In a refrigeration appliance such as a refrigerator or freezer, several systems have been proposed for cooling of an ice maker within the refrigerator or freezer cabinet. In some systems, the ambient air within a freezer is chilled to a temperature low enough to form the ice. In other systems, known as directly cooled systems, a cooling loop for the ice maker is added to typical the refrigeration loop. The ice maker cooling loop can be routed through the mold body of the ice maker, thereby directly cooling the ice maker to increase the rate at which ice can be formed in the ice maker.
Often, a heating device of some sort is provided to help remove ice cubes from the mold compartments in which they are formed. An electrical strip heater can be used beneath the mold for example to heat the mold generally, thereby slightly melting the ice cubes and allowing them to be removed by arms of a harvester. In some devices, warm refrigerant can also be passed through the ice maker mold when ice cubes are ready for harvest to melt the cubes slightly.
However, applying enough heat to fully melt the surface of an ice cube to allow it to be removed from the mold compartment requires a given amount of energy for the heating. Heating ice cubes causing such melting is in some ways inherently inefficient (energy needed to freeze; then more energy needed to melt). Also, regardless of energy issues, slightly melted ice cubes may refreeze in undesirable ways in the cold environment, for example sticking to the ice maker or ice cube bucket, or to each other in the ice maker or ice cube bucket causing clogs. Accordingly, an alternate system of removing ice cubes from compartments in the ice cube mold, addressing one or more of the above issues or others would be welcome.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds