide body <NUM> such that the inlet section <NUM> communicates with the cold air inlet <NUM>, an outlet section <NUM> arranged opposite to the inlet section <NUM>, and a cover member <NUM> separably mounted to the guide body <NUM>, to form a top of the guide body <NUM>.

The cover member <NUM> may have a curved portion 65a at a position near the inlet section <NUM>. The curved portion 65a of the cover member <NUM> guides cold air passing through the inlet section <NUM> to flow gently when the cold air reaches the cover member <NUM>.

The cover member <NUM> may be positioned integrally with the guide body <NUM>.

A seal member <NUM> may be interposed between the cold air guide <NUM> and the cold air inlet <NUM>, in order to reduce (e.g., prevent) leakage of cold air.

Meanwhile, coupling holes <NUM> are provided at side walls of the cold air guide <NUM>. Coupling members <NUM> such as screws are inserted into the coupling holes <NUM>, to be threadedly coupled to the fixing bracket <NUM>. Thus, the cold air guide <NUM> is firmly coupled to the fixing bracket <NUM>.

<FIG> illustrates another example of the cold air guide <NUM>. In this example, the inlet section <NUM> of the cold air guide <NUM> has a protrusion <NUM> protruded toward the cold air inlet <NUM> by a predetermined length such that it extends into the cold air inlet <NUM>.

The configurations of <FIG>, except for the protrusion structure, are identical to those of <FIG>, so no detailed description thereof will be given.

<FIG> and <FIG> illustrate an example of the cold air guide <NUM>. As shown in <FIG> and <FIG>, the inlet section <NUM> is provided at one end of the guide body <NUM>, and the outlet section <NUM> is provided at the other end of the guide body <NUM> while extending from the other end of the guide body <NUM> along a bottom portion of the guide body <NUM> by a predetermined length.

A downward extension <NUM> is defined at one end of the guide body <NUM>, namely, a portion of the guide body <NUM> near the cold air inlet <NUM>.

The extension <NUM> reduces (e.g., prevents) cold air discharged from the cold air inlet <NUM> into the inlet section <NUM> from leaking laterally just after passing through the inlet section <NUM>. The extension <NUM> also guides the cold air to the outlet section <NUM>.

That is, the extension <NUM> functions to upwardly guide cold air toward the outlet section <NUM> because the outlet section <NUM> of the cold air guide <NUM> is arranged at a higher position than the cold air inlet <NUM>.

As described above, the curved portion 65a is provided at a portion of the cover member <NUM> near the inlet section <NUM>. Accordingly, cold air passing through the inlet section <NUM> can flow toward the outlet section <NUM> along the curved portion 65a of the cover member <NUM> without forming a vortex flow when the cold air reaches the cover member <NUM>.

A guide rib <NUM> is provided at the guide body <NUM>, to guide a flow of cold air flowing from the inlet section <NUM> toward the outlet section <NUM>.

The guide rib <NUM> has an inclined surface to guide a part of the cold air flow flowing from the inlet section <NUM> toward the outlet section <NUM>.

The guide rib <NUM> is divided into an upper guide rib <NUM> and a lower guide rib <NUM> in accordance with the position thereof.

The upper guide rib <NUM> is provided at an inner surface of the top portion of the guide body <NUM>. The lower guide rib <NUM> is provided at an inner surface of the bottom portion of the guide body <NUM> such that it extends across the outlet member <NUM>.

The upper guide rib <NUM> has an inclined surface 72a having an inclination wherein the inclined surface 72a is directed to the upper surface of the ice making tray <NUM> while facing the inlet section <NUM>.

The upper guide rib <NUM> may be arranged in an internal portion of the guide body <NUM> corresponding to a maximal air flow velocity zone, substantially in the vicinity of a central portion of the guide body <NUM>. The inclination angle of the inclined surface 72a may be about <NUM>°.

When the upper guide rib <NUM> is arranged in the maximal air flow velocity zone, it may be possible to obtain a great air flow direction change effect. In this case, air can flow farther in the changed flow direction.

The lower guide rib <NUM> may be provided in plural and may be inclinedly arranged. In this case, the plural lower guide ribs <NUM> may have different inclination angles, for example, D1, D2, and D3 in the illustrated case.

The reason why the lower guide ribs <NUM> have different inclination angles D1, D2, and D3 is that it is necessary to uniformly distribute cold air in a region over the ice making tray <NUM>.

