KR20100125759A - Ice bucket for refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: An ice bucket for a refrigerator is provided to effectively separate ice that has been adhered together by forcibly moving the ice stored in the ice bucket. CONSTITUTION: An ice bucket for a refrigerator comprises an ice maker, a body(210), an adhesion prevention unit(400), and a drive motor(410). The ice maker is provided on an inner side of a refrigerator or a side of a door and makes ice. The body is detachably installed under the ice maker in order to store the ice made by the ice maker. The adhesion prevention unit moves up and down within the body to move the ice stored in the body. The drive motor is installed inside the body and provides power for driving the adhesion prevention unit. A drive connector is installed in the body and is selectively connected to the motor and outside the body in order to transfer power for driving the adhesion prevention unit.

Description

Ice bucket for refrigerator {Ice bucket for refrigerator}

The present invention relates to an ice bucket of a refrigerator.

In general, a refrigerator is a home appliance that allows food to be stored at a low temperature in an interior storage space shielded by a door, and is stored by cooling the inside of the storage space using cold air generated through heat exchange with a refrigerant circulating in a refrigeration cycle. It is configured to keep foods in optimal condition.

Such refrigerators are gradually becoming larger and more multifunctional in accordance with the change of dietary life and the upgrading of products, and refrigerators with various structures and convenience devices have been released in consideration of user convenience.

For the convenience of the user, an ice maker for making ice and an ice bucket for storing iced ice are provided in the refrigerator. The ice bucket may be further provided with an auger which is rotated to prevent the stored ice from tangling with each other.

In addition, the refrigerator door may be provided with a dispenser for taking out drinking water and ice, and in this case, the ice stored in the ice bucket may be taken out to the outside through the dispenser when the user operates.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an ice bucket of a refrigerator which prevents entanglement of ice inside an ice bucket by an anti-entanglement mechanism that moves up and down in conjunction with driving of a drive motor.

Ice bucket of the refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention, is provided on one side or one side of the door, the ice maker for making ice; A body provided below the ice maker and storing ice supplied from the ice maker; It is provided to be movable up and down in the interior of the body, and comprises a tangle preventing unit for allowing the ice stored in the body to flow.

In addition, the inside of the body is characterized in that the drive motor for providing power for the drive of the anti-entanglement unit is further provided.

In addition, the body is characterized in that it is provided detachably on one side of the interior or the back of the door.

In addition, the body is further characterized in that it is further provided with a drive connecting portion selectively connected to the motor outside the body to transfer power for driving the anti-entanglement unit.

In addition, the anti-entanglement unit is provided in a space in which a drive motor for providing rotational power, a shaft rotatably mounted to the motor, a pinion provided on the shaft, and ice inside the body are stored. It characterized in that it comprises a moving member which is coupled to the pinion and moved up and down.

In addition, one end of the moving member is fixed to one side inside the body, the other end is characterized in that the gear is coupled to the pinion is moved up and down.

In addition, the moving member is characterized in that formed of an elastically deformable material.

In addition, the movable member is characterized in that a plurality is provided.

According to the ice bucket of the refrigerator according to the embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to effectively separate the tangled ice by forcing the overall flow of the ice stored in the ice bucket by the vertical movement. Therefore, there is an effect that can eliminate the blowout caused by the entanglement of the ice.

Hereinafter, specific embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, it should be understood that the present invention is not limited to the embodiment shown in the drawings, and that other embodiments falling within the spirit and scope of the present invention may be easily devised by adding, .

In particular, the embodiment of the present invention will be described with an example that the ice maker and the ice bucket is provided in the freezer door of the side-by-side type refrigerator for convenience of description and understanding, the present invention is applied to various types of refrigerators Of course, it is possible to find out that it is applicable to both the inner side and the door side.

1 is a front view of an open door of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, a refrigerator 1 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes a cabinet 10 having a storage space formed therein and forming an appearance thereof, and a door that selectively shields an opened front surface of the cabinet 10. The outer shape can be formed by 20.

