Refrigerator

The present application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 18/381,435, filed on Oct. 18, 2023, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 17/717,942, filed on Apr. 11, 2022, now U.S. Pat. No. 11,828,514, which claims priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 and 35 U.S.C. 365 to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2021-0050607, filed on Apr. 19, 2021. The contents of the aforementioned applications are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.

The present disclosure relates to a refrigerator.

In general, refrigerators are home appliances for storing foods at a low temperature in a storage chamber that is covered by a door. To this end, the refrigerator is configured to keep stored food in an optimal state by cooling the inside of the storage space using cold air generated through heat exchange with a refrigerant circulating in a refrigeration cycle.

Recently, refrigerators are gradually becoming larger and more multifunctional in accordance with the change in dietary habits and the trend of luxury products. For instance, refrigerators having various structures and convenient devices for user convenience and efficient use of internal space have been released.

In particular, recent refrigerators are provided with an automatic ice maker capable of automatically making and storing ice. In some cases, an ice maker is provided in a freezing compartment. In the refrigerator having such a structure, a cold air discharge port may be formed at the rear of the ice maker so as to ensure the ice making performance of the ice maker. However, in the case of such a structure, at least a part of the discharge port may be covered by the ice maker. As a consequence, cold air may not be effectively supplied to a space in front of the ice maker. In addition, if cold air is not circulated in the space in front of the ice maker and becomes stagnant, frost may be generated in this space. This may cause inconvenience to users and cause a deterioration in refrigeration performance.

An implementation of the present disclosure aims to provide an ice maker and a refrigerator capable of smoothly supplying cold air to the front of the ice maker.

An implementation of the present disclosure aims to provide a refrigerator capable of being applied to refrigerators having various depths and capable of evenly supplying cold air therein.

An implementation of the present disclosure aims to provide a refrigerator capable of evenly supplying cold air to two ice makers disposed in a freezing compartment.

An implementation of the present disclosure aims to provide a refrigerator capable of evenly supplying cold air to two ice makers plurality freezing compartment.

A refrigerator according to an implementation of the present disclosure may include a cabinet defining a storage space to which cold air is supplied through a cold air discharge port, a door opening or closing the storage space, an ice maker provided in the storage space to make ice, an ice maker cover mounted to the ice maker and defining a cold air passage that bypasses the ice maker and directs toward a front of the ice maker, and a distribution passage provided between the cold air discharge port and the ice maker to supply cold air discharged from the cold air discharge port, wherein the distribution passage may include a cooling guide portion communicating with the ice maker cover and defining a cooling passage that guides cold air to the ice maker cover, and an ice making guide portion branched from the cooling guide portion and communicating with the ice maker to define an ice making passage that guides cold air to the ice maker.

The cold air discharge port may be provided at a rear surface of the storage space, and the ice maker may shield the cold air discharge port at a front.

The ice maker cover may be provided between an upper surface of the storage space and an upper surface of the ice maker, and a cover passage through which the cooling guide portion and the front of the ice maker communicate with each other may be defined.

The ice maker cover may include a cover body that shields the upper surface of the ice maker, and a lower surface of the cover body may be opened to define a space in which the upper surface of the ice maker is accommodated.

The upper surface of the cover body may be provided with a sidewall that extends upward, may be in contact with the upper surface of the storage space, and may define the cover passage, and a rear end of the sidewall may communicate with the cooling guide portion.

The upper surface of the cover body may be provided with a guide surface defining a bottom surface of the cover passage, and the guide surface may be inclined.

The refrigerator may further include a discharge guide protruding from an inner side of the cover passage and guiding a flow direction of the cold air flowing along the cover passage.

The discharge guide may be inclined toward one side closer to a rotation shaft of the door among left and right sides.

The ice maker may include: an ice maker case including a case upper surface defining an upper surface and a case circumferential surface extending downward along a circumference of a case upper surface and defining a downwardly opened space; and an ice tray mounted inside the ice maker case and forming a plurality of cells in which ice is made, and the ice maker cover may be coupled to shield an upper surface of the ice maker case.

A rear end of the case upper surface may be provided with a case inlet communicating with the ice making guide portion to allow cold air to flow into the ice maker.

A front end of the case upper surface may be provided with a case outlet through which cold air flowing into the case inlet is discharged, and the plurality of cells may be disposed between the case inlet and the case outlet.

The cooling guide portion may include: a guide portion base extending from the cold air discharge port and defining a bottom of the cooling passage; and a guide portion side extending upward from both ends of the guide portion base and coming in contact with an upper surface of the storage space.

The guide portion base and the guide portion side may be connected to an inlet of the cover passage.

The ice making passage may include a duct extension portion extending from a base opening defined in the guide portion base and extending to communicate with an inside of the ice maker to define the ice making passage.

The base opening may include a vertical extension portion extending upward and guiding a part of the cold air flowing into the cooling passage to the ice making passage.

The door may be provided with a door ice maker that makes ice, a door duct extending up to an upper side of the door ice maker and supplying cold air toward the door ice maker when the door is closed may be provided on the upper surface of the storage space, and an outlet of the cover passage may be opened at a position facing the door ice maker.

A front cover shielding the ice maker from a front may be disposed on a front of the ice maker, and a front discharge port communicating with the cover passage may be defined in the front cover.

The front discharge port may be defined between the upper surface of the storage space and an upper end of the front cover.

The cold air discharge port may be defined in a grille pan that shields an evaporator, and the distribution guide may be fixedly mounted to the grille pan so as to communicate with the cold air discharge port.

The storage space may be partitioned left and right to define a refrigerating compartment and a freezing compartment, the ice maker may be formed inside the freezing compartment in a size corresponding to a width of the freezing compartment, and spherical cells that make ice inside the ice maker may be continuously disposed in a left-and-right direction.

