CN117824233A - Ice discharging mechanism and ice maker - Google Patents

Abstract

The application relates to an ice discharging mechanism and an ice maker, wherein the ice discharging mechanism is used for being configured in the ice maker and comprises: a refrigerator for storing ice cubes, having an ice-dropping port for guiding out the ice cubes; a transfer rail configured in a closed ring shape, the transfer rail being provided with a plurality of ice hoppers at intervals along an extending direction thereof; the conveying guide rail can rotate around the circumference of the conveying guide rail to drive the ice bucket on the conveying guide rail to reciprocate from the ice falling opening to the ice outlet of the ice maker, so that the ice bucket receives ice cubes guided out from the ice falling opening and guides the received ice cubes into the ice outlet. The ice discharging mechanism has the advantages that the conveying guide rail and all ice bucket structures assembled on the conveying guide rail cannot limit the specification and the size of the ice storage box, the conveying guide rail can be assembled in ice machines with different depths and widths, the ice discharging mechanism can be matched with ice machines with various different ice storage requirements, and the compatibility and universality of the ice discharging mechanism are effectively improved.

Description

Ice discharging mechanism and ice maker

Technical Field

The application relates to the technical field of household appliances, in particular to an ice discharging mechanism and an ice maker.

Background

At present, ice machines on the market usually adopt a spiral structure to discharge ice or a rotary table mechanism to discharge ice. At present, ice machines on the market usually adopt a spiral structure to discharge ice or a rotary table mechanism to discharge ice. The spiral structure ice outlet is to push ice cubes to the ice outlet through the spiral screw pushing structure, and the rotary table mechanism ice outlet is to rotate the ice cubes to the ice outlet through a rotary table rotating mode, so that an automatic ice outlet function is achieved.

However, the mode of ice discharging by the spiral structure and ice discharging by the turntable mechanism adopted by the ice maker in the market at present can limit the specification and the size of the refrigerator due to the structural limitation of the spiral structure and the turntable mechanism, and is difficult to adapt to ice makers with different ice storage requirements, and the compatibility and universality are poor.

Disclosure of Invention

The present application aims to solve at least one of the technical problems existing in the prior art. Therefore, the ice discharging mechanism and the ice maker are provided, the ice discharging mechanism is ingenious in structure and can adapt to ice makers with different ice storage requirements, and compatibility and universality of the ice discharging mechanism are improved.

In a first aspect, the present application provides an ice discharging mechanism, the ice discharging mechanism is configured in an ice maker, and the ice discharging mechanism includes:

a refrigerator for storing ice cubes, having an ice-dropping port for guiding out the ice cubes;

a transfer rail configured in a closed ring shape, the transfer rail being provided with a plurality of ice hoppers at intervals along an extending direction thereof;

the conveying guide rail can rotate around the circumference of the conveying guide rail to drive the ice bucket on the conveying guide rail to reciprocate from the ice falling opening to the ice outlet of the ice maker, so that the ice bucket receives ice cubes guided out from the ice falling opening and guides the received ice cubes into the ice outlet.

The ice discharging mechanism according to the first aspect of the application has at least the following beneficial effects:

the ice discharging mechanism drives all ice hoppers on the ice discharging mechanism to circularly reciprocate in the mode between the ice falling port of the ice storage box and the ice discharging port of the ice maker through the conveying guide rail, the assembly mode of the conveying guide rail in the ice maker is not limited by the specification and the size of the ice storage box, and the ice discharging port capable of discharging ice cubes is only required to be arranged on the ice storage box and is positioned on the conveying track of the conveying guide rail, so that the ice cubes in the ice storage box can be conveyed and output to the ice discharging port of the ice maker. The conveying guide rail and all ice bucket structures assembled on the conveying guide rail can not limit the specification and the size of the ice storage box, and the conveying guide rail can be assembled in ice machines with different depths and widths, so that the ice discharging mechanism can adapt to ice machines with different ice storage quantity requirements, and the compatibility and universality of the ice discharging mechanism are effectively improved.

In some embodiments, the conveying guide rail can drive the ice bucket on the conveying guide rail to turn at a position close to the ice falling opening so that the opening of the ice bucket is abutted against the ice falling opening, and can also drive the ice bucket on the conveying guide rail to turn at a position close to the ice outlet so that ice cubes on the ice bucket are separated from the ice bucket and are guided into the ice outlet in a sliding manner.

In some embodiments, the conveying guide rail comprises a main body section and a bending section connected to one end of the main body section, wherein the bending section bends towards the ice outlet; the ice discharging mechanism further comprises a driving wheel capable of rotating around the ice discharging mechanism, and the bending section is wound on the driving wheel and is in transmission connection with the driving wheel.

