Refrigerator

Abstract

A refrigerator including a shaved ice dispensing unit, and an ice cube dispensing unit positioned within an ice cube container such that ice cubes, crushed ice, and shaved ice are selectively dispensed to a user. The shaved ice dispensing unit includes a driving motor, a guide barrel having a shaved ice outlet, a plurality of blades disposed at the outlet, a rotational shaft disposed axially within the guide barrel and connected with the driving motor, a compressing wing connected with the rotational shaft above the outlet and extending in a radial direction, and a spiral wing coupled with the rotational shaft at the front of the compressing wing. When the driving motor is driven, the rotational shaft, the spiral wing, and the compressing wing rotate and compress the ice cubes in the ice cube container to produce the shaved ice. The ice cube dispensing unit comprises an ice cube crusher, and an outlet adjusting device to allow the ice cubes to be dispensed or to dispense the crushed ice after producing the crushed ice through the ice cube crusher.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 2004-78099, filed on Sep. 30, 2004 and Korean Patent Application No. 2005-76774, filed on Aug. 22, 2005 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a refrigerator, and, more particularly, to a refrigerator, which includes a shaved ice dispensing unit, and an ice cube dispensing unit positioned within an ice cube container such that ice cubes, crushed ice, and shaved ice are selectively dispensed to a user.

2. Description of the Related Art

Generally, a refrigerator includes a freezing compartment, and a refrigerating compartment, which are partitioned from each other to store various foods at a low temperature in an appropriate state for a long time. The refrigerating compartment includes various refrigerated foods, such as vegetables and fruits, which require storage above freezing, and the freezing compartment includes various frozen foods, such as pork, beef, and fish, which require storage below freezing.

The freezing compartment includes an automatic icemaker to produce ice cubes of a predetermined size or more using cold air circulating within the freezing compartment. The automatic icemaker includes an ice tray to automatically freeze water into the ice cubes, and an ice cube container disposed below the ice tray to contain the ice cubes produced in the ice tray. The automatic icemaker is configured such that, after water is automatically fed into the ice tray and formed into the ice cubes, the ice cubes are automatically conveyed to and contained within the ice cube container, and such that, in the event of a deficiency of the ice cubes within the ice cube container, the above mentioned automatic process of producing the ice cubes is repeated by supplying water into the ice tray.

However, since the conventional refrigerator is not provided with a shaved ice dispensing unit to dispense shaved ice after making the ice cubes produced by the automatic icemaker into the shaved ice, it is very inconvenient for users of the conventional refrigerator to produce the shaved ice, for example, when making an iced beverage using the shaved ice.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, it is an aspect of the present invention to provide a refrigerator, which includes a shaved ice dispensing unit, and an ice cube dispensing unit positioned within an ice cube container such that the shaved ice, the ice cubes, and the crushed ice are selectively dispensed to a user.

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.

The foregoing and/or other aspects of the present invention are achieved by providing a refrigerator, comprising: a freezing compartment; a freezing compartment door to open and close the freezing compartment; an icemaker equipped to the freezing compartment to produce ice cubes; an ice cube container including first and second ends to contain the ice cubes; a shaved ice dispensing unit positioned within the ice cube container; an ice cube dispensing unit positioned in parallel to the shaved ice dispensing unit within the ice cube container; and a dispensing passage to guide the shaved ice and the ice cubes respectively produced from the shaved ice dispensing unit and the ice cube dispensing unit to an outside of the freezing compartment door.

The shaved ice dispensing unit includes at least one compressing wing rotatably disposed on the second end of the ice cube container, and at least one blade fixedly disposed on the second end of the ice cube container to crush the ice cubes contained within the ice cube container into crushed ice.

The shaved ice dispensing unit further includes a driving motor disposed on the first end of the ice cube container, a guide barrel disposed on the second end of the ice cube container, a rotational shaft disposed axially within the guide barrel to be rotated by the driving motor, and a shaved ice outlet provided at a lower portion of the guide barrel, the compressing wing being connected with the rotational shaft while radially extending towards an inner peripheral surface of the guide barrel, and the blade being fixed at the shaved ice outlet of the guide barrel.

