REFRIGERATION DEVICE WITH ICE MAKER

Abstract

A refrigeration device has a housing which delimits at least one cooled storage compartment, an ice maker incorporated in the storage compartment, a refrigeration machine for cooling the storage compartment and a device control unit in order to control the operation of the refrigeration machine and of the ice maker. The ice maker has a secondary electronic control unit which is configured in order to convert a single control command from the device control unit into a sequence of commands directed at different actuators of the ice maker.

Claims

1. A refrigeration device, comprising: a housing delimiting at least one cooled storage compartment; an ice maker incorporated in said cooled storage compartment and having actuators; a refrigeration machine for cooling said cooled storage compartment; a device control unit for controlling an operation of said refrigeration machine and said ice maker; and said ice maker having a secondary electronic control unit configured to convert a single control command from said device control unit into a sequence of commands directed at different ones of said actuators of said ice maker.

2. The refrigeration device according to claim 1, wherein: said ice maker has a tray; and said actuators include at least one motor for pivoting said tray of said ice maker and a valve to control a water supply to said tray.

3. The refrigeration device according to claim 2, wherein said ice maker has a shell and a four-sided frame surrounding said tray, said secondary electronic control unit is accommodated in a chamber which is delimited by one side wall of said four-sided frame and said shell attached to said one side wall and projecting over said one side wall.

4. The refrigeration device according to claim 3, wherein said ice maker has a bearing by way of which a pivoting motion of said tray is driven and said bearing is disposed in said one side wall of said four-sided frame.

5. The refrigeration device according to claim 1, wherein said ice maker has a temperature sensor to which said secondary electronic control unit is connected.

6. The refrigeration device according to claim 5, wherein said secondary electronic control unit controls a duration of an ice making cycle.

7. The refrigeration device according to claim 1, wherein said ice maker has a water line with a heater and said heater is controlled by said secondary electronic control unit.

8. The refrigeration device according to claim 1, further comprising a water dispenser having a water outlet accessible on an outer side of said ice maker and is integrated in said ice maker.

9. The refrigeration device according to claim 8, further comprising an operating element disposed on said ice maker for controlling a dispensing of water by way of said water outlet.

10. The refrigeration device according to claim 8, wherein said water outlet from said water dispenser is provided physically separated from said ice maker in an interior of said housing or on an outer surface of said housing, and said secondary electronic control unit of said ice maker is configured to control said water outlet from said water dispenser.

11. The refrigeration device according to claim 8, wherein said secondary electronic control unit of said ice maker is configured to control a water valve for a water supply to said water outlet from said water dispenser.

12. The refrigeration device according to claim 1, wherein said device control unit is in communication with at least one of a display or an operating device which displays a message from said secondary electronic control unit.

13. The refrigeration device according to claim 8, further comprising at least one of a display or an operating device which displays information relating to a status of said ice maker and/or enables settings to be made on said ice maker and is integrated in said ice maker.

14. The refrigeration device according to claim 13, wherein said ice maker has a water usage meter and said secondary electronic control unit is configured to send a message to said device control unit or to said display and/or said operating device of said ice maker if a threshold value for water usage is exceeded.

15. The refrigeration device according to claim 13, further comprising a manually fillable water tank which supplies at least one of said tray of said ice maker or said water outlet from said water dispenser with water.

16. The refrigeration device according to claim 15, wherein said secondary electronic control unit of said ice maker is configured to control a water delivery device which supplies at least one of said tray of said ice maker or said water outlet from said water dispenser with the water from said manually fillable water tank.

17. The refrigeration device according to claim 15, wherein said manually fillable water tank has a sensing device for determining a water level in said manually fillable water tank, and said secondary electronic control unit of said ice maker is configured to send a message to said device control unit and/or to said display and/or said operating device on said ice maker if a threshold value in said manually fillable water tank is undershot.