In some embodiments, the main body section and the bending section are both configured in a U shape, and the distance between two sides of the main body section is smaller than the distance between two sides of the bending section, and the main body section and the bending section are in smooth transition connection to form a closed ring shape.

In some embodiments, the ice discharging mechanism further comprises a limit guide rail, wherein the limit guide rail is positioned at the side part of the conveying guide rail and has the same extending track as the conveying guide rail, and all ice hoppers are in sliding connection with the limit guide rail.

In some embodiments, the limiting guide rail is provided with a first sliding groove and a second sliding groove at intervals along the width direction of the limiting guide rail, the ice bucket is provided with a first sliding table and a second sliding table at intervals along the length direction of the ice bucket, and the first sliding table and the second sliding table are respectively in sliding fit with the first sliding groove and the second sliding groove.

In some embodiments, the limit guide rails are two, the two limit guide rails are respectively located at two opposite sides of the conveying guide rail, and two opposite sides of the ice bucket are respectively connected with the two limit guide rails in a sliding manner.

In some embodiments, the ice discharging mechanism further comprises a protective cover, the conveying guide rail and all the ice hoppers are installed in the protective cover, a first notch and a second notch are arranged on the outer wall of the protective cover at intervals, the ice hoppers can be in butt joint communication with the ice discharging opening through the first notch, and the ice hoppers can be in butt joint communication with the ice discharging opening through the second notch.

In a second aspect, embodiments of the present application provide an ice maker that includes the ice-dispensing mechanism described above.

The ice maker according to the second aspect of the present application has at least the following advantageous effects:

the ice maker has the same technical effect that the ice discharging mechanism is arranged, namely, all ice hoppers on the ice maker are driven by the conveying guide rail to circularly reciprocate between the ice falling port of the ice storage box and the ice discharging port of the ice maker, the assembly mode of the conveying guide rail in the ice maker is not limited by the specification and the size of the ice storage box, and the ice discharging port capable of guiding out ice cubes is arranged on the ice storage box and is positioned on the conveying track of the conveying guide rail, so that the ice cubes in the ice storage box can be conveyed and output to the ice discharging port of the ice maker. The conveying guide rail and all ice bucket structures assembled on the conveying guide rail can not limit the specification and the size of the refrigerator, and the conveying guide rail can be assembled in ice machines with different depths and widths, so that the ice machine with the ice discharging mechanism capable of adapting to various ice storage amount requirements is obtained, the compatibility and universality of the ice discharging mechanism are effectively improved, the compatibility and the adaptability of the ice machine are also indirectly improved, and the ice machine can meet the requirements of users on different ice making amounts.

In some embodiments, the ice maker further includes a housing and a mounting bulkhead provided within the housing, the transfer rail being detachably mounted on the mounting bulkhead.

The foregoing description is only an overview of the technical solutions of the present application, and may be implemented according to the content of the specification in order to make the technical means of the present application more clearly understood, and in order to make the above-mentioned and other objects, features and advantages of the present application more clearly understood, the following detailed description of the present application will be given.

Drawings

Various other advantages and benefits will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments. The drawings are only for purposes of illustrating the preferred embodiments and are not to be construed as limiting the application. Also, like reference numerals are used to designate like parts throughout the accompanying drawings. In the drawings:

fig. 1 is a schematic view of an internal structure of an ice maker according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 2 is a partial enlarged view at a in fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a partial enlarged view at B in fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a schematic view of a part of the structure of the ice discharging mechanism according to the embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 5 is a schematic view of another part of the ice discharging mechanism according to the embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 6 is a schematic structural view of a transfer rail according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 7 is a partially exploded view of the ice discharging mechanism according to the embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 8 is a partial enlarged view at C in fig. 7.

Fig. 9 is a schematic cross-sectional structure of an ice maker according to an embodiment of the present application.

Reference numerals illustrate: an ice maker 10; an ice outlet 11; a housing 12; installing a partition plate 13; a positioning groove 14; a refrigerator 100; an ice-falling port 110; a transfer rail 200; a body section 210; bending section 220; a first straight line segment L1; a first arcuate segment S1; a second straight line segment L2; a second arcuate segment S2; an ice bucket 300; a first slide table 310; a second slide 320; a driving wheel 400; a spacing rail 500; a first chute 510; a second chute 520; a protective cover 600; a first notch 610; a second notch 620; the driving member 700 is rotated.

Detailed Description

In order to make the above objects, features and advantages of the present application more comprehensible, embodiments accompanied with figures are described in detail below. In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present application. This application is, however, susceptible of embodiment in many other forms than those described herein and similar modifications can be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the application, and therefore the application is not to be limited to the specific embodiments disclosed below.

