CN111829237B - Ice crushing device and refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention provides an ice crushing device and a refrigerator. The ice crushing device comprises a shell assembly with a shell and an ice bucket, a driving mechanism used for driving the ice bucket to rotate, an ice crushing mechanism, an ice discharging base plate arranged at the bottom of the ice bucket, an ice discharging port communicated with the ice bucket and arranged on the ice discharging base plate, a stop part arranged at the position close to the ice discharging port and arranged on the ice discharging base plate, and a stop part made of elastic materials. The ice crushing device can prevent ice blocks from falling and does not influence the whole ice discharging rate.

Description

Ice crushing device and refrigerator

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of household appliances, in particular to an ice crushing device and a refrigerator.

Background

With the continuous development of science and technology, the living standard of people is continuously improved, and in order to meet the requirements of people on higher living quality, the functions of household appliances are also continuously increased, such as an ice maker and the like are added on a refrigerator. The ice maker of the refrigerator comprises an ice making device and an ice crushing device, wherein ice cubes are prepared by the ice making device and then stored in a bucket-shaped container so as to be convenient for people to take. Meanwhile, in order to facilitate use, technicians set the ice discharge mode of the refrigerator to a crushed ice mode and an ice block mode. In the ice crushing mode, people take the cut ice blocks; in the ice-cube mode, people take complete ice cubes.

In the prior art, the ice crushing mode and the ice cube mode are generally implemented by providing an ice crushing blade assembly in a tub-shaped container. The ice crushing cutter assembly comprises a fixed ice cutter and a movable ice cutter, one end of the fixed ice cutter is movably arranged on a rotating shaft of the ice crushing cutter assembly in a penetrating mode, and one end of the movable ice cutter is fixedly arranged on the rotating shaft of the ice crushing cutter assembly in a penetrating mode, so that the rotating shaft drives the ice cutter to rotate. When the rotating shaft rotates in the positive direction (namely rotates towards the direction of the ice fixing blade), the ice crushing blade assembly cuts ice blocks when the movable ice blade and the ice fixing blade are staggered, and the ice crushing mode is realized. When the rotating shaft rotates reversely, the ice crushing blade assembly only plays a role of driving and stirring the ice blocks near the ice blade and enables the ice blocks to slide out of the outlet of the bucket-shaped container, and the mode of the ice blocks is the ice block mode.

However, the ice outlet of the ice crusher is open, and ice cubes are easily dropped from the ice outlet when the ice bin is taken out of the refrigerator or when a user opens or closes the door of the refrigerator to cause vibration. In order to prevent the ice block from falling off, a slope with a certain height is added at the ice outlet in the prior art. The mode of adding the slope at the ice outlet effectively reduces the probability of ice falling, but the whole ice is easily crushed between the ice moving blade and the slope when the whole ice is taken, so that the whole ice rate is reduced.

Therefore, aiming at the problem that the whole ice discharging rate is reduced due to the fact that ice cubes are prevented from falling in the prior art, the embodiment of the invention provides an ice crushing device and a corresponding refrigerator, wherein the ice cubes can be prevented from falling, and the whole ice discharging rate is not influenced.

Disclosure of Invention

Aiming at the problem that the whole ice discharging rate is reduced due to the fact that ice cubes are prevented from falling in the prior art, the embodiment of the invention provides an ice crushing device and a corresponding refrigerator, wherein the ice crushing device can prevent ice cubes from falling and does not influence the whole ice discharging rate. The ice crushing device prevents crushed ice from falling off by adding the stopping component, and the setting of the stopping component does not influence the whole ice.

