REFRIGERATOR

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a refrigerator.

BACKGROUND

With the continuous development of science and technology and the continuous improvement of people's living standards, in order to meet people's higher and higher requirements for living quality, the function of household appliances also keeps increasing, such as adding an ice maker to a refrigerator and so on. The ice maker comprises an ice making device and an ice crushing device. After ice cubes are prepared by the ice making device, the ice cubes are stored in a barrel-shaped container so that users can access them. Meanwhile, those skilled in the art set the ice discharging forms of the refrigerator as the mode of crushed ice and the mode of ice cubes for convenient use. In the mode of crushed ice, users access the crushed ice cubes; while in the mode of ice cubes, users access the complete ice cubes. However, after the ice cubes are stored in the barrel-shaped container, the ice cubes in contact with each other for a long time prone to freeze together, and even all the ice cubes in the whole barrel-shaped container may freeze together. In order to solve this problem, those skilled in the art adopt setting a stirring structure in the barrel-shaped container so as to make the ice cubes move within the barrel-shaped container, thus solving the problem that the ice cubes in contact with each other for a long time freeze together.

SUMMARY

A refrigerator is provided, and the refrigerator includes a refrigerator door and an ice maker. The ice maker is disposed on the refrigerator door. The ice maker includes a driving device and an ice crushing device. The ice crushing device includes a stirrer and a transmission assembly. The stirrer includes a rotary shaft. The transmission assembly includes a first cylindrical gear, a first intermediate shaft, a second cylindrical gear, a second intermediate shaft, a third cylindrical gear, a first bevel gear and a second bevel gear. The second cylindrical gear is fixedly disposed on the first intermediate shaft and is matched with the first cylindrical gear. The third cylindrical gear is fixedly disposed on the second intermediate shaft and is matched with the second cylindrical gear. The first bevel gear is fixedly disposed on the second intermediate shaft. The second bevel gear is fixedly disposed on the rotary shaft of the stirrer and is matched with the first bevel gear. Any one of the first cylindrical gear, the second cylindrical gear, the third cylindrical gear, and the first bevel gear is defined as a driving gear. The driving gear is connected to the driving device and is configured as an incomplete gear. The driving gear is configured to rotate due to driving of the driving device, so as to drive the rotary shaft of the stirrer to rotate intermittently.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order to describe technical solutions in the embodiments of the present disclosure or in the prior art more clearly, the accompanying drawings to be used for describing the embodiments or the prior art will be introduced briefly. Obviously, the accompanying drawings to be described below are merely some embodiments of the present disclosure, and an ordinary person skilled in the art can obtain other drawings according to those drawings without paying any creative effort.

FIG. 1a is a schematic structure diagram of an ice crushing device of an ice maker provided in the prior art;

FIG. 1b is a schematic structure diagram of a driven gear in FIG. 1a when it rotates clockwise;

FIG. 1c is a schematic structure diagram of a driven gear in FIG. 1a when it rotates anticlockwise;

FIG. 2 is a dimensional schematic structure diagram of an ice crushing device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a main view of schematic diagram of an ice crushing device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a left view of schematic diagram of an ice crushing device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a top view of schematic diagram of an ice crushing device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a main view of schematic diagram of an ice crushing device with an ice cube separation structure according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 is a dimensional schematic structure diagram of an ice knife assembly of an ice crushing device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 is a top view of schematic diagram of a fixed ice knife in an ice knife assembly of an ice crushing device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 9 is a dimensional schematic structure diagram in which a fixed ice knife in the ice knife assembly and an ice cube separation structure in the ice crushing device are integrally formed according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 10 is a dimensional schematic structure diagram in which a fixed ice knife and an ice cube separation structure in the ice crushing device are integrally formed in use state according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram in which an ice cube separation structure in an ice crushing device separates frozen ice cubes according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 12 is an analysis diagram of forces on the frozen ice cubes when an ice cube separation structure in an ice crushing device separates frozen ice cubes according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 13 is a schematic structure diagram of a refrigerator, an inner wall of the refrigerator door thereof is provided with an ice crushing device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 14 is a perspective view of a stirrer of a refrigerator according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 15 is a structural diagram of a transmission assembly and a stirrer of a refrigerator, in a case where a first cylindrical gear and a second cylindrical gear are in a first state according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 16 is a structural diagram of a transmission component and a stirrer of a refrigerator, in a case where a first cylindrical gear and a second cylindrical gear are in a second state according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 17 is a structural diagram of another transmission component of a refrigerator according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 18 is a perspective view of another transmission component, an ice knife assembly, and a stirrer of a refrigerator according to one embodiment of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 19 is a structural diagram of an ice crushing device of a refrigerator according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present disclosure will be described below clearly and completely with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present disclosure. Obviously, the embodiments to be described are merely some but not all of embodiments of the present disclosure. Based on the embodiments of the present disclosure, all other embodiments obtained by an ordinary person skilled in the art without paying any creative effort fall within the protection scope of the present disclosure.

In the description of the present disclosure, it should be understood that orientation or location relationships indicated by terms “up”, “down”, “left”, “right”, “vertical”, “horizontal”, “inside”, “outside” and the like are the orientation or location relationships based on the accompanying drawings, provided just for ease of describing the present disclosure and simplifying the description. They are not intended to indicate or imply that the stated devices or elements must have the specific orientation and be constructed and operated in the specific orientation. Hence, they shall not be understood as any limitation to the present disclosure.

Terms “first” and “second” are simply used for description, and shall not be understood to indicate or imply relative importance or to imply the amount of the stated technical features. Therefore, features defined with “first” and “second” can explicitly or impliedly include one or more such features.

For a refrigerator with ice making and ice crushing functions, these functions are usually achieved by adding an ice maker to the refrigerator. The ice maker may be provided on a refrigerator door of the refrigerator, or the ice maker may also be provided inside the refrigerator such as in a freezing chamber of the refrigerator. The embodiments of the present disclosure do not give limitations on the provided position of the ice maker.