In the description of the present application, it should be understood that, if there are terms such as "center", "longitudinal", "transverse", "length", "width", "thickness", "upper", "lower", "front", "rear", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inner", "outer", "clockwise", "counterclockwise", "axial", "radial", "circumferential", etc., these terms refer to the orientation or positional relationship based on the drawings, which are merely for convenience of description and simplification of description, and do not indicate or imply that the apparatus or element referred to must have a specific orientation, be configured and operated in a specific orientation, and therefore should not be construed as limiting the present application.

Furthermore, the terms "first," "second," and the like, if any, are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying a relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Thus, a feature defining "a first" or "a second" may explicitly or implicitly include at least one such feature. In the description of the present application, the terms "plurality" and "a plurality" if any, mean at least two, such as two, three, etc., unless specifically defined otherwise.

In this application, unless explicitly stated and limited otherwise, the terms "mounted," "connected," "secured," and the like are to be construed broadly. For example, the two parts can be fixedly connected, detachably connected or integrated; can be mechanically or electrically connected; either directly or indirectly, through intermediaries, or both, may be in communication with each other or in interaction with each other, unless expressly defined otherwise. The specific meaning of the terms in this application will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art as the case may be.

In this application, unless expressly stated or limited otherwise, the meaning of a first feature being "on" or "off" a second feature, and the like, is that the first and second features are either in direct contact or in indirect contact through an intervening medium. Moreover, a first feature being "above," "over" and "on" a second feature may be a first feature being directly above or obliquely above the second feature, or simply indicating that the first feature is level higher than the second feature. The first feature being "under", "below" and "beneath" the second feature may be the first feature being directly under or obliquely below the second feature, or simply indicating that the first feature is less level than the second feature.

It will be understood that if an element is referred to as being "fixed" or "disposed" on another element, it can be directly on the other element or intervening elements may also be present. If an element is referred to as being "connected" to another element, it can be directly connected to the other element or intervening elements may also be present. The terms "vertical," "horizontal," "upper," "lower," "left," "right," and the like as used herein, if any, are for descriptive purposes only and do not represent a unique embodiment.

At present, ice machines on the market usually adopt a spiral structure to discharge ice or a rotary table mechanism to discharge ice. At present, ice machines on the market usually adopt a spiral structure to discharge ice or a rotary table mechanism to discharge ice. The spiral structure ice outlet is to push ice cubes to the ice outlet through the spiral screw pushing structure, and the rotary table mechanism ice outlet is to rotate the ice cubes to the ice outlet through a rotary table rotating mode, so that an automatic ice outlet function is achieved.

However, for the screw type ice discharging, the screw rod on the screw type structure needs to be arranged at the low position of the ice storage box to output all ice cubes in the ice storage box, so that the ice storage box can only be suitable for the ice storage box with a shallow depth, and an ice maker with a large ice storage amount is difficult to adapt; when the depth of the refrigerator is deeper, the screw rod is horizontally placed at the lower position of the refrigerator, so that the requirement of all ice discharge cannot be met, if the screw rod is obliquely placed, the dimension of the refrigerator in the width direction can be shortened, the allowable ice storage amount of the refrigerator is reduced, and the ice maker with larger ice storage amount is difficult to adapt. Moreover, the inclined arrangement of the screw can increase the risk that ice blocks slide downwards due to self gravity in the pushing-out process, and the reliability of ice discharging is low.

In addition, for ice discharge of the turntable mechanism, whether the turntable is horizontally or vertically installed in the ice storage box, in order to discharge all ice cubes in the ice storage box, the depth and width of the ice storage box need to be matched with the diameter of the turntable, which directly limits the size of the ice storage box, and it is also difficult to adapt an ice maker having a large ice storage amount.

In summary, the mode of ice discharging by the spiral structure and ice discharging by the turntable mechanism adopted by the ice maker in the market at present can limit the specification and the size of the refrigerator due to the structural limitation of the spiral structure and the turntable mechanism, is difficult to adapt to ice makers with different ice storage requirements, and has poor compatibility and universality.

Based on this, referring to fig. 1, 2, 3 and 4, the present application provides an ice discharge mechanism for being configured in an ice maker 10, the ice discharge mechanism including a refrigerator 100 and a conveying rail 200.

The ice storage bin 100 is for storing ice cubes, the ice storage bin 100 having an ice-dropping opening 110 for delivering ice cubes. The transfer rail 200 is constructed in a closed loop shape, and the transfer rail 200 is installed with a plurality of ice hoppers 300 spaced apart in the direction of its own extension.

The conveying guide rail 200 is configured to be capable of rotating around itself to drive the ice bucket 300 thereon to and from the ice falling port 110 and the ice outlet 11 of the ice maker 10, so that the ice bucket 300 receives ice cubes guided out from the ice falling port 110 and guides the received ice cubes into the ice outlet 11.