The shaved ice dispensing unit further includes a spiral guide connected between the driving motor and the rotational shaft to guide the ice cubes contained within the ice cube container to the guide barrel.

The compressing wing is of an arc-shape curved towards the blade in a rotational direction of the rotational shaft.

The shaved ice dispensing unit further includes at least one spiral wing rotatably connected with the rotational shaft at the front of the compressing wing within the guide barrel to push the ice cubes towards the compressing wing.

The shaved ice dispensing unit further includes a case surrounding the guide barrel and having an opening formed at a lower portion of the case to guide the shaved ice discharged from the crushed ice outlet below the case.

The ice cube dispensing unit includes an ice cube crusher to selectively crush the ice cubes contained within the ice cube container into crushed ice.

The ice cube dispensing unit further includes an ice cube/crushed ice outlet provided on the second end of the ice cube container, and the ice cube crusher includes a rotational cutter and a stationary cutter positioned corresponding to the ice cube/crushed ice outlet to crush the ice cubes, having been conveyed to the ice cube/crushed ice outlet, into the crushed ice.

The ice dispensing unit further includes an outlet adjusting device to adjust a size of the ice cube/crushed ice outlet according to whether the ice cube crusher is operated or not.

The dispensing passage includes a shaved ice discharge port formed at a location corresponding to the shaved ice dispensing unit, and an ice cube/crushed ice discharge port formed at a location corresponding to the ice cube dispensing unit in the freezing compartment door.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and/or other aspects and advantages of the invention will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, of which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating an appearance of a refrigerator in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line II-II of FIG. 1, illustrating a schematic inner construction of the refrigerator;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating a shaved ice dispensing unit and an ice cube dispensing unit positioned within an ice cube container;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line IV-IV of FIG. 3, illustrating the construction of the shaved ice dispensing unit;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along line V-V of FIG. 3, illustrating the shaved ice dispensing unit in the process of producing shaved ice; and

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along line VI-VI of FIG. 2, illustrating the state in which the shaved ice, the ice cubes and crushed ice are dispensed from the ice cube container to the outside of the freezing compartment door.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to the embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elements. The embodiments are described below to explain the present invention by referring to the figures.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating an appearance of a refrigerator according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line II-II of FIG. 1, which illustrates a schematic inner construction of the refrigerator.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the refrigerator comprises a body 1 opened at a front side thereof and defining an appearance of the refrigerator. The body 1 comprises an inner space partitioned into a freezing compartment 4 and a refrigerating compartment (not shown), which are opened and closed by a freezing compartment door 2 and a refrigerating compartment door 3 hingably coupled to the front side of the body 1, respectively.

The refrigerator comprises an evaporator 5 on a rear wall of the body 1 to generate cold air, and a compressor 6 at a rear of a lower portion of the body 1 to compress refrigerant, and an automatic icemaker 10 at an upper portion of the freezing compartment 4 to automatically produce and supply ice cubes of a predetermined size.

The automatic icemaker 10 comprises an ice tray 11 to freeze water into the ice cubes after receiving the water, an ice cube container 20 disposed below the ice tray 11 to contain the ice cubes formed in the ice tray 11, and a water feeding pipe 12 connected with an outside water reservoir and extending above the ice tray 11 to feed the water into the ice tray 11.

The ice cube container 20 comprises a shaved ice dispensing unit 30 to produce the ice cubes contained in the ice cube 20 container into shaved ice, and an ice cube dispensing unit 50 to dispense the ice cubes in the ice cube container 20 or to dispense crushed ice after crushing the ice cubes in the ice cube container 20 into crushed ice (see FIG. 3).

The freezing compartment door 2 comprises a dispensing passage 17 through which the shaved ice dispensed from the shaved ice dispensing unit 30 or the ice cubes and the crushed ice selectively dispensed from the ice cube dispensing unit 50 are discharged to the outside of the freezing compartment door 2. The dispensing passage 17 comprises a shaved ice discharge port 13, and an ice cube/crushed ice discharge port 14 formed through the freezing compartment door 2 (see FIG. 6).

