U.S. patent application number 11/431020 was filed with the patent office on 2006-12-07 for refrigerator.
This patent application is currently assigned to Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.. Invention is credited to Sang-min Park.
Application Number | 20060272347 11/431020 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 37483896 |
Filed Date | 2006-12-07 |
United States Patent
Application |
20060272347 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Park; Sang-min |
December 7, 2006 |
Refrigerator
Abstract
A refrigerator includes an ice-making tray, an ice storage
receiving ice cubes from the ice-making tray and storing the ice
cubes, and a dispenser supplied with the ice from the ice storage
and providing the ice to the outside of the refrigerator, where the
ice storage includes an ice storage receptacle storing the ice
cubes separated from the ice-making tray; a discharge opening
formed on the ice storage receptacle so as to discharge the ice
cubes to the outside; a rotatable member conveying the ice toward
the discharge opening; and an ice shaving device, which is coupled
to the discharge opening, receiving ice cubes discharged through
the discharge opening, shaving the ice cubes into shaved ice, and
discharging it. Thus, the refrigerator having a freezing
compartment with a simplified design and manufacturing process is
provided that is equipped with an ice shaving device in which space
efficiency is improved.
Inventors: |
Park; Sang-min;
(Gwangju-city, KR) |
Correspondence
Address: |
STAAS & HALSEY LLP
SUITE 700
1201 NEW YORK AVENUE, N.W.
WASHINGTON
DC
20005
US
|
Assignee: |
Samsung Electronics Co.,
Ltd.
Suwon-si
KR
|
Family ID: |
37483896 |
Appl. No.: |
11/431020 |
Filed: |
May 10, 2006 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
62/344 |
Current CPC
Class: |
F25C 5/12 20130101; F25D
2400/06 20130101; F25C 5/24 20180101; F25C 2500/02 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
062/344 |
International
Class: |
F25C 5/18 20060101
F25C005/18 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Jun 2, 2005 |
KR |
2005-47272 |
Claims
1. A refrigerator, comprising: an ice-making tray; an ice storage
receiving ice cubes from the ice-making tray and storing the ice
cubes; and a dispenser supplied with the ice from the ice storage
and providing the ice to the outside of the refrigerator, wherein
the ice storage comprises: an ice storage receptacle storing the
ice cubes separated from the ice-making tray; a discharge opening
formed on the ice storage receptacle so as to discharge the ice to
the outside; a rotatable member conveying the ice toward the
discharge opening; and an ice shaving device, which is coupled to
the discharge opening, receiving the ice cubes discharged through
the discharge opening, shaving the ice cubes into shaved ice, and
discharging it.
2. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the ice shaving
device is coupled to the lower part of the discharge opening.
3. The refrigerator according to claim 2, wherein the bottom of the
ice storage receptacle and the rotatable member are upwardly
slanted from the opposite side of the discharge opening to the
discharge opening.
4. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the rotatable
member comprises: a driving motor provided in the ice storage
receptacle; a rotatable axis of which one side is coupled to the
driving motor and of which the other side is extended toward the
discharge opening; and spiral wings rotating by being coupled to
the rotatable axis and conveying the ice to the discharge
opening.
5. The refrigerator according to claim 4, wherein the rotatable
axis thickens in diameter thereof gradually from one side thereof
to the other side thereof.
6. The refrigerator according to claim 1, further comprising a
guide leading the shaved ice discharged from the ice shaving device
to the dispenser.
7. A refrigerator, comprising: an ice-making tray; an ice storage
receiving ice cubes from the ice-making tray and storing the ice
cubes; and a dispenser supplied with the ice cubes from the ice
storage and providing the ice cubes to the outside of the
refrigerator, wherein the ice storage comprises: an ice storage
receptacle storing the ice separated from the ice-making tray; a
plurality of discharge openings formed on the ice storage
receptacle so as to discharge the ice to the outside; a plurality
of rotatable members conveying the ice toward the discharge
openings; and an ice shaving device, which is coupled to one of the
discharge openings, receiving the ice cubes discharged through the
discharge opening, shaving the ice into shaved ice, and discharging
it.