In the present application, the depth, width and shape of the refrigerator 100 are not limited, and the shape of the refrigerator 100 may be, but not limited to, a square body, a cylinder, or the like. When the ice discharging mechanism is disposed in the ice maker 10, the ice storage bin 100 may be installed in the housing 12 of the ice maker 10, and the specification and the size of the ice storage bin 100 are correspondingly designed according to the actual demand of the ice maker 10 for the ice storage amount, so that the ice storage bin 100 can accommodate the stored ice amount to meet the demand of the ice maker 10.

It should be appreciated that when the ice-out mechanism is deployed within ice machine 10, the output end of the ice-making module of ice machine 10 interfaces with the top opening of ice-storage bin 100, and the ice cubes made by the ice-making module fall into and are stored within ice-storage bin 100.

In this application, the conveying rail 200 may be, but not limited to, a synchronous belt, a closed driving chain, etc., and the conveying rail 200 may be horizontally, vertically, and obliquely disposed in the housing 12 of the ice maker 10, only the ice drop port 110 of the ice storage bin 100 and the ice outlet port 11 of the ice maker 10 need be located on the conveying track of the conveying rail 200. It will be appreciated that the manner in which conveyor rail 200 is assembled within ice machine 10 is not limited by the size of refrigerator 100, and that ice machines 10 of different depths and widths may be employed.

In order to facilitate the guiding out of ice cubes in the refrigerator 100, the bottom of the refrigerator 100 is provided with an inclined surface structure, and the ice falling opening 110 is provided with an arc surface structure, so that ice cubes in the refrigerator 100 are guided out from the ice falling opening 110.

In the present application, the shape, the specification and the size of the ice bucket 300 are not limited, and for example, the shape of the ice bucket 300 may be, but not limited to, a square body, a trapezoid body, a cylinder body, a half cylinder body, etc. Each ice bucket 300 may accommodate one or more pieces of ice therein, and the size of the ice bucket 300 may be correspondingly set according to the size of the ice in the actual refrigerator 100.

The ice bucket 300 can be fixed on the conveying guide rail 200 through detachable structures such as screws, bolts and the like, and the ice bucket 300 is convenient to disassemble, assemble and replace. It will be appreciated that all the ice hoppers 300 are spaced along the extending direction of the conveying rail 200, and that the two rows of ice hoppers 300 on opposite sides of the conveying rail 200 are opposite in opening direction, as shown in fig. 1 and 2, the row of ice hoppers 300 on the rear side of the conveying rail 200 are all upward in opening direction, and the corresponding row of ice hoppers 300 on the front side of the conveying rail 200 are all downward in opening direction.

It will be appreciated that when ice maker 10 needs to output ice cubes at ice outlet 11, conveying rail 200 rotates circumferentially about itself such that all of ice hoppers 300 on conveying rail 200 pass one by one at the location of ice outlet 110 of ice storage bin 100 such that each ice hopper 300 receives ice cubes guided out of ice outlet 110. Along with the circulation rotation of the conveying guide rail 200, all the ice hoppers 300 which receive the ice cubes are driven by the conveying guide rail 200 to move to the position of the ice outlet 11 of the ice maker 10 one by one, so that the ice cubes on the ice hoppers 300 are guided into the ice outlet 11, and the ice maker 10 outputs the ice cubes at the ice outlet 11. With the cyclic rotation of the conveying guide rail 200, the ice bucket 300 on the conveying guide rail 200 circularly moves back and forth between the ice falling opening 110 of the refrigerator 100 and the ice outlet 11 of the ice maker 10, so that the ice bucket 300 on the conveying guide rail 200 can circularly complete the actions of receiving ice cubes at the ice falling opening 110 and guiding out the ice cubes at the ice outlet 11, and the ice outlet 11 of the ice maker 10 can continuously output the ice cubes, thereby meeting the ice taking demands of users.

In addition, the present application drives all the ice hoppers 300 on the ice hopper through the conveying guide rail 200 to circulate between the ice falling port 110 of the ice storage box 100 and the ice outlet 11 of the ice maker 10, the assembly mode of the conveying guide rail 200 in the ice maker 10 is not limited by the specification and the size of the ice storage box 100, and the ice in the ice storage box 100 can be conveyed and output to the ice outlet 11 of the ice maker 10 only by arranging the ice outlet 11 capable of guiding out ice on the ice storage box 100 and enabling the ice outlet 11 to be positioned on the conveying track of the conveying guide rail 200. The structure of the conveying guide rail 200 and all ice hoppers 300 assembled on the conveying guide rail 200 does not limit the specification and the size of the refrigerator 100, and the conveying guide rail 200 can be assembled in ice makers 10 with different depths and widths, so that the ice making mechanism can adapt to ice makers with different ice storage amount requirements, and the compatibility and universality of the ice making mechanism are effectively improved.