The freezing compartment door 2 further comprises a shaved ice discharge lever 15, and an ice cube/crushed ice discharge lever 16 below the shaved ice discharge port 13 and the ice cube/crushed ice discharge port 14, respectively. A control unit 8 is provided above the shaved ice discharge lever 15 and the ice cube/crushed ice discharge lever 16 on an outer surface of the freezing compartment 2. The control unit 8 comprises a shaved ice selection button, an ice cube selection button, and a crushed ice selection button.

The controller 8 controls the automatic icemaker 10 to automatically produce the ice cubes, and when one of the shaved ice selection button, the ice cube selection button, and the crushed ice selection button is pushed, the controller 8 controls one of the shaved ice dispensing unit 30 and the ice cube dispensing unit 50 to be selectively operated to dispense the shaved ice, the ice cubes or the crushed ice according to selection of a user.

Thus, after a predetermined time has elapsed since the ice tray 11 was filled with water through the water feeding pipe 12, the water within the ice tray 11 is frozen to ice cubes by virtue of cold air circulating in the freezing compartment 4. Then, the ice cubes are automatically conveyed to, and fill the ice cube container 20. These processes are controlled by the control unit 8.

In this state, when the shaved ice selection button of the control unit 8, and the shaved ice discharge lever 15 are pushed, the control unit 8 controls the shaved ice dispensing unit 30 to produce the shaved ice. The shaved ice is dispensed to an outside of the freezing compartment door 2 through the shaved ice discharge port 13 of the dispensing passage 17, and fills a cup 7.

In the same manner, when the ice cube selection button of the control unit 8, and the ice cube/crushed ice discharge lever 16 are pushed, the control unit 8 controls the ice cube dispensing unit 50 to produce and dispense the ice cubes to an outside of the freezing compartment door 2 through the ice cube/crushed ice discharge port 14 of the dispensing passage 17. As a matter of course, when the crushed ice selection button of the control unit 8, and the ice cube/crushed ice discharge lever 16 are pushed, the control unit 8 controls the ice cube dispensing unit 50 to produce the crushed ice. The crushed ice is dispensed to the outside of the freezing compartment door 2 through the ice cube/crushed ice discharge port 14 of the dispensing passage 17.

The construction and operation of the shaved ice dispensing unit 30, and the ice cube dispensing unit 50 will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 to 6.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating the shaved ice dispensing unit and the ice cube dispensing unit positioned within the ice cube container, FIG. 4 shows the construction of the shaved ice dispensing unit, and FIG. 5 shows the process of producing the shaved ice by the shaved ice dispensing unit. FIG. 6 shows the state in which the shaved ice, the ice cubes and crushed ice are dispensed from the ice cube container to the outside of the freezing compartment door.

Referring to FIG. 3, the shaved ice dispensing unit 30 and the ice cube dispensing unit 50 are positioned in parallel within the ice cube container 20. More specifically, the shaved ice dispensing unit 30 and the ice cube dispensing unit 50 are longitudinally positioned in parallel within the ice cube container 20 between a first end 21 of the ice cube container 20 located near a rear wall of the freezing compartment 4 and a second end 22 of the ice cube container 20 above the shaved ice discharge port 13 and ice cube/crushed ice discharge port 14 formed in the freezing compartment door 2.

In order to allow the ice cubes contained in the ice cube container 20 to be smoothly conveyed to the shaved ice dispensing unit 30 and the ice cube dispensing unit 50, respectively, a partition plate 23 of a predetermined height is disposed between the shaved ice dispensing unit 30 and the ice cube dispensing unit 50.

The shaved ice dispensing unit 30 comprises a driving motor 31 equipped on the first end 21 of the ice cube container 20, and a spiral guide 32 having one end coupled with the driving motor 31 and the other end extending towards the second end 22 of the ice cube container 20 while defining a space to guide the ice cubes.