Meanwhile, most of the lower guide ribs <NUM> are arranged to be directed to a portion of the ice making tray <NUM> arranged at the side of the inlet section <NUM>. Most cold air passing through the inlet section <NUM> will naturally fall onto the ice making tray <NUM> arranged beneath the outlet section <NUM> after passing through the outlet section <NUM>, by virtue of inertia.

Under such a flow mechanism, cold air is concentrated onto a portion of the ice making tray <NUM> arranged near the outlet section <NUM>. As a result, the portion of the ice making tray <NUM> exhibits a temperature difference from a portion of the ice making tray <NUM> arranged near the inlet section <NUM>, so that completion of ice making may occur, starting from the portion of the ice making tray <NUM> arranged near the outlet section <NUM>. That is, ice making is carried out in a biased fashion due to biased supply of cold air.

In order to reduce (e.g., prevent) such biased supply of cold air, accordingly, cold air falling after emerging from the outlet section <NUM> is directed to the portion of the ice making tray <NUM> arranged near the inlet section <NUM>.

<FIG> illustrates another example of the cold air guide <NUM>. The example shown in <FIG> is different from the example shown in <FIG> in that a plurality of upper guide ribs <NUM> are provided, in place of the single upper guide rib <NUM>, and are spaced apart from one another.

Of course, the inclined surface 72a of each upper guide rib <NUM> is directed to the inlet section <NUM> such that it faces the inlet section <NUM>, similarly to the example of <FIG>.

A part of the plural upper guide ribs <NUM> are arranged adjacent to one side wall of the guide body <NUM>, whereas the remaining part of the plural upper guide ribs <NUM> are arranged adjacent to the other side wall of the guide body <NUM>, in order to cause the flow of cold air to be changed in direction at several positions, and thus to uniformly distribute cold air over the entirety of the ice making tray <NUM>.

Referring to the flow of cold air introduced into the cold air guide <NUM>, as shown in <FIG>, cold air passing through the inlet section <NUM> flows toward the outlet section <NUM>. At this time, the cold air initially reaches the upper guide rib <NUM>, so that it flows inclinedly in a downward direction.

Under this condition, the cold air then falls toward the ice making tray <NUM> while passing through the outlet section <NUM>. At this time, the cold air is moved to the ice making tray <NUM> as it is guided by the lower guide ribs <NUM>.

In particular, the lower guide ribs <NUM> guide the cold air in a concentrated manner to the portion of the ice making tray <NUM>, to which cold air flow could not be moved if the lower guide ribs <NUM> were not present, that is, the portion of the ice making tray <NUM> arranged near the inlet section <NUM>. As a result, the cold air is uniformly distributed over the entirety of the ice making tray <NUM>.

If the cold air guide <NUM> is not present, cold air introduced into the ice making compartment <NUM> through the cold air inlet <NUM> may be dispersed to the ice making tray <NUM> and a region beneath the ice making tray <NUM>.

Under this condition, cold air passing through the cold air inlet <NUM> mainly flows to a portion of the ice making tray <NUM> (portion A) arranged adjacent to the driving unit <NUM>, rather than to the portion of the ice making tray <NUM> (portion B) arranged adjacent to the cold air inlet <NUM>. As a result, the distribution of cold air is non-uniform.

However, such non-uniform cold air distribution may be eliminated by the cold air guide <NUM>.

Meanwhile, the cold air guide <NUM> does not extend over the entire length of the ice making tray <NUM>, that is, the cold air guide <NUM> has a length corresponding to about half of the length of the ice making tray <NUM>, and is arranged adjacent to the cold air inlet <NUM>.

If the cold air guide <NUM> has a length substantially equal to the length of the ice making tray <NUM>, and is arranged over the entirety of the ice making tray <NUM>, cold air moved to the top of the ice making tray <NUM>, in particular, a portion of the ice making tray <NUM> arranged near the driving unit <NUM>, after passing through the cold air inlet <NUM>, may continuously stay at this tray portion.

To this end, the length of the cold air guide <NUM> is shorter than that of the ice making tray <NUM>, in order to continuously supply new cold air to the ice making tray <NUM> while rapidly discharging the cold air remaining around the ice making tray <NUM> using the new cold air.

In <FIG>, a leftmost part of the portion A of the ice making tray <NUM> is designated by reference numeral"19a", and a rightmost part of the portion B of the ice making tray <NUM> is designated by reference numeral" 19f". Parts of the ice making tray <NUM> between the tray part 19a and the tray part 19f are designated as tray parts 19b, 19c, 19d, and 19e.

Hereinafter, ice making rates in the case of using the cold air guide <NUM> and in the case of not using the cold air guide will be described.