Exemplarily, with reference to FIG. 13, a refrigerator door 100 of the refrigerator may be provided with an ice maker, which may comprise an ice making device and an ice crushing device 200. The ice making device conveys the prepared ice cubes into an ice storage container of the ice crushing device 200. When users need to access complete ice cubes, the ice cubes in the ice storage container are discharged, or when users need to access crushed ice cubes, the ice cubes in the ice storage container are discharged after being crushed.

The ice making device conveys the ice cubes into the ice storage container 5 after finishing the preparation of the ice cubes. A rotatable stirrer 1 and a rotatable ice knife assembly 2 are provided in the ice storage container 5. The stirrer 1 and the ice knife assembly 2 drive the ice cubes within the ice storage container 5 to move by rotating themselves, and discharge complete ice cubes or crushed ice cubes after crushing the ice cubes in accordance with the actual needs of users.

Exemplarily, FIG. 1a shows an ice making device in the prior art CN201210285480.1, including a driving gear 01, a driven gear 02, an ice stirrer 03 with a wheeled main body, an ice stirring bar 031 provided on the ice stirrer 03. The driving gear 01 is meshed with the driven gear 02. The driving gear 01 is coaxially sleeved with a plurality of ice crushing blades 04 used for cutting the ice cubes. Ice crushing blades 04 are spaced by a certain distance respectively. The driven gear 02 is a hollow ring structure so that the ice stirrer 03 is coaxially sleeved with the driven gear 02, and that a circle of gap forms between the outer peripheral surface of the ice stirrer 03 and the inner ring surface of the driven gear 02 as shown in FIG. 1a, FIG. 1b and FIG. 1c. Two fan-shaped eccentric wedges 032 are symmetrically provided on the ice stirrer 03.

As shown in FIG. 1a, when the driving gear 01 rotates anticlockwise, it drives the driven gear 02 to rotate clockwise. As shown in FIG. 1b, friction force is produced between the two fan-shaped eccentric wedges 032 and the driven gear 02, driving the ice stirrer 03 to operate. At this time, the ice crushing device is in the mode of crushed ice, the ice crushing blades 04 cut the ice cubes into pieces, and the ice stirrer 03 stirs normally to prevent the crushed ice cubes from being stuck together, thus obtaining the crushed ice cubes as needed. When the driving gear 01 rotates clockwise, it drives the driven gear 02 to rotate anticlockwise. As shown in FIG. 1c, a gap forms between the two fan-shaped eccentric wedges 032 and the driven gear 02, making the ice stirrer 03 not to operate. At this time, the ice crushing device is in the mode of complete ice cubes, and the ice stirrer 03 stops operating, thus obtaining complete ice cubes.

In this solution, only when the driving gear 01 as shown in FIG. 1a rotates anticlockwise, larger portions of the two eccentric wedges 032 contact with the inner ring surface of the driven gear 02 to produce friction force, and the driven gear 02 then is capable of driving the ice stirrer 03 to rotate (as shown in FIG. 1b). At this time, the ice crushing blades 04, the ice stirrer 03 and the ice stirring bar 031 simultaneously produce a force in the right direction on the ice cubes as shown in FIG. 1a to make the ice cubes within the container move. When the driving gear 01 rotates clockwise, a gap forms between smaller portions of the two eccentric wedges 032 and the inner ring surface of the driven gear 02 (as shown in FIG. 1c), thus the ice stirrer 03 and the driven gear 02 are disengaged so that the driven gear 02 is incapable of driving the ice stirrer 03 to rotate and the ice stirrer 03 stops working. However, even when the ice stirrer 03 operates, all the forces that make the ice cubes move are in the same direction (the right direction as shown in FIG. 1a). Therefore, the ice cubes move towards the right direction in the container as a whole, and the relative movement between the ice cubes is not significant and the stirring effect is not obvious.

FIG. 2, FIG. 3, FIG. 4, and FIG. 5 as shown are one specific embodiment of the ice crushing device according to the embodiments of the present disclosure. The ice crushing device in this embodiment comprises an ice storage container 5, a rotatable stirrer 1 is provided in the ice storage container 5, a rotatable ice knife assembly 2 is provided below the stirrer 1, and the axis of a rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1 and the axis of a rotary shaft 21 of the ice knife assembly 2 are mutually on lines in different planes.

Thus compared with the prior art, with regard to the ice crushing device provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure, the axis of the rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1 and the axis of the rotary shaft 21 of the ice knife assembly 2 are mutually skew lines. Therefore, the line in the direction of the acting force on the ice cubes when the stirrer 1 rotates and the line in the direction of the acting force on the ice cubes when the ice knife assembly 2 rotates are mutually skew lines, that is, when the stirrer 1 stirs, disturbance may happen between the stirrer 1 and the ice knife assembly 2, capable of making the ice cubes do irregular movement within the ice storage container 5. The relative movement between the ice cubes increases, and the stirring effect of the stirrer 1 may be effectively optimized, thus it may avoid or reduce that the adjacent ice cubes contact for a long time to freeze together due to the unobvious relative movement between them.

In one embodiment, in order to make the stirring effect of the stirrer 1 better, with reference to FIG. 2, FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 as shown, the axis of the rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1 and the axis of the rotary shaft 21 of the ice knife assembly 2 are mutually perpendicular. When the axis of the rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1 and the axis of the rotary shaft 21 of the ice knife assembly 2 are mutually perpendicular, the direction of the acting force generated by the stirrer 1 and the direction of the acting force generated by the ice knife assembly 2 when the ice knife assembly 2 rotates are also mutually perpendicular. There is no component force in the same direction and the disturbance effect within the ice storage container 5 may be effectively optimized, so that the stirring effect of the stirrer may be optimized at the same time.