The embodiment of the invention provides a concrete scheme of an ice crushing device, which comprises the following steps: an ice crushing device comprises a shell assembly, an ice bucket and a water tank, wherein the shell assembly comprises a shell and the ice bucket supported in the shell; the ice crushing mechanism is arranged in the ice bucket and comprises an ice knife shaft, a plurality of movable ice knives and a plurality of fixed ice knives, wherein the movable ice knives and the fixed ice knives are arranged on the ice knife shaft at intervals; drive mechanism for it is rotatory to drive ice bucket or ice skate blade axle, at least some of drive structure install in the shell the casing subassembly still including set up in the row's ice base plate of ice bucket bottom, be equipped with on the row's ice base plate with the row's ice mouth of ice bucket intercommunication, ice-cube that the ice machine made is by in the ice bucket the broken back of ice crushing mechanism is followed row's ice mouth discharges, close on the row's ice base plate the position of row's ice mouth is equipped with the backstop part, the backstop part includes the backstop portion of making by elastic material, backstop portion is in row's ice base plate with the juncture of row's ice mouth forms the backstop face of predetermineeing the height.

Preferably, the stopper further comprises a fixing portion connected to the stopper portion, and the fixing portion is fixed to a sidewall of the ice discharging substrate.

Preferably, the fixing portion is integrally formed with the stopper portion.

Preferably, the elastic material is silicone rubber.

Preferably, the stopper is a curved structure having a predetermined height in a vertical direction and a predetermined length in a horizontal direction, and a concave surface of the curved structure faces an ice storage area of the ice bucket.

Preferably, the stopping portion comprises an intersecting end, the intersecting end is far away from the tail end of the ice discharging substrate and intersects with the substrate surface of the ice discharging substrate, and the cross-sectional thickness of the stopping portion is gradually reduced along the direction from the intersecting end to the tail end.

Preferably, the preset height is smaller than the vertical height of the ice moving blade at the lowest side in the ice crushing mechanism.

Preferably, the stopper and the housing are formed by two-shot molding.

Preferably, the stopper is provided on a distal end surface of the ice discharging substrate.

The embodiment of the invention also provides a refrigerator. The refrigerator has the following specific technical scheme: the refrigerator comprises a refrigerator body, a door body used for opening or closing the refrigerator body and any one of the ice crushing devices, wherein the ice crushing devices are arranged on the refrigerator body or the door body.

According to the technical scheme, the embodiment of the invention has the following advantages:

the ice crushing device provided by the embodiment of the invention is additionally provided with the stop piece to prevent the crushed ice from falling off, and the setting of the stop piece does not influence the whole ice discharging rate. Furthermore, the stopping part of the stopping part has elasticity, so that the stopping part can not only deform according to external force, but also can automatically reset after deformation.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an ice crushing device in accordance with a first preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the ice crushing device of FIG. 1 with the housing hidden;

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the housing assembly of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the housing of FIG. 1 from another perspective;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional schematic view of the housing of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of an ice crushing assembly of the ice crushing device of FIG. 1;

fig. 7 is a perspective view of the hidden portion of the housing of fig. 1.

Detailed Description

The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to specific embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings. These embodiments are not intended to limit the present invention, and structural, methodological, or functional changes made by those skilled in the art according to these embodiments are included in the scope of the present invention.

The first preferred embodiment of the invention discloses a refrigerator, which comprises a refrigerator body (not shown) and a door body (not shown) for opening or closing the refrigerator body, wherein the refrigerator body defines storage compartments, and the number and the structural form of the storage compartments can be configured according to different requirements. The storage compartment typically includes a refrigerator compartment and a freezer compartment.