18. The refrigeration device according to claim 1, wherein the refrigeration device is a household refrigeration device.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING

[0030] FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic illustration of a refrigeration device in accordance with a first embodiment of the invention;

[0031] FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of the refrigeration device in accordance with a second embodiment of the invention; and

[0032] FIGS. 3 to 6 are perspective views showing a first part of an ice maker for the refrigeration devices in accordance with FIGS. 1 and 2 in different stages of assembly, and also, in FIG. 6, together with a second part.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0033] Referring now to the figures of the drawings in detail and first, particularly to FIG. 1 thereof, there is shown a highly schematic illustration of a refrigeration device in accordance with a first embodiment of the invention. With this embodiment, a housing 1 of the refrigeration device delimits at least two storage compartments, here one normal refrigerating compartment 2 and one freezer compartment 3. A refrigeration machine for cooling the compartments 2 and 3 contains a compressor 4 and a condenser 5 which are accommodated outside a heat insulation layer 6, typically in a machine compartment 7 of the housing 1, and also at least one evaporator arranged within the heat insulation layer 6. In FIG. 1 one evaporator 8, 9 is associated with each compartment 2, 3, which evaporator 8, 9 directly cools the respective compartment 2, 3; alternatively however it would also be possible to provide only one evaporator which is accommodated in an evaporator chamber separate from normal refrigerating compartment 2 and freezer compartment 3, and a fan and flaps deliver cold air from the evaporator chamber into one of the two compartments and return warmer air from the compartment in question to the evaporator chamber.

[0034] An electronic device control unit 10 controls the operation of the compressor 4 on the basis of temperature measurement values from at least one temperature sensor 11 which is arranged in the compartment 2 or 3. In the simplest case outlined in FIG. 1, that the evaporators 8, 9 are connected in series in the coolant circuit with no element controlling the coolant flow between them, the available cooling capacity is distributed in a fixed ratio to the two compartments 2, 3, which means that a single temperature sensor suffices. If the evaporators 8, 9 are connected in parallel in the coolant circuit and the distribution of the coolant to them can be controlled by means of a valve, or if in the case of series connection a controllable throttle point between the evaporators 8, 9 allows their evaporation temperatures to be influenced, temperature sensors 11 should be present in both compartments 2, 3.

[0035] A manually fillable water tank 12 is arranged in the normal refrigerating compartment 2. This tank can be provided with a water outlet, not illustrated in the FIG. 1, similar to a water outlet 43 described later with reference to FIG. 6, which discharges into the normal refrigerating compartment in order to enable cooled water to be tapped off. A water line 13 runs from the tank 12 through a dividing wall 14 to an automatic ice maker 15 in the freezer compartment 3. The water tank 12 could alternatively also be arranged outside the heat insulation layer 6, where it would be easier to fill but it would then not be suitable for tapping off cold water. In addition, as a result of positioning the tank 12 in the normal refrigerating compartment 2, freshly added water at room temperature can first be precooled to normal refrigerating compartment temperature before it reaches the freezer compartment 3; on the one hand this results in highly energy-efficient ice production while on the other hand enabling operation of the ice maker 15 with short operating cycles of uniform duration.

[0036] The ice maker 15 contains a frame 16 in a manner known per se in which a tray 18 containing a plurality of ice molds 19 (see FIG. 3) is pivotably mounted about a horizontal axis 20 beneath an outlet 17 at the end of the water line 13. In a position of the tray 18 which is open toward the top the ice molds 19 can be filled with water from the water line 13 by intermittently opening a valve 21, in particular a solenoid valve, and the water can freeze in the molds 19. When this has happened the tray, driven by an electric motor 23 (see FIG. 3), is inverted and the ice cubes produced are released from the molds 19, for example by being superficially thawed by electric heating of the tray 18 and thereby being made easily movable, or by being ejected from the molds 19 through deformation of the tray 18, and drop into a collection container 22 arranged beneath the frame 16.

[0037] The device control unit 10 is connected to a user interface 24 arranged externally (or internally, accessible with the door open) on the housing 1, which on the one hand enables the device control unit 10 to display operating states or actual values of operating parameters of the device such as the compartment temperatures for instance, and on the other hand enables a user to specify nominal values for such operating parameters and/or to enter alternative commands.

[0038] If the tank 12 is equipped with a fill level sensor which is connected to the device control unit 10, then one of the operating states which are displayed on the user interface 24 can be an insufficient water level in the tank 12.

[0039] One of the commands which can be entered at the user interface 24 is a command to produce ice. The device control unit 10 does not execute this command itself but simply forwards itunless the water level in the tank 12 is considered to be insufficient for ice productionto a secondary electronic control unit 25 which, although illustrated separately from the frame 16 in FIG. 1 for the sake of clarity, is however in fact, and as will be explained in more detail later, incorporated in said frame 16.