The inside of the cabinet 10 is divided left and right by the barrier 12 to form a freezer compartment 30 and a refrigerating compartment 40, respectively, and inside the freezer compartment 30 and the refrigerating compartment 40 for storing food. Multiple shelves, drawers and the like can be provided.

The door 20 may include a freezing compartment door 20 and a refrigerating compartment door 20 that shield each of the freezing compartment 30 and the refrigerating compartment 40, and the freezing compartment door 20 and the refrigerating compartment door 20. ) Is rotatably mounted and configured to selectively shield the freezing compartment 30 and the refrigerating compartment 40.

Meanwhile, door handles may be provided at front surfaces of the freezer compartment door 20 and the refrigerating compartment door 20, and a dispenser (not shown) may be provided at the front side of the freezer compartment door 20. The dispenser is configured to extract purified water used as drinking water or ice stored in the ice bucket 200 to be described below from the outside.

In addition, an ice maker 100 and an ice bucket 200 are provided on the rear surface of the freezer compartment door 20. The ice maker 100 may be configured to freeze automatically supplied water to make ice, and to automatically separate the ice from the ice maker 100 after the ice is made.

Such an ice maker 100 will be employable by all ice makers 100, including manual and automatic generally used, the present invention is not related to the structure of the ice maker 100, so the detailed description thereof will be omitted. do.

The ice bucket 200 is provided below the ice maker 100. The ice bucket 200 is to store the ice made in the ice maker 100, is configured so that the ice separated from the ice maker 100 can be supplied drop.

In addition, the ice bucket 200 is configured to communicate with the dispenser to enable the supply of ice stored in the dispenser. In addition, the ice maker 100 and the ice bucket 200 may be integrally mounted to the door liner forming the rear surface of the freezer compartment door 20.

2 is a front perspective view of an ice bucket according to an embodiment of the present invention, Figure 3 is a top perspective view of the ice bucket according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 and 3, the ice bucket 200, the body 210 forming the overall appearance, the bucket cover 220 that can see through the ice accommodated inside the body 210 and The anti-angling unit 400 is configured to prevent the ice stored in the body 210 from being entangled.

In detail, the body 210 allows the ice bucket 200 to be mounted on the freezer compartment door 20 as well as the ice made by the ice maker 100, and the horizontal side of the freezer compartment door 20. It is formed to correspond to the width, it may be formed to be coupled to each other and the ice chute 300 in communication with the ice maker 100 and the dispenser. In addition, the body 210 may be configured to be easily removable from the freezer compartment door 20.

In addition, an opening 212 is formed below the body 210, and ice stored through the opening 212 below the body 210 may be discharged to the ice chute 300. The opening 212 is provided with a shutter 214 for selectively opening and closing the opening 212 by a user's operation, and configured to selectively discharge ice in storage. In addition, the opening 212 may further include a crusher (not shown) for crushing the ice into pieces when the stored ice is discharged.

The bucket cover 220 is provided on an upper portion of the body 210. The bucket cover 220 forms a space for storing the ice accommodated in the body 210, and is formed to form part of an exterior of the upper front side and both sides of the body 210.

In addition, the bucket cover 220 is configured to form a predetermined space opened upward by coupling with the body 210. The bucket cover 220 may be formed of a transparent or translucent material, so that the state of the ice stored in the ice bucket 200 can be confirmed from the outside. Of course, the bucket cover 220 and the body 210 may be integrally formed. In this case, the bucket cover 220 may be opaque.

On the other hand, the lower portion of the body 210 is formed a drive unit 230 is provided with a plurality of configurations for driving the anti-twist unit 400 and / or the shutter 214, the crusher to be described in detail below.

The driving unit 230 forms a space partitioned from a space where iced ice is stored, and an upper surface of the driving unit 230 may be inclined. The driving unit 230 protrudes forward from the rear surface of the body 210 to a predetermined height, and the front surface of the driving unit 230 is spaced apart from the inner front surface of the body 210 to facilitate the movement of ice. It is formed to be.

In addition, a plurality of through holes 232 are formed on the inclined upper surface of the driving unit 230. The through hole 232 is a moving member 440, which is one component of the anti-entanglement unit 400 to be described below, may be passed, and a plurality of the through holes 232 may be continuously formed at a predetermined interval.