In one embodiment, with reference to FIG. 2, FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 as shown, the rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1 and the rotary shaft 21 of the ice knife assembly 2 are both arranged horizontally. When the rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1 and the rotary shaft 21 of the ice knife assembly 2 are both arranged horizontally, during the operation process of the ice crushing device, the force of the rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1 in the axial direction may be uniformly distributed during its rotation process, thus it may avoid the situation that some portion is subjected so excessive force that bending or fracture happens; moreover, during the accumulation process of the ice cubes in the ice storage container, both sides of the ice crushing blades of the ice knife assembly 2 are subjected to an equal force. Besides, the knife edge and knife back are not easily squeezed due to their excessively small area. During the rotation process, both sides of the ice crushing blades of the ice knife assembly 2 may only need to overcome the friction force with the ice cubes, thus making the ice crushing blades of the ice knife assembly 2 basically not to bend during the rotation process. However, if the rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1 is arranged obliquely, after the side of the rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1 close to the ice making unit is squeezed by the ice cubes, the force generated by squeezing basically cannot be uniformly distributed over the entire shaft, and the installation portion of the shaft is more likely to be bent; if the rotary shaft 21 of the ice knife assembly 2 is arranged obliquely, during the operation process of the ice crushing device, the knife faces of the ice crushing blades of the ice knife assembly 2 will be additionally squeezed by the ice cubes so that the ice crushing blades of the ice knife assembly 2 also need to overcome the pressure from the ice cubes during the rotation process, increasing the possibility of the ice crushing blades of the ice knife assembly 2 to be bent or fracted. Meanwhile, obliquely arranging the rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1 and/or the rotary shaft 21 of the ice knife assembly 2 may also increase the installation difficulty of the shaft. Therefore, horizontally arranging both the rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1 and the rotary shaft 21 of the ice knife assembly 2 may effectively protect the stirrer 1 and the ice knife assembly 2, and may decrease the installation difficulty at the same time.

The rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer crosses the ice storage container 5 to ensure that the stirrer 1 has as large a stirring space as possible and covers the entire area above the ice knife assembly 2.

In order to make the stirring effect of the stirrer 1 better, with reference to FIG. 2, FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 as shown, a plurality of stirring claws 12 may be arranged on the rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1. The plurality of stirring claws 12 may be uniformly distributed in the circumferential direction of the rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1. When the stirrer 1 is working, the plurality of stirring claws 12 arranged on the rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1 can simultaneously stretch into the ice cubes from different directions to stir, increasing the stirring range of the stirrer 1. The plurality of stirring claws 12 uniformly distributed in the circumferential direction of the rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1 may ensure that when the stirrer 1 stirs, the rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1 generates basically the same acting force on the ice cubes in the circumferential direction at every moment, thus it may ensure the stability of the stirring process and basically avoid the situation of uneven stirring.

Meanwhile, the length of the stirring claws 12 in the vertical direction should be as long as possible under the circumstances of not interfering with the ice crushing blades of the ice knife assembly 2, so that the stirring range of the stirring claws 12 covers the ice storage container space above the ice crushing blades as much as possible, thus the stirring range is wider and the stirring effect of the stirrer 1 is better.

In order to ensure the stability of the rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1 in use, with reference to FIG. 2, FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 as shown, the plurality of stirring claws 12 may be arranged apart from each other in the axial direction of the rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1, and the adjacent two stirring claws 12 may be spaced in the axial direction of the rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1 by an equal distance. The stirring claws 12 are uniformly arranged in the axial direction of the rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1 so that the portion covered by the stirrer 1 may be sufficiently and uniformly stirred in the case of using the stirring jaws 12 as few as possible during the stirring process of the stirrer 1, thus it may improve the stirring efficiency effectively while saving cost. The adjacent two stirring claws 12 are spaced in the axial direction of the rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1 by an equal distance so that when the rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1 rotates, the force suffered by the rotary shaft 11 may be uniformly distributed on the rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1 so as to may prevent the rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1 from being deformed or even fracted due to uneven force.

For example, with reference to FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 as shown, four stirring claws are uniformly arranged in the circumferential direction of the rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1, and the degree of the angle α formed by the adjacent two stirring claws 12 is 90°. α=360°/n, wherein n is the number of the stirring claws 12. Four stirring claws 12 are arranged on the rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1, so that the four stirring claws 12 can respectively stretch into the accumulated ice cubes in four circumferential directions of the rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1 during the stirring process of the stirrer 1. It may be ensured that the ice cubes in the ice storage container are sufficiently stirred in the case of arranging only four stirring claws 12, and the frozen ice cubes with relatively large volume can be separated into smaller cubes which then can be separated or broken by the ice knife assembly 2, thus it may reduce the workload of the ice knife assembly 2 and may extend the service life of the ice knife assembly 2. And the four stirring claws 12 uniformly distributed in the circumferential direction of the rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1 may ensure that when the stirrer 1 stirs, the acting force of the rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1 may be uniformly distributed on the rotary shaft in the case that the stirrer 1 operates, thus it may prevent the rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1 from being deformed or even fracted due to uneven force and may ensure the stability of the stirring process.

In another embodiment, with reference to FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 as shown, the plurality of stirring claws 12 may all extend in a direction perpendicular to the rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1. When the stirring claws 12 are arranged perpendicular to the rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1, it may be ensured that when the rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1 rotates, each portion of the stirring claws 12 may be subjected to force and basically no ice cubes will be stuck between the stirring claws 12 and the rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1, thus it may ensure the normal operation of the stirrer 1.

In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 14, the stirrer 1 further includes a stirring rod 13, and the stirring rod 13 is connected to at least one of the plurality of stirring claws 12. For example, the stirring rod 13 passes through the plurality of stirring claws 12 disposed along a length direction of the rotary shaft 11 in sequence. In this way, when the stirrer 1 rotates, the rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1 drives the stirring rod 13 to rotate, thereby expanding a contact area between the stirrer 1 and the ice cubes, and the stirring rod 13 may provide force points for the plurality of stirring claws 12, which is conducive to improving the stirring effect of the stirrer 1. For example, the stirring rod 13 may be a metal member, which is conducive to improving the endurance of the stirrer 1.