As shown in fig. 1 to 7, the refrigerator further includes an ice crushing device 100, and the ice crushing device 100 is disposed on the refrigerator body or the door body. The ice crushing device 100 comprises a housing assembly 10, a driving mechanism 30 mounted on the housing assembly 10, and an ice crushing mechanism 50, wherein the housing assembly 10 comprises an outer shell 11 and an ice bucket 12 supported in the outer shell 11, the driving mechanism 30 is used for driving the ice bucket 12 or an ice knife shaft 51 to rotate, and at least a portion of the driving mechanism 30 is mounted in the outer shell. An ice crushing mechanism 50 is provided in the ice bucket 12 for crushing ice cubes made by the ice maker. The housing assembly 10 further includes an ice discharge base plate 13 disposed at the bottom of the ice bucket 12, the ice discharge base plate 13 is fixedly disposed relative to the housing 11, preferably, the ice discharge base plate 13 and the housing 11 may be integrally disposed, for example, integrally formed by injection molding, an ice discharge port 131 communicated with the ice bucket 12 is disposed on the ice discharge base plate 13, the ice discharge port 131 may be a substantially fan-shaped opening on the ice discharge base plate 13, a central angle of the fan-shaped opening is substantially less than 180 degrees, preferably, between 120 degrees and 170 degrees, and ice cubes made by the ice maker are broken by the ice breaking mechanism 50 in the ice bucket 12 and then discharged from the ice discharge port 131.

The present embodiment will be described with reference to an embodiment in which the driving mechanism 30 drives the ice bucket 12 to rotate and the ice knife shaft 51 is fixed relative to the housing 11. The ice crushing mode in which the driving mechanism 30 rotates the ice blade shaft 51 and the ice bucket 12 is fixed relative to the housing 11 is the prior art (CN 105509391A), and will not be described herein again. The driving mechanism 30 includes a motor (not shown) and a cylindrical gear 31 driven by the motor, the outer circumference of the ice bucket 12 is provided with external teeth 121, and the cylindrical gear 31 is engaged with the external teeth 121 to rotate the ice bucket 12. Further, a gear assembly is arranged between the motor and the cylindrical gear 31, the gear assembly comprises a first bevel gear 32 connected with the motor and a second bevel gear 33 engaged with the first bevel gear 32, the cylindrical gear 31 and the second bevel gear 33 are coaxially and relatively fixedly arranged, that is, the motor drives the first bevel gear 32 to rotate, and the cylindrical gear 31 and the second bevel gear 33 synchronously rotate, so that the torque is transmitted from the motor to the ice bucket 12. Through setting up two bevel gears and cylindrical gear 31, design actuating mechanism's that can be reasonable overall dimension for the cooperation of motor and gear assembly is compacter, thereby the holistic volume of trash ice device is more miniaturized. Of course, the driving mechanism may be other transmission mechanisms, such as a belt transmission mechanism, a chain transmission mechanism, a worm gear and worm, etc., and the gear mechanism is not limited to a bevel gear, and may also be a straight gear, a helical gear, a herringbone gear, a curved gear, etc.

The housing 11 includes a first portion 11a accommodating the ice bucket 12 and a second portion 11b mounting the driving mechanism 30, wherein the first portion 11a is configured to match the periphery of the ice bucket 12, i.e., the first portion 11a is also provided in a cylindrical shape, and the ice bucket 12 rotates within the cylindrical first portion 11 a. In order to facilitate the power transmission of the ice bucket 12 and the overall sealing performance of the ice crushing device, the opening 111 is provided on the first portion 11a, and the meshing portion of the cylindrical gear 31 and the external teeth 121 is located at the opening 111, so that the opening 111 can be minimized, and the stable meshing of the cylindrical gear 31 and the external teeth 121 can be satisfied. The housing assembly 10 further includes a bottom plate 14, the bottom of the second portion 11b is open, the bottom plate 14 covers the bottom of the second portion 11b to seal the spur gear 31 between the second portion 11b and the bottom plate 14, a clamping groove 133 is formed at the bottom of the ice discharging substrate 13, a protrusion 143 disposed on the bottom plate 14 and matched with the clamping groove 133 in shape is provided, the protrusion 143 is sunk into the clamping groove 133, and preferably, the protrusion 143 and the clamping groove 133 are both formed in a fish shape, so that the sealing performance of the whole ice crushing device is better.