The shaved ice dispensing unit 30 further comprises a guide barrel 34 disposed on the second end 22 of the ice cube container 20, a rotational shaft 33 connected with the other end of the spiral guide 32 while axially extending through the guide barrel 34, a plurality of compressing wings 36 radially extending from the rotational shaft 33 while being positioned adjacent an inner peripheral surface of the guide barrel 34, a plurality of shaved ice outlets 40 formed through the lower end of the guide barrel 34 (see FIG. 5), and a plurality of blades 39 respectively fixed to the shaved ice outlets 40 in the guide barrel 34.

The shaved ice dispensing unit 30 further comprises a case 37, which surrounds the guide barrel 34 at the outside of the second end 22 of the ice cube container 20 and has an opening 38 (see FIG. 5) formed through the case 37 below the guide barrel 34 to guide the crushed ice, having been discharged from the crushed ice outlet 40 of the guide barrel 34, to the shaved ice discharge port 13 formed in the freezing compartment door 2, and at least one spiral wing 35 connected with the rotational shaft 33 at the front of the compressing wings 36 while being surrounded by the guide barrel 34 to move the ice cubes, having been conveyed to the guide barrel 34 by the spiral guide 32, towards the compressing wings 36.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the rotational shaft 33 is axially disposed within the guide barrel 34. The spiral wing 35, and the compressing wings 36 spaced a predetermined distance from the spiral wing while extending radially are equipped to the rotational shaft 33. The plurality of shaved ice outlets 40 is formed in a lower portion of the guide barrel 34 (see FIG. 5) so as to correspond to the compressing wings 36, and has a length corresponding to the width of the compressing wings 36. The plurality of blades 39 is disposed in the longitudinal direction at the shaved ice outlets 40.

Each of the compressing wings 36 is of a substantially arc shape, and one end of the compressing wing 36 is slightly separated from the inner peripheral surface of the guide barrel 34 such that the compressing wings 36 can rotate within the guide barrel 34. Each of the compressing wings 36 is curved towards the blade 39 in the rotational direction of the rotational shaft 33 such that the compressing wings 36 force the ice cubes to be brought into intimate contact with the blades 39, and produce the shaved ice together with the blades 39.

Accordingly, when the shaved ice selection button of the control unit 8 and the shaved ice discharge lever 15 equipped to an outside of the freezing compartment door 2 are pushed, the spiral guide 32 and the rotational shaft 33 are rotated by the driving motor 31 to rotate the spiral wing 35 and the compressing wings 36 within the guide barrel 34. As a result, the ice cubes are conveyed into the guide barrel 34 by means of the spiral guide 32, and then are conveyed to the compressing wings 36 by means of the spiral wing 35 within the guide barrel 34.

The ice cubes conveyed to the compressing wings 36 are shaved by cooperation of the compressing wings 36 and the blades 39 into the shaved ice, which is then dropped along the shaved ice outlets 40 of the guide barrel 34 and the opening 38 of the case 37.

The shaved ice produced by the shaved ice dispensing unit 30 is dropped to the shaved ice discharge port 13 of the dispensing passage 17 formed below the opening 38 through the freezing compartment door 2, as shown in FIG. 6, and is then discharged to the outside of the freezing compartment door 2.

As shown in FIG. 3, the ice cube dispensing unit 50 positioned together with the shaved ice dispensing unit 30 in the ice cube container 20 comprises a driving motor 51 equipped in parallel to the driving motor 31 of the shaved ice dispensing unit 30 on the first end 21 of the ice cube container 20, and a spiral guide 52 having one end coupled with the driving motor 51 and the other end extending to the second end 22 of the ice cube container 20 while defining a space for guiding the ice cubes.

The ice cube dispensing unit 50 further comprises a case 58 disposed at the outside of the second end 22 of the ice cube container 20 and having an ice cube/crushed ice outlet 59 formed therethrough, a rotational shaft 53 connected with the other end of the spiral guide 52 while extending towards the case 58, at least one spiral wing 55 coupled to the rotational shaft 53, and a guide barrel 54 surrounding an outer peripheral surface of the spiral wing 55 to guide the conveyance of the ice cubes.

