Thermoelectric ice maker with plastic bag mold

An ice making apparatus comprising:

• mold means for holding a plurality of bodies of liquid water each in the shape of an ice cube, said mold means comprising a bag of flexible thin-film plastic material having opposing walls forming a plurality of ice molding compartments each interconnected to at least one other compartment by a water passageway, said bag having an inlet means for introducing water into at least one of said interconnected compartments, closure means for closing said inlet means so as to seal water within said compartments, and at least one row comprising a plurality of compartments extending in a length direction of said bag;
• a cooling member of heat conductive material for contacting said bag and conducting heat away from water within said bag compartments, said cooling member having an elongated cooling surface for contacting said bag in an elongated freezing chamber so that the length direction of said bag corresponds to the elongated direction of said cooling surface, and said cooling surface being slanted transversely at an acute angle relative to the horizontal and a width direction of said bag being at a corresponding acute angle relative to the horizontal;
• means for cooling said cooling member so as to freeze at least a portion of said bodies of liquid water and form ice in said bag compartments, said cooling means including a heat exchange assembly for transferring heat from said cooling member to a heat exchange medium, said heat exchange assembly having a heat exchange surface slanted at an acute angle relative to the horizontal to cause natural convection flow of said heat exchange medium past said heat exchange assembly;
• an insulated housing extending around at least a portion of said cooling member and cooperating with said cooling member to define said elongated freezing chamber for said bag;
• and,
• support means for supporting said cooling member and said insulated housing on a support member, said slant of said cooling surface and said slant of said heat exchange surface providing a horizontal projection of said housing that is substantially less than if said surfaces were disposed horizontally, and said support means including means for supplying natural convection flow of said heat exchange medium to said slanted heat exchange surface of said heat exchange assembly.