CN111829235A - Ice crushing device and refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention provides an ice crushing device and a refrigerator. The ice crushing device comprises a shell assembly with a shell and an ice bucket, wherein an ice discharging base plate is arranged at the bottom of the ice bucket, an ice discharging opening communicated with the ice bucket is formed in the ice discharging base plate and used for driving a driving mechanism for driving the ice bucket to rotate, the ice crushing device comprises an ice cutter shaft fixed on the shell and an ice crushing mechanism which is arranged on the ice cutter shaft at intervals and is provided with a plurality of movable ice cutters and a plurality of fixed ice cutters, and a stopping assembly is arranged on the ice cutter shaft and is positioned between the adjacent movable ice cutters and the fixed ice cutters. The ice crushing device can prevent ice blocks from falling and does not influence the whole ice discharging rate.

Description

Ice crushing device and refrigerator

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of household appliances, in particular to an ice crushing device and a refrigerator.

Background

With the continuous development of science and technology, the living standard of people is continuously improved, and in order to meet the requirements of people on higher living quality, the functions of household appliances are also continuously increased, such as an ice maker and the like are added on a refrigerator. The ice maker of the refrigerator comprises an ice making device and an ice crushing device, wherein ice cubes are prepared by the ice making device and then stored in a bucket-shaped container so as to be convenient for people to take. Meanwhile, in order to facilitate use, technicians set the ice discharge mode of the refrigerator to a crushed ice mode and an ice block mode. In the ice crushing mode, people take the cut ice blocks; in the ice-cube mode, people take complete ice cubes.

In the prior art, the ice crushing mode and the ice cube mode are generally implemented by providing an ice crushing blade assembly in a tub-shaped container. The ice crushing cutter assembly comprises a fixed ice cutter and a movable ice cutter, one end of the fixed ice cutter is movably arranged on a rotating shaft of the ice crushing cutter assembly in a penetrating mode, and one end of the movable ice cutter is fixedly arranged on the rotating shaft of the ice crushing cutter assembly in a penetrating mode so that the rotating shaft drives the ice cutter to rotate. When the rotating shaft rotates in the positive direction (namely rotates towards the direction of the ice fixing blade), the ice crushing blade assembly cuts ice blocks when the movable ice blade and the ice fixing blade are staggered, and the ice crushing mode is realized. When the rotating shaft rotates reversely, the ice crushing blade assembly only plays a role of driving and stirring the ice blocks near the ice blade and enables the ice blocks to slide out of the outlet of the bucket-shaped container, and the mode of the ice blocks is the ice block mode.

However, the ice outlet of the ice crusher is open, and ice cubes are easily dropped from the ice outlet when the ice bin is taken out of the refrigerator or when a user opens or closes the door of the refrigerator to cause vibration. In order to prevent the ice from falling off, the prior art adds a slope with a certain height at the ice outlet. The mode of adding the slope at the ice outlet effectively reduces the probability of ice falling, but the whole ice is easily crushed between the ice moving blade and the slope when the whole ice is taken, so that the whole ice rate is reduced.

Therefore, aiming at the problem that the whole ice discharging rate is reduced due to the fact that ice cubes are prevented from falling in the prior art, the embodiment of the invention provides an ice crushing device and a corresponding refrigerator, wherein the ice cubes can be prevented from falling, and the whole ice discharging rate is not influenced.

Disclosure of Invention

Aiming at the problem that the whole ice discharging rate is reduced due to the fact that ice cubes are prevented from falling in the prior art, the embodiment of the invention provides an ice crushing device and a corresponding refrigerator, wherein the ice crushing device can prevent ice cubes from falling and does not influence the whole ice discharging rate. This trash ice device prevents through increasing the backstop subassembly that the trash ice from dropping, and the setting of backstop subassembly does not influence out whole ice rate.

