Automatic ice maker

Details Automatic ice maker Automatic ice maker

2001-03-28

2002-08-06

Tapolcai, William E. (Department: 3744)

Refrigeration

Automatic control

By congealed removable product condition

Reexamination Certificate

active

06427456

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an automatic ice maker and, more particularly, relates to an automatic ice maker for household refrigerators.
2. Description of the Prior Art
FIG.
16
and
FIG. 17
show a conventional automatic ice maker disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,010,738, wherein a reference numeral
1
denotes a tray for making ice cubes,
2
denotes an array of stationary fingers mounted on one side of an upper surface of the tray
1
,
3
denotes a rotary shaft extending along the center line of the upper surface of the tray
1
and to be rotated by a motor (not shown),
4
denotes an array of ejector fingers fixed to the rotary shaft
3
for rotation therewith so as to interleave with the stationary fingers
2
and cooperate therewith to cause the ice cubes to be deposited in a bin
8
arranged below the tray
1
. A reference numeral
5
denotes a control box,
6
denotes a water supply box,
7
denotes an ice cube detecting device for detecting whether a sufficient ice cubes are located within the bin
8
or not, and
9
denotes a freezer compartment of a refrigerator
10
.
In the tray
1
, a thermostat and a heater are installed. The heater and the motor are energized when the water is frozen in the tray
1
and the thermostat is turned ON, so that a surface of the ice cubes attached to the tray
1
are molten and that the ice cubes in the tray
1
is ejected to the bin
8
by the ejector fingers
4
when the motor is rotated. The water supply to the tray
1
is started and a quantity of water determined according to the angular position of the motor is supplied to the tray
1
to make ice cubes, again. The above cycle is repeated.
When the ice cube detecting device
7
detects a sufficient quantity of ice cubes located within the bin
8
, the automatic operation of the ice maker is stopped temporarily. The automatic operation of the ice maker is restarted when the quantity of the ice cubes located within the bin
8
is reduced. The ice cube detecting device
7
comprises a stop arm in the form of a wire and swings along an arc above the bin
8
to detect the upper surface of the ice cubes located within the bin
8
. However, the above-mentioned conventional automatic ice maker has many problems and defects. The stop arm is sometimes broken when it is brought into contact with the ice cubes. The ice cubes stored in the bin
8
positioned below the bottom surface of the tray
1
are liable to melt by a heat radiation from the tray
1
, when the heater is energized.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to solve the above problems.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an automatic ice maker for use in household refrigerators comprising a water supply device, a tray for making ice cubes, an ice cube ejector device, a heater for separating ice cubes from the tray, a sensor for sensing a temperature of the tray, a bin for storing therein ice cubes, an ice cube detecting device for detecting ice cubes located within the bin, and an electronic control circuit for controlling the ice making operation, wherein said components other than the water supply device are arranged in a freezer compartment of the refrigerator, and the ice cube detecting device is formed of a planar stop arm movable to a position between the tray and the bin according to the energization and deenergization of the heater.
Said stop arm has an upper surface inclined downwards gradually from a tray side to an opposite side.
Said stop arm is supported through a spring and rotated by a drive shaft.
Said stop arm can be moved horizontally. Said electronic control circuit comprises an original point hole IC and a magnet faced to each other with a gap therebetween, and said magnet is composed of N and S poles superposed to each other.


REFERENCES:
patent: 2799144 (1957-07-01), Barton
patent: 2982111 (1961-05-01), Dahl
patent: 5010738 (1991-04-01), Brown et al.
patent: 5119639 (1992-06-01), Bein et al.
patent: 5400605 (1995-03-01), Jeong
patent: 5619858 (1997-04-01), Gunderson et al.
patent: 6050097 (2000-04-01), Nelson et al.

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