Refrigerator

This application is a continuation application is a continuation application, under 35 U.S.C. § 111(a), of international application No. PCT/KR2023/019413, filed Nov. 29, 2023, which claims priority under 35 U. S. C. § 119 to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2023-0013339, filed Jan. 31, 2023, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.

The present disclosure relates to a refrigerator, and more particularly, a refrigerator including an ice maker.

A refrigerator is an appliance that includes a main body having a storage room and a cool air supply system for supplying cool air to the storage room to keep food fresh. The storage room includes a refrigerating room that is maintained at temperature of about 0° C. to about 5° C. to keep food refrigerated, and a freezing room that is maintained at temperature of about 0° C. to about −30° C. to keep food frozen. In general, the storage room opens in the front side to enable a user to put/take food into/out of the storage room and the open front side of the storage room is opened or closed by a door.

The refrigerator repeatedly performs a cooling cycle of compressing, condensing, expanding, and evaporating refrigerants by using a compressor, a condenser, an expander, and an evaporator. Both the freezing room and the refrigerating room may be cooled by a single evaporator included in the freezing room, or the freezing room and the refrigerating room may include evaporators respectively to perform cooling independently.

The refrigerator may include an ice maker that forms ice. The ice maker may include an ice tray in which ice is formed, an ejector for discharging ice from the ice tray, an ice bucket that stores ice discharged from the ice tray, and a controller that controls an ice making process, thereby automatically forming ice.

An aspect of the present disclosure provides a refrigerator having an improved structure for stably fixing an ice maker to an inner case.

An aspect of the present disclosure provides a refrigerator having an improved structure for maintaining a gap between an ice maker and an inner case upon deformation of the inner case.

An aspect of the present disclosure provides a refrigerator having an improved structure for preventing, while an ice maker is installed on an inner case, the ice maker or the inner case from being damaged.

An aspect of the present disclosure provides a refrigerator having an improved structure for improving appearance quality of a product.

An aspect of the present disclosure provides a refrigerator having an improved structure for preventing a user's body from approaching a water supply pipe inside an ice maker.

An aspect of the present disclosure provides a refrigerator having an improved structure for improving flowability of cool air supplied to an ice tray inside an ice maker and improving efficiency of ice formation.

The technical object intended to be achieved by the present document is not limited to the above-mentioned technical objects, and other technical objects not mentioned will be clearly understood by one of ordinary skill in the technical art to which the disclosure belongs from the following description.

A refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may include an outer case, an inner case to be provided inside the outer case, so that while the inner case is inside the outer case, the inner case forms a storage room, the inner case including a first inner wall and a second inner wall being opposite to the first inner wall, an ice tray configured to form ice, and a support case to support the ice tray and mounted on the inner case, the support case including a fastening portion coupleable to the first inner wall by a fastening member, and an elastic deformation portion configured to be elastically deformed while the fastening portion is pressed by the first inner wall, and to movably support the fastening portion.

A refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may include an outer case, an inner case to be provided inside the outer case, so that while the inner case is inside the outer case, the inner case forms a storage room, the inner case including a first inner wall and a second inner wall being opposite to the first inner wall, an ice tray configured to form ice, and a support case to support the ice tray and that is mountable on the inner case. The support case may include a case body on which the ice tray is installed, a first fastening portion to be coupled to the first inner wall, a second fastening portion to be coupled to the second inner wall, a first elastic deformation portion facing the first inner wall, connecting the case body with the first fastening portion, and configured to be elastically deformed to move the first fastening portion with respect to the case body, and a second elastic deformation portion facing the second inner wall, connecting the case body with the second fastening portion, and configured to be elastically deformed to move the second fastening portion with respect to the case body.

A refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may include an outer case, an inner case to be provided inside the outer case and so that while the inner case is inside the outer case, the inner case forms a storage room, an ice tray configured to form ice, and a support case positioned in the storage room. The support case may include a case body supporting the ice tray, and a case wall connected to the case body and facing an inner wall of the inner case, wherein at least a part of the case wall is fastened to the inner wall of the inner case, and one side of the at least a part of the case wall, the one side being opposite to the case body, is elastically deformed to move with respect to the case body.

is a perspective view of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

is a cross-sectional view of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

is a cross-sectional perspective view of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

is an exploded view showing some components of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

is an exploded view showing an ice maker of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

shows a support case of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

is an enlarged view showing some components of a support case of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

is an enlarged view showing some components of a support case of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

is an enlarged cross-sectional view showing a part of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

is a cross-sectional view showing a deformed state of an inner wall of an inner case in the refrigerator ofaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

is an enlarged cross-sectional view showing a part of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

is a cross-sectional view showing a deformed state of an inner wall of an inner case in the refrigerator ofaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

shows a state in which cool air flows into an ice maker of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

is a cross-sectional perspective view showing some components such as an ice maker of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Various embodiments of the disclosure and terms used herein are not intended to limit the technical features described herein to specific embodiments, and should be understood to include various modifications, equivalents, or substitutions of the corresponding embodiments.

