Systems, methods, and appliances that enable regional control of refrigeration appliances

A refrigeration appliance configured to connect to a remote asset management server which interacts with a plurality of refrigeration appliances in a geographic area, the refrigeration appliance comprising:

• a local controller configured for selectively controlling the refrigeration appliance;
• a GPS receiver connected to the local controller for providing a GPS location signal to the local controller from which a geographic location of the refrigeration appliance can be determined;
• a network interface configured to provide communication between the local controller and the remote asset management server;
• wherein the local controller is configured to send information about the GPS location signal to the remote asset management server via the network interface;
• and
• wherein the local controller is configured receive, from the remote asset management server, via the network interface, a change control parameter command, based on said information about the GPS location signal, sent to refrigeration appliances in a specified region of the geographic area,
• wherein in response to receiving the change control parameter command, the local controller is configured to change a control parameter by which the local controller controls the refrigeration appliance.

An ice maker comprising:

• a freeze plate;
• a refrigeration system configured to cool the freeze plate;
• a sump configured to hold water;
• a water system configured to impart water into the sump, purge water from the sump, and distribute water from the sump onto the freeze plate such that ice forms on the freeze plate and unfrozen water flows off of the freeze plate back into the sump;
• and
• a controller configured to control the water system for conducting consecutive ice batch production cycles for making consecutive batches of ice;
• wherein the controller is configured to selectively operate the ice maker in a normal operating mode and a secondary operating mode, and
• wherein the secondary operating mode is selected from the group of secondary operating modes consisting of:
• a safe operating mode in which the controller directs the water system to purge more water from the sump than in the normal mode;
• and
• a high efficiency operating mode in which the controller is configured to at least one of (i) operate a compressor of the refrigeration system at a lower speed than in the normal operating mode, (ii) operate a fan of the refrigeration system at a lower speed than in the normal operating mode, (iii) operate a pump motor of the water system at a lower speed than in the normal operating mode, or (iv) purge less water from the sump than in the normal operating mode.

An asset management server for managing a plurality of refrigeration appliances distributed throughout a geographic area, the asset management server comprising:

• a processor;
• a memory storing processor-executable instructions;
• the processor being configured to execute the processor-executable instructions to:
• establish a connection to each refrigeration appliance on a client-server network;
• identify that an event has occurred in a specified region of the geographic area;
• determine a subset of the plurality of refrigeration appliances located within the specified region of the geographic area;
• and
• send a change control parameter command to each of the subset of refrigeration appliances over the client-server network, the change control parameter command being configured to cause a local controller of each of the subset of refrigeration appliances to change a control parameter for the respective refrigeration appliance.

An asset management server for managing a plurality of refrigeration appliances distributed throughout a geographic area, the asset management server comprising:

• a processor;
• a memory storing processor-executable instructions;
• the processor being configured to execute the processor-executable instructions to:
• establish a connection between each refrigeration appliance and a remote asset management server on a client-server network;
• store in the memory a location of each of the refrigeration appliances in the geographic area;
• receive at the asset management server operating data from the plurality of refrigeration appliances;
• and
• evaluate the operating data from each of the plurality of refrigeration appliances within the geographic area to determine whether a localized event has occurred in a region of the geographic area.