8. The refrigerator according to claim 7, wherein the discharge
opening comprises a first discharge opening to discharge ice cubes
to the ice shaving device and a second discharge opening to
discharge the ice cubes as they are or crushed ice which is crushed
from the ice cubes into pieces, and the ice shaving device is
coupled to the lower part of the first discharge opening.
9. The refrigerator according to claim 8, wherein the ice storage
receptacle is divided into a first supplier supplying the ice to
the ice shaving device and a second supplier supplying the ice to
the dispenser, and the bottom of the first supplier is upwardly
slanted from the opposite side of the first discharge opening to
the first discharge opening.
10. The refrigerator according to claim 9, wherein a divider wall
is provided between the first supplier and the second supplier at a
predetermined height.
11. The refrigerator according to claim 10, further comprising a
driving part driving the ice shaving device, wherein the driving
part is disposed under the bottom of the first supplier.
12. The refrigerator according to claim 8, further comprising a
guide leading the shaved ice discharged from the ice shaving device
and the ice discharged from the second discharge opening to the
dispenser.
13. The refrigerator according to claim 7, wherein the rotatable
member comprises: a driving motor provided in the ice storage
receptacle; a rotatable axis of which one side is coupled to the
driving motor and of which the other side is extended toward the
discharge opening; and a spiral wing rotating by being coupled to
the rotatable axis and conveying the ice to the discharge
opening.
14. The refrigerator according to claim 13, wherein the rotatable
axis thickens in diameter thereof gradually from the one side
thereof to the other side thereof.
15. An ice storage tray containing ice cubes, comprising: an ice
storage receptacle storing the ice cubes; a plurality of discharge
openings formed in the ice storage receptacle to discharge the ice
cubes; a plurality of rotatable members conveying the ice toward
the discharge openings; and an ice shaving device to crush the ice
into shaved ice, wherein the ice shaving device is coupled to one
of the discharge openings and discharges the shaved ice.
16. The ice storage tray of claim 15, wherein the discharge opening
comprises a first discharge opening to discharge ice cubes to the
ice shaving device and a second discharge opening to discharge the
ice cubes as they are or crushed ice which is crushed from the ice
cubes into pieces to a dispenser, and the ice shaving device is
coupled to the lower part of the first discharge opening.
17. The ice storage tray of claim 15, wherein the ice storage
receptacle is divided into a first supplier supplying the ice to
the ice shaving device and a second supplier supplying the ice to a
dispenser, and the bottom of the first supplier is upwardly slanted
from the opposite side of the first discharge opening to the first
discharge opening.
18. The ice storage tray of claim 17, wherein a divider wall is
provided between the first supplier and the second supplier at a
predetermined height.
19. The ice storage tray of claim 17, further comprising a driving
part driving the ice shaving device, wherein the driving part is
disposed under the bottom of the first supplier.
20. The ice storage tray of claim 16, further comprising a guide
leading the shaved ice discharged from the ice shaving device and
the ice discharged from the second discharge opening to the
dispenser.
21. The ice storage tray of claim 15, wherein each of the plurality
of rotatable members comprise: a driving motor provided in the ice
storage receptacle; a rotatable axis of which one side is coupled
to the driving motor and of which the other side is extended toward
the discharge opening; and a spiral wing rotating by being coupled
to the rotatable axis and conveying the ice to the discharge
opening.
22. The ice storage tray of claim 21, wherein the rotatable axis
thickens in diameter thereof gradually from the one side thereof to
the other side thereof.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent
Application No. 2005-47272, filed on Jun. 2, 2005, in the Korean
Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is
incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] 1. Field of the Invention
[0003] The present invention relates to a refrigerator, and more
particularly, to a refrigerator including an ice shaving device to
make shaved ice.
[0004] 2. Description of the Related Art
[0005] In general, a refrigerator is a device for keeping food
stored therein fresh for a long time using air exchanged by an
evaporator in a cooling cycle. The refrigerator includes a freezing
compartment for keeping frozen food such as meat, fish, or the like
at freezing temperature or below and a refrigerating compartment
for keeping food such as fruit, vegetable, or the like chilled at
freezing temperature or higher. Further, the two compartments are
separated from each other by a partition wall.
