Utility routing for a door-mounted icemaker

#Field of the Invention

#This disclosure relates to utility routing for a door-mounted icemaker. More specifically, but not exclusively, the present disclosure relates to non-door hinge related utility routing concepts for unmounting and remounting of door-mounted icemakers.

#Description of Prior Art

#Illustrated embodiments of the disclosure are described in detail below with reference to the attached drawing figures, which are incorporated by reference herein and wherein:

#FIG. 1A is a pictorial representation of a utility routing configuration in accordance with an illustrative embodiment;

#FIG. 1B is a pictorial representation of an icemaker cooling loop in accordance with an illustrative embodiment;

#The following description is merely exemplary in nature and is not intended to limit the disclosure, application, or uses. The embodiments, aspects, and concepts are directed to utility routing from a cabinet to a cabinet door, and specifically an operational component on the cabinet door, including but not limited to, an icemaker, a water chiller, a water dispenser, an ice dispenser, an ice bin, and/or other compartment, operational component or like feature.

#The advent of configuring operational components into a cabinet door or on the face of the cabinet door requires routing utilities from the cabinet to the cabinet door in most instances. Typically, utilities are routed from the cabinet to the cabinet door through a hinge connecting a cabinet door to the cabinet body. With the increasing number of operational components being located on a cabinet door, the amount of space available in the hinge for routing utilities continues to decrease. Therefore, other avenues for routing utilities from a compartment to a door on the compartment are needed. Additionally, cabinet doors are often removed from the cabinet body for moving, positioning, or relocating the cabinet due to restrictions within a space in which the cabinet is located, positioned or a new space in which the cabinet is relocated. Regardless, in the case where the cabinet door is removed from the cabinet, consideration must be given to how the utilities routed from the cabinet body to the cabinet are disconnected and reconnected upon removal and reattachment of the cabinet door to the cabinet. Depending upon the type of utility being routed from the cabinet to the cabinet door, disconnecting may not be an option or may be a highly discouraged operation. For example, in the case where the utilities conveyed from the cabinet body to the cabinet door are enclosed in a closed-loop system, breach of the loop by disconnecting and reconnecting is highly troublesome at the least and in most instances highly discouraged or prohibited. In the case where cooling liquid is carried in a closed-loop utility routing between a cabinet and cabinet door, disconnecting the closed-loop cooling system and reconnecting the system upon detachment and reattachment of the cabinet door is certainly an operation a consumer would not want to undertake and an expense that a consumer would not want to have to bear to have a professional perform this operation.

#In view of the foregoing, it is a primary feature, object, or advantage of the disclosure to provide a system for routing utilities from a cabinet to a cabinet door that accounts for, addresses and overcomes many of the problems addressed above.