The ice cube dispensing unit 50 further comprises an ice cube crusher 70 equipped to the second end 22 of the ice cube container 20 to dispense crushed ice together with the ice cubes. The ice cube crusher 70 comprises a pair of rotational cutters 56 coupled with the rotational shaft 53 at a location corresponding to the ice cube/crushed ice outlet 59, and a stationary cutter 69 fixed at the ice cube/crushed ice outlet 59 to be perpendicular to the rotational cutters 56, in order to crush the ice cubes, having been conveyed to the ice cube/crushed ice outlet 59 by the spiral wings 55, into the crushed ice.

The ice cube dispensing unit 50 further comprises an outlet adjusting device 60, which can adjust the size of the ice cube/crushed ice outlet 59 such that the ice cubes and the crushed ice can be selectively dispensed from the ice cube dispensing unit 50.

Accordingly, after adjusting the size of the ice cube/crushed ice outlet 59 to prevent the ice cubes from escaping through the outlet 59 by use of the outlet adjusting device 60 through the control unit 8, the driving motor 61 is driven to rotate the spiral guide 52, the rotational shaft 53, and the spiral wings 55 coupled with the rotational shaft 53. Thereby, the ice cubes contained in the ice cube container 20 are pushed into the guide barrel 54, in which the ice cubes are conveyed to the ice cube/crushed ice outlet 59 of the case 58 by the spiral wings 55. As a result, the ice cubes are crushed into crushed ice of a size corresponding to the adjusted size of the ice cube/crushed ice outlet 59 through operation of the rotational cutters 56 and the stationary cutter 57. The crushed ice is discharged to the outside of the freezing compartment door 2 through ice cube/crushed ice discharge port 14 of the dispensing passage 17 formed in the freezing compartment door 2.

On the contrary, when the driving motor 61 is driven with the size of the ice cube/crushed ice outlet 59 adjusted to allow the ice cubes to pass through the outlet 59 by use of the outlet adjusting device 60 through the control unit 8, the ice cubes are conveyed to the ice cube/crushed ice outlet 59 by the spiral wings 55, and pass through the outlet 59 without being crushed by the rotational cutters 56 and the stationary cutter 57. Then, as shown in FIG. 6, the ice cubes are discharged to the outside of the freezing compartment door 2 through ice cube/crushed ice discharge port 14.

As is apparent from the above description, the refrigerator according to an embodiment of the invention includes the shaved ice dispensing unit, and the ice cube dispensing unit positioned within the ice cube container to allow ice cubes, crushed ice, and shaved ice to be smoothly dispensed to the outside of the freezing compartment door according to selection of a user, so that the user of the refrigerator is provided with various shapes of ice.

Although a few embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various modifications, additions and substitutions may be made in these embodiments without departing from the principle and spirit of the invention, the scope of which defined in the claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A refrigerator, comprising:

a freezing compartment;

a freezing compartment door to open and close the freezing compartment;

an icemaker equipped to the freezing compartment to produce ice cubes;

an ice cube container including first and second ends to contain the ice cubes;

a shaved ice dispensing unit positioned within the ice cube container;

an ice cube dispensing unit positioned in parallel to the shaved ice dispensing unit within the ice cube container; and

a dispensing passage to guide the shaved ice and the ice cubes respectively produced from the shaved ice dispensing unit and the ice cube dispensing unit to an outside of the freezing compartment door.

2. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the shaved ice dispensing unit comprises at least one compressing wing rotatably disposed on the second end of the ice cube container, and at least one blade fixedly disposed on the second end of the ice cube container to crush the ice cubes contained within the ice cube container into crushed ice.

3. The refrigerator according to claim 2, wherein the shaved ice dispensing unit further comprises a driving motor disposed on the first end of the ice cube container, a guide barrel disposed on the second end of the ice cube container, a rotational shaft disposed axially within the guide barrel to be rotated by the driving motor, and a shaved ice outlet provided at a lower portion of the guide barrel, the compressing wing being connected with the rotational shaft while radially extending towards an inner peripheral surface of the guide barrel, and the blade being fixed to the shaved ice outlet of the guide barrel.

