Refrigerator with compact icemaker
AssigneeWhirlpool Corporation
InventorsRonald L. Voglewede, Jerry M. Visin, Douglas D. LeClear
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A refrigerator/freezer with an ice maker having an ice cube tray in which are formed multiple ice cube recesses. The ice cube tray is movable between a fill position and a harvest position. The ice cube tray has a composite construction comprising a base layer and a top layer, with the base layer being made of a flexible material and the top layer being made of a low friction material. The ice cubes are harvested by deflecting or deforming the ice cube recesses to expel the ice cube therefrom when the tray is moved into the harvest position.
Claims27
An automatic ice maker, comprising:
- a housing;
- an ice cube tray moveably mounted to the housing for movement between a fill and a harvest position and defining multiple ice cube recesses having open tops and closed bottoms—for receiving and holding water to form an ice cube therein, and each ice cube recess having an upper and lower surface;
- each ice cube recess having a flexible portion made from a resilient material to permit the flexing of the flexible portion to aid in the removal of an ice cube formed therein;
- a low friction coating applied to the upper surface of each ice cube recess;
- and
- a harvest mechanism moving the ice cube tray from the fill to the harvest position and deforming the resilient portion of each ice cube recess as the ice cube tray is moved from the fill position to the harvest position to aid in removing the ice cube in the ice cube recess.
An automatic ice maker for a household freezer, comprising:
- a housing for mounting to the interior of a household freezer;
- a composite ice cube tray having multiple ice cube recesses having open tops and closed bottoms and comprising a resilient base and a low friction coating applied to the base, with the low friction coating forming the upper surface of the ice cube recesses;
- and
- a harvest mechanism moveably supporting the composite ice cube tray for movement between a fill position where liquid can be introduced into the ice cube recesses to make ice cubes and a harvest position where the closed bottoms are deformed to aid in removal of ice cubes in the ice cube recesses.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.