In addition, the first portion 11a is provided with a first step portion 113 and a second step portion 114 at an interval along the axial direction of the ice bucket 12, and a backing ring (not shown in the figure) is provided between the ice bucket 12 and the first portion 11 a. One end of backing ring has the turn-ups, and the turn-ups butt is in first step portion 113, and the other end butt of backing ring is in second step portion 114, makes ice bucket 12's rotation more stable through setting up the backing ring, reduces the rotational wear between ice bucket 12 and the shell 11.

Referring to fig. 3 to 5, for the ease of manufacturing the housing 11 and the ease of assembling the driving mechanism 30, the housing assembly 10 further includes a rear cover 15 coupled to the housing 11, a motor coupled to an outer side of the rear cover 15, and a first bevel gear 32 and a second bevel gear 33 supported between the rear cover 15 and the housing 11. Referring to fig. 4, since there is relative rotation between the ice bucket 12 and the ice discharge base plate 13, based on the existence of the opening 111 of the meshing part between the ice bucket 12 and the cylindrical gear 31 and the gap between the ice bucket 12 and the housing 11, in order to prevent crushed ice in the ice bucket 12 from entering the driving mechanism 30 from the opening 111 or the gap, a groove 136 extending along the circumferential direction of the ice bucket 12 may be provided between the ice discharge base plate 13 and the first portion 11a, the groove 136 is communicated with the ice discharge port 131, and the lower edge of the ice bucket 12 extends into the groove 136. Therefore, crushed ice can enter the driving mechanism 30 on the other side only by passing through the groove 136, the crushed ice can be firstly accumulated in the groove 136, and when the ice bucket 12 rotates, the crushed ice can be taken away and falls from the ice outlet 131. A convex portion 137 is formed at a position corresponding to the groove 136 at the bottom of the ice discharge substrate 13, a concave portion 147 is provided on the base plate 14, the convex portion 137 is snapped into the concave portion 147 to facilitate the assembly of the base plate, and the catching groove 133 connecting the base plate is abutted to the convex portion 137, thereby forming a labyrinth structure to prevent the lubricant or impurities between the gears, crushed ice, and the like from leaking out of the housing assembly 10.

Referring to fig. 6, the ice crushing mechanism 50 includes an ice blade shaft 51 fixed with respect to the housing 11, and a plurality of movable ice blades 52 and a plurality of stationary ice blades 53 disposed on the ice blade shaft 51 at intervals, wherein the ice blade shaft 51 is fixed on the ice discharge substrate 13. The ice blade shaft 51 includes a shaft core 515, a boss 511, and an end nut 513, and the shaft core 515 is located in an inner space of the boss 511. The bottom end of the shaft core 515 is threaded and mates with the end nut 513. Unlike the prior art, the movable ice blade 52 is fixed relative to the ice bucket 12, and the fixed ice blade 53 is fixed relative to the ice blade shaft 51, so that the movable ice blade 52 is rotated by the ice bucket 12, and the fixed ice blade 53 is fixed relative to the housing 11. The ice cubes in the ice bucket 12 are broken by the rotation of the movable ice blade 52 relative to the stationary ice blade 53. In addition, in order to prevent ice cubes from being adhered together, an ice stirring rod 54 may be installed at one end of the ice blade shaft 51 away from the ice discharge opening 131, and the ice stirring rod 54 may extend toward the other end of the ice blade shaft 51 and be fixed with the ice runner 52, achieving stirring of ice cubes while the ice runner 52 rotates together. Of course, the rotation of the movable ice blade 52 may be that the movable ice blade 52 is directly fixed on the inner wall of the ice bucket 12, or the movable ice blade 52 and the ice stirring rod 54 are relatively fixed, and the ice stirring rod 54 is fixed on the inner wall of the ice bucket 12, where the fixing may be circumferential fixing relative to the ice bucket 12, and the axial direction may be set to be fixed, or the axial direction distance may be adjusted relative to the ice bucket 12.