4. The refrigerator according to claim 3, wherein the shaved ice dispensing unit further comprises a spiral guide connected between the driving motor and the rotational shaft to guide the ice cubes contained within the ice cube container to the guide barrel.

5. The refrigerator according to claim 3, wherein the compressing wing is of an arc-shape curved towards the blade in a rotational direction of the rotational shaft.

6. The refrigerator according to claim 3, wherein the shaved ice dispensing unit further comprises at least one spiral wing rotatably connected with the rotational shaft at the front of the compressing wing within the guide barrel to push the ice cubes towards the compressing wing.

7. The refrigerator according to claim 3, wherein the shaved ice dispensing unit further comprises a case surrounding the guide barrel and having an opening formed at a lower portion of the case to guide the shaved ice discharged from the crushed ice outlet below the case.

8. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the ice cube dispensing unit comprises an ice cube crusher to selectively crush the ice cubes contained within the ice cube container into crushed ice.

9. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the ice cube dispensing unit further comprises an ice cube/crushed ice outlet provided on the second end of the ice cube container, and the ice cube crusher comprises a rotational cutter and a stationary cutter positioned corresponding to the ice cube/crushed ice outlet to crush the ice cubes, having been conveyed to the ice cube/crushed ice outlet, into the crushed ice.

10. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the ice dispensing unit further comprises an outlet adjusting device to adjust a size of the ice cube/crushed ice outlet according to whether the ice cube crusher is operated or not.

11. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the dispensing passage comprises a shaved ice discharge port formed at a location corresponding to the shaved ice dispensing unit, and an ice cube/crushed ice discharge port formed at a location corresponding to the ice cube dispensing unit in the freezing compartment door.

12. A refrigerator, comprising:

a freezing compartment;

an ice cube container equipped within the freezing compartment to contain ice cubes;

a shaved ice dispensing unit positioned within the ice cube container to dispense shaved ice after shaving the ice cubes contained in the ice cube into the shaved ice; and

an ice cube dispensing unit positioned in parallel to the shaved ice dispensing unit within the ice cube container to allow the ice cubes contained in the ice cube container to be discharged or to discharge crushed ice after crushing the ice cubes contained in the ice cube.

13. The refrigerator according to claim 12, wherein the ice cube container comprises a partition plate between the shaved ice dispensing unit and the ice cube dispensing unit to allow the ice cubes contained in the ice cube container to be smoothly conveyed into the shaved ice dispensing unit and the ice cube dispensing unit.

14. The refrigerator according to claim 12, wherein the shaved ice dispensing unit comprises a driving motor disposed on a first end of the ice cube container, a guide barrel disposed on a second end facing the first end of the ice cube container and having a crushed ice outlet formed through the guide barrel, at least one blade equipped to the crushed ice outlet, a rotational shaft axially disposed within the guide barrel and rotated by the driving motor, and at least one compressing wing connected with the rotational shaft and radially extending towards an inner peripheral surface of the guide barrel to compress the ice cubes conveyed to the guide barrel against the blade to produce the crushed ice.

15. The refrigerator according to claim 14, wherein the shaved ice dispensing unit further comprises a spiral guide connected between the driving motor and the rotational shaft to guide the ice cubes contained within the ice cube container to the guide barrel.

16. The refrigerator according to claim 14, wherein the shaved ice dispensing unit further comprises at least one spiral wing rotatably connected with the rotational shaft at the front of the compressing wing within the guide barrel to push the ice cubes to the compressing wing.

17. The refrigerator according to claim 12, further comprising: a freezing compartment door to open and close the freezing compartment, the freezing compartment door including a shaved ice discharge port formed at a location corresponding to the shaved ice dispensing unit, and an ice cube/crushed ice discharge port formed at a location corresponding to the ice cube dispensing unit in the freezing compartment door.