The embodiment of the invention provides a concrete scheme of an ice crushing device, which comprises the following steps: an ice crushing device comprising: the shell assembly comprises a shell, an ice bucket supported in the shell and an ice discharging base plate arranged at the bottom of the ice bucket, wherein the ice discharging base plate is provided with an ice discharging opening communicated with the ice bucket, and ice blocks made by the ice maker are broken by the ice breaking mechanism in the ice bucket and then discharged from the ice discharging opening; the driving mechanism is used for driving the ice bucket to rotate, and at least one part of the driving mechanism is arranged in the shell; the ice crushing mechanism is arranged in the ice bucket and comprises an ice knife shaft fixed relative to the shell, and a plurality of movable ice knives and a plurality of fixed ice knives which are arranged on the ice knife shaft at intervals; and the stopping component is arranged on the ice knife shaft and is positioned between the adjacent movable ice knife and the adjacent fixed ice knife.

Preferably, the stopping assembly comprises a stopper for stopping the ice cubes, an elastic member for providing a return to the stopper, and a fixing member for fixing the stopper and the elastic member.

Preferably, the stopper comprises a stopper portion and a fixing portion, the stopper portion is a plate-shaped structure having a predetermined height in a vertical direction and a predetermined length in a horizontal direction, and the fixing portion comprises a first through hole for matching with the ice skate shaft and a first fixing end surface for fixing the elastic member.

Preferably, the stopper further includes a reinforcing rib provided between the stopper portion and the fixing portion.

Preferably, the reinforcing rib has a substantially triangular plate-like configuration.

Preferably, the fixing member includes a second through hole for being matched with the ice blade shaft and a second fixing end surface for fixing the elastic member.

Preferably, the ice crushing device includes a plurality of stopper assemblies.

Preferably, the stoppers of the plurality of stopper assemblies are in the same plane in the vertical direction.

Preferably, the elastic member is a torsion spring.

The embodiment of the invention also provides a refrigerator. The refrigerator has the following specific technical scheme: the refrigerator comprises a refrigerator body, a door body used for opening or closing the refrigerator body and the ice crushing device, wherein the ice crushing device is arranged on the refrigerator body or the door body.

According to the technical scheme, the embodiment of the invention has the following advantages:

the ice crushing device provided by the embodiment of the invention is additionally provided with the stopping component to prevent crushed ice from falling off, and the setting of the stopping component does not influence the whole ice discharging rate. Further, the stopper assembly further includes an elastic member for providing a restoring force so that the stopper in the stopper assembly can be automatically reset.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an ice crushing device in accordance with a first preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view of the ice crushing device of FIG. 1 with the housing concealed;

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the housing assembly of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a schematic perspective view of the housing of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the housing of FIG. 1 from another perspective;

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional schematic view of the housing of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the hidden portion of the housing of FIG. 1;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of an ice crushing assembly of the ice crushing device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 9 is a partially exploded perspective view of the ice crushing assembly of FIG. 8;

fig. 10 is a perspective view of the stopper of fig. 8.

Detailed Description

The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to specific embodiments shown in the drawings. These embodiments are not intended to limit the present invention, and structural, methodological, or functional changes made by those skilled in the art according to these embodiments are included in the scope of the present invention.

The first preferred embodiment of the invention discloses a refrigerator, which comprises a refrigerator body (not shown) and a door body (not shown) for opening or closing the refrigerator body, wherein the refrigerator body defines storage compartments, and the number and the structural form of the storage compartments can be configured according to different requirements. The storage compartment typically includes a refrigerator compartment and a freezer compartment.

As shown in fig. 1 to 10, the refrigerator further includes an ice crushing device 100, and the ice crushing device 100 is disposed on the refrigerator body or the door body. The ice crushing device 100 comprises a housing assembly 10, a driving mechanism 30 mounted on the housing assembly 10, and an ice crushing mechanism 50, wherein the housing assembly 10 comprises a casing 11 and an ice bucket 12 supported in the casing 11, the driving mechanism 30 is used for driving the ice bucket 12 to rotate, and at least a portion of the driving mechanism 30 is mounted in the casing. An ice crushing mechanism 50 is provided in the ice bucket 12 for crushing ice cubes made by the ice maker. The housing assembly 10 further includes an ice discharge base plate 13 disposed at the bottom of the ice bucket 12, the ice discharge base plate 13 is fixedly disposed relative to the housing 11, preferably, the ice discharge base plate 13 and the housing 11 may be integrally disposed, for example, integrally formed by injection molding, an ice discharge port 131 communicated with the ice bucket 12 is disposed on the ice discharge base plate 13, the ice discharge port 131 may be a substantially fan-shaped opening on the ice discharge base plate 13, a central angle of the fan-shaped opening is substantially less than 180 degrees, preferably, between 120 degrees and 170 degrees, and ice cubes made by the ice maker are broken by the ice breaking mechanism 50 in the ice bucket 12 and then discharged from the ice discharge port 131.