In some embodiments, the stirring rod 13 is connected to an end of the at least one stirring claw 12 away from the rotary shaft 11 (e.g., free end). For example, the plurality of stirring claws 12 are disposed along the length direction of the rotary shaft 11, and the stirring rod 13 passes through the ends of the plurality of stirring claws 12 away from the rotary shaft 11 in sequence, thereby further expanding the contact area between the stirrer 1 and the ice cubes.

In some embodiments, the plurality of stirring claws 12 are disposed at an interval along the length direction of the rotary shaft 11 and along a circumferential direction of the rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1. Two adjacent stirring claws 12 of the plurality of stirring claws 12 are spaced apart from each other by a same angle, and the stirring rod 13 is in a helical shape.

With reference to FIG. 2 as shown, the rotary shaft 21 of the ice knife assembly 2 may be connected with a driving device (not shown in the figure) for driving the rotation of the rotary shaft 21 of the ice knife assembly 2. The rotary shaft 21 of the ice knife assembly 2 is connected with the rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1 through a transmission assembly 3 in a transmission way, so as to drive the rotation of the rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1. Using the transmission assembly 3 to drive the rotation of the rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1 compared with the driving method to directly use driving devices such as motors consumes relatively less energy and the noise is lower. The transmission assembly 3 may be a turbine transmission assembly, a chain transmission assembly, a belt transmission assembly or a gear transmission assembly.

Wherein, adopting the turbine transmission assembly may achieve a higher accuracy of transmission, and the structure is compact in size. But the turbine transmission assembly has large axial force with easy heating and low transmission efficiency. Meanwhile, the turbine transmission assembly requires a better working environment and the equipment is easy to be damaged.

Adopting the chain transmission assembly has such advantages as low installation accuracy and simple transmission structure. But the chain transmission assembly has poor transmission stability, the impact and shock resistance ability of the transmission chain is weak, and it is very easy to be damaged.

With reference to FIG. 2, FIG. 3, FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 as shown, when the transmission assembly 3 is adopted with a gear transmission assembly, the transmission assembly 3 may comprise a first intermediate shaft 31 and a second intermediate shaft 32, the first intermediate shaft 31 may be transmitted with the rotary shaft 21 of the ice knife assembly 2 through a first cylindrical gear set 33, the first intermediate shaft 31 may be transmitted with the second intermediate shaft 32 through a second cylindrical gear set 34, and the second intermediate shaft 32 may be transmitted with the rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1 through a bevel gear set 35.

The first cylindrical gear set 33 may include a first cylindrical gear 331 fixedly sleeved to the rotary shaft 21 of the ice knife assembly 2 and a second cylindrical gear 332 fixedly sleeved to the first intermediate shaft 31. And the first cylindrical gear 331 and the second cylindrical gear 332 are meshed to ensure that the first intermediate shaft 31 can rotate synchronously when the rotary shaft 21 of the ice knife assembly 2 is driven by the driving device (not shown in the figure). At this time, the rotary shaft 21 of the ice knife assembly 2 and the first intermediate shaft 31 are parallel to each other.

The second cylindrical gear set 34 may include the second cylindrical gear 332 and a third cylindrical gear 341 fixedly sleeved to the second intermediate shaft 32. And the second cylindrical gear 332 and the third cylindrical gear 341 are meshed to ensure that the second intermediate shaft 32 can rotate synchronously when the first intermediate shaft 31 rotates. At this time, the first intermediate shaft 31 and the second intermediate shaft 32 are parallel to each other, that is, the rotary shaft 21 of the ice knife assembly 2, the first intermediate shaft 31 and the second intermediate shaft 32 are also parallel to each other.

The bevel gear set 35 may include a first bevel gear 351 fixedly sleeved to the second intermediate shaft 32 and a second bevel gear 352 fixedly sleeved to the rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1. And the first bevel gear 351 and the second bevel gear 352 are meshed, so that when the second intermediate shaft 32 rotates, it may drive the first bevel gear 351 fixedly sleeved thereto to rotate, thus driving the second bevel gear 352 meshed with the first bevel gear 351 to rotate, further driving the rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1 sleeved in the second bevel gear 352 to rotate, thus the stirrer 1 starts to stir. As the axis of a rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1 and the axis of a rotary shaft 21 of the ice knife assembly 2 are mutually skew lines, the rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1 fixedly passing through the second bevel gear 352, and the second intermediate shaft 32 fixedly passing through the first bevel gear 351 also have a certain angle 3. If a cylindrical gear meshing is adopted, it is impossible to realize the transmission as needed between the rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1 and the second intermediate shaft 32. But the angle of the shafts when bevel gears are meshed may meet this requirement. It only needs to calculate out each required parameter of the bevel gear according to the actual angle of the angle β in use, and select the appropriate bevel gear set 35 to carry out the transmission, further to meet the requirements of the embodiments of the present disclosure and implement the embodiments of the present disclosure. Moreover, the bevel gear itself has a long service life and may carry a larger load, which may also ensure the stable operation of the ice crushing device to a certain extent.

When the gear transmission assembly is adopted to drive the rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1, the structure of the gear transmission assembly itself is relatively simple, and the stability and the efficiency of the transmission are both relatively high, making the reliability of the transmission work also relatively high due to its relatively high stability itself. The gear itself has a relatively high hardness and the requirements of the gear transmission assembly for the installation environment are not high, which makes the service life of the gear transmission assembly relatively long correspondingly. When the rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1 is driven by the gear transmission assembly, the operation of the stirrer 1 is smoother, and the noise is lower. Moreover, the service life of the transmission assembly 3 adopted with gear transmission assembly is relatively long, and there is basically no need to frequently replace the components in the transmission assembly 3, thus it may enhance the continuous operation ability of the stirrer 1.

As can be seen from the above description, in the above embodiment, the transmission assembly 3 mainly refers to intermediate elements for interlocking the rotary shaft 21 with the rotary shaft 11. The transmission assembly 3 may include a first cylindrical gear 331 fixedly sleeved to the rotary shaft 21, a second cylindrical gear 332 meshed with the first cylindrical gear 331, a first intermediate shaft 31 used for setting the second cylindrical gear 332, a third cylindrical gear 341 meshed with the second cylindrical gear 332, a second intermediate shaft 32 used for setting the third cylindrical gear 341, a first bevel gear 351 coaxially provided with the third cylindrical gear 341, and a second bevel gear 352 meshed with the first bevel gear 351.