<FIG> is a graph depicting a variation in the temperature of water or ice stored in the ice making tray with passage of time. <FIG> shows an ice making completion time in the case in which the cold air guide <NUM> is not used.

When it is assumed that the temperature, at which ice making is completed, is -<NUM>, the difference between the time taken to complete ice making at the tray part 19a and the time taken to complete ice making at the tray part 19f, namely, a time delay, may be about <NUM> minutes.

Such a time delay represents the fact that the supply amount of cold air is increased toward the tray part 19a, while being decreased toward the tray part 19f, so that the distribution of the supplied cold air is non-uniform.

<FIG> illustrates ice making completion time when the guide <NUM> is used. As shown, in the case in which the cold air guide <NUM> is used, the difference between the time taken to complete ice making at the tray part 19a and the time taken to complete ice making at the tray part 19f, namely, the time delay, may be reduced to <NUM> minutes.

The determination of whether ice making is entirely completed is based on whether ice making is completed at the tray part where ice making is completed latest. When the cold air guide <NUM> is used as described above, it is possible to complete ice making more rapidly.

<FIG> illustrates an example in which the cold air inlet is not formed at the side wall of the ice making compartment <NUM>, but is formed at the top wall of the ice making compartment <NUM>. In <FIG>, the cold air inlet is designated by reference numeral"<NUM>".

In this configuration, the cold air guide duct <NUM> is arranged at the top of the refrigerating compartment <NUM>. The ice making device <NUM> and a cold air guide <NUM>, which guides cold air to the ice making device <NUM>, are mounted to the ice making compartment <NUM> beneath the cold air inlet <NUM>.

The other components are similar to the components described above with respect to <FIG>. Accordingly, description thereof has not been repeated.

In the case illustrated in <FIG>, the refrigerating compartment <NUM> is arranged at the upper portion of the body <NUM>, and the freezing compartment <NUM> is arranged at the lower portion of the body <NUM>. However, the disclosure is not limited to the illustrated case. For example, a side-by-side type structure, in which the refrigerating compartment <NUM> and freezing compartment <NUM> are horizontally arranged in parallel, may be used.

As shown in <FIG>, the cold air guide <NUM> is arranged over the ice making device <NUM>. In particular, the cold air guide <NUM> may have a length corresponding to the length of the ice making tray <NUM> of the ice making device <NUM>.

This allows uniform distribution of cold air passing through the cold air inlet <NUM> over the entirety of the ice making compartment <NUM>, because the cold air inlet <NUM> is provided at the top of the ice making compartment <NUM>.

As shown in <FIG> and <FIG>, the cold air guide <NUM> includes a guide body <NUM>, an inlet section <NUM> provided at a top portion of the guide body <NUM>, and an outlet section <NUM> arranged beneath the inlet section <NUM>.

Lower guide ribs <NUM> are arranged at the outlet section <NUM> while being spaced apart from one another by a predetermined space, to guide cold air to the ice making tray <NUM>. The lower guide ribs <NUM> extend inclinedly while having different inclination angles D4, D5, and D6, respectively.

As shown in <FIG>, cold air, which passes through the cold air inlet <NUM> arranged at the top of the ice making compartment <NUM>, enters the cold air guide <NUM>, and then falls onto the top of the ice making tray <NUM> after passing through the outlet section <NUM>.

At this time, the cold air falls in various directions by being guided by the lower guide ribs <NUM>. As a result, the cold air is uniformly distributed over the entirety of the ice making tray <NUM>. Accordingly, uniform ice making over the entirety of the ice making tray <NUM> is carried out.

In each of the ice making devices shown in <FIG>, the ice making tray of the ice making device <NUM> is configured to separate ice therefrom when it is rotated by the driving unit <NUM>. For this function, the ice making tray <NUM> may be formed of a molded plastic product.

The refrigerator may have a configuration in which a cold air guide is arranged beneath an ice making device, as shown in <FIG>.

In this case, the refrigerator includes the ice making compartment <NUM> defined by walls at the back surface of the refrigerating compartment door <NUM>, and an ice making device <NUM> arranged in the ice making compartment <NUM>. The ice making device <NUM> includes an ice making tray <NUM>, and a driving unit <NUM> to drive an ice separating heater provided at the ice making tray <NUM>.

A cold air guide <NUM> may be arranged beneath the ice making tray <NUM> such that it surrounds a bottom portion of the ice making tray <NUM>.

A cold air inlet <NUM> is provided at one side wall of the ice making compartment <NUM>, to introduce cold air into the ice making compartment <NUM>. A cold air outlet <NUM> is also provided at the side wall of the ice making compartment <NUM>, to outwardly discharge the cold air from the ice making compartment <NUM>.