[0040] The secondary control unit 25 uses this command to control actuators of the ice maker 15 such as the aforementioned electric motor 23 and the valve 21 for instance. Further actuators can be the similarly aforementioned heater of the tray 18 or an electric heater 26 on an end section of the water line 13 projecting into the freezer compartment 3. Since when forwarding the ice production command the device control unit 10 does not need to consider whether or not the actuators are present, the same model of device control unit 10 can work together with various models of ice maker 15 which means that the assembly of the housing 1 of the refrigeration device and the incorporation of the device control unit 10 therein can take place independently of the model of ice maker 15 to be mounted later in the freezer compartment 3 of the refrigeration device.

[0041] The first reaction of the secondary control unit 25 to the command to produce ice is to open the valve 21 in order to fill the tray 18 with water. In order to define the point in time at which the valve 21 is closed again, a level gage which monitors the water level in the ice molds 19 can be connected to the secondary control unit 25, or the secondary control unit 25 closes the valve 21 again in each case after a predetermined period of time. The period of time must be defined such that even in the case of the water tank 12 full to capacity and correspondingly high pressure in the water line 13 the molds 19 are prevented from overflowing. In order to avoid fluctuating water levels in the tank 12 resulting in ice cubes of excessively differing sizes being produced, an adequate difference in height can be provided between the tank 12 and the outlet of the line 13, or a metering pump can be provided in the water line 13 as a further actuator controlled by the secondary control unit 25.

[0042] After closing the valve 21, the control unit 25 waits the time required in order to freeze the water in the molds 19. This time can be predetermined. Since the water poured in will normally be at the temperature of the refrigerating compartment 2, the predetermined time can be chosen such that it is just sufficient in order to freeze water poured in at refrigerating compartment temperature if the temperatures of refrigerating and freezer compartments 2, 3 each lie at the upper end of their user configurable value range. For more efficient ice production, an additional temperature sensor 27 can be fitted as part of the ice maker 15 in order to sense the temperature of the ambient air around the tray 18, and be connected to the control unit 25 so that the control unit 25 is able to define the waiting time as a function of the sensed temperature.

[0043] Such a temperature sensor 27 can also be utilized in order to regulate the output of the heater 26 to the minimum required in order to prevent the line 13 from freezing.

[0044] When the waiting time has elapsed, the control unit 25 starts the electric motor 23 in order to invert the tray 18, where applicable after a superficial thawing of the ice cubes, and to eject the ice cubes into the collection container 22. In the simplest case, the reaction of the control unit 25 to the ice production command is thereby terminated. It is however also conceivable that following ejection of the ice cubes the control unit 25 fills the tray 18 with water again in order to thus begin a new ice production cycle, and that the ice production cycles continue to follow one another until either the user cancels the ice production command or, if present, a sensor on the collection container 22 reports that the collection container 22 is full.

[0045] The refrigeration device shown in FIG. 2 differs from that shown in FIG. 1 in a plurality of aspects which can be implemented independently of one another. According to a first aspect, the normal refrigerating compartment has been dispensed with; in order to nevertheless be able to precool the contents of the water tank 12 without freezing them the water tank 12 is embedded in the heat insulation layer 6 surrounding the freezer compartment 3 and insulated by the heat insulation layer 6 both with respect to the surroundings and also with respect to the freezer compartment 3.

[0046] According to a second aspect, the water tank 12 is connected to a domestic water supply. A valve 28 can be provided between the domestic water supply and the water tank 12 in order to maintain the latter at a constant, but lower pressure than that of the domestic water supply. The valve 28 opens automatically and allows a renewed flow of water to the tank 12 when the control unit 25 opens the valve 21; no signal connection is required for this purpose between the control unit 25 and the valve 28.

[0047] In addition to supplying the ice maker 15, the tank 12 here can also supply a tapping point for cold water not illustrated in the figures. If no such tapping point is provided, instead of the tank 12 a simple connecting pipe having a small cross section could also be provided which connects the valve 21 to the domestic water supply and ensures that the water feed is precooled on its path through the heat insulation layer 6 before reaching the ice maker 15.

[0048] According to a third aspect, a replaceable water filter 41 is provided. The water filter 41 can be arranged between the tank 12 and the valve 21 or, as shown here, between the valve 28 and the tank 12.

[0049] FIG. 3 shows a simplified perspective view of a frame 16 of the ice maker 15 and component parts relating thereto. The four side walls of the rectangular frame 16 are formed by at least two component parts connected to one another and preferably formed from plastic. Shaft projections 29 from the tray 18 are rotatably mounted in openings in a front side wall 30 and a rear side wall 31 of the frame 16. In the case of the front side wall 30, the opening is hidden by the electric motor 23 arranged thereabove, in the case of the rear side wall 31 by the tray 18 itself. The electric motor 23 and a reduction gear having a worm 32 and a plurality of gear wheels 33, which transfers the rotation of the motor 23 to the front shaft projections 29, are housed in a cavity 34, open to the front in the direction facing away from the tray 18, in the side wall 30.