In the preferred embodiment, the driving mechanism 30 includes a motor (not shown) and a cylindrical gear 31 driven by the motor, the outer circumference of the ice bucket 12 is provided with external teeth 121, and the cylindrical gear 31 is engaged with the external teeth 121 to rotate the ice bucket 12. Further, a gear assembly is arranged between the motor and the cylindrical gear 31, the gear assembly comprises a first bevel gear 32 connected with the motor and a second bevel gear 33 engaged with the first bevel gear 32, the cylindrical gear 31 and the second bevel gear 33 are coaxially and relatively fixedly arranged, that is, the motor drives the first bevel gear 32 to rotate, and the cylindrical gear 31 and the second bevel gear 33 synchronously rotate, so that the torque is transmitted from the motor to the ice bucket 12. Through setting up two bevel gears and cylindrical gear 31, design actuating mechanism's that can be reasonable overall dimension for the cooperation of motor and gear assembly is compacter, thereby the holistic volume of trash ice device is more miniaturized. Of course, the driving mechanism may be other transmission mechanisms, such as a belt transmission mechanism, a chain transmission mechanism, a worm gear and worm, etc., and the gear mechanism is not limited to a bevel gear, and may also be a straight gear, a helical gear, a herringbone gear, a curved gear, etc.

The housing 11 includes a first portion 11a accommodating the ice bucket 12 and a second portion 11b mounting the driving mechanism 30, wherein the first portion 11a is configured to match the periphery of the ice bucket 12, i.e., the first portion 11a is also provided in a cylindrical shape, and the ice bucket 12 rotates within the cylindrical first portion 11 a. In order to facilitate the power transmission of the ice bucket 12 and the overall sealing performance of the ice crushing device, the opening 111 is provided on the first portion 11a, and the meshing portion of the cylindrical gear 31 and the external teeth 121 is located at the opening 111, so that the opening 111 can be minimized, and the stable meshing of the cylindrical gear 31 and the external teeth 121 can be satisfied. The housing assembly 10 further includes a bottom plate 14, the bottom of the second portion 11b is open, the bottom plate 14 covers the bottom of the second portion 11b to seal the cylindrical gear 31 between the second portion 11b and the bottom plate 14, a locking groove 133 is formed at the bottom of the ice discharging substrate 13, a protrusion 143, which is matched with the locking groove 133 in shape, is formed on the bottom plate 14, the protrusion 143 is recessed into the locking groove 133, and preferably, the protrusion 143 and the locking groove 133 are both formed in a fish shape, so that the sealing performance of the whole ice crushing device is better.

In addition, the first portion 11a is provided with a first step portion 113 and a second step portion 114 at an interval along the axial direction of the ice bucket 12, and a backing ring (not shown in the figure) is provided between the ice bucket 12 and the first portion 11 a. One end of backing ring has the turn-ups, and the turn-ups butt is in first step portion 113, and the other end butt of backing ring is in second step portion 114, makes ice bucket 12's rotation more stable through setting up the backing ring, reduces the rotational wear between ice bucket 12 and the shell 11.

