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US 10,309,707 B2Granted
Hybrid twist tray ice maker
AssigneeWhirlpool Corporation
InventorsJerry M. Visin, Lindsey Wohlgamuth
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An ice maker includes a harvest motor and an ice tray operably coupled to the harvest motor. The ice tray has a plurality of heat sinks coupled to a bottom section of ice forming cavities on the ice tray. The harvest motor is operable to twist the ice tray for causing the plurality of heat sinks to move relative to each other for releasing ice pieces from the ice forming cavities.
Claims18
An ice tray comprising:
- a flexible structure defining side walls of one or more ice forming cavities;
- and
- a heat sink having an upper portion defining a bottom surface of the one or more ice forming cavities, and an upward protruding flange extending from the bottom surface of the one or more ice forming cavities, and wherein the flexible structure is molded around the upwardly protruding flange.
An ice maker, comprising:
- a harvest motor;
- and
- an ice tray operably coupled to the harvest motor, the ice tray having a flexible structure and a plurality of heat sinks coupled to the flexible structure, wherein the heat sinks are disposed at bottom portions of ice forming cavities of the ice tray;
- wherein portions of the flexible structure are molded over portions of the heat sinks to form seals;
- wherein the harvest motor is selectively operable to twist the ice tray about a rotational axis so that the flexible structure flexes and the plurality of heat sinks move relative to each other to release ice pieces from the ice forming cavities.
2 more elements
A method of forming an ice tray comprising:
- providing a plurality of heat sinks each having an upper portion and a lower portion;
- molding a flexible structure over a peripheral edge of the upper portion of each of the plurality of heat sinks to define ice forming cavities;
- wherein a seal is formed between the peripheral edge and the flexible structure to contain water in the ice forming cavities.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.