[0006] In the freezing compartment, there is provided an ice cube
maker to make ice cubes by providing water from a water supplier.
Under the ice cube maker, there is provided an ice cube storage
storing the ice cubes separated from the ice cube maker. The ice
cubes in the ice cube storage are discharged as ice cubes or
crushed ice to the outside according to selection by a user. An ice
discharge pattern of the ice cube storage is disclosed in the
Korean Utility Model Application No. 1997-003500 and the Korean
Patent First Publication No. 1998-0049615.
[0007] Recently, a refrigerator equipped with an ice shaving device
has been developed in order to be used at home for making red-bean
sherbet or the like, for example. The ice shaving device is a means
for shaving the ice cubes from the ice cube storage into shaved ice
using a knife or the like.
[0008] However, since a conventional refrigerator does not include
an ice shaving device, it is not easy to get the shaved ice at
home. Further, the ice shaving device is provided in the freezing
compartment door, despite the refrigerator with the ice shaving
device, which makes a manufacturing process complicated and space
efficiency inside the freezing compartment lower since an inner
case of the freezing compartment door protrudes toward the freezing
compartment to contain the volume of the ice shaving device.
[0009] Also, in a conventional ice cube storage, the ice cubes are
not discharged in proper quantity, which is not adequate for the
ice shaving device which requires ice to be provided in a certain
quantity.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0010] Additional aspects and/or advantages of the invention will
be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part,
will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by
practice of the invention.
[0011] Accordingly, it is an aspect of the present invention to
provide a refrigerator having a freezing compartment with a
simplified design and manufacturing process that is equipped with
an ice shaving device in which space efficiency is improved.
[0012] Another aspect of the present invention provides a
refrigerator capable of providing ice cubes to an ice shaving
device in a certain quantity.
[0013] The foregoing and/or other aspects of the present invention
are achieved by providing a refrigerator including an ice-making
tray, an ice storage receiving ice cubes from the ice-making tray
and storing the ice cubes, and a dispenser supplied with the ice
from the ice storage and providing the ice to the outside of the
refrigerator, where the ice storage includes an ice storage
receptacle storing the ice cubes separated from the ice-making
tray; a discharge opening formed on the ice storage receptacle so
as to discharge the ice cubes to the outside; a rotatable member
conveying the ice cubes toward the discharge opening; and an ice
shaving device, which is coupled to the discharge opening,
receiving ice cubes discharged through the discharge opening,
shaving the ice cubes into shaved ice, and discharging it.
[0014] According to the embodiment of the present invention, the
ice shaving device is coupled to the lower part of the discharge
opening.
[0015] According to the embodiment of the present invention, the
bottom of the ice storage receptacle and the rotatable member are
upwardly slanted from the opposite side of the discharge opening to
the discharge opening.
[0016] According to the embodiment of the present invention, the
rotatable member includes a driving motor provided in the ice
storage receptacle; a rotatable axis of which one side is coupled
to the driving motor and of which the other side is extended toward
the discharge opening; and spiral wings rotating by being coupled
to the rotatable axis and conveying the ice to the discharge
opening.
[0017] According to the embodiment of the present invention, the
rotatable axis thickens in diameter thereof gradually from one side
thereof to the other side thereof.
[0018] According to the embodiment of the present invention, the
refrigerator further includes a guide leading the shaved ice
discharged from the ice shaving device to the dispenser.
[0019] The foregoing and/or other aspects of the present invention
are also achieved by providing a refrigerator including an
ice-making tray, an ice storage receiving ice cubes from the
ice-making tray and storing the ice cubes, and a dispenser supplied
with the ice cubes from the ice storage and providing the ice cubes
to the outside of the refrigerator, where the ice storage includes
an ice storage receptacle storing the ice cubes separated from the
ice-making tray; a plurality of discharge openings formed on the
ice storage receptacle so as to discharge the ice cubes to the
outside; a plurality of rotatable members conveying the ice cubes
toward the discharge openings; and an ice shaving device, which is
coupled to one of the discharge openings, receiving the ice cubes
discharged through the discharge opening, shaving the ice into
shaved ice, and discharging it.
