IPC분류정보
국가/구분 |
United States(US) Patent
등록
|
국제특허분류(IPC7판) |
|
출원번호 |
US-0328937
(2008-12-05)
|
등록번호 |
US-8650900
(2014-02-18)
|
우선권정보 |
KR-10-2007-0127190 (2007-12-07) |
발명자
/ 주소 |
- Jeong, Kyung-Han
- Lee, Wook-Yong
|
출원인 / 주소 |
|
대리인 / 주소 |
|
인용정보 |
피인용 횟수 :
0 인용 특허 :
7 |
초록
▼
Disclosed are an ice bin installed in a refrigerator or the like and a refrigerating machine having the same. One auger having spiral transfer wings rotates to transfer ice cubes that are introduced between the transfer wings, which allows a constant amount of ice or an amount of ice selected by a u
Disclosed are an ice bin installed in a refrigerator or the like and a refrigerating machine having the same. One auger having spiral transfer wings rotates to transfer ice cubes that are introduced between the transfer wings, which allows a constant amount of ice or an amount of ice selected by a user to be dispensed. In addition, a shutter is disposed at a lower side of the auger to define a dispensing space, which may reduce a length of a casing in a depth direction and, thereby, result in a reduced size of the ice bin.
대표청구항
▼
1. An ice bin comprising: a casing that includes an ice storage and an outlet through which ice cubes stored in the ice storage are dispensed;a motor assembly configured to generate a rotational force;an auger that is positioned in a cavity defined by the casing, that is configured to rotate about a
1. An ice bin comprising: a casing that includes an ice storage and an outlet through which ice cubes stored in the ice storage are dispensed;a motor assembly configured to generate a rotational force;an auger that is positioned in a cavity defined by the casing, that is configured to rotate about a rotational axis in response to the rotational force generated by the motor assembly, and that has a shaft portion coupled to a rotation shaft so as to be transferred a rotation force, a plurality of transfer wings each spirally protruding from an outer circumferential surface of the shaft portion in a circumferential direction, two adjacent of the transfer wings being separated by a distance and shaped to cooperatively define a space there between that is sufficiently sized to accommodate an ice cube from within the ice storage, the transfer wings being configured to rotate with the shaft portion and to impart force against the ice cube accommodated by the two adjacent transfer wings to transfer the ice to a through hole of the casing, and a disk-shaped reinforcing portion connected to one side end of each transfer wing;a shutter configured to move between a closed position at which the shutter closes the through hole and prevents passage of an ice cube through the through hole and an opened position at which the shutter opens the through hole and enables passage of an ice cube through the through hole, the shutter being configured to move from the closed position to the opened position in response to force imparted against the shutter by an ice cube whose movement toward the through hole is being promoted based on rotation of the auger about the rotational axis and being configured to move from the opened position to the closed position in response to a reduction in force imparted against the shutter by an ice cube whose movement toward the through hole is being promoted based on rotation of the auger about the rotational axis, wherein a transfer space in which the auger is installed is located at a lower side of the ice storage, and a dispensing space having the outlet through which ice is dispensed is located at a lower side of the transfer space and is separated from the transfer space by the shutter; anda guide that is positioned between the dispensing space and the auger and that is configured to, when the ice bin is in an ordinary operating orientation, guide ice cubes toward the shutter based on gravitational force,wherein the guide defines the through hole that allows ice cubes to pass through the guide when the shutter is in the opened position, and the through hole is located within a dimension of the rotational axis of the auger, andwherein the auger is configured to receive one or two ice cubes between the transfer wings and the auger, including the transfer wings, is made of a flexible material that reduces a likelihood of ice cubes being broken during transfer by the auger. 2. The ice bin of claim 1, wherein the shutter includes a flexible material that has a self-restoring force that moves the shutter from the opened position to the closed position in response to release of force imparted against the shutter by an ice cube whose movement toward the through hole is being promoted based on rotation of the auger about the rotational axis. 3. The ice bin of claim 2, wherein one end of the shutter is fixedly coupled to the casing, and an opposite end of the shutter is a free end that is not fixed to the casing. 4. The ice bin of claim 1, wherein the shutter is elastically supported by an elastic member having a restoring force that moves the shutter from the opened position to the closed position in response to release of force imparted against the shutter by an ice cube being transferred toward the through hole by the spiral transfer wings. 5. The ice bin of claim 4, wherein the shutter is coupled to the casing by a hinge. 6. The ice bin of claim 1, wherein the auger has one or more joint portions that are defined at an inner circumferential surface of the shaft portion to be engaged with the rotational shaft and that are configured to transfer a rotational force of the motor to the auger. 7. The ice bin of claim 6, wherein the rotational shaft of the motor has at least one driving force transferring portion that extends wider than a diameter of the rotational shaft of the motor and that is configured to couple to at least one of the one or more joint portions. 