Back to results
US 5,400,605 AGranted
Ice maker control method
AssigneeSamsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
InventorSung-Ki Jeong
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Loading patent…
Loading patent…
AssigneeSamsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
InventorSung-Ki Jeong
Estimating the term…
Ice pieces are discharged from an ice-making container into a tray disposed therebeneath by the procedure of inverting the container and twisting it in an initial direction of rotation to discharge most of the ice pieces into a first region of the tray, and then twisting the tray in a direction opposite the first direction to discharge residual ice pieces into the tray. The initial direction of twisting occurring during each such procedure is opposite the initial direction of twisting performed during a prior procedure, so that the majority of ice pieces discharged during each procedure falls into a different region of the tray than during a prior procedure. This results in a more uniform distribution of ice pieces in the tray. Instead of twisting the container in two directions during each procedure, it could be twisted in only one direction.
In a method of accumulating ice pieces in a storage tray by repeatedly performing the procedure of converting water into ice pieces in a container and then actuating a container-twisting mechanism for inverting and twisting the container to discharge at least most of the ice pieces into the storage tray, the improvement wherein during each said procedure said container is positioned so that the relative orientation between said container and storage tray when at least most of the ice pieces are discharged is different from said relative orientation occurring during a prior procedure, so that the ice pieces are distributed generally uniformly throughout the storage tray.
In a method of discharging ice pieces from a container to a storage tray disposed therebeneath by actuating a container-twisting mechanism for performing a two-step twisting sequence comprising initially twisting the container in an initial direction while the container is inverted above the storage tray to discharge at least most of the ice pieces toward a first region of the storage tray, and subsequently twisting the container in a direction opposite the initial direction while the container is inverted above the storage tray to discharge residual ice pieces toward a second region of the storage tray, the improvement wherein prior to each actuation of the container-twisting mechanism, a control mechanism connected thereto determines a prior initial direction of twisting performed during a prior two-step twisting sequence and directs the container-twisting mechanism to perform the initial twisting in a direction opposite the prior initial direction, so that ice pieces are generally uniformly distributed in the first and second regions of the storage tray.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.