In addition, compare the mode that ice was gone out to spiral or carousel structure, ice-out mechanism of this application is through setting up the ice bucket 300 that can accept the ice-cube, and conveying guide rail 200 will accept the in-process that ice bucket 300 that has the ice-cube drove and remove to ice-out mouth 11 of ice-making machine 10, and ice bucket 300 holds the ice-cube steadily and puts, can reduce the risk that the ice-cube slipped at the conveying in-process, has improved the reliability of ice-cube.

Referring to fig. 2, 3 and 4, in some embodiments of the present application, the transfer rail 200 can steer the ice bucket 300 thereon at a position near the ice drop port 110 such that the opening of the ice bucket 300 interfaces with the ice drop port 110, and the transfer rail 200 can also steer the ice bucket 300 thereon at a position near the ice outlet port 11 such that ice cubes on the ice bucket 300 are disengaged from the ice bucket 300 and slidingly guided into the ice outlet port 11.

Specifically, the transfer rail 200 is a timing belt or a timing chain. The ice drop port 110 of the ice storage bin 100 and the ice outlet 11 of the ice maker 10 are integrally spaced apart with respect to the transfer rail 200.

It will be appreciated that referring to fig. 4, 5 and 6, the conveying rail 200 includes a first straight line segment L1, a first arc segment S1, a second straight line segment L2 and a second arc segment S2, which are sequentially connected end to end, the first straight line segment L1 and the second arc segment S2 are disposed near the ice drop port 110 of the ice storage bin 100, and the second straight line segment L2 and the first arc segment S1 are disposed near the ice outlet port 11 of the ice maker 10.

It should be understood that the first straight line segment L1, the first arc segment S1, the second straight line segment L2, and the second arc segment S2 are all provided with a plurality of ice hoppers 300, and the openings of all the ice hoppers 300 on the first straight line segment L1 are vertically upward, the openings of all the ice hoppers 300 on the second straight line segment L2 are vertically downward, all the ice hoppers 300 on the first arc segment S1 are inclined with respect to the horizontal plane, and similarly, all the ice hoppers 300 on the second arc segment S2 are inclined with respect to the horizontal plane.

Further, the abutting position of the first straight line segment L1 and the second arc segment S2 abuts against the ice falling port 110 of the refrigerator 100, and the abutting position of the second straight line segment L2 and the lower arc segment abuts against the ice outlet 11 of the ice maker 10.

In this way, when the conveying rail 200 drives the ice bucket 300 thereon to move from the second arc segment S2 to the abutting position of the first straight segment L1 and the second arc segment S2, the opening of the ice bucket 300 is turned from a state inclined with respect to the horizontal plane to a state vertically upward, and at this time, the ice cubes guided out from the ice dropping opening 110 of the ice storage bin 100 just slide into the ice bucket 300 at the abutting position, so as to be received by the ice bucket 300. When the conveying guide rail 200 drives the ice bucket 300 with the ice cubes carried thereon to move from the first arc section S1 to the abutting position of the second straight line section L2 and the first arc section S1, the opening of the ice bucket 300 is turned from a state inclined relative to the horizontal plane to a state inclined downward or vertically downward, at this time, the opening of the ice bucket 300 abuts against the ice outlet 11 of the ice maker 10, and the ice cubes on the ice bucket 300 slide down to the ice outlet 11 under the action of self weight and turning centrifugal force, so as to realize the ice discharging function.

It is to be understood that, the ice discharging mechanism drives the ice bucket 300 thereon to turn at the position close to the ice falling port 110 through the conveying guide rail 200, so that the opening of the ice bucket 300 forms a state of being accurately abutted with the ice falling port 110 at the position close to the ice falling port 110, and ice cubes in the refrigerator 100 can accurately and stably slide into the ice bucket 300 from the ice falling port 110, and the ice bucket 300 is ensured to accurately receive the ice cubes. Similarly, the ice bucket 300 is driven to turn at a position close to the ice outlet 11 by the conveying guide rail 200, so that the opening of the ice bucket 300 forms a state of being accurately butted with the ice outlet 11 at a position close to the ice outlet 11, and ice cubes in the ice bucket 300 can be smoothly separated from the ice bucket 300 and slidingly guided into the ice outlet 11, thus improving the reliability and accuracy of the ice outlet action of the ice outlet mechanism and the ice maker 10.

In some embodiments of the present application, referring to fig. 3 and 6, the transfer rail 200 includes a main body section 210 and a bending section 220 connected to one end of the main body section 210, the bending section 220 being bent toward the ice outlet 11; the ice discharging mechanism further comprises a driving wheel 400 capable of rotating around the ice discharging mechanism, and the bending section 220 is wound on the driving wheel 400 and is in transmission connection with the driving wheel 400.

