Refrigerator door ice maker and dispenser with a coupling unit for motor connection between the door and the main body

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9377234-B2
Application number	US-201313911307-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 6, 2013
Priority date	Jun 7, 2012
Publication date	Jun 28, 2016
Grant date	Jun 28, 2016

Abstract

A refrigerator including an icemaker and an ice bucket provided at a door, a feeding unit to feed ice cubes stored in the ice bucket, a driving motor provided at a main body to drive the feeding unit, and a coupling device to transmit driving force from the driving motor to the feeding unit. When the door is closed, the driving motor is connected to the feeding unit. When the door is opened, the driving motor is disconnected from the feeding unit. Accordingly, the door has a simple structure, the ice bucket has an increased capacity, repair or replacement of the driving motor is easily achieved. The coupling device includes a first coupling unit and a second coupling unit which is engaged with the first coupling unit to receive driving force. The coupling device is configured to hide the coupling units when the door is opened.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A refrigerator comprising:
a main body having a storage compartment; and
a door rotatably coupled to the main body to open or close the storage compartment, the door comprising an icemaker and an ice bucket configured to store ice cubes produced by the icemaker, the ice bucket being provided with a feeding device to feed the ice cubes stored therein,
wherein the main body comprises a driving device configured to drive the feeding device,
wherein when the door is closed, the driving device is connected to the feeding device, and
when the door is opened, the driving device is disconnected from the feeding device.

2. The refrigerator according to claim 1 , wherein the driving device includes a driving motor to generate driving force and a driving coupler to be connected to the feeding device,
the feeding device includes a feeding unit to feed the ice cubes and a driven coupler to be connected with or separated from the driving coupler,
when the door is closed, the driving coupler and the driven coupler are connected to each other, and
when the door is opened, the driving coupler and the driven coupler are separated from each other.

3. The refrigerator according to claim 2 , wherein the driven coupler includes a support part and a pressurized part protruding from the support part, the pressurized part having a proximal end located apart from a rotation center by a distance of a first radius and a distal end located apart from the rotation center by a distance of a second radius, and
the driving coupler includes a wing part and a pressurizing part protruding from the wing part, the pressurizing part having a proximal end and a distal end, at least one of which is located apart from the rotation center by a distance between the first radius and the second radius.

4. The refrigerator according to claim 3 , wherein the driving coupler and the driven coupler are made of a resin material.

5. The refrigerator according to claim 2 , wherein the driving motor is disposed at a side wall of the main body, and
the driving device includes a reducer to reduce rotation speed of the driving motor and transmit driving force from the driving motor to the driving coupler.

6. The refrigerator according to claim 2 , wherein the driving motor is disposed at a top wall of the main body, and
the driving device includes at least one worm gear to transmit driving force from the driving motor to the driving coupler.

7. The refrigerator according to claim 2 , wherein the ice bucket includes a storage space to store the ice cubes dropping from the icemaker and a crushing space in which the ice cubes are crushed into ice pieces, the crushing space being horizontally arranged in the storage space,
the feeding unit includes a rotation shaft horizontally extending to feed the ice cubes in the storage space to the crushing space, and
the driven coupler is disposed at the rotation shaft of the feeding unit.

8. The refrigerator according to claim 2 , wherein the ice bucket includes a storage space to store the ice cubes dropping from the icemaker and a crushing space in which the ice cubes are crushed into ice pieces, the crushing space being disposed below the storage space,
the feeding unit includes a rotation shaft vertically or slantedly extending to feed the ice cubes in the storage space to the crushing space, and
the feeding device includes at least one worm gear to transmit driving force from the driven coupler to the feeding unit.

9. The refrigerator according to claim 2 , wherein the ice bucket includes a discharge port to discharge the ice cubes therethrough and a crushing device to crush the ice cubes into ice pieces, and
the crushing device includes a fixed blade fixed to the ice bucket, a rotational blade coupled to a rotation shaft of the feeding unit, a guide member rotatably coupled to the discharge port to crush the ice cubes, and a switching motor to rotate the guide member.

10. A refrigerator comprising:
a main body having an inner casing, an outer casing and an insulation wall provided between the inner casing and the outer casing;
a storage compartment formed in the inner casing; and
a door rotatably coupled to the main body to open or close the storage compartment, the door comprising an icemaker and an ice bucket configured to store ice cubes produced by the icemaker, the ice bucket being provided with a feeding unit to feed the ice cubes stored therein,
wherein the main body comprises a driving motor to drive the feeding unit.

11. The refrigerator according to claim 10 , wherein the inner casing is formed with a concave-shaped motor receiving part which is depressed inside the insulation wall, and
at least a portion of the driving motor is received in the motor receiving part.

12. The refrigerator according to claim 10 , wherein the driving motor is fixed to an outer surface of the outer casing.

13. The refrigerator according to claim 10 , wherein the driving motor is fixed to an inner surface of the inner casing.

14. The refrigerator according to claim 10 , further comprising:
a driving force transmission device to transmit driving force from the driving motor to the feeding unit,
wherein the driving force transmission device includes a driving coupler provided at the main body and a driven coupler provided at the door and configured to be coupled to the driving coupler when the door is closed and to be separated from the driving coupler when the door is opened.

15. The refrigerator according to claim 14 , wherein the driving force transmission device further includes a worm gear to transmit driving force from the driving motor to the driving coupler.

16. A refrigerator comprising:
a main body having a storage compartment; and
a door rotatably coupled to the main body to open or close the storage compartment, the door comprising an icemaker provided at the door, an ice bucket configured to store ice cubes produced by the icemaker and a feeding unit including a driven coupler to receive driving force, the feeding unit configured to feed the ice cubes in the ice bucket in a horizontal direction,
wherein the main body comprises a side wall and a driving motor assembly provided within the side wall, the driving motor including a driving coupler which is connected to or separated from the driven coupler.

17. A refrigerator comprising:
a main body having a storage compartment, the main body comprising a driving motor configured to generate driving force; and
a door rotatably coupled to the main body to open or close the storage compartment, the door comprising an icemaker and an ice bucket configured to store ice cubes produced by the icemaker, the ice bucket being provided with a feeding unit to feed the ice cubes stored therein; and
a coupling device to transmit driving force from the driving motor to the feeding unit, the coupling device including a driving coupler having a first coupling unit and a driven coupler having a second coupling unit which is engaged with the first coupling unit to receive driving force,
wherein the coupling device is configured to hide at least one of the first coupling unit and the second coupling unit when the door is opened.

18. The refrigerator according to claim 17 , wherein the first coupling unit includes an insertion protrusion, and the second coupling unit includes an insertion recess into which the insertion protrusion is inserted.

19. The refrigerator according to claim 18 , wherein the driving coupler further includes a first cover provided movably f

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Jeong Jin
• Park Kyoung Ki
• Son Bong Su
• Jang Do Yun
• An Jae Koog
• Jeong Bu Kil

Classifications

• A23G9/12

  using means for stirring the contents in a non-moving container · CPC title

• F25C5/182

  Ice bins therefor · CPC title

• F25C5/18

  Storing ice · CPC title

• F25D17/065

  with compartments at different temperatures · CPC title

• F25D23/04 Primary

  with special compartments, e.g. butter conditioners · CPC title