[0020] According to the embodiment of the present invention, the
discharge opening includes a first discharge opening to discharge
ice cubes to the ice shaving device and a second discharge opening
to discharge the ice cubes as they are or crushed ice which is
crushed from the ice cubes into pieces, and the ice shaving device
is coupled to the lower part of the first discharge opening.
[0021] According to the embodiment of the present invention, the
ice storage receptacle is divided into a first supplier supplying
the ice to the ice shaving device and a second supplier supplying
the ice cubes to the dispenser, and the bottom of the first
supplier is upwardly slanted from the opposite side of the first
discharge opening to the first discharge opening.
[0022] According to the embodiment of the present invention, a
divider wall is provided between the first supplier and the second
supplier at a predetermined height.
[0023] According to the embodiment of the present invention, the
refrigerator further includes a driving part driving the ice
shaving device, where the driving part is disposed under the bottom
of the first supplier.
[0024] According to the embodiment of the present invention, the
refrigerator further includes a guide leading the shaved ice
discharged from the ice shaving device and the ice discharged from
the second discharge opening to the dispenser.
[0025] According to the embodiment of the present invention, the
rotatable member includes a driving motor provided in the ice
storage receptacle; a rotatable axis of which one side is coupled
to the driving motor and of which the other side is extended toward
the discharge opening; and a spiral wing rotating by being coupled
to the rotatable axis and conveying the ice cubes to the discharge
opening.
[0026] According to the embodiment of the present invention, the
rotatable axis thickens in diameter thereof gradually from the one
side thereof to the other side thereof.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0027] The above and/or other aspects and advantages of the present
invention will become apparent and more readily appreciated from
the following description of the exemplary embodiments, taken in
conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:
[0028] FIG. 1 is a front view of a refrigerator of which doors are
open according to the present invention;
[0029] FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a freezing compartment of the
refrigerator in FIG. 1;
[0030] FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an ice storage according to
an embodiment of the present invention;
[0031] FIG. 4 is a perspective view of an ice storage according to
a second embodiment of the present invention; and
[0032] FIG. 5 shows how shaved ice is made in an ice shaving device
according to the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0033] Reference will now be made in detail to exemplary
embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are
illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference
numerals refer to like elements throughout. The embodiments are
described below in order to explain the present invention by
referring to the figures.
[0034] Hereinbelow, a side by side type refrigerator will be
described as an example of the present invention.
[0035] With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, a refrigerator in the
present invention includes a refrigerating compartment 10 and a
freezing compartment 20 which are separated from each other by a
vertical wall. At the front of the refrigerating compartment 10 and
the freezing compartment 20, there are provided a refrigerating
compartment door 11 and a freezing compartment door 21,
respectively, to open and close the refrigerating compartment 10
and the freezing compartment 20. Inside of each door 11 and 21,
there are provided door guides 23 disposed up and down to keep a
bottle or the like. Here, in the refrigerating compartment 10
disposed right of a main body 1, there are provided a plurality of
shelves 13 to divide the inside of the refrigerating compartment 10
in the upper part thereof and a plurality of drawers in the lower
part thereof.
[0036] In the freezing compartment 20, there are disposed an
ice-making compartment 40 in which an ice maker is equipped in the
upper part thereof and a plurality of shelves 13 and drawers up and
down in the lower part thereof. Further, on the front of the
freezing door 21, there is provided a dispenser part 50 to be
supplied with ice made in the ice-making compartment 40 and water
stored in a water tank (not shown). The dispenser part 50 includes
a water dispenser 51 to supply the water and an ice dispenser 53 to
supply the ice. On the upper part of the dispenser part 50, there
is disposed an operation panel 55 including a plurality of buttons
for a user to select crushed ice, ice cubes, or shaved ice. Ice is
guided from the ice-making compartment 40 to the dispenser part 50
through a guide 27.