Specifically, the ice discharging mechanism further comprises a rotary driving member 700, an output end of the rotary driving member 700 is connected with a driving wheel 400, the rotary driving member 700 can be a motor or a motor, the driving wheel 400 is a gear, and the conveying guide rail 200 is a chain meshed with the gear. It can be appreciated that the rotation driving member 700 drives the driving wheel 400 to rotate around itself, and the driving wheel 400 drives the conveying rail 200 to rotate around itself, so that the conveying rail 200 drives the ice bucket 300 thereon to circularly reciprocate between the ice falling opening 110 of the ice storage bin 100 and the ice outlet 11 of the ice maker 10, and the ice discharging operation is continuously and circularly completed.

In addition, the bending section 220 of the transfer rail 200 is inclined with respect to the main body section 210, and the inclination angle may be 105 ° to 150 °. Through set up one section towards the bending section 220 that the ice outlet 11 was buckled on the conveying guide rail 200 for conveying guide rail 200 drives the ice bucket 300 on it and can be closer to the ice outlet 11 when bending section 220 turns to, reduce as far as possible with the distance of ice outlet 11, moreover, because bending section 220 is relative main part section 210 slope and buckle towards ice outlet 11, when ice bucket 300 moves to the highest point of bending section 220, the opening of ice bucket 300 can slope downwards towards ice outlet 11, so, make ice-cube can break away from ice bucket 300 under self gravity and great rotation centrifugal force effect and the slip is led into ice outlet 11, reduce the ice-cube and can't break away from smoothly from ice bucket 300 because of the frictional force on the ice bucket 300 probability, further improve the reliability of ice-cube action.

Further, referring again to fig. 3 and 6, the body section 210 and the bending section 220 are each configured in a U shape, and the distance between both sides of the body section 210 is smaller than the distance between both sides of the bending section 220, and the body section 210 and the bending section 220 are smoothly connected in a transitional manner to form a closed loop shape.

It should be noted that, since the conveying rail 200 is in a closed ring shape as a whole, and the conveying rail 200 needs to be driven to rotate by the driving wheel 400, at least a portion of the conveying rail 200 needs to be wound on the driving wheel 400 and is in transmission fit with the driving wheel 400, if the conveying rail 200 is in a conventional waist-shaped hole closed ring shape, the distance between two opposite sides (the span or the width of the front and rear sides) of the conveying rail 200 will be equal to the diameter of the driving wheel 400, which will cause the conveying rail 200 to occupy the larger width (the front and rear direction) space inside the ice maker 10, and the design width of the ice maker 100 will be reduced by extrusion under the condition that the space of the ice maker 10 is certain, and it is difficult to adapt to the ice maker with the larger ice storage amount requirement.

Based on this, the ice discharging mechanism of the present application bends a section of bending section 220 towards the direction of the ice outlet 11 through the end of the main body section 210, and sets the distance between two sides of the bending section 220 to be equal to the diameter of the driving wheel 400, so, on the basis that the conveying guide rail 200 can rotate under the driving action of the driving wheel 400, the distance between two sides of the main body section 210 can be compressed as small as possible, the two sides of the main body section 210 are not contacted and interfered, the whole width of the conveying guide rail 200 is reduced, that is, the width space of the ice maker 10 occupied by the conveying guide rail 200 is reduced, and under the condition that the space of the ice maker 10 is certain, the design width of the ice storage refrigerator 100 is increased, so that the ice maker with larger ice storage capacity requirement is better adapted, and the whole compatibility and universality of the ice discharging mechanism are further improved.

In some embodiments of the present application, referring again to fig. 4, 7 and 8, the ice discharge mechanism further includes a limit rail 500, the limit rail 500 being located at a side of the transfer rail 200 and having the same extension trajectory as the transfer rail 200, and all of the ice hoppers 300 are slidably connected to the limit rail 500.

It can be appreciated that when the conveying guide rail 200 drives the ice bucket 300 thereon to move along the extending track of the conveying guide rail 200, the ice bucket 300 also slides along the limiting guide rail 500 synchronously, and the ice bucket 300 moves accurately according to the track of the conveying guide rail 200 through the limiting and guiding effects of the limiting guide rail 500 on the ice bucket 300, so that the probability of deviation and dislocation of the ice bucket 300 in the moving process is reduced, and the reliability and accuracy of the ice discharging action are improved.

Further, referring to fig. 7 and 8, the limiting rail 500 is provided with a first sliding groove 510 and a second sliding groove 520 spaced apart in the width direction thereof, the ice bucket 300 is provided with a first sliding table 310 and a second sliding table 320 spaced apart in the length direction thereof, and the first sliding table 310 and the second sliding table 320 are slidably engaged with the first sliding groove 510 and the second sliding groove 520, respectively.

