Refrigerator

This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2024-0079179, filed on Jun. 18, 2024. The disclosure of the prior application is incorporated by reference in its entirety.

The present disclosure relates to a refrigerator.

In general, a refrigerator is a home appliance that can store food at low temperatures in an internal storage space that is shielded by a door. In addition, a refrigerator can cool the storage space with cold air generated by using a refrigeration cycle, thereby storing the stored food in a refrigerated or frozen state.

Refrigerators like this are trending toward being larger and more luxurious, and are equipped with various devices to improve convenience. For example, refrigerators can be equipped with ice makers that automatically make and store ice.

Also, the ice made in an ice maker can have various shapes, and recently, ice makers that make spherical ice are being developed.

However, in the case of ice makers that make a large number of spherical ice cubes, there is a problem that the tray structure is complex and the volume thereof is large, and if it is made smaller, there is a problem that the amount of the heat for ice separation is not evenly distributed, resulting in a deterioration in the quality of ice making.

An object of an embodiment of the present disclosure is to provide a refrigerator in which a heater for ice separation is easily arranged in a compact ice tray for making spherical ice.

An object of an embodiment of the present disclosure is to provide a refrigerator capable of supplying a uniform amount of heat to a plurality of spherical cells during ice separation.

An object of an embodiment of the present disclosure is to provide a refrigerator that reduces surface melting deviation of spherical ice which is separated.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a refrigerator includes a cabinet forming a storage space; a door opening and closing the storage space; and an ice maker making ice, in which the ice maker may include a first tray formed of a metal material and having a plurality of first tray cells continuously formed; a second tray having a plurality of second tray cells formed to open and close the first tray and to form cells for making ice by contacting the first tray cells; and a heater arranged to pass through a perimeter of the plurality of first tray cells, and the length of the heater passing through the first tray cells located at both ends of the first tray among the plurality of first tray cells may be longer than the length of the heater passing through the first tray cells located at the center thereof, and the amount of heat provided to each of the first tray cells may be uniform.

A heater groove may be formed in the first tray, which extends along the perimeter of a plurality of the first tray cells and in which the heater is accommodated, and a further recessed spacing part may be formed in the heater groove arranged in some of the first tray cells among the plurality of the first tray cells so as to partially space apart between the heater and the inner surface of the heater groove.

The heater grooves arranged in each of the plurality of first tray cells may be formed differently from each other, and the spacing part may be formed in some of the heater grooves arranged in the plurality of first tray cells, the length of which is relatively long.

The spacing part may be formed long in proportion to the length of the heater groove.

The spacing part may be formed with a width that is large in proportion to the length of the heater groove.

The spacing part may extend along the heater groove and may be partially formed within the heater groove.

The spacing part may be formed in the heater groove arranged in the first tray cell on both ends of the plurality of first tray cells.

A plurality of the first tray cells may be formed continuously in a left and right direction and arranged in a plurality of rows in a front and rear direction.

A coupling part may be formed in which a water supply part to which water is supplied is connected to one of the plurality of first tray cells, the heater groove may be formed by bypassing the coupling part, and the spacing part may be formed in the heater groove.

All the contact areas between the heater grooves and the heaters arranged in the plurality of first tray cells may be the same.

The spacing part may be formed in a heater groove in which an angle from the center of the first tray cell to both ends of the heater groove is 180° or more.

The width of the heater groove may be formed to a size corresponding to the diameter of the heater, the spacing part may be further recessed downward from the bottom of the heater groove, and the width of the spacing part may be formed to be smaller than the diameter of the heater.

The spacing part may be recessed into both sides facing each other of the heater groove.

The heater may be arranged to pass through each of the plurality of first tray cells in succession.

The distance from the center of the plurality of first tray cells to the heater passing through the first tray cells may be spaced in proportion to the length of the heater passing through the first tray cells.

Based on the center of the first tray, the spacing distance of the heater passing through the first tray cells arranged on both ends thereof may be greater than the distance of the heaters passing through the first tray cells arranged at the center of the first tray.

Based on the center of the first tray, all the spacing distances of the heaters passing through the first tray cells arranged between the first tray cells arranged on both ends thereof may be the same.

The ice maker may be provided on the rear surface of the door.

The door may include an ice making chamber, which is an insulated space to which cold air from the evaporator is supplied, and the ice maker may be provided inside the ice making chamber.

A dispenser may be provided on the door from which ice made in the ice maker is extracted.

According to another aspect, a refrigerator includes a cabinet forming a storage space; a door opening and closing the storage space; and an ice maker making ice, in which the ice maker may include a first tray formed of a metal material and having a plurality of first tray cells continuously formed; a second tray having a plurality of second tray cells formed to open and close the first tray and to form cells for making ice by contacting the first tray cells; and a heater heating the first tray for ice separation, and the first tray may have a heater groove formed therein that extends past the plurality of first tray cells and is recessed to accommodate the heater, and a further recessed spacing part may be formed in the heater groove to partially space apart between the heater and the inner surface of the heater groove.