Referring to fig. 3, for the ease of manufacturing the housing 11 and the ease of assembling the driving mechanism 30, the housing assembly 10 further includes a rear cover 15 coupled to the housing 11, a motor coupled to an outer side of the rear cover 15, and a first bevel gear 32 and a second bevel gear 33 supported between the rear cover 15 and the housing 11. Referring to fig. 4, since there is relative rotation between the ice bucket 12 and the ice discharge base plate 13, based on the existence of the opening 111 of the meshing part between the ice bucket 12 and the cylindrical gear 31 and the gap between the ice bucket 12 and the housing 11, in order to prevent crushed ice in the ice bucket 12 from entering the driving mechanism 30 from the opening 111 or the gap, a groove 136 extending along the circumferential direction of the ice bucket 12 may be provided between the ice discharge base plate 13 and the first portion 11a, the groove 136 is communicated with the ice discharge port 131, and the lower edge of the ice bucket 12 extends into the groove 136. Therefore, crushed ice can enter the driving mechanism 30 on the other side only by passing through the groove 136, the crushed ice can be firstly accumulated in the groove 136, and when the ice bucket 12 rotates, the crushed ice can be taken away and falls from the ice outlet 131. A protrusion 137 is formed at a position corresponding to the groove 136 at the bottom of the ice discharge base plate 13, a recess 147 is formed on the base plate 14, the protrusion 137 is caught in the recess 147 to facilitate the assembly of the base plate, and a catching groove 133 connecting the base plate is abutted to the protrusion 137, whereby a labyrinth structure can be formed to prevent lubricating oil or impurities between gears, crushed ice, and the like from leaking out of the housing assembly 10.

Referring to fig. 8, the ice crushing mechanism 50 includes an ice blade shaft 51 fixed with respect to the housing 11, and a plurality of movable ice blades 52 and a plurality of stationary ice blades 53 disposed on the ice blade shaft 51 at intervals, wherein the ice blade shaft 51 is fixed on the ice discharge substrate 13. The ice blade shaft 51 includes a shaft core 515, a boss 511, and an end nut 513, and the shaft core 515 is located in an inner space of the boss 511. The bottom end of the core 515 is threaded and mates with the end nut 513. Unlike the prior art, the movable blade 52 is fixed with respect to the ice bucket 12, and the stationary blade 53 is fixed with respect to the ice blade shaft 51, so that the movable blade 52 is rotated by the ice bucket 12 and the stationary blade 53 is fixed with respect to the housing 11. The ice cubes in the ice bucket 12 are broken by the rotation of the movable ice blade 52 relative to the stationary ice blade 53. In addition, in order to prevent ice cubes from being stuck together, an ice-stirring rod 54 may be installed at one end of the ice blade shaft 51 away from the ice discharge opening 131, and the ice-stirring rod 54 may extend toward the other end of the ice blade shaft 51 and be fixed with the ice blade 52, achieving stirring of ice cubes while rotating together with the ice blade 52. Of course, the rotation of the movable ice blade 52 may be that the movable ice blade 52 is directly fixed on the inner wall of the ice bucket 12, or the movable ice blade 52 and the ice stirring rod 54 are relatively fixed and the ice stirring rod 54 is fixed on the inner wall of the ice bucket 12, where the fixation may be a fixation relative to the circumferential direction of the ice bucket 12, and the axial direction may be set to be fixed or the axial distance may be adjusted relative to the ice bucket 12.

In this embodiment, preferably, the inner wall of the ice bucket 12 is provided with a first limiting groove 123 extending along the axial direction, wherein one end of the ice stirring rod 54 is clamped in the first limiting groove 123, and the ice moving blade 52 is circumferentially fixed to the ice stirring rod 54. The movable ice blade 52 comprises two linear blades, the movable ice blade 52 is provided with two blades, the same fixed ice blade 53 is also provided with two blades, the movable ice blade 52 and the fixed ice blade 53 are adjacently arranged, the ice stirring rod 54 is also provided with two blades corresponding to the movable ice blade 52, one end of the ice stirring rod 54 is provided with a second limit groove 543 extending along the axial direction, two blades corresponding to the two movable ice blades 52 are respectively provided with a protrusion 523, the two protrusions 523 are all clamped in the second limit groove 543, and circumferential fixing of the movable ice blade 52 relative to the ice stirring rod 54 is achieved.