In this embodiment, preferably, the inner wall of the ice bucket 12 is provided with a first limiting groove 123 extending along the axial direction, wherein one end of the ice stirring rod 54 is clamped in the first limiting groove 123, and the ice moving blade 52 is circumferentially fixed to the ice stirring rod 54. The movable ice blade 52 comprises two linear blades, the number of the movable ice blades 52 is two, the number of the same fixed ice blades 53 is also two, the movable ice blades 52 are adjacent to the fixed ice blades 53, the number of the blades of the movable ice blades 52 corresponding to the ice stirring rod 54 is also two, one end of the ice stirring rod 54 is provided with a second limiting groove 543 extending along the axial direction, two corresponding blades of the two movable ice blades 52 are respectively provided with a protrusion 523, the two protrusions 523 are clamped in the second limiting groove 543, and circumferential fixing of the movable ice blades 52 relative to the ice stirring rod 54 is achieved.

As shown in fig. 4, the ice discharge opening 131 of the ice discharge substrate 13 is opened. The user easily drops the crushed ice from the ice discharge port 131 by a shock generated when opening and closing the refrigerator door or when taking out the ice bank. Although the prior art prevents ice blocks from falling by adding a slope at the ice discharge port 131, the extension of the slope in the height direction may cause a space from the moving blade 52 to the ice discharge port 131 to be reduced, causing the whole ice between the moving blade 52 and the slope to be easily crushed by the ice, thereby lowering the whole ice discharge rate of the ice crushing device 100.

Referring to fig. 3 and 7, in the embodiment of the present invention, a stopper 73 is added to the ice crushing device 100, and at least a portion of the stopper 73 has an elastic property. The stopper 73 is installed at a position of the ice discharge base plate 13 adjacent to the ice discharge opening 131, specifically, on a distal end surface of the ice discharge base plate 13.

The stopper 73 includes a stopper portion 732 and a fixing portion 731. The blocking portion 732 has elastic properties, and when the blocking portion 732 is subjected to an external force, the blocking portion 732 can elastically bend; after the external force action disappears, the original state can be recovered by the elastic property of the self. In the present embodiment, the stopper 732 is made of silicone rubber. In other embodiments, the stopping portion 732 may be made of other types of materials with elastic properties.

The blocking portion 732 is a curved structure having a predetermined height in a vertical direction and a predetermined length in a horizontal direction, and a concave surface of the curved structure faces the ice storage area. The blocking part 732 forms a blocking curve in its own structure to block the ice pieces from falling. The stopper 732 includes a distal end 732a distant from the ice discharging base 13 and an interfacing end 732b intersecting the base surface 135 of the ice discharging base 13. The blocking part 732 has a sectional thickness gradually decreasing in a direction from the delivery end 732b to the tip 732a, thereby effectively balancing a blocking force against crushed ice and an elastic force required when ice is harvested. The stopper 732 has a height lower than the vertical height of the lowermost movable blade 52.

The fixing part 731 closely contacts the side wall part 134 of the ice discharging substrate 13, thereby fixing the stopper 73 to the end surface of the ice discharging substrate 13. The fixing part 731 may be integrally formed with the stopper part 732. The stopper 73 is injection molded with the housing 11 for the sake of easy assembly.

When the ice is taken and finished, the ice moving blade 52 pushes the ice blocks to drive the stop piece 73 to generate elastic deformation, and when the ice blocks reach the ice discharging opening 131, the finished ice falls; after the ice is finished, the stopper 73 is restored to the initial position by its own elastic restoring force. When the ice bin is taken out, the stopper 73 is not subjected to external force and is not deformed, and broken ice can be effectively prevented from falling from the ice discharge port 131 due to the stopper effect of the stopper 73.