[0050] This design of an ice maker is already known; in the case of a conventional ice maker having no electronic control unit of its own in order to complete the design it would suffice to close off the cavity 34 by means of a front plate which protects the gearing from contamination and prevents contact with possibly live electrical connections on the motor 23.

[0051] A dividing wall 35, which conceals motor 23 and gearing, is also provided in the case of the ice maker 15 according to the invention; in the illustration in FIG. 4 the dividing wall 35 itself engages with the cavity 34 in the side wall 30 and in turn forms a shallow depression 36 on the outer side thereof. A plurality of electrical conductors 37 are embedded into the plastic of the dividing wall 35. They are placed such that when the dividing wall 35 is mounted they contact the terminals of the motor 23 and also, if present, of a heater of the tray 18.

[0052] The surface contour of the dividing wall 35 defines the mounting position of a circuit board 39 shown in FIG. 5 on the dividing wall 35 by projecting pins 38, ribs or the like such that contact fields on the circuit board 35 make contact with the conductors 37. The circuit board 39 is equipped with electronic components which form the secondary control unit 25.

[0053] In the final assembled state shown in FIG. 6 the circuit board 39 is concealed behind a front plate 40. Since the space in the cavity 34 of the front side wall 30 is not sufficient to accommodate the dividing wall 35 therein, the circuit board 38 together with the components mounted thereon and the front plate 40, especially if the front side wall 30 is that of a conventional ice maker which was not originally designed in order to also offer space for an electronic control unit, the front plate 40 creates said space in that it is formed as a shell which projects forward over the front side wall 30 and is hollow on its rear side.

[0054] In addition to the frame 16, a second module 42 of the ice maker is also shown in FIG. 2 which, mounted in a wall of the freezer compartment 3, accommodates the valve 21. A downstream section of the water line 13 extends out over the tray 18.

[0055] The second module 40 can have a second water outlet 43 which is displaced sideways against the frame 16 and is fed by way of a second valve in the interior of the module. In order to actuate second valve, a paddle 44 projecting downward from the module 42 can be provided, which paddle 44 can be deflected by a container held beneath the water outlet 43.

[0056] If the water filter 41 is present, provision can be made that the secondary control unit 25 monitors the times during which the valve 21 and, if present, the second valve are open in order to thus estimate the quantity of water which has passed through the filter 41. If the water quantity estimated in this or any other suitable way has exceeded a predetermined limit value the control unit 25 generates a signal in order to notify the user of the need to change the filter. Means for displaying the signal can be provided on the ice maker 15 itself, for instance an LED on the circuit board 39 and a window suitably placed for the purpose in the front plate 40. By preference the control unit 25 sends the signal to the device control unit 10 in order that the latter forwards the signal on the user interface 24, for example in the form of an error code which the device control unit 10 translates on the basis of a table into a text which is then displayed on the user interface 24. The device control unit 10 again does not require any adaptation here for the presence of the water filter 41. Although the table of the device control unit 10 must contain the required text, such a text can however also be contained in the table of devices not having a water filter without ever being displayed there.

[0057] The following is a summary list of reference numerals and the corresponding structure used in the above description of the invention: [0058] Housing [0059] Normal refrigerating compartment [0060] Freezer compartment [0061] Compressor [0062] Condenser [0063] Heat insulation layer [0064] Machine compartment [0065] Evaporator [0066] Evaporator [0067] Device control unit [0068] Temperature sensor [0069] Water tank [0070] Water line [0071] Dividing wall [0072] Ice maker [0073] Frame [0074] Outlet [0075] Tray [0076] Ice mold [0077] Axis [0078] Valve [0079] Collection container [0080] Electric motor [0081] User interface [0082] Secondary control unit [0083] Heating facility [0084] Temperature sensor [0085] Valve [0086] Shaft projections [0087] Front side wall [0088] Rear side wall [0089] Worm [0090] Gear wheel [0091] Cavity [0092] Dividing wall [0093] Depression [0094] Conductors [0095] Pin [0096] Circuit board [0097] Front plate [0098] Water filter [0099] Module [0100] Water outlet [0101] Paddle