As shown in fig. 4, the ice discharge opening 131 of the ice discharge substrate 13 is opened. The user easily drops the crushed ice pieces from the ice discharge opening 131 by the shock generated when opening and closing the refrigerator door or when taking out the ice bank. Although the prior art prevents ice blocks from falling by adding a slope at the ice discharge opening 131, the extension of the slope in the height direction may cause the space from the moving blade 52 to the ice discharge opening 131 to be reduced, causing the whole ice between the moving blade 52 and the slope to be easily crushed by the ice, thereby causing the whole ice discharge rate of the ice crushing device 100 to be reduced.

Referring to fig. 7 to 10, the embodiment of the invention adds a stopper assembly to the ice crushing device 100, so as to prevent the ice cubes from falling and not affect the ice-making rate. In this embodiment, the stopping assembly includes a stopper 73 for stopping the ice cubes, an elastic member 72 for providing a return to the stopper 73, and a fixing member 71 for fixing the stopper 73 and the elastic member 72. In the present embodiment, since the elastic member 72 is mainly used to provide a restoring force to the stopper 73, the elastic member 72 may also be referred to as a restoring member.

The stopper 73 includes a stopper portion 732 and a fixing portion 731. The blocking part 732 is a plate-shaped structure having a predetermined height in a vertical direction and a predetermined length in a horizontal direction, and forms a blocking surface in its own structure, thereby blocking the falling of ice cubes. The fixing portion 731 is substantially cylindrical and includes a first through hole 731b and a stepped surface 731 a. The stepped surface 731a serves as a first fixing end surface for fixing the elastic member 72. The first through hole 731b is used to match the ice blade shaft 51, and in the present embodiment, the shaft core 515 of the ice blade shaft 51 passes through the first through hole 731 b. The stopper 73 further includes a reinforcing rib 735, and the reinforcing rib 735 is located between the blocking portion 732 and the fixing portion 731 and is used for reinforcing the connection between the blocking portion 732 and the fixing portion 731. The stopper 732 is plate-shaped and the fixing part 731 is cylindrical, so that the original connecting end surface between the stopper 732 and the fixing part 731 is a line connection. When the momentum of the ice is large, the wire-connected stopper 732 is easily broken or dropped, resulting in the stopper being ineffective. The reinforcing rib 735 effectively increases the coupling strength between the stopping part 732 and the fixing part 731 and improves the impact resistance of the stopper 73 against ice by installing a layer of connection between the stopping part and the fixing part. The reinforcing rib 735 is a plate structure similar to a triangle, and further improves the connection area and the connection strength.

In the present embodiment, the elastic member 72 is specifically a torsion spring. The fixing member 71 has a substantially cylindrical shape and includes a second fixing end surface for fixing the elastic member 72 and a second through hole (not shown) for matching with the ice blade shaft.

In the present embodiment, the stopper member is mounted on the blade shaft 51 coaxially with the movable blade 52 and the fixed blade 53. The stop assembly is located between the adjacent moving ice blade 52 and the ice fixing blade 53. When the assembly is carried out, the fixing member 71, the elastic member 72 and the stopper 73 of the stopper assembly are sequentially sleeved on the shaft core 515. The elastic member 72 (i.e., torsion spring) is located in a space defined by the first and second fixing end surfaces. The ice crushing device 100 may include a plurality of stopper assemblies, thereby forming a plurality of stoppers. In the vertical direction, the stoppers 732 in the stoppers 73 of the plurality of stopper assemblies are in the same plane. According to the principle of force, when the stopper 73 is installed, the side of the stopper 73 on which the reinforcing rib 735 is provided is located at the side of the ice discharge opening 131.

In the initial state, the torsion spring is in a free state; when the stopper 73 is rotated by an external force, the torsion spring is converted into an operating state by a torsional force and stores a restoring force. When the rotational torque of the stopper 73 becomes small or disappears, the restoring force of the torsion spring pushes the stopper 73 to generate reverse rotation and restore the initial state.

When the ice is finished, the ice moving blade 52 pushes the ice blocks to drive the stop piece 73 to rotate towards the ice discharging opening 131 on the horizontal plane, and when the ice blocks reach the ice discharging opening 131, the finished ice falls; after finishing the ice-trimming, the stopper 73 is restored to the original position by the restoring force of the elastic member 72. When the ice box is taken out, the stopper 73 is not moved and is not influenced by the movement of the movable ice blade 52, the stopper 73 is located at the initial position, and the crushed ice can be effectively prevented from falling from the ice discharge opening 131 due to the stopper effect of the stopper 73.