In the above embodiment, the driving device is connected with the rotary shaft 21 of the ice knife assembly 2; alternatively, in other embodiments, the driving device may be connected with a certain element in the transmission assembly 3, such as the first intermediate shaft 31, the second intermediate shaft 32, the first cylindrical gear 331, the second cylindrical gear 332, the third cylindrical gear 341, the first bevel gear 351 or the second bevel gear 352 in the transmission assembly 3. In conclusion, as long as the driving device is capable of driving the rotary shaft 21 of the ice knife assembly 2 and the rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1 to rotate so as to ensure the normal operation of the ice knife assembly 2 and the stirring claws 12, the embodiments of the present disclosure do not give limitation on this.

In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 15 and FIG. 16, the transmission assembly 3 is further configured to drive the rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1 to rotate intermittently due to the driving of the driving device, so that the stirrer 1 intermittently stirs the ice cubes, thereby reducing energy consumption of the refrigerator, reducing wear between the gears, and prolonging the service life of the transmission assembly 3.

For example, any one of the first cylindrical gear 331, the second cylindrical gear 332, the third cylindrical gear 341, and the first bevel gear 351 is defined as a driving gear. The driving gear is connected to the driving device, and is configured as an incomplete gear, so as to enable the rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1 to rotate intermittently.

It can be understood that, in the transmission assembly 3, the intermittent rotation of the rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1 may be implemented in a case where the driving gear is configured as the incomplete gear. Therefore, in a case where any one of the first cylindrical gear 331, the second cylindrical gear 332, the third cylindrical gear 341, and the first bevel gear 351 is configured as the incomplete gear, any one of the gear is connected to the driving device, that is, any one of the gear serves as the driving gear in the transmission assembly 3, while the remaining gears serve as driven gears.

For example, the driving gear is directly connected to the driving device. Alternatively, the driving gear is connected to the driving device through any one of the rotary shaft 21 of the ice knife assembly 2, the first intermediate shaft 31, and the second intermediate shaft 32.

It will be noted that, the term “incomplete gear” as described in some embodiments of the present disclosure refers to a gear with incomplete tooth portions. That is to say, in an incomplete gear, there are at least two adjacent tooth portions that are noncontinuous, which allow the incomplete gear and the driven gear (i.e., a gear with complete tooth portions) to switch between engaging and disengaging during the transmission process, thereby implementing intermittent rotation of the driven gear.

Hereinafter, considering an example in which the first cylindrical gear 331 is configured as an incomplete gear, and the intermittent rotation process of the rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1 driven by the transmission assembly 3 will be described in detail.

Referring to FIG. 15 and FIG. 16, the first cylindrical gear 331 serves as the driving gear. That is, the first cylindrical gear 331 is configured as an incomplete gear and rotates due to the driving of the driving device. During the rotation of the first cylindrical gear 331, the first cylindrical gear 331 and the second cylindrical gear 332 are switchable between a first state and a second state.

For example, as shown in FIG. 15, in the first state, the first cylindrical gear 331 is engaged with the second cylindrical gear 332, and the first cylindrical gear 331 rotates and drives the second cylindrical gear 332 to rotate simultaneously. As described above, when the second cylindrical gear 332 rotates, the second cylindrical gear 332 will drive the third cylindrical gear 341, the first bevel gear 351, and the second bevel gear 352 to rotate in sequence, thereby driving the rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1 to rotate and stir the ice cubes.

For example, as shown in FIG. 16, in the second state, the first cylindrical gear 331 is disengaged from the second cylindrical gear 332, that is, the first cylindrical gear 331 rotates and does not drive the second cylindrical gear 332 to rotate simultaneously. In this way, the rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1 will stop rotating, thereby implementing the intermittent rotation of the stirrer 1.

It will be noted that, the first cylindrical gear 331 rotates and drives the rotary shaft 21 of the ice knife assembly 2 to rotate in a clockwise direction (i.e., a first direction) or in a counterclockwise direction (i.e., a second direction), so as to make the ice knife assembly 2 crush or separate the ice cubes.

In some embodiments, the first cylindrical gear 331 includes a wheel portion 3312 and N tooth portions 3311, and N is a positive integer. The N tooth portions 3311 are disposed on an outer peripheral surface of the wheel portion 3312 and arranged along a circumferential direction of the wheel portion 3312. During one rotation of the first cylindrical gear 331, a number of times that the first cylindrical gear 331 and the second cylindrical gear 332 are in the first state is greater than or equal to one, and less than or equal to N.

For example, in a case where N equals to 1, during one rotation of the first cylindrical gear 331, the number of times that the first cylindrical gear 331 and the second cylindrical gear 332 are in the first state is one.

For another example, in a case where N is greater than 1, the N tooth portions 3311 are continuously arranged along the outer peripheral surface of the wheel portion 3312, and two tooth portions 3311 of the N tooth portions 3311 located at two ends are spaced apart by a predetermined distance. The predetermined distance is greater than a width of a tooth portion 3311. During one rotation of the first cylindrical gear 331, the number of times that the first cylindrical gear 331 and the second cylindrical gear 332 are in the first state is one.

For yet another example, referring to FIG. 15 and FIG. 16, in a case where N is greater than 1, the N tooth portions 3311 includes a plurality of tooth portion groups. The plurality of tooth portion groups are arranged at intervals along the circumferential direction of the wheel portion 3312. Each of the plurality of tooth portion groups includes at least one tooth portion 3311, and tooth portions 3311 in each tooth portion group are arranged continuously.

A number of tooth portion groups is not less than two and not greater than N. During one rotation of the first cylindrical gear 331, the number of times that the first cylindrical gear 331 and the second cylindrical gear 332 are in the first state is greater than or equal to two, and less than or equal to N.