8. The ice bin of claim 7, wherein the at least one driving force transferring portion has a protrusion defined at an outer circumferential surface and the one or more joint portion has a groove defined at inner circumferential surface that corresponds to the outer circumferential surface of the driving force transferring portion, the protrusion and groove being engaged with each other to restrict the auger in a direction of rotation of the rotational shaft. 9. The ice bin of claim 1, wherein each of the transfer wings of the auger has a curved or inclined cross section in the direction of rotation of the auger. 10. The ice bin of claim 9, wherein each of the transfer wings of the auger comprises a first wing portion and second wing portions that are integrally positioned with each other, wherein the first wing portion extends in a radial direction from the shaft portion to a central portion thereof, and the second wing portion is curved or inclined in the direction of rotation of the auger. 11. The ice bin of claim 1, wherein the auger is configured to dispense a constant number of ice cubes when the auger is rotated through an angle that corresponds to a space defined between adjacent transfer wings. 12. The ice bin of claim 1, wherein a width of the through hole is less than a length of the rotational axis of the auger, the width of the through hole and the length of the rotational axis of the auger being parallel. 13. The ice bin of claim 1, wherein the rotational axis of the auger is positioned completely over the through hole. 14. The ice bin of claim 1, wherein the rotational axis of the auger spans an entire width of the through hole. 15. A refrigerating machine comprising: a refrigerating machine case;an icemaker positioned in the refrigerating machine case and configured to make ice;an ice bin configured to store ice made by the icemaker;an auger that is positioned in a cavity defined by the ice bin, that is configured to rotate about a rotational axis, and that has spiral transfer wings based on rotation of the auger about the rotational axis to promote movement of ice cubes stored in the ice bin,a shutter that is positioned at the ice bin and that is configured to, in response to force imparted against the shutter by an ice cube whose movement is being promoted by the spiral transfer wings, move from a closed position at which the shutter prevents the ice cube from being transferred out of the ice bin to an opened position to allow the ice cube to be transferred out of the ice bin and dispensed, wherein a transfer space in which the auger is installed is located at a lower side of the ice bin, and a dispensing space having an outlet through which ice is dispensed is located at a lower side of the transfer space and is separated from the transfer space by the shutter;a guide that is positioned between the dispensing space and the auger and that is configured to, when the ice bin is in an ordinary operating orientation, guide ice cubes toward the shutter based on gravitational force;a selector configured to enable a user to select a desired amount of ice; anda controller that is electrically connected to the selector and that is configured to control rotation of the auger to dispense the desired amount of ice selected by the user,wherein the guide defines a through hole that allows ice cubes to pass through the guide when the shutter is in the opened position, and the through hole is located within a dimension of the rotational axis of the auger, andwherein the auger is configured to receive one or two ice cubes between the transfer wings and the auger, including the transfer wings, is made of a flexible material that reduces a likelihood of ice cubes being broken during transfer by the auger. 16. The refrigerating machine of claim 15, wherein the shutter includes a flexible material that has a self-restoring force that moves the shutter from the opened position to the closed position in response to reduction of force imparted against the shutter by an ice cube whose movement is being promoted based on rotation of the auger about the rotational axis, wherein one end of the shutter is fixedly coupled to a casing of the ice bin, and an opposite end of the shutter is a free end that is not fixed to the casing. 17. The refrigerating machine of claim 15, wherein the shutter is coupled to a casing of the ice bin by a hinge and elastically supported by an elastic member having a restoring force that moves the shutter from the opened position to the closed position in response to reduction of force imparted against the shutter by an ice cube whose movement is being promoted based on rotation of the auger about the rotational axis. 18. The refrigerating machine of claim 15, wherein the auger comprises a shaft portion coupled to a rotational shaft of a motor assembly; and the spiral transfer wings extend from an outer circumferential surface of the shaft portion and are separated by a distance and shaped to define a space that is sized to accommodate an ice cube guided by the auger. 19. The refrigerating machine of claim 15, wherein the controller is configured to control rotation of the auger to dispense the desired amount of ice selected by the user by controlling the auger to rotate a particular rotation angle. 20. The refrigerating machine of claim 15, wherein a width of the through hole is less than a length of the rotational axis of the auger, the width of the through hole and the length of the rotational axis of the auger being parallel. 21. The refrigerating machine of claim 15, wherein the rotational axis of the auger is positioned completely over the through hole. 22. The refrigerating machine of claim 15, wherein the rotational axis of the auger spans an entire width of the through hole.
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