In addition, the back of the ice bucket 200, more specifically, the back of the drive unit 230 is formed with a drive connecting portion 216 that is selectively connected to a drive device such as a motor provided in the refrigerator door 20 to rotate do. The driving connector 216 may be connected to the crusher and / or the tangle preventing unit 400, and the crusher or the tangle preventing unit 400 is rotated by the rotation of the driving connector 216 when the ice bucket 200 is mounted. ) Can be operated.

On the other hand, the back of the ice bucket 200 is further provided with a lever 218 for the operation of the shutter 214, the lever 218 so that the operation can be controlled by a solenoid valve or a motor provided separately do.

And, Figure 4 is a perspective view schematically showing the interior of the ice bucket according to an embodiment of the present invention, Figure 5 is a perspective view schematically showing the configuration of the anti-tangling unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4 and 5, the entanglement preventing unit 400 includes a drive motor 410, a shaft 420 connected to a rotation shaft of the drive motor 410, and a pinion 430 mounted to the shaft 420. And, it is composed of a moving member 440 in conjunction with the pinion 430. The tangle preventing unit 400 is provided inside the driving unit 230 of the body 210 except for a part of the moving member 440.

In detail, the driving motor 410 is provided at one side of the driving unit 230. The driving motor 410 is to provide power for driving the tangle preventing unit 400, the freezer compartment door 20 in a contact or connector manner so that power can be applied when the ice bucket 200 is mounted It may be configured to be electrically connected with.

The drive motor 410 is provided on one side of the drive unit 230, the shaft 420 and the rotating shaft extending in the horizontal direction may be connected to each other. Therefore, the shaft 420 rotates together by the rotation of the driving motor 410. The shaft 420 extends to a length capable of operating the plurality of moving members 440 and is installed to cross the plurality of moving members 440.

In addition, a plurality of pinions 430 may be mounted on the shaft 420. The pinion 430 is rotated together with the shaft 420 and transmits the rotational force of the shaft 420 to allow the movable member 440 to be moved. That is, the pinion 430 mounted to the shaft 420 is geared with the movable member 440 to move the movable member 440 up and down. Therefore, the rotational movement of the shaft 420 can be converted to the linear movement of the movable member 440 by the pinion 430. A plurality of pinions 430 may be disposed at regular intervals and may be provided at positions corresponding to the movable member 440.

The moving member 440 is for preventing the ice from tangling with each other by forcibly flowing the ice stored in the ice bucket 200, and may be formed in a rod or band shape having a predetermined thickness and width, and bending It can be formed of possible materials.

On the other hand, the movable member 440 may be formed of a material such as rubber so as to increase the frictional force with the ice, it is formed in a concave-convex shape or a separate protruding member such as to increase the interference with the ice more May be provided.

A portion of the outer surface of the movable member 440 is formed with a gear portion 442 gear coupled to the pinion 430. The gear part 442 is gear-coupled with the pinion 430, and is configured to move the moving member 440 up and down according to the rotation of the pinion 430. The gear part 442 may be continuously formed at one end of the moving member 440 by a predetermined length, and the length of the gear part 442 may be formed by the vertical stroke length of the moving member 440. have.

One side of the moving member 440 in which the gear unit 442 is formed is inserted into the driving unit 230 through the through hole 232 of the driving unit 230, and in the driving unit 230. Geared with the pinion 430.

On the other hand, the other end of the moving member 440 is fixedly coupled to one side of the first half of the body (210). At this time, the position where the other end of the moving member 440 is coupled may be coupled to various positions such as the bottom surface or the front surface of the space where the ice is stored. The movable member 440 may be formed in an approximately "∩" shape with a rounded top at the state mounted to the body 210. Accordingly, the bent upper end of the movable member 440 may be moved up and down in the space where ice is stored by the other side of the movable member 440 which is vertically moved by the rotation of the pinion 430.

Hereinafter, the operation of the ice bucket according to the present invention having the above configuration will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

6 is a state diagram showing an operating state of the ice bucket according to an embodiment of the present invention.