For example, as shown in FIG. 15 and FIG. 16, in a case where the first cylindrical gear 331 includes fifteen tooth portions 3311, every three of the fifteen tooth portions 3311 may be divided into a tooth portion group, that is, the fifteen tooth portions 3311 may be divided into five tooth portion groups, and each tooth portion group includes three continuous tooth portions 3311. In this way, by arranging the five tooth portion groups at intervals, the first cylindrical gear 331 may drive the stirrer 1 to rotate five times and stop to rotate five times during one rotation of the first cylindrical gear 331, so that the angle of each rotation of the stirrer 1 may be increased.

It can be understood that, by changing the size, the number and the arrangement of the tooth portions of the first cylindrical gear 331, the frequency and angle of the intermittent rotation of the stirrer 1 may be adjusted, which is conducive to improving adaptability of the transmission assembly 3.

It will be noted that, the frequency of the intermittent rotation of the stirrer 1 may be adjusted based on a distance between the stirrer 1 and the ice knife assembly 2, and a number of the ice cubes between the stirrer 1 and the ice knife assembly 2.

For example, in a case where the distance between the stirrer 1 and the ice knife assembly 2 is close, and the number of ice cubes between the stirrer 1 and the ice knife assembly 2 is small, probability of the ice cubes freezing and sticking together is low. In this case, the frequency of intermittent rotation of the stirrer 1 may be set low, so as to save energy and reduce power consumption, which is conducive to reducing wear of components in the transmission assembly 3.

For example, in a case where the distance between the stirrer 1 and the ice knife assembly 2 is far, and the number of ice cubes between the stirrer 1 and the ice knife assembly 2 is high, the probability of the ice cubes freezing and sticking together is high. In this case, the frequency of intermittent rotation of the stirrer 1 may be set high, so as to effectively stir the ice cubes and prevent the ice cubes from freezing and sticking.

It will be noted that, some embodiments of the present disclosure are mainly described considering an example in which the first cylindrical gear 331 is configured as the incomplete gear, however, this should not be construed as a limitation of the present disclosure.

In some embodiments, the second cylindrical gear 332, the third cylindrical gear 341 and the first bevel gear 351 may also be configured as the incomplete gear. In a case where any one of the second cylindrical gear 332, the third cylindrical gear 341 or the first bevel gear 351 is configured as the incomplete gear, the arrangement should be within the protection scope of the present disclosure as long as it can implement the intermittent rotation of the rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1.

For example, any one of the second cylindrical gear 332, the third cylindrical gear 341, or the first bevel gear 351 serves as the driving gear. The driving gear rotates due to the driving of the driving device, so as to drive the rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1 and the rotary shaft 21 of the ice knife assembly 2 to rotate intermittently.

In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 17 and FIG. 18, the transmission assembly 3 includes a third intermediate shaft 36, a belt transmission set 37, and a bevel gear set 35. The third intermediate shaft 36 is connected to the rotary shaft 21 of the ice knife assembly 2 through the belt transmission set 37 in a transmission manner. The third intermediate shaft 36 is connected to the rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1 through the bevel gear assembly 35 in the transmission manner.

The belt transmission set 37 includes a first belt pulley 371 (i.e., a driving pulley), a second belt pulley 372 (i.e., a driven pulley), and a transmission belt 373. The first belt pulley 371 is fixedly sleeved on an outer periphery of the rotary shaft 21 of the ice knife assembly 2, and the second belt pulley 372 is fixedly sleeved on an outer periphery of the third intermediate shaft 36. The transmission belt 373 is sleeved on outer surfaces of the first belt pulley 371 and the second belt pulley 372, thereby implementing a transmission connection between the first belt pulley 371 and the second belt pulley 372 through the transmission belt 373.

In this way, when the rotary shaft 21 of the ice knife assembly 2 rotates due to the driving of the driving device, the first belt pulley 371 is driven to rotate, and during the rotation of the first belt pulley 371, the second belt pulley 372 is driven to rotate through the belt transmission 373.

The belt transmission set 37 has a simple structure and a low cost. During the operation of the transmission assembly 3, the belt transmission set 37 may alleviate vibrations, absorb shocks, and prevent damage to other components in the refrigerator.

The bevel gear set 35 includes a first bevel gear 351 and a second bevel gear 352. The first bevel gear 351 is fixedly sleeved on the outer periphery of the third intermediate shaft 36. The second bevel gear 352 is fixedly sleeved on an outer periphery of the rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1, and the first bevel gear 351 and the second bevel gear 352 are engaged with each other.

When the second belt pulley 372 rotates, the second belt pulley 372 drives the third intermediate shaft 36 to rotate. Since the first bevel gear 351 is fixedly sleeved on the outer periphery of the third intermediate shaft 36, the rotation of the third intermediate shaft 36 drives the first bevel gear 351 to rotate, thereby driving the second bevel gear 352 engaged with the first bevel gear 351 to rotate. In this case, since the second bevel gear 352 is fixedly sleeved on the outer periphery of the rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1, when the second bevel gear 352 rotates, the second bevel gear 352 drives the rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1 to rotate, so as to make the stirrer 1 stir the ice cubes.

It can be understood that, since the axis of the rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1 and the axis of the rotary shaft 21 of the ice knife assembly 2 are mutually skew lines, the rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1 fixedly passing through the second bevel gear 352, and the third intermediate shaft 36 fixedly passing through the first bevel gear 351 have a certain angle β. If a cylindrical gear meshing manner is adopted, it may be impossible to realize the transmission between the rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1 and the third intermediate shaft 36. The transmission between the rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1 and the third intermediate shaft 36 may be realized through the meshing of the first bevel gear 351 and the second bevel gear 352.

In practical applications, parameters of the bevel gears may be calculated based on the angle β, and an appropriate bevel gear set 35 may be selected, so as to achieve the transmission between the rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1 and the third intermediate shaft 36. The bevel gears are capable of bearing large loads and have a long service life, which is conducive to improving the stability of the ice crushing device during operation.

