Patent ID: 8820110

Claim:
A refrigerator including: a freezer compartment; and a fresh food compartment located vertically above the freezer compartment and including an ice chamber exposed to an above-freezing environment within the fresh food compartment, the ice chamber providing insulation from the above-freezing environment of the fresh food compartment and including: an ice maker disposed within the ice chamber and configured to receive water and including a first evaporator disposed within the ice chamber and in fluid communication with a refrigerant loop and configured to freeze said water to produce ice; an ice container disposed within the ice chamber and configured to store ice produced by the ice maker within the ice chamber, the ice container including a first lateral side exterior surface extending along a longitudinal axis of the ice container, a second evaporator disposed within the ice chamber, located at a rear of the ice chamber and away from a user side of the refrigerator, and in fluid communication with the refrigerant loop and configured to control temperature at the ice container to maintain a below freezing temperature in the ice container; an air moving apparatus disposed within the ice chamber and located adjacent the second evaporator; and an enclosed, looped passageway forming an air flow path contained within the ice chamber such that air travels in thermal contact with the second evaporator to be cooled, wherein the air moving apparatus is positioned to move air through the passageway, wherein the passageway is bounded in part by the first lateral side exterior surface of the ice container, and wherein the passageway is partially defined by an air delivery duct extending between the second evaporator and the first lateral side exterior surface of the ice container, and the air delivery duct is located on one side of the ice maker and is defined between an outer plenum panel and a second lateral side panel of the ice chamber that defines an interior boundary of the ice chamber and the air delivery duct is in communication with a vent comprising a plurality of vents formed in the second lateral side panel that extend along the longitudinal length of the ice container and through which said cooled air from the second evaporator and provided by the air moving apparatus is exhausted in a direction perpendicular to the plurality of vents into said region adjacent to said ice container, and wherein the second lateral side panel of the ice chamber includes a first depressed portion, wherein the air delivery duct is substantially parallel to the first lateral side exterior surface of the ice container so that air out of the second lateral side panel impinges in a substantially perpendicular manner with respect to the first lateral side exterior surface of the ice container.