Refrigerator

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-8973391-B2
Application number	US-201213724820-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 21, 2012
Priority date	Dec 30, 2011
Publication date	Mar 10, 2015
Grant date	Mar 10, 2015

Abstract

A structure of an auger motor assembly capable of easily installing an auger motor to drive an auger at an inside an ice making compartment, a solenoid valve to select whether to crush ice, an ice making compartment fan to flow the air at an inside the ice making compartment, and a drain hose to discharge the defrost water of the ice making tray to an outside the ice making compartment, so that the auger motor assembly is installed easily at an inside the ice making compartment by being inserted into the inside the ice making compartment through an open front surface of the ice making compartment in a sliding manner.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A refrigerator, comprising:
a body;
a storage compartment provided thereto with an open front surface and having the open front surface opened/closed by a door;
an ice making compartment formed at an inside of the body while being divided from the storage compartment;
a cool air supplying apparatus having a compressor, a condenser, an expansion apparatus, an evaporator, and a refrigerant pipe, at least a portion of which is disposed at an inside of the ice making compartment so that a cooling energy is supplied to the ice making compartment;
an air duct having a heat insulation member to surround the refrigerant pipe in the ice making compartment, and an inside flow path to form at least a portion of a flow path of cool air circulating at an inside of the ice making compartment;
an ice maker having an ice making tray to make contact with the refrigerant pipe in the ice making compartment to directly receive the cooling energy from a refrigerant pipe at the ice making compartment, an ejector to separate ice from the ice making tray, and a drain duct to guide defrost water of the ice making tray;
an ice bucket having an ice storage space to store the ice separated from the ice making tray, an auger to move the ice stored at the ice storage space to an ice discharging hole, an ice crushing apparatus to crush the ice, and an ice making compartment cover to open/close the open front surface of the ice making compartment; and
an auger motor assembly having an auger motor to drive the auger, an ice making compartment fan to flow the air at the ice making compartment, a solenoid valve to select whether ice is crushed through the ice crushing apparatus, and a drain hose to guide the water that is guided through the drain duct to an outside of the ice making compartment,
wherein the auger motor assembly is integrally assembled as a single entity comprising the auger motor, the ice making compartment fan, the solenoid valve, and the drain hose, and is inserted into an inside of the ice making compartment in a sliding manner through the open front surface of the ice making compartment or is withdrawn to an outside of the ice making compartment through the open front surface of the ice making compartment in a sliding manner.

2. The refrigerator of claim 1 , wherein the drain hose is disposed at one side of the auger motor.

3. The refrigerator of claim 1 , wherein the solenoid valve is disposed at a front of the auger motor.

4. The refrigerator of claim 1 , wherein the ice making compartment fan is disposed at an upper side of the auger motor.

5. The refrigerator of claim 1 , wherein the ice making compartment fan is disposed in a way that a rotational shaft thereof is positioned in a vertical direction.

6. The refrigerator of claim 1 , wherein the ice making compartment fan and the auger motor are provided while having a distance thereinbetween, and
an air inflow space is formed between the ice making compartment fan and the auger motor for the air to inflow to the ice making compartment fan.

7. The refrigerator of claim 1 , wherein an entry of the inside flow path is formed at a lower surface of the air duct, and an exit of the inside flow path is formed at a front surface of the air duct, and
the air duct takes the air in from the lower side and discharges the air to the front.

8. The refrigerator of claim 7 , wherein the auger motor assembly is mounted at a lower side of the air duct, and the air drafted through the ice making compartment fan is introduced to the entry of the inside flow path of the air duct.

9. The refrigerator of claim 1 , wherein a drain heater is installed at an outer circumferential surface of the drain hose to prevent the drain hose from being frozen.

10. The refrigerator of claim 1 , further comprising:
an ice making compartment discharging flow path to guide the water discharged from the ice making compartment to an evaporation dish provided at a lower portion of the body,
wherein the drain hose of the auger motor assembly is connected to the ice making compartment discharging flow path as the auger motor assembly is mounted at the ice making compartment, and
the defrost water of the ice making tray is guided to the evaporation dish by sequentially passing through the drain duct, the drain hose, and the ice making compartment discharging flow path.

11. The refrigerator of claim 1 , wherein the auger motor assembly comprises an optical sensor to detect whether the ice bucket is filled with ice.

12. The refrigerator of claim 1 , wherein the auger motor assembly is inserted into an inside the ice making compartment in a sliding manner through the open front surface of the ice making compartment and mounted at a lower side of the air duct, after the air duct is installed at the ice making compartment.

13. The refrigerator of claim 1 , wherein the ice bucket, after the auger motor assembly is inserted into the inside the ice making compartment in a sliding manner through the open front surface of the ice making compartment and is mounted at the lower side of the air duct, is mounted at a front of the auger motor assembly and the ice making compartment cover of the ice bucket closes the open front surface of the ice making compartment, thereby sealing the ice making compartment.

14. A refrigerator, comprising:
a body;
a storage compartment provided thereto with an open front surface and having the open front surface open/closed by a door;
an ice making compartment formed at an inside the body while being divided from the storage compartment;
a cool air supplying apparatus having a compressor, a condenser, an expansion apparatus, an evaporator, and a refrigerant pipe, at least a portion of which is disposed at an inside the ice making compartment so that a cooling energy is supplied to the ice making compartment;
an air duct having an heat insulation member to surround the refrigerant pipe in the ice making compartment, and an inside flow path to form at least a portion of a flow path of cool air circulating at an inside the ice making compartment;
an ice maker having an ice making tray to make contact with the refrigerant pipe in the ice making compartment to directly receive the cooling energy from the refrigerant pipe in the ice making compartment, an ejector to separate ice from the ice making tray, and a drain duct to guide defrost water of the ice making tray;
an ice bucket having an ice storage space to store the ice separated from the ice making tray, an auger to move the ice stored at the ice storage space to an ice discharging hole, an ice crushing apparatus to crush the ice, and an ice making compartment cover to open/close the open front surface of the ice making compartment; and
an auger motor assembly having an auger motor to drive the auger, an ice making compartment fan to flow the air at the ice making compartment, a solenoid valve to select whether ice is crushed through the ice crushing apparatus, and a drain hose to guide the water that is guided through the drain duct to an outside of the ice making compartment,
wherein an auger motor accommodating unit accommodating the auger motor, a solenoid valve accommodating unit accommodating the solenoid valve, a drain hose accommodating unit accommodating the drain hose, and a fan bracket unit at which the ice making compartment fan is installed are coupled to each other and are integrally formed.

15. The refrigerator of claim 14 , wherein the solenoid valve accommodating unit is coupled to a front of the auger motor accommodating unit, and the drain hose accommodating unit is coupled to one side of the

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Lee Jae Jin

Classifications

• F25C5/046 Primary

  Ice-crusher machines · CPC title

• F25C2400/10

  Refrigerator units · CPC title

• F25D21/14

  Collecting or removing condensed and defrost water; Drip trays · CPC title

• F25C5/002 Primary

  Mechanical Engineering · mapped topic

• F25D2400/02

  Refrigerators including a heater · CPC title