In describing of the drawings, similar reference numerals may be used for similar or related elements.

The singular form of a noun corresponding to an item may include one or more of the items unless clearly indicated otherwise in a related context.

In the disclosure, phrases, such as “A or B”, “at least one of A and B”, “at least one of A or B”, “A, B or C”, “at least one of A, B and C”, and “at least one of A, B, or C” may include any one or all possible combinations of the items listed together in the corresponding phrase among the phrases.

As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

Terms such as “1st”, “2nd”, “primary”, or “secondary” may be used simply to distinguish an element from other elements, without limiting the element in other aspects (e.g., importance or order).

Further, as used in the disclosure, the terms “front”, “rear”, “top”, “bottom”, “side”, “left”, “right”, “upper”, “lower”, and the like are defined with reference to the drawings, and are not intended to limit the shape and position of any element.

It will be understood that when the terms “includes”, “comprises”, “including”, and/or “comprising” are used in the disclosure, they specify the presence of the specified features, figures, steps, operations, components, members, or combinations thereof, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, figures, steps, operations, components, members, or combinations thereof.

When a given element is referred to as being “connected to”, “coupled to”, “supported by” or “in contact with” another element, it is to be understood that it may be directly or indirectly connected to, coupled to, supported by, or in contact with the other element. When a given element is indirectly connected to, coupled to, supported by, or in contact with another element, it is to be understood that it may be connected to, coupled to, supported by, or in contact with the other element through a third element.

It will also be understood that when an element is referred to as being “on” another element, it may be directly on the other element or intervening elements may also be present.

A refrigerator according to an embodiment of the disclosure may include a main body.

The “main body” may include an inner case, an outer case positioned outside the inner case, and an insulation provided between the inner case and the outer case.

The “inner case” may include a case, a plate, a panel, or a liner forming a storage compartment (also referred to as a storage room). The inner case may be formed as one body, or may be formed by assembling a plurality of plates together. The “outer case” may form an appearance of the main body, and be coupled to an outer side of the inner case such that the insulation is positioned between the inner case and the outer case.

The “insulation” may insulate an inside of the storage compartment from an outside of the storage compartment to maintain inside temperature of the storage compartment at appropriate temperature without being influenced by an external environment of the storage compartment. According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the insulation may include a foaming insulation. The foaming insulation may be molded by fixing the inner case and the outer case with jigs, etc. and then injecting and foaming urethane foam as a mixture of polyurethane and a foaming agent between the inner case and the outer case.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the insulation may include a vacuum insulation in addition to a foaming insulation, or may be configured only with a vacuum insulation instead of a forming insulation. The vacuum insulation may include a core material and a cladding material accommodating the core material and sealing the inside with vacuum or pressure close to vacuum. However, the insulation is not limited to the above-mentioned foaming insulation or vacuum insulation, and may include various materials capable of being used for insulation.

The “storage compartment” may include a space defined by the inner case. The storage compartment may further include the inner case defining the space corresponding to the storage compartment. The storage compartment may store a variety of items, such as food, medicines, cosmetics, and the like, and the storage compartment may be configured to be open on at least one side for insertion and removal of the items.

The refrigerator may include one or more storage compartments. In a case in which two or more storage compartments are formed in the refrigerator, the respective storage compartments may have different purposes of use, and may be maintained at different temperatures. To this end, the respective storage compartments may be partitioned by a partition wall including an insulation.

The storage compartment may be maintained within an appropriate temperature range according to a purpose of use, and may include a “refrigerating compartment”, a “freezing compartment”, and a “temperature conversion compartment” according to purposes of use and/or temperature ranges. The refrigerating compartment may be maintained at an appropriate temperature to keep food refrigerating, and the freezing compartment may be maintained at an appropriate temperature to keep food frozen. The “refrigerating” may be keeping food cold without freezing the food, and for example, the refrigerating compartment may be maintained within a range of 0 degrees Celsius to 7 degrees Celsius. The “freezing” may be freezing food or keeping food frozen, and for example, the freezing compartment may be maintained within a range of −20 degrees Celsius to −1 degrees Celsius. The temperature conversion compartment may be used as either a refrigerating compartment or a freezing compartment according to or regardless of a user's selection.

The storage compartment may also be referred to by various terms, such as “vegetable compartment”, “freshness compartment”, “cooling compartment”, and “ice-making compartment”, in addition to “refrigerating compartment”, “freezing compartment”, and “temperature conversion compartment”, and the terms, such as “refrigerating compartment”, “freezing compartment”, “temperature conversion compartment”, etc., as used below are to be understood as representing storage compartments having the corresponding purposes of use and the corresponding temperature ranges.

The refrigerator according to an embodiment of the disclosure may include at least one door configured to open or close the open side of the storage compartment. The respective doors may be provided to open and close one or more storage compartments, or a single door may be provided to open and close a plurality of storage compartments. The door may be rotatably or slidably mounted to the front of the main body.

The “door” may seal the storage compartment in a closed state. The door, like the main body, may include an insulation to insulate the storage compartment in a closed state.