On-door ice maker cooling
AssigneeWhirlpool Corporation
InventorsPATRICK J. BOARMAN, GREGORY GENE HORTIN, MARK E. THOMAS
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A refrigerator includes a refrigerator cabinet, a refrigerator compartment disposed within the refrigerator cabinet, a refrigerator compartment door for providing access to the refrigerator compartment, an ice maker on the refrigerator compartment door, a thermoelectric cooler associated with the ice maker and operatively connected to the refrigerator compartment door, the thermoelectric cooler having a first side and an opposite second side, and a cooling loop operatively connected to the refrigerator compartment door and configured for cooling the thermoelectric cooler.
Claims20
A refrigerator comprising:
- a refrigerator cabinet;
- a refrigerator compartment disposed within the refrigerator cabinet;
- a refrigerator compartment door for providing access to the refrigerator compartment;
- an ice maker on the refrigerator compartment door;
- a thermoelectric cooler associated with the ice maker and operatively connected to the refrigerator compartment door, the thermoelectric cooler having a first side and an opposite second side;
- a cooling loop operatively connected to the refrigerator compartment door and configured for cooling the thermoelectric cooler.
A method of making ice on a door of a refrigerator, the method comprising:
- providing a refrigerator comprising (a) a refrigerator cabinet, (b) a refrigerator compartment disposed within the refrigerator cabinet, (c) a refrigerator compartment door for providing access to the refrigerator compartment, (d) an ice maker on the refrigerator compartment door, (e) a thermoelectric cooler associated with the ice maker and operatively connected to the refrigerator compartment door, the thermoelectric cooler having a first side and an opposite second side, and (f) a cooling loop operatively connected to the refrigerator compartment door;
- cooling a surface associated with the ice maker using the first side of the thermoelectric cooler;
- circulating cooling media through the cooling loop to cool the second side of the thermoelectric cooler.
A refrigerator comprising:
- a refrigerator cabinet;
- a refrigerator compartment disposed within the refrigerator cabinet;
- a refrigerator compartment door for providing access to the refrigerator compartment;
- an ice maker on the refrigerator compartment door;
- a fluid cooled thermoelectric cooler associated with the ice maker and operatively connected to the refrigerator compartment door.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.