Ice-making unit and refrigerator having the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9261303-B2
Application number	US-66222910-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 6, 2010
Priority date	Jun 23, 2009
Publication date	Feb 16, 2016
Grant date	Feb 16, 2016

Abstract

An ice-making unit, which uses a cooling unit in which a refrigerant pipe is received, and a refrigerator having the same. The cooling unit includes a cooler for conduction of coldness, an inner surface of the cooler coming into direct contact with the refrigerant pipe, realizing a direct cooling type ice making operation. A rotatable tray is provided under the cooling unit, so that an ice-separating member attached to the cooling unit pushes ice upon rotation of the tray, allowing the ice to be discharged in a direction opposite to the rotating direction of the tray.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A refrigerator having a body defined by a top wall, bottom wall, side walls, rear wall, an inner partition wall to divide the body into refrigerating and freezing storage compartments, open front sides, doors to open or close the open front sides of the storage compartments, an ice-making unit provided in one of the storage compartments, and a dispenser to discharge ice made in the ice-making unit, the ice-making unit comprising:
a cooling unit in which a refrigerant pipe is received; and
a tray having a receiving region,
wherein a lower lateral end of the cooling unit is placed in the receiving region and comes into contact with water received in the receiving region to make the ice,
wherein an upper lateral end of the cooling unit is fixed to a corner of the body of the refrigerator where the top wall meets the real wall,
whereby a centerline of the cooling unit extending between the lower and the upper lateral ends of the cooling unit is inclined at a predetermined angle relative to the top wall to facilitate the ice discharged from the receiving region by rotating the tray.

2. The refrigerator according to claim 1 , wherein:
the cooling unit comprises a case defining an external appearance of the cooling unit, and a cooler to conduct coldness to the receiving region; and
the refrigerant pipe is arranged inside the cooler.

3. The refrigerator according to claim 2 , wherein the cooler is located at the lower lateral end the cooling unit, and the tray is located under the cooler.

4. The refrigerator according to claim 3 , wherein:
each of the cooler and receiving region has a curvature; and
the curvature of the cooler is similar to the curvature of the receiving region, so that the cooler comes into contact with the refrigerant pipe to conduct coldness to the receiving region.

5. The refrigerator according to claim 3 , wherein:
each of the cooler and receiving region has a curvature; and
the cooler and receiving chamber have the same center of curvature.

6. The refrigerator according to claim 2 , wherein the cooler contains at least one of thermally conductive metal and plastic.

7. The refrigerator according to claim 6 , wherein the metal includes at least one of aluminum and copper.

8. The refrigerator according to claim 2 , wherein the cooler comprises a coating layer.

9. The refrigerator according to claim 8 , wherein:
the cooling unit comprises an ice-separating member to eject the ice;
the ice-separating member is arranged to come into contact with the ice by rotation of the tray; and
the ice is pushed by the ice-separating member when the tray is rotated and is ejected in a direction opposite to a rotating direction of the tray.

10. The refrigerator according to claim 9 , wherein a rotating angle of the tray is in a range of 0° to 150°.

11. The refrigerator according to claim 1 , wherein the refrigerant pipe arranged in the cooling unit is wound into multiple layers to circulate the refrigerant within the interior of the cooling unit.

12. The refrigerator according to claim 1 , wherein the refrigerant pipe arranged in the cooling unit has a serpentine circulating pattern.

13. The refrigerator according to claim 1 , further comprising a tray motor to rotatably drive the tray.

14. The refrigerator according to claim 13 , further comprising a controller to cause the tray to be rotated in a tilted direction of the cooling unit for an ice separating operation.

15. The refrigerator according to claim 14 , wherein an ice-separating member is provided at an upper side of the cooler of the cooling unit.

16. The refrigerator according to claim 11 , further comprising a storage container and an ice-full lever to sense whether or not the storage container, in which the ice discharged from the ice-making unit is stored, is full of the ice,
wherein operation of the tray motor is linked to operation of the ice-full lever.

17. The refrigerator according to claim 1 , wherein:
the receiving region comprises a plurality of partitions to divide the region into a plurality of shapes; and
two of the plurality of shapes located at opposite distal ends of the receiving region have narrower water receiving spaces than a remaining number of the plurality of shapes.

18. The refrigerator according to claim 1 , wherein the cooling unit comprises a heater for separation of the ice.

19. The refrigerator according to claim 1 , wherein the cooling unit comprises a heat insulating material filled therein.

20. The refrigerator according to claim 1 , wherein the tray is located under the cooling unit during an ice making operation, and is located at a lateral side of the cooling unit during an ice separating operation.

21. The refrigerator according to claim 1 , wherein the ice-making unit is provided at a side position of the refrigerating compartment.

22. The refrigerator according to claim 1 , wherein the refrigerator includes a separate ice-making chamber in the refrigerating compartment, and the ice-making unit is provided in the ice-making chamber.

Assignees

• Jeong Jin
• Shin Young Shik
• Park Sang Hyun
• Khan Qasim
• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Jeong Jin
• Shin Young Shik
• Park Sang Hyun
• Khan Qasim

Classifications

• F25C2305/0221

  rotating ice mould · CPC title

• F25C1/08 Primary

  by immersing freezing chambers {, cylindrical bodies} or plates into water · CPC title

• F25C2305/022

  Harvesting ice including rotating or tilting or pivoting of a mould or tray · CPC title

• F25C5/005

  Mechanical Engineering · mapped topic

• F25C5/22

  particularly adapted for household refrigerators · CPC title