1 to 6, when water is supplied to the ice maker 100 to make ice, the iced ice is separated from the ice maker 100 and iced into the ice bucket 200. It is stored afterwards, and it is kept in the waiting state until the user operates.

The ice maker 100 is driven continuously until ice is filled inside the ice bucket 200, and ice ice is continuously made to the ice bucket 200.

While the ice is stored inside the ice bucket 200, the anti-entanglement unit 400 operates continuously at a predetermined time or at a set time interval to prevent the ice stored in the ice bucket 200 from intertwining with each other. You can do it.

In detail, when the operation time of the anti-tangling unit 400 is reached, the driving motor 410 is operated. When the driving motor 410 is operated, the shaft 420 connected to the rotation shaft of the driving motor 410 is rotated, and the plurality of pinions 430 provided at the shaft 420 rotate together. .

When the pinion 430 rotates, the gear part 442 geared to each other and the pinion 430 are moved. At this time, the vertical movement direction of the moving member 440 is determined according to the rotation direction of the pinion 430.

One end of the movable member 440 is fixed and the other end is moved up and down according to the rotation of the pinion 430, so that the upper end of the movable member 440 is stored in accordance with the rotation of the pinion 430. It moves up and down inside the space.

As the movable member 440 moves up and down, the ice adjacent to the movable member 440 also moves up and down, and the ice inside the ice bucket 200 is caused by interference with other ices when the ice moves. The overall flow of ice stored in this stored space can occur.

Therefore, the ice being stored in the ice bucket 200 may be separated from each other so as not to be entangled with each other. In addition, the driving of the anti-entanglement unit 400 may be performed at a predetermined time or at a set time interval. If necessary, the operation of the anti-entanglement unit 400 may be driven when the dispenser is operated to take out the ice. Each of the ice being stored at the time of extraction may be separated from each other.

The refrigerator according to the present invention may be various embodiments in addition to the above-described embodiments. For example, a separate drive motor 410 is not provided inside the ice bucket 200 for the operation of the anti-entanglement unit 400, but may be driven by a motor provided in the freezer compartment door 20. In this case, the motor provided in the freezer compartment door 20 may be configured to adjust the operation of the crusher and to be connected to the anti-entanglement unit 400 to adjust the operation of the anti-entanglement unit 400.

1 is a front view of an open door of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a front perspective view of an ice bucket according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is an upward perspective view of an ice bucket according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 4 is a perspective view schematically showing the interior of the ice bucket according to an embodiment of the present invention.

5 is a perspective view schematically showing the configuration of a tangle preventing unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

6 is a state diagram showing an operating state of the ice bucket according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Claims (8)

An ice maker provided on one side of the refrigerator or on one side of the door to make ice; A body provided below the ice maker and storing ice supplied from the ice maker; The ice bucket of the refrigerator including a tangle preventing unit is provided to be movable up and down inside the body to allow the ice stored in the body to flow. The method of claim 1, The ice bucket of the refrigerator, characterized in that the inside of the body is further provided with a drive motor for providing power for driving the tangle preventing unit. The method of claim 1, The body is an ice bucket of the refrigerator, characterized in that detachably provided on one side of the interior or the back of the door. The method of claim 3, wherein The body is an ice bucket of the refrigerator, characterized in that the drive is connected to the motor of the outside of the body selectively connected to transfer the power for driving the anti-tangling unit. The method of claim 1, The tangle prevention unit, A drive motor that provides rotational power, A shaft rotatably mounted to the motor; A pinion provided on the shaft, The ice bucket of the refrigerator, which is provided in a space in which the ice inside the body is stored, and includes a moving member geared with the pinion to move up and down. The method of claim 5, One end of the moving member is fixed to one side inside the body, the other end of the ice bucket of the refrigerator, characterized in that the gear is coupled to the pinion is moved up and down. The method of claim 5, The moving member is an ice bucket of the refrigerator, characterized in that formed of elastically deformable material. The method of claim 5, Ice bucket of the refrigerator, characterized in that the movable member is provided with a plurality.

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