It will be appreciated that the first runner 510 and the second runner 520 extend along the same path as the conveyor rail 200, both of which are closed annular grooves. The first runner 510 and the second runner 520 have a height difference on the curb rail 500. Correspondingly, the first sliding table 310 and the second sliding table 320 are protruding shafts arranged on the same side of the ice bucket 300, and the first sliding table 310 and the second sliding table 320 also have a height difference on the same side of the ice bucket 300. The first sliding table 310 and the second sliding table 320 respectively extend into the first sliding groove 510 and the second sliding groove 520 to respectively slidingly engage with the first sliding groove 510 and the second sliding groove 520.

When the conveying guide rail 200 drives the ice bucket 300 thereon to move along the extending track of the conveying guide rail 200, the first sliding table 310 on the ice bucket 300 synchronously slides along the first sliding groove 510, and the second sliding table 320 synchronously slides along the second sliding groove 520. The ice bucket 300 is guided and limited through the two sliding grooves with the height difference, so that the ice bucket 300 can accurately move according to the track of the conveying guide rail 200, the probability of deviation and dislocation of the ice bucket 300 in the moving process is reduced, and the reliability and accuracy of ice discharging actions are further improved.

Further, the two limiting rails 500 are respectively located at two opposite sides of the conveying rail 200, and two opposite sides of the ice bucket 300 are respectively slidably connected with the two limiting rails 500. In this way, the two limiting guide rails 500 respectively guide and limit the two sides of all the ice hoppers 300, so that the risk that the ice hoppers 300 deviate to the two sides in the moving process along with the conveying guide rails 200 is reduced, and the reliability and accuracy of the ice discharging action are further improved.

Furthermore, in some embodiments of the present application, the rail 500 and all of the ice hoppers 300 are constructed in a plastic structure, and problems in that rust occurs on the rail 500 and all of the ice hoppers 300 to affect the quality of ice cubes can be prevented as compared to a metal structure.

Referring again to fig. 1, 5 and 8, in some embodiments of the present application, the ice discharging mechanism further includes a protective cover 600, the conveying rail 200 and all the ice hoppers 300 are installed in the protective cover 600, a first notch 610 and a second notch 620 are spaced apart on an outer wall of the protective cover 600, the ice hoppers 300 can be in abutting communication with the ice dropping opening 110 through the first notch 610, and the ice hoppers 300 can also be in abutting communication with the ice discharging opening 11 through the second notch 620.

Specifically, the protection cover 600 is fixedly installed in the housing 12 of the ice maker 10, the protection cover 600 forms a cavity for accommodating the transfer rail 200 and all the ice hoppers 300, and the transfer rail 200 and all the ice hoppers 300 are installed in the cavity, so that external impurities are prevented from entering the ice hoppers 300 to contact with ice cubes and the quality of the ice cubes is prevented from being affected.

It can be understood that the first notch 610 on the protecting cover 600 is in butt-joint communication with the ice dropping opening 110 of the refrigerator 100, the second notch 620 of the protecting cover 600 is in butt-joint communication with the ice outlet 11 of the ice maker 10, and when the ice bucket 300 is moved to the position of the first notch 610 of the protecting cover 600 by the conveying guide rail 200, the ice cubes guided out of the ice dropping opening 110 enter the ice bucket 300 through the first notch 610. When the conveying guide rail 200 drives the ice bucket 300 to move to the position of the second notch 620 of the protection cover 600, the ice cubes on the ice bucket 300 are separated from the ice bucket 300 and are slidingly guided into the ice outlet 11 through the second notch 620, and ice discharging is completed.

Further, referring to fig. 1 and 9, there is also provided an ice maker 10, the ice maker 10 including the ice-out mechanism of any of the embodiments described above.

Specifically, the ice maker 10 has therein an ice making module for making ice cubes and outputting the ice cubes into the refrigerator 100, and an output end of the ice making module is in butt joint with an opening at a top end of the refrigerator 100, and the ice cubes made by the ice making module fall into and are stored in the refrigerator 100.

It should be understood that, since the ice maker 10 of the present application is configured with the ice outlet mechanism, the same technical effect is achieved by the ice outlet mechanism, that is, the ice cubes in the ice maker 100 can be transferred to and output from the ice outlet 11 of the ice maker 10 by the way that the conveying guide rail 200 drives all the ice hoppers 300 thereon to circulate between the ice outlet 11 of the ice maker 10 and the ice outlet 110 of the ice maker 100, and the assembly mode of the conveying guide rail 200 in the ice maker 10 is not limited by the specification and size of the ice maker 100, and only the ice outlet 11 capable of guiding out ice cubes is arranged on the ice maker 100 and the ice outlet 11 is positioned on the conveying track of the conveying guide rail 200. The conveying guide rail 200 and all ice hoppers 300 assembled on the conveying guide rail 200 can not limit the specification and the size of the refrigerator 100, and the conveying guide rail 200 can be assembled in ice makers 10 with different depths and widths, so that an ice making mechanism can adapt to ice makers with different ice storage amount requirements, the compatibility and universality of the ice making mechanism are effectively improved, the compatibility and the adaptability of the ice maker are also indirectly improved, and the ice making machine can meet the requirements of different ice making amounts of users.