[0037] In the ice-making compartment 40, there is installed an
ice-making tray 41 supplied with water from an external water
supply. Under the ice-making tray 41, there is provided an ice
storage 100 to store ice cubes made therein. Here, on one side of
the ice-making tray 41 in the lengthwise direction, there is
provided an ice separating motor 45 to separate the ice cubes from
the ice-making tray 41. Under the ice-making tray 41, there is
disposed an ice detecting lever 43 to measure quantity of the ice
cubes stored in the ice storage 30.
[0038] As shown in FIG. 3, the ice storage 100 includes an ice
storage receptacle 110 storing the ice cubes, a discharge opening
120 formed on the ice storage receptacle 110 to discharge the ice
cubes, rotatable members 111 and 112 conveying the ice cubes to the
discharge opening 120, and an ice shaving device 130 coupled to the
discharge opening 120 and making the shaved ice with the ice cubes
discharged from the discharge opening 120.
[0039] The ice storage receptacle 110 stores the ice cubes
separated from the ice cube-making tray 41. In the ice storage
receptacle 110, there is provided the discharge opening 120 to
discharge the ice cubes. Meanwhile, the ice storage receptacle 110
may further include the rotatable members 111 and 112 to convey the
ice cubes in the receptacle to the discharge opening 120.
[0040] A plurality of discharge openings 120 may be provided in
order to discharge the ice cubes through different openings
according to their use. For example, there may be provided a first
discharge opening 121 to discharge the ice cubes to the ice shaving
device 130 and a second discharge opening 122 to discharge the ice
cubes without shaving them or to discharge the ice cubes by shaving
them into pieces. Also, three of more discharge openings may be
provided.
[0041] When a plurality of discharge openings 120 are provided, in
the ice storage receptacle 110, there may be provided a divider
wall 113 dividing the inside of the receptacle corresponding to
each discharge opening 121 and 122. For example, the ice storage
receptacle 110 includes a first supplier 115 including the first
discharge opening 121 and a second supplier 117 including the
second discharge opening 123, which are divided by the divider wall
113 from each other. In this case, in the first supplier 115 and
the second supplier 117, there are respectively provided the
rotatable members 111 and 112 conveying the ice to the discharge
opening 121 and 122. Here, the divider wall 113 may have various
heights or may not be provided.
[0042] The discharge opening 120 may be formed in various shapes.
For example, the first discharge opening 121 is formed nearly in a
circle shape and the second discharge opening 123 is formed nearly
in a half circle shape, as shown in FIG. 3. Further, the discharge
opening 120 may be disposed in various locations. For example, the
first discharge opening 121 is disposed in the upper part as high
as the height of the ice shaving device 130 from the bottom, since
the ice shaving device 130 is provided in the lower side thereof
(refer to FIG. 3). Here, when the ice shaving device 130 is
disposed in the lower part than the bottom of the receptacle, the
ice shaving device 130 may be protruded more downwardly than the
bottom of the ice storage 100 and interfere with the inner case of
the freezing compartment door 21. Therefore, the ice shaving device
130 may be disposed in the same position as the bottom of the
receptacle or in higher position than the bottom of the receptacle,
as shown in FIG. 2, so as not to protrude more downwardly than the
ice storage 100.
[0043] Here, when the first discharge opening 121 is disposed more
upwardly than the ice shaving device 130, the bottom of the first
supplier 115 is provided to be upwardly slanted toward the first
discharge opening 121 (refer to FIG. 2). When the bottom of the
first supplier 115 is upwardly slanted toward the first discharge
opening 121, it prevents the ice cubes from needlessly sliding down
from the ice storage receptacle 110 to the ice shaving device 130
by oscillation when the rotatable member 111 stops operating or
external impact applies, thereby preventing troubles caused by the
ice cubes pooled in the ice shaving device 130.
[0044] The ice shaving device 130, disposed in the ice storage
receptacle 110, crushes the ice cubes received from the receptacle
into the shaved ice and provides it. The ice shaving device 130 may
include a case in which an ice shaving part and an ice discharging
part are disposed, a rotative body disposed rotatably in the case
and conveying the ice cubes to the ice shaving part, and a driving
part 137 rotating the rotative body.