The following effects can be expected from the refrigerator according to the proposed embodiment.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the following effects can be expected from a refrigerator according to the proposed embodiment.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a heater is arranged so as to pass around the perimeter of a first tray cell of a compactly configured first tray so as to provide a uniform amount of heat to the entire first tray cell.

Therefore, there is an advantage in that the compact structure of the ice maker can be maintained since no additional space is required for heater placement in the first tray.

In addition, even when the lengths of the heaters passing through the plurality of first tray cells are different, there is an advantage in that a uniform amount of heat can be supplied to each first tray cell by making the contact area between the heaters and the heater grooves the same through the spacing grooves formed inside the heater grooves.

In other words, there is an advantage in that the spatial arrangement of the heater groove for the arrangement of the heater is optimized while supplying a uniform amount of heat to the first tray cells, thereby enabling effective ice separation.

In addition, there is an advantage in that even when ice is separated inside a plurality of first tray cells, the ice in some of the first tray cells can be prevented from melting excessively.

In addition, it can prevent the ice surface from melting excessively and the ice that has separated to the ice bank from clumping together and freezing.

In addition, even if the length of the heaters passing through the first tray cells arranged on both sides among a plurality of first tray cells is formed longer, there is an advantage in that the amount of heat transferred to the entire first tray cells can be made uniform by spacing the distance from the center of the first tray cell to the heater in proportion to the length of the heater.

Also, in describing components of embodiments of the present disclosure, terms such as first, second, A, B, (a), (b), or the like may be used. These terms are only intended to distinguish the components from other components, and the nature, order, or sequence of the components is not limited by the terms. When it is described that a component is “connected,” “coupled,” or “accessed” to another component, it should be understood that the component may be directly connected or accessed to the other component, but another component may also be “connected,” “coupled,” or “accessed” between each component.

Before explanation, the direction is defined. In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the direction in which the front surface of the door as illustrated infaces may be defined as a front direction, the direction toward the cabinet based on the front surface of the door may be defined as a rear direction, the direction toward the floor surface on which the refrigerator is installed may be defined as a lower direction, and the direction away from the floor surface may be defined as an upper direction. In addition, the direction toward the center of the door or cabinet may be defined as inward, and the direction away from the center may be defined as outward.

is a perspective view illustrating a refrigerator according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure, andis a perspective view illustrating a state where the door of the refrigerator is open.

As illustrated, a refrigeratoraccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure may include a cabinetforming a storage space and a doorfor opening and closing the storage space.

The cabinetcan be divided into storage spaces vertically. The storage spaces can include a refrigerating compartmentand a freezing compartmentarranged vertically. For example, the freezing compartmentcan be a first storage compartment, and the freezing compartmentcan be a second storage compartment. In addition, an evaporator for cooling the refrigerating compartmentand the freezing compartmentcan be arranged in the freezing compartment.

The doormay include a refrigerating compartment doorfor opening and closing the refrigerating compartmentand a freezing compartment doorfor opening and closing the freezing compartment. For example, the refrigerating compartment doormay be a first door and the freezing compartment doormay be a second door.

The refrigerating compartment dooris connected to the cabinetby a hinge, and can open and close the refrigerating compartmentby rotating. In addition, the refrigerating compartment doorscan be arranged in pairs on the left and right sides, and the refrigerating compartmentcan be opened and closed by the pair of refrigerating compartment doors. In addition, the freezing compartment doorcan be pulled in and out in a drawer-like manner to open and close the freezing compartment. Of course, the freezing compartment doorcan also be configured as a pair of doors that rotate on the left and right sides like the refrigerating compartment door.

Meanwhile, an ice making chambermay be formed in one of the refrigerating compartment doors. In addition, a dispenserfor extracting water or ice may be provided on the front surface of the refrigerating compartment doorequipped with the ice making chamber.

The ice making chamberis an insulated space and can be opened and closed by the ice making chamber door. In addition, cold air from the evaporator can be supplied to the inside of the ice making chamber. To this end, a duct in which a flow path for supplying cold air is formed can be provided inside the cabinet, and cold air can be supplied to the ice making chamberby communicating with the ice making chamberwhen the refrigerating compartment dooris closed.

In detail, a duct outletand a duct inletcan be opened on one side of the inside of the refrigerating compartment. Then, when the refrigerating compartment dooris closed, the duct outletand the duct inletcan communicate with the cold air inletand the cold air outletof the ice making chamber.

The flow path of the cold air supplied to the ice making chamberis not limited to the above-described example and may be provided in various ways. For example, the evaporatormay be further provided in the refrigerating compartment, and a flow path for supplying the cold air of the evaporator placed in the refrigerating compartmentto the ice making chambermay also be configured. In addition, a separate evaporatormay be provided for cooling the ice making chamberas needed, and thus it may also be possible to cool the ice making chamber.