Further, in some embodiments of the present application, ice maker 10 further includes a housing 12 and a mounting bulkhead 13 disposed within housing 12, and a transfer rail 200 is removably mounted to mounting bulkhead 13.

Specifically, the refrigerator 100 and the transfer rail 200 are all installed inside the housing 12, and the limit rail 500, the protection cover 600, and the rotation driving member 700 are all fixed on the installation partition 13 by screws, it is understood that the transfer rail 200 is stably assembled inside the protection cover 600 by sliding and limiting all the ice hoppers 300 thereon with the limit rail 500, so as to stably drive all the ice hoppers 300 thereon to come and go from the ice dropping port 110 and the ice outlet 11 of the ice maker 10. In addition, a positioning groove 14 is arranged at the bottom of the shell 12 near the ice falling opening 110 of the refrigerator 100, and the positioning groove 14 provides installation positioning for the conveying guide rail 200 and the protective cover 600, so that the installation accuracy of the conveying guide rail 200 is improved.

The technical features of the above-described embodiments may be arbitrarily combined, and all possible combinations of the technical features in the above-described embodiments are not described for brevity of description, however, as long as there is no contradiction between the combinations of the technical features, they should be considered as the scope of the description.

The above examples only represent a few embodiments of the present application, which are described in more detail and are not to be construed as limiting the scope of the claims. It should be noted that it would be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and improvements could be made without departing from the spirit of the present application, which would be within the scope of the present application. Accordingly, the scope of protection of the present application is to be determined by the claims appended hereto.

Claims (10)

1. An ice dispensing mechanism for deployment within an ice making machine, comprising:

a refrigerator for storing ice cubes, having an ice-dropping port for guiding out the ice cubes;

a transfer rail configured in a closed ring shape, the transfer rail being provided with a plurality of ice hoppers at intervals along an extending direction thereof;

the conveying guide rail can rotate around the circumference of the conveying guide rail to drive the ice bucket on the conveying guide rail to reciprocate from the ice falling opening to the ice outlet of the ice maker, so that the ice bucket receives ice cubes guided out from the ice falling opening and guides the received ice cubes into the ice outlet.

2. The ice dispensing mechanism of claim 1 wherein said conveyor rail is capable of driving an ice hopper thereon to turn at a location proximate said ice chute to cause an opening of said ice hopper to abut said ice chute, and is further capable of driving an ice hopper thereon to turn at a location proximate said ice dispensing opening to cause ice cubes on said ice hopper to disengage from said ice hopper and slidingly guide into said ice dispensing opening.

3. An ice dispensing mechanism according to claim 1 or 2, wherein,

the conveying guide rail comprises a main body section and a bending section connected to one end of the main body section, and the bending section bends towards the ice outlet;

the ice discharging mechanism further comprises a driving wheel capable of rotating around the ice discharging mechanism, and the bending section is wound on the driving wheel and is in transmission connection with the driving wheel.

4. An ice dispensing mechanism as recited in claim 3, wherein said main body section and said bending section are each configured in a U-shape with a distance between the sides of said main body section being less than a distance between the sides of said bending section, said main body section and said bending section being smoothly transitioned to form a closed loop.

5. The ice dispensing mechanism of claim 1 further comprising a curb rail located on a side of the conveyor rail and having the same extension trajectory as the conveyor rail, all of the ice hoppers being slidably connected to the curb rail.

6. The ice discharging mechanism according to claim 5, wherein the limit guide rail is provided with a first sliding groove and a second sliding groove at intervals along the width direction of the limit guide rail, the ice bucket is provided with a first sliding table and a second sliding table at intervals along the length direction of the ice bucket, and the first sliding table and the second sliding table are respectively in sliding fit with the first sliding groove and the second sliding groove.

7. An ice dispensing mechanism as claimed in claim 5 or claim 6, wherein the limit rail has two, two of the limit rails are located on opposite sides of the conveyor rail, respectively, and opposite sides of the ice hopper are slidably connected to the two limit rails, respectively.

8. The ice discharging mechanism according to claim 1, further comprising a protective cover, wherein the conveying guide rail and all the ice hoppers are installed in the protective cover, a first notch and a second notch are arranged on the outer wall of the protective cover at intervals, the ice hoppers can be in butt joint communication with the ice falling port through the first notch, and the ice hoppers can be in butt joint communication with the ice discharging port through the second notch.

9. An ice maker comprising the ice-out mechanism of any one of claims 1 to 8.

10. The ice-making machine of claim 9, further comprising a housing and a mounting bulkhead disposed within said housing, said conveyor rail being removably mounted on said mounting bulkhead.