The cold air guide <NUM> is arranged at the side of the cold air inlet <NUM>, to guide the cold air discharged through the cold air inlet <NUM> to be concentrated onto the bottom of the ice making tray <NUM>.

The ice making tray <NUM> is made of a metal material, so that it exhibits enhanced thermal conductivity. Accordingly, when cold air is concentrated onto the bottom of the ice making tray <NUM> by the cold air guide <NUM>, ice making in the ice making tray <NUM> can be rapidly carried out by a sub-zero temperature conducted by the ice making tray <NUM> itself.

In order to enhance the conductivity, cooling fins <NUM> may be positioned on an outer surface of the ice making tray <NUM>.

As shown in <FIG>, the cold air guide <NUM> includes a bottom wall <NUM> arranged to be spaced apart from the bottom of the ice making tray <NUM>, and a side wall <NUM> extending upwardly from one side of the bottom wall <NUM> while being spaced apart from one side of the ice making tray <NUM>.

The bottom wall <NUM> may have, at one end portion thereof, a curved portion to guide cold air passing through the cold air inlet <NUM>.

Of course, such a curved portion is used when the cold air inlet <NUM> is arranged at a lower position than the ice making tray <NUM>. Where there is no position level difference between the cold air inlet <NUM> and the ice making tray <NUM>, the curved portion may or may not be provided.

The cooling fins <NUM> are arranged in a region defined by the outer surface of the ice making tray <NUM> and the inner surfaces of the bottom wall <NUM> and side wall <NUM> of the cold air guide <NUM>.

The other end of the bottom wall <NUM> is mounted to an inner surface of one side wall of the ice making compartment <NUM>. Accordingly, the bottom of the ice making tray <NUM> is surrounded by the inner wall of the ice making compartment <NUM>, and the bottom wall <NUM> and side wall <NUM> of the cold air guide <NUM>. In a space surrounding the bottom of the ice making tray <NUM> in the above-described manner, cold air is present.

Meanwhile, the cooling fins <NUM> provided at one side surface of the ice making tray <NUM> extend vertically.

As shown in <FIG>, the cooling fins <NUM> provided at the bottom of the ice making tray <NUM> includes first cooling fins 300a extending in a width direction of the ice making tray <NUM>, and second cooling fins 300b extending in a length direction of the ice making tray <NUM> while intersecting the first cooling fins 300a.

In accordance with this configuration, it is possible to increase the area of the ice making tray <NUM> contacting cold air, and thus to rapidly achieve ice making.

Hereinafter, operation of the refrigerator, in which the cold air guide is arranged beneath the ice making tray, is described.

After water is completely supplied to the ice making tray <NUM>, cold air is introduced through the cold air inlet <NUM>. The cold air passing through the cold air inlet <NUM> flows toward the bottom of the ice making tray <NUM> as it is guided by the cold air guide <NUM>.

If the cold air guide <NUM> is not present, cold air passing through the cold air inlet <NUM> may immediately fall toward the bottom of the ice making tray <NUM>. The cold air guide <NUM> may reduce (e.g., prevent) the cold air from immediately falling toward the bottom of the ice making tray <NUM>.

The cold air guided by the cold air guide <NUM> comes into contact with the outer surface of the ice making tray <NUM>, and the cooling fins <NUM> provided at the outer surface of the ice making tray <NUM>. Accordingly, the water contained in the ice making tray <NUM> can be rapidly frozen.

Claim 1:
A refrigerator comprising:
a door (<NUM>) mounted to a body (<NUM>) having a refrigerating compartment (<NUM>), the door (<NUM>) is configured to open and close the refrigerating compartment (<NUM>);
an ice making compartment (<NUM>) provided at the door (<NUM>);
an ice making device (<NUM>) arranged in the ice making compartment (<NUM>);
an ice making tray (<NUM>) provided at the ice making device (<NUM>) and configured to receive and retain liquid to be frozen into ice; and
a cold air inlet (<NUM>) provided at the ice making compartment (<NUM>) and configured to allow cold air to be introduced into the ice making compartment (<NUM>);
a fixing bracket (<NUM>) configured to fix the ice making device (<NUM>) to the ice making compartment (<NUM>); and
a cold air guide (<NUM>) configured to guide cold air entering the ice making compartment (<NUM>) through the cold air inlet (<NUM>) toward the ice making tray (<NUM>),
characterized in that
the cold air guide (<NUM>) is coupled to the fixing bracket (<NUM>).