Hereinafter, detailed implementations will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the scope of the present disclosure is not limited to proposed implementations of the present disclosure, and other regressive disclosures or other implementations included in the scope of the spirits of the present disclosure may be easily proposed through addition, change, deletion, and the like of other elements.

In addition, in implementations of the present disclosure, a side-by-side type (or a double-door type) refrigerator in which a pair of doors are disposed on left and right sides will be described as an example for convenience of explanation and understanding, and it is noted that the present disclosure is applicable to any refrigerators provided with a dispenser.

Prior to the description, the directions are defined below for improved clarity. In, a direction toward a door with respect to a cabinet may be defined as “front” or “forward,” a direction toward the cabinet with respect to the door may be defined as “rear” or “rearward,” a direction toward the floor where the refrigerator is installed may be defined as “downward,” and a direction away from the floor where the refrigerator is installed may be defined as “upward.”

is a front view of a refrigerator according to an implementation of the present disclosure. Also,is a front view illustrating a state in which the door of the refrigerator is opened. Also,is a cross-sectional view of an upper portion of a freezing compartment of the refrigerator.

As shown in the drawings, an outer appearance of a refrigeratoraccording to the implementation of the present disclosure may be defined by a cabinetdefining a storage space and a doorcoupled to the cabinetto open or close the storage space.

The cabinetmay include an outer casedefining an outer appearance and an inner casedisposed inside the outer caseto define the storage space. A heat insulating materialmay be filled between the outer caseand the inner case.

A barriermay be formed in the inner case. The barriermay partition the storage space inside the cabinetleft and right, so that a freezing compartmentand a refrigerating compartmentare defined side by side. The inner casemay define inner surfaces of the freezing compartmentand the refrigerating compartment. If necessary, the inner casedefining the refrigerating compartmentand the inner casedefining the freezing compartment may be formed independently.

Storage members such as drawers and shelves may be disposed inside the freezing compartmentand the refrigerating compartment.

An evaporatormay be provided at the rear of the freezing compartment, and the evaporatormay be shielded by a grille pan. The grille panmay define rear wall surfaces of the refrigerating compartmentand the freezing compartment. The grille panmay be provided with a shrouddefining a passage through which cold air generated by the evaporatormay flow. A fan motorand a blowing fanare provided in the shroudto allow cool air generated by the evaporatorto flow along the passage of the grille pan. A discharge portthrough which cold air is discharged may be defined in the grille pan.

An ice maker assemblymay be provided in an uppermost space of the freezing compartment. The ice maker assemblymay include an ice makercapable of making automatically supplied water into ice and separating the ice.

The ice maker assemblymay include a distribution ductthat allows cold air discharged through the grille panto be branched and guided to the inside of the ice makerand above the ice maker. The ice maker assemblymay further include an ice maker coverthat allows cold air branched by the distribution ductto pass the upper side of the ice makerand direct toward the front of the ice maker assembly. In addition, the ice maker assemblymay further include a front covercapable of shielding a part of the space defined at the upper end of the freezing compartment.

An ice binmay be provided below the ice maker. Ice made by the ice makermay be dropped and stored in the ice bin.

The doorsmay be disposed on both left and right sides of the refrigerator in a side by side manner. The doorsmay be configured to rotate to open or close the freezing compartmentand the refrigerating compartmentdisposed on the left and right sides. The doormay define the front appearance of the refrigeratorin a closed state. The doormay include a freezing compartment doorfor opening or closing the freezing compartmentand a refrigerating compartment doorfor opening or closing the refrigerating compartment.

The refrigerating compartment doormay have an opening communicating with the accommodation space at the rear of the door, and may be further provided with a sub-dooropening or closing the opening. At least a part of the sub-doormay be provided with a see-through portionthrough which the inside can be seen.

A door ice maker assemblymay be provided at the freezing compartment door. The door ice maker assemblymay include a door ice makerprovided on the upper rear surface of the freezing compartment door. The door ice makermay be configured to make ice using automatically supplied water and to separate the made ice to an ice bank.

In detail, the door ice makermay include an ice traythat contains water and makes ice, and a driving deviceprovided on one side of the ice tray. The ice traymay have an open upper surface, and the inside of the ice traymay be partitioned into a plurality of cells. The cellmay have a cube or semicircular shape or the like, and may have a different shape and size from the spherical ice made in the ice maker. Spherical ice is typically larger in volume than ice made in the cells

A rotation shaftof the ice traymay be connected to the driving device, and may rotate according to the operation of the driving device. That is, the ice traymay be configured to rotate for ice separation upon completion of ice making. The door ice makerhaving such a structure may be referred to as a twist type ice maker. In some cases, the ice traymay have a structure to maintain a fixed state, and an ejector may be rotated by the rotation shaftconnected to the driving deviceto separate the ice from the cell

The door ice makermay be elongated in the horizontal direction (left-and-right direction). Therefore, the rotation shaftof the ice traymay also extend in the horizontal direction, and the cellsmay be continuously arranged in the horizontal direction.

Compared with the rotation shaftof the ice maker, the rotation shaftof the door ice makermay extend in the same direction. That is, the rotation shaftof the ice makerand the rotation shaftof the door ice makermay be arranged side by side. In this case, the rotation shaftof the door ice makermay be located slightly higher than the rotation shaftof the ice maker.

The plurality of cells C formed in the ice makermay be continuously arranged in the horizontal direction, and the plurality of cellsformed in the door ice makermay also be continuously arranged in the horizontal direction. That is, the cells C of the ice makerand the cellsof the door ice makermay be continuously arranged in the parallel direction.

The ice makerand the door ice makermay be disposed in the same freezing compartment. When the freezing compartment dooris closed, the ice makerand the door ice makermay be disposed at positions facing each other.