In this embodiment, the rounded-up ice state is defined as the second state, and the other states except the rounded-up ice state are defined as the first states. The first state includes a state in which the ice bank is taken out of the refrigerator or a state in which a user shakes while opening and closing the refrigerator door, etc. When the ice crushing device 100 is in the first state, the stopper assembly is in the initial state and forms a stopper surface for blocking ice pieces from falling at the ice discharge port 131; when the ice crushing device 100 is in the second state, the stopping assembly is shifted to release the stopping surface under the action of the external force (i.e., the external force applied to the stopper 73 by the ice cubes pushed by the movable ice blade 52), and returns to the initial state after the external force (i.e., the external force applied to the stopper 73 by the ice cubes pushed by the movable ice blade 52) disappears. The stopping component can effectively prevent the broken ice from falling, can not influence the whole ice rate, and has the function of automatically returning to the initial state.

In the description herein, references to the description of the term "one embodiment," "some embodiments," "an example," "a specific example," or "some examples," etc., mean that a particular feature, structure, material, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment or example is included in at least one embodiment or example of the invention. In this specification, the schematic representations of the terms used above are not necessarily intended to refer to the same embodiment or example. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, materials, or characteristics described may be combined in any suitable manner in any one or more embodiments or examples. Furthermore, various embodiments or examples and features of different embodiments or examples described in this specification can be combined and combined by one skilled in the art without contradiction.

Although embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described above, it is understood that the above embodiments are exemplary and should not be construed as limiting the present invention, and that variations, modifications, substitutions and alterations can be made to the above embodiments by those of ordinary skill in the art within the scope of the present invention.

Claims (10)

1. An ice crushing device, comprising:

the shell assembly comprises a shell, an ice bucket supported in the shell and an ice discharging base plate arranged at the bottom of the ice bucket, wherein the ice discharging base plate is provided with an ice discharging opening communicated with the ice bucket, and ice blocks made by the ice maker are broken by the ice breaking mechanism in the ice bucket and then discharged from the ice discharging opening;

the driving mechanism is used for driving the ice bucket to rotate, and at least one part of the driving mechanism is arranged in the shell;

the ice crushing mechanism is arranged in the ice bucket and comprises an ice knife shaft fixed relative to the shell, and a plurality of movable ice knives and a plurality of fixed ice knives which are arranged on the ice knife shaft at intervals;

and the stopping component is arranged on the ice knife shaft and is positioned between the adjacent movable ice knife and the adjacent fixed ice knife.

2. An ice crushing device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the stopping assembly comprises a stopper for stopping the ice cubes, an elastic member for providing a return to the stopper, and a fixing member for fixing the stopper and the elastic member.

3. An ice crushing device as claimed in claim 2, wherein the stopper comprises a stopper portion having a plate-like structure with a predetermined height in a vertical direction and a predetermined length in a horizontal direction, and a fixing portion comprising a first through hole for matching with the ice blade shaft and a first fixing end surface for fixing the elastic member.

4. The ice crushing device as claimed in claim 3, wherein the stopper further comprises a reinforcing rib provided between the stopper portion and the fixing portion.

5. An ice crushing device as claimed in claim 4, wherein the reinforcing ribs are of generally triangular plate-like configuration.

6. An ice crushing device as claimed in claim 2, wherein the fixing member includes a second through hole for matching with the ice blade shaft and a second fixing end face for fixing the elastic member.

7. An ice crushing device as claimed in claim 2, wherein the ice crushing device comprises a plurality of stop assemblies.

8. An ice crushing device as claimed in claim 7, wherein the stoppers of the plurality of stopper assemblies are in the same plane in the vertical direction.

9. An ice crushing device according to claim 2, wherein the elastic member is a torsion spring.

10. A refrigerator, characterized in that the refrigerator comprises a refrigerator body, a door body for opening or closing the refrigerator body, and the ice crushing device according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the ice crushing device is arranged on the refrigerator body or the door body.

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