In the above-mentioned embodiments, the driving device is connected to the rotary shaft 21 of the ice knife assembly 2. However, the present disclosure is not limited thereto. In some embodiments, the driving device may also be connected to other components of the transmission assembly 3. For example, the driving device may be connected to the third intermediate shaft 36 of the transmission assembly 3. Alternatively, the driving device may be connected to any one of the first belt pulley 371, the second belt pulley 372, the first bevel gear 351 and the second bevel gear 352 of the transmission assembly 3.

It can be understood that, in a case where the driving device is connected to any component of the transmission assembly 3, as long as the driving device can drive the rotary shaft 21 of the ice knife assembly 2 and the rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer 1 to rotate, so as to enable the normal operation of the ice knife assembly 2 and the stirrer 1, and the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 18, the first belt pulley 371 includes a first belt pulley body 3711 and a first belt groove 3712. The first belt groove 3712 is formed on an outer peripheral surface of the first belt pulley body 3711 and extends along a circumferential direction of the first belt pulley body 3711. A longitudinal section of the first belt groove 3712 is matched with a longitudinal section of the transmission belt 373.

The second belt pulley 372 includes a second belt pulley body 3721 and a second belt groove 3722. The second belt groove 3722 is formed on an outer peripheral surface of the second belt pulley body 3721 and extends along a circumferential direction of the second belt pulley body 3721. A longitudinal section of the second belt groove 3722 is matched with a longitudinal section of the transmission belt 373.

The transmission belt 373 includes a first portion and a second portion. The first portion of the transmission belt 373 is disposed in the first belt groove 3712, and the second portion of the transmission belt 373 is disposed in the second belt groove 3722, thereby increasing contact areas and frictional forces between the transmission belt 373 and the first belt pulley 371 and between the transmission belt 373 and the second belt pulley 372, which is conducive to improving the reliability and stability of the belt transmission.

When users access complete ice cubes in the mode of ice cubes, sometimes the situation that no ice cubes are discharged may happen. After research, those skilled in the art find the reason that some frozen ice cubes block the outlet of the complete ice cubes. Therefore, in order to solve the problem that frozen ice cubes block the outlet of the complete ice cubes, another ice crushing device is provided by another embodiment of the present disclosure, and the ice crushing device may comprise the following structures:

With reference to FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 as shown, the ice crushing device may comprises a ice storage container 5, in which a rotatable ice knife assembly 2 is provided, wherein the ice knife assembly 2 may comprise a rotary shaft 21, a fixed ice knife 22, a movable ice knife 23 and an ice cube separation structure 24 (i.e., an ice cube separator), the rotary shaft 21 can drive the movable ice knife 23 to rotate, the fixed ice knife 22 and the ice cube separation structure 24 may be located at two sides of the rotary shaft 21 separately, and the fixed ice knife 22 and the ice cube separation structure 24 are both fixed relative to the ice storage container 5. When the rotary shaft 21 drives the movable ice knife 23 to rotate in the first direction, the ice cubes within the ice storage container 5 may be broken under the shear force of the movable ice knife 23 and the fixed ice knife 22. When the rotary shaft 21 drives the movable ice knife 23 to rotate in the second direction opposite to the first direction, the frozen ice cubes may be separated under the cooperation of the movable ice knife 23 and the ice cube separation structure 24. The fixed ice knife 22 and the ice cube separation structure 24 are provided on two sides of the rotary shaft 21 separately, so that when the rotary shaft 21 rotates in the first direction in the mode of crushed ice for the ice crushing device, the movable ice knife 23 presses downward the direction in which the fixed ice knife 22 is located, cutting the ice cubes between the movable ice knife 23 and the fixed ice knife 22; when the rotary shaft 21 rotates in the second direction opposite to the first direction in the mode of ice cubes, the movable ice knife 23 presses downward the direction in which the ice cube separation structure 24 is located, applying a downward force to the upper surface of the frozen ice cubes between the ice cube separation structure 24 and the movable ice knife 23, while the contact portion of the ice cube separation structure 24 and the lower surface of the frozen ice cubes provides a corresponding support force, so that the frozen ice cubes are separated into ice cubes. Therefore, when users access complete ice cubes in the mode of ice cubes, the situation that the frozen ice cubes block the outlet of the complete ice cubes basically may not happen.

Further, with reference to FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 as shown, one end of the fixed ice knife 22 may be rotatably connected to the rotary shaft 21, the other end may be fixedly connected to a fixed base 221 which is fixed relative to the ice storage container 5, and the ice cube separation structure 24 may be fixed at the end of the fixed ice knife 22 connected to the rotary shaft 21 and may extend substantially along the longitudinal direction of the fixed ice knife 22.

Alternatively, the ice cube separation structure 24 may be fixedly provided within the ice storage container 5 instead of being fixed to one end of the fixed ice knife 22. For example, one end of the ice cube separation structure 24 is directly fixed within the ice storage container 5, the connection portion between the ice cube separation structure 24 and the ice storage container 5 and the fixed base 221 for connecting the fixed ice knife 2 are separately provided on two sides of the rotary shaft 21, and the other end of the ice cube separation structure 24 extends substantially toward the radial direction of the rotary shaft 21 (but not connected to the rotary shaft 21).

But when the ice cube separation structure 24 works, the edge of the connection portion between the ice cube separation structure 24 provided within the ice storage container 5 and the ice storage container 5 may also be subjected to a shear force to a certain degree, and it is difficult for the connection portion to provide an individual support force. Long-time use will reduce the reliability of the connection portion and even cause the ice cube separation structure 24 to fall off from the connection portion. On the contrary, when the ice cube separation structure 24 is connected to one end of the fixed ice knife 22 connected to the rotary shaft 21, both the fixed base 221 fixedly provided relative to the ice storage container 5 and the rotary shaft 21 may provide sufficient support force for counteracting the force on the ice cube separation structure 24 when the ice cube separation structure 24 is subjected to forces, so that the ice cube separation structure 24 itself may be subjected to less force and the service life of the ice cube separation structure 24 may be extended.