[0045] When the ice shaving device 130 is disposed in the lower
part of the first discharge opening 121 and the bottom of the first
supplier 115 is upwardly slanted toward the first discharge opening
121, there is formed a space in the lower part of the first
supplier 115 due to the upward slant of the bottom. Therefore, the
driving part 137 of the ice shaving device 130 may be disposed in
this space, as shown in FIG. 2. In this case, the driving part 137
is disposed close to the ice shaving device 130, thereby improving
driving efficiency. Further, there is no need to provide an
additional space for the driving part 137 at the rear of the ice
storage receptacle 110, thereby using space at the rear of the ice
storage receptacle 110 for some other use, for example, for a space
to mount a freezing compartment lamp.
[0046] The rotatable member 111 and 112 include a driving motor
111c and 112c provided in the ice storage receptacle 110; a
rotatable axis 111a and 112a of which one side is coupled to the
driving motor 111c and 112c and of which the other side is extended
toward the discharge opening 121 and 122; and spiral wings 111b and
112b rotating by being coupled to the rotatable axis 111a and 112a
and conveying the ice to the discharge opening 121 and 122. Here,
the rotatable axis 111a disposed in the first supplier 115, as
shown in FIG. 4, may thicken in diameter thereof gradually from the
rotatable axis 111a to the discharge opening 121. As the rotatable
axis 111a thickens in diameter thereof little by little, area of
the spiral wings decrease gradually. Therefore, the amount of the
ice which is conveyed decreases as closer to the discharge opening
121. Accordingly, a certain quantity of the ice may be discharged
to the ice shaving device 130.
[0047] Meanwhile, inside of the second discharge opening 122, there
is provided an ice crushing part 119 to crush the ice cubes in the
ice cube storage receptacle 110 into pieces of crushed ice.
[0048] In the following, it is described how the shaved ice is made
in the aforementioned refrigerator by referring to FIG. 5.
[0049] First, in the ice storage receptacle 110 disposed in the
freezing compartment 20, there are saved the ice separated from the
ice-making tray 41. When the user selects the shaved ice using the
operation panel 55 disposed on the dispenser 50 and pushes the ice
dispenser 53 using a cup or the like, the rotatable member 111 in
the first supplier 115 of the ice storage receptacle 110 is driven
and discharges the ice cubes in the first supplier 115 to the first
discharge opening 121. The driving part 137 of the ice shaving
device 130 is driven at the same time as the rotatable member 111
rotates or at intervals of predetermined time and the ice shaving
device 130 crushes the ice cubes discharged through the first
discharge opening 121 into the shaved ice and discharges it to the
dispenser 50.
[0050] When the user selects the ice cubes or the pieces of the
crushed ice through the operation panel 55, the rotatable member
112 in the second supplier 117 is driven, thereby discharging the
ice cubes in the second supplier 117 to the second discharge
opening 123. Here, when ice cubes are selected, they are discharged
as is, and when crushed ice is selected, it is discharged by being
crushed by a knife (not shown) or the like provided in the second
discharge opening 122.
[0051] Likewise, the aforementioned refrigerator includes the ice
shaving device disposed in the ice storage, not in one side of the
freezing compartment door. Accordingly, there are advantages of
easily designing the freezing compartment door, simplifying a
manufacturing process since it is not necessary to mount the ice
shaving device before the inner case is formed, and improving space
efficiency of the freezing compartment since by preventing the
inner case in the side of the freezing compartment door from
protruding toward inside of the freezing compartment due to the
volume of the ice shaving device.
[0052] Furthermore, when the rotatable axis 111b thickens in
diameter thereof gradually toward the first discharge opening 121,
a certain quantity of the ice may be discharged by adjusting
quantity of the ice.
[0053] Although a few embodiments of the present invention have
been shown and described, it will be appreciated by those skilled
in the art that changes may be made in these embodiments without
departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the
scope of which is defined in the appended claims and their
equivalents.
* * * * *