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US 7,770,408 B2Granted
Ice supplier
AssigneeLG Electronics Inc.
InventorsYong Su Kim, Seong Jae Kim, Nam Gi Lee
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An ice supplier includes a case configured to store ice from an ice maker. The case includes an outlet and a transfer unit configured to transfer ice pieces in the case to the outlet. A sensor is configured to sense ice pieces passing through the outlet and a controller is configured to control the transfer unit according to input from the sensor.
Claims25
An appliance comprising:
- a dispenser including an ice dispensing chute;
- an ice storage bin configured to store ice pieces, the ice storage bin including an opening configured to communicate with the ice dispensing chute, and an ice flow path extending at least partially from the ice storage bin to an outlet of the dispenser;
- a transfer mechanism configured to transfer ice pieces from the ice storage bin along the ice flow path;
- an input device configured to receive user input indicating a desired discharge volume of ice per unit time, wherein the user input indicating the desired discharge volume of ice per unit time is a selection of one of a slow volume of ice per unit time and a fast volume of ice per unit time;
- a sensor configured to sense ice pieces passing along the ice flow path;
- and
- a controller configured to:
- determine a volume of ice per unit time passing along the ice flow path based on input from the sensor, and
- control the transfer mechanism based on the determined volume of ice per unit time.
6 more elements
An appliance comprising:
- a dispenser including an ice dispensing chute;
- an ice storage bin configured to store ice pieces, the ice storage bin including an opening configured to communicate with the ice dispensing chute, and an ice flow path extending at least partially from the ice storage bin to an outlet of the dispenser;
- a transfer mechanism configured to transfer ice pieces from the ice storage bin along the ice flow path;
- an input device configured to receive user input indicating a desired discharge volume of ice per unit time;
- a sensor configured to sense ice pieces passing along the ice flow path;
- and
- a controller configured to:
- determine a volume of ice per unit time passing along the ice flow path based on input from the sensor,
- compare the determined volume of ice per unit time to the desired volume of ice per unit time,
- increase a transfer speed of the transfer mechanism conditioned on the determined volume of ice per unit time being less than the desired discharge volume of ice per unit time,
- decrease a transfer speed of the transfer mechanism conditioned on the determined volume of ice per unit time being greater than the desired discharge volume of ice per unit time, and
- control a transfer speed of the transfer mechanism to adjust the volume of ice per unit time passing along the ice flow path such that a difference between the determined volume of ice per unit time and the desired discharge volume of ice per unit time is less than a threshold amount.
9 more elements
An appliance comprising:
- an ice maker configured to make ice pieces;
- an ice storage bin configured to store ice pieces made by the ice maker;
- a dispenser configured to dispense ice pieces stored by the ice storage bin through an outlet;
- an ice dispensing chute that extends at least partially between the ice storage bin and the outlet of the dispenser and that defines at least a portion of an ice flow path for ice pieces being dispensed by the dispenser;
- a transfer mechanism configured to transfer ice pieces stored by the ice storage bin along the ice flow path;
- an input device configured to receive user input indicating a desired discharge volume of ice per unit time of ice pieces;
- at least one sensor configured to sense ice pieces passing along the ice flow path;
- and
- at least one controller configured to:
- determine a volume of ice per unit time of ice pieces passing along the ice flow path based on input from the at least one sensor, and
- control the transfer mechanism to cause a difference between the determined volume of ice per unit time of ice pieces passing along the ice flow path and the desired discharge volume of ice per unit time to be within a threshold amount.
8 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.