Ice maker for a refrigeration appliance

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9234690-B2
Application number	US-201313755216-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 31, 2013
Priority date	Jan 31, 2012
Publication date	Jan 12, 2016
Grant date	Jan 12, 2016

Abstract

A refrigeration appliance includes a fresh food compartment, a freezer compartment, and an ice maker within the fresh food compartment for freezing water into ice pieces. In one example, a rotatable auger drives the ice pieces out of a removable ice bin via a driving force applied in a first direction. A latch is configured to apply a resisting force to the ice bin along a second direction. In another example, an air mover is disposed within the ice maker for delivering cooled air from an ice maker evaporator to a region adjacent to the ice bin. At least one air channel is formed into an inside surface of the ice maker chamber. In another example, a method of making ice in the refrigeration appliance is provided. The method includes the steps of operating the air mover and a defrost heating of the ice maker evaporator.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A refrigeration appliance comprising:
a fresh food compartment for storing food items in a refrigerated environment having a target temperature above zero degrees Centigrade;
a freezer compartment for storing food items in a sub-freezing environment having a target temperature below zero degrees Centigrade;
an ice maker disposed within the fresh food compartment for freezing water into ice pieces, the ice maker comprising a removable ice bin with an interior volume defined between a front cover and a plurality of walls for storing the ice pieces produced by the ice maker, the ice bin further comprising an ice dispensing aperture sized for the ice pieces to pass therethrough;
a rotatable auger positioned within the ice bin and configured to drive the ice pieces through the ice dispensing aperture and out of the ice bin via a driving force applied in a first direction,
wherein the rotatable auger extends along a longitudinal axis; and
a latch configured to apply a resisting force to the ice bin along a second direction generally opposed to the first direction sufficient to counteract the driving force, wherein the resisting force is less than a removal force applied by a user to remove the ice bin from the ice maker,
wherein the latch comprises a latch pin with at least one resilient finger that projects at least partially into the interior volume of the ice bin via a through hole extending through one of the plurality of walls of the ice bin, and the at least one resilient finger is biased into contact with the through hole to provide the resisting force,
the at least one resilient finger comprising a first ramped geometry extending along a first angle relative to the longitudinal axis of the auger that facilitates insertion into the through hole of the ice bin, and a second ramped geometry extending along a second angle relative to the longitudinal axis of the auger that inhibits removal from the through hole, the second angle being less than the first angle so that the user can overcome the resisting force to remove the ice bin from the ice maker,
wherein the latch pin and through hole are located spaced apart from the front cover and ice dispensing aperture of the ice wherein the distance between the first ramped geometry and the front cover is less than the distance between the second ramped geometry and the front cover when the ice bin is positioned within the fresh food compartment.

2. The refrigeration appliance of claim 1 , wherein the through hole extends through a rear wall of the ice bin, the rear wall being one of the plurality of walls that is located opposite from the front cover.

3. The refrigeration appliance of claim 1 , wherein the latch pin comprises a plurality of resilient fingers configured to project into the through hole in the ice bin.

4. The refrigeration appliance of claim 1 , wherein the second ramped geometry of the at least one resilient finger provides the resisting force sufficient to counteract the driving force of the auger.

5. The refrigeration appliance of claim 1 , wherein a second latch comprises at least one pair of magnets.

6. The refrigeration appliance of claim 5 , wherein the at least one pair of magnets comprises a first magnet attached to the ice bin having a first pole and a second magnet spaced a distance from the ice bin having a second pole opposite the first pole.

7. The refrigeration appliance of claim 6 , wherein a magnetic interaction between the first pole of the first magnet and the second pole of the second magnet provides at least a portion of the resisting force sufficient to counteract the driving force of the auger.

8. The refrigeration appliance of claim 1 , wherein the freezer compartment is disposed at an elevation vertically below the fresh food compartment.

9. The refrigeration appliance of claim 1 , wherein the latch pin comprises a main body and the at least one resilient finger is attached to or formed together with the main body in a cantilever manner.

10. The refrigeration appliance of claim 1 ,
wherein the at least one resilient finger is movable between a naturally extended position and an inwardly deflected position,
wherein at the naturally extended position the at least one resilient finger has a cross-sectional diameter that is larger than a cross-sectional diameter of the through hole, and
wherein at the inwardly deflected position the at least one resilient finger has a cross-sectional diameter that is substantially equal to or less than the cross-sectional diameter of the through hole.

11. The refrigeration appliance of claim 10 , wherein in order to remove the ice bin from the ice maker, the removal force applied by the user is sufficient to flex the at least one resilient finger to the inwardly deflected position.

12. The refrigeration appliance of claim 1 , wherein the first ramped geometry extends along a first length and the second ramped geometry extends along a second length that is shorter than the first length, whereby the first ramped geometry is relatively more gradual and the second ramped geometry is relatively more abrupt so that the removal force to remove the ice bin is greater than a force to insert the latch pin into the through hole.

13. The refrigeration appliance of claim 1 , wherein the latch pin comprises a main body, and wherein the second ramped geometry is located relatively closer to the main body than the first ramped geometry so that the removal force to deflect the at least one resilient finger when removing the ice bin is greater than a force to insert the latch pin into the through hole.

14. A refrigeration appliance comprising:
a fresh food compartment for storing food items in a refrigerated environment having a target temperature above zero degrees Centigrade;
a freezer compartment for storing food items in a sub-freezing environment having a target temperature below zero degrees Centigrade;
an ice maker disposed within the fresh food compartment for freezing water into ice pieces, the ice maker comprising a removable ice bin with an interior volume defined between a front cover and an opposite rear wall for storing the ice pieces produced by the ice maker;
a rotatable auger positioned within the ice bin, attached to the rear wall and extending along a longitudinal axis within the ice bin, and configured to drive the ice pieces towards the front cover via a driving force applied in a first direction and out of the ice bin through an ice discharge chute; and
a latch comprising a latch pin with at least one resilient finger that projects at least partially into the interior volume of the ice bin via a through hole extending through the rear wall of the ice bin,
wherein the at least one resilient finger is biased into contact with the through hole and comprises a first ramped geometry extending along a first angle relative to the longitudinal axis of the auger that facilitates insertion into the through hole of the ice bin, and a second ramped geometry extending along a second angle relative to the longitudinal axis of the auger that is less than the first angle to inhibit removal of the at least one resilient finger from the through hole to thereby provide a resisting force to the ice bin along a second direction generally opposed to the first direction sufficient to counteract the driving force of the auger,
wherein the resisting force is less than a removal force applied by a user so that the user can remove the ice bin from the ice maker; and wherein the distance between the first ramped geometry and the front cover is less than the distance between the second ramped geometry and the front cover

Assignees

• Electrolux Home Prod Inc

Inventors

• Mccollough Thomas W
• Bertolini Nilton Carlos
• Morgan Justin
• Hansen Dennis Carl

Classifications

• F25D21/08

  by electric heating · CPC title

• F25C1/12 Primary

  by freezing water on cooled surfaces, e.g. to form slabs · CPC title

• F25C5/182

  Ice bins therefor · CPC title

• Y02B40/32

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• F25D2317/061

  through special compartments · CPC title