In this embodiment, the rounded-up ice state is defined as the second state, and the other states except the rounded-up ice state are defined as the first states. The first state includes a state in which the ice bank is taken out of the refrigerator or a state in which a user shakes while opening and closing the refrigerator door, etc. When the ice crushing device 100 is in the first state, the stopper 73 is in the initial state and forms a stopper surface for preventing ice cubes from falling at the ice discharge port 131; when the ice crushing device 100 is in the second state, the stopper 73 is changed in shape to release the stopping surface by an external force (i.e., the external force applied to the stopper 73 by the ice cubes pushed by the movable ice blade 52), and the stopper 73 is restored to the initial state by its own elasticity after the external force (i.e., the external force applied to the stopper 73 by the ice cubes pushed by the movable ice blade 52) is removed. The stopper 73 can effectively prevent the crushed ice from falling, does not affect the ice discharge rate, and has a function of automatically returning to an initial state by its own elastic property.

In the description herein, references to the description of the term "one embodiment," "some embodiments," "an example," "a specific example," or "some examples," etc., mean that a particular feature, structure, material, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment or example is included in at least one embodiment or example of the invention. In this specification, the schematic representations of the terms used above are not necessarily intended to refer to the same embodiment or example. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, materials, or characteristics described may be combined in any suitable manner in any one or more embodiments or examples. Furthermore, various embodiments or examples and features of different embodiments or examples described in this specification can be combined and combined by one skilled in the art without contradiction.

Although embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described above, it is understood that the above embodiments are exemplary and should not be construed as limiting the present invention, and that variations, modifications, substitutions and alterations can be made to the above embodiments by those of ordinary skill in the art within the scope of the present invention.

Claims (6)

1. An ice crushing device, comprising:

a housing assembly including a housing and an ice bucket supported within the housing;

the ice crushing mechanism is arranged in the ice bucket and comprises an ice knife shaft, a plurality of movable ice knives and a plurality of fixed ice knives, wherein the movable ice knives and the fixed ice knives are arranged on the ice knife shaft at intervals;

the driving mechanism is used for driving the ice bucket or the ice skate blade shaft to rotate, and at least one part of the driving mechanism is arranged in the shell;

the shell assembly further comprises an ice discharging base plate arranged at the bottom of the ice bucket, an ice discharging opening communicated with the ice bucket is formed in the ice discharging base plate, ice cubes made by an ice maker are broken in the ice bucket by the ice breaking mechanism and then discharged from the ice discharging opening, a stop part is arranged on the ice discharging base plate and close to the ice discharging opening, the stop part comprises a stop part made of elastic materials, the stop part can deform according to external force and can automatically reset after being deformed, and the stop part forms a stop surface with a preset height at the junction of the ice discharging base plate and the ice discharging opening;

the ice discharge port is arranged in the radial direction of the ice cutter shaft and extends along the radial direction of the ice cutter shaft, and the ice discharge port of the ice discharge substrate is open;

the stop piece further comprises a fixing part connected with the stop part, and the fixing part is fixed on the side wall of the ice discharging substrate;

the fixing part and the stopping part are integrally formed;

the stopping part is a curved surface structure with a preset height along the vertical direction and a preset length along the horizontal direction, and a concave surface of the curved surface structure faces to an ice storage area of the ice bucket;

the stopper and the housing are formed by two-shot injection molding.

2. An ice crushing device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the elastic material is silicone rubber.

3. The ice crushing device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the stopper portion comprises an intersection end which is away from the end of the ice discharge substrate and intersects with the substrate surface of the ice discharge substrate, and the cross-sectional thickness of the stopper portion is gradually reduced along a direction from the intersection end to the end.

4. An ice crushing device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the predetermined height is smaller than the vertical height of the lowermost movable blade of the ice crushing mechanism.

5. An ice crushing apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the stopper is provided on a distal end surface of the ice discharge base plate.

6. A refrigerator, characterized in that the refrigerator comprises a refrigerator body, a door body for opening or closing the refrigerator body, and the ice crushing device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the ice crushing device is arranged on the refrigerator body or the door body.

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