In order to reduce the situations where the reliability of the connection portion in long-time use is reduced as mentioned in the above embodiments, with reference to FIG. 7, FIG. 8 and FIG. 9 as shown, the ice cube separation structure 24 is a plate-shape structure, and is integrally formed with the fixed ice knife 22. The plate-shape ice cube separation structure 24 is easier to be installed. After the ice cube separation structure 24 is integrally formed with the fixed ice knife 22, there is no need for an additional connection portion between the ice cube separation structure 24 and the fixed ice knife 22 because the connection process is not adopted therebetween, so that the situations where the connection portion is disconnected due to reduced connection reliability in long-time operation basically will not happen, and the operation stability of the ice crushing device is ensured. In order to reduce the process difficulty of integrally forming the ice cube separation structure 24 and the fixed ice knife 22, optionally, the ice cube separation structure 24 and the fixed ice knife 22 may be arranged with the same thickness.

In some other embodiments, there may also be other fixation means between the fixed ice knife 22 and the ice cube separation structure 24, for example, one end of the fixed ice knife 22 is directly connected to one end of the ice cube separation structure 24 (but may not be rotatably connected to the rotary shaft 21), the other end of the fixed ice knife 22 is fixedly connected to the fixed base 221 which is fixed relative to the ice storage container 5, so that the fixed ice knife 22 is provided in a substantially straight line with the ice cube separation structure 24, the other end of the ice cube separation structure 24 is directly fixed within the ice storage container 5, and the connection portion between the ice cube separation structure 24 and the ice storage container 5 and the fixed base 221 are separately provided on two sides of the rotary shaft 21; or, one end of the fixed ice knife 22 may be rotatably connected to the rotary shaft 21, the other end is fixedly connected to the fixed base 221 which is fixed relative to the ice storage container 5, one end of the ice cube separation structure 24 is fixed at the end of the fixed ice knife 22 connected to the rotary shaft 21 and extends substantially along the longitudinal direction of the fixed ice knife 22, the other end of the ice cube separation structure 24 is fixed within the ice storage container 5, and the connection portion between the ice cube separation structure 24 and the ice storage container 5 and the fixed base 221 are separately provided on two sides of the rotary shaft 21; or, one end of the fixed ice knife 22 may be rotatably connected to the rotary shaft 21, and the other end is fixedly connected to the fixed base 221 which is fixed relative to the ice storage container 5, one end of the ice cube separation structure 24 may be rotatably connected to the rotary shaft 21 (but the fixed ice knife 22 is not connected to the ice cube separation structure 24), the other end of the ice cube separation structure 24 is fixed within the ice storage container 5, and the connection portion between the ice cube separation structure 24 and the ice storage container 5 and the fixed base 221 are separately provided on two sides of the rotary shaft 21.

A person skilled in the art should understand that through the above description the other fixation means between the fixed ice knife 22 and the ice cube separation structure 24 which may also be thought of by the person skilled in the art without paying creative effort shall all be covered within the scope of the present disclosure.

In order to accommodate the demand of different equipments in size or the efficiency of crushing ice, with reference to FIG. 6 to FIG. 5 as shown, a plurality of fixed ice knives 22 are provided, the movable ice knife 23 is provided on the rotary shaft 21 between two adjacent fixed ice knives 22, at least one of the fixed ice knives 22 are connected with the ice cube separation structure 24, and a gap between an inner wall of the ice storage container 5 and a closer ice cube separation structure 24 in the axial direction of the rotary shaft allows only one independent ice cube to pass through.

Alternatively, at least two of the fixed ice knives 22 are connected with the ice cube separation structure 24, and a gap between two adjacent ice cube separation structures 24 allows only one independent ice cube to pass through. In this case, a gap between the inner wall of the ice storage container 5 and a closer ice cube separation structure 24 in the axial direction of the rotary shaft may also allow only one independent ice cube to pass through.

Under normal circumstances, the size of ice cubes is determined by the size of cells in an ice making trays of the ice making device, since the ice cubes are making in the cells of the ice making trays. Here the independent ice cube refers to one that is prepared by any one cell in the ice making trays in the ice making device and not frozen with other ice cubes. Then, the gap between two adjacent ice cube separation structures 24 may allow one independent ice cube prepared by one cell of the ice making tray to pass through, that is to say, the gap between two adjacent ice cube separation structures 24 may be set in accordance with the size of cells in the ice making trays, for example, the gap may be made slightly larger than the largest size of three-dimensional sizes of one cell in the ice making tray and smaller than twice of the smallest size of three-dimensional sizes of the cell in the ice making tray.

The number of the fixed ice knives 22, the movable ice knives 23 and the ice cube separation structures 24 in the present device may be selected according to actual requirements, which increases the flexibility of the ice crushing device. Under normal circumstances, the number of the fixed ice knives 22 is greater than the number of the ice cube separation structures 24, and the distance between two adjacent fixed ice knives in the axial direction of the rotary shaft 21 and the gap between the inner wall of the ice storage container 5 and a closer fixed ice knife 22 in the axial direction of the rotary shaft 21 are both smaller than the distance between two adjacent ice cube separation structures 24 in the axial direction of the rotary shaft 21 and/or the gap between the inner wall of the ice storage container 5 and a closer ice cube separation structure 24 in the axial direction of the rotary shaft 21 so as to ensure that the crushed ice cubes cut by the action of the fixed ice knives 22 and the movable ice knives 23 are smaller than the independent ice cubes separated by the interaction of the movable ice knives 23 and the ice cube separation structures 24.

The fixed ice knife 22 and the movable ice knife 23 are provided alternately, which ensures that in the mode of crushed ice, when the rotary shaft 21 rotates in the first direction, the movable ice knife 23 presses downward the direction in which the fixed ice knife 22 is located, each ice cube located between the movable ice knife 23 and the fixed ice knife 22 may be cut into pieces under the cooperation of the movable ice knife 23 and the fixed ice knife 22. At the instant when the fixed ice knife 22 and the movable ice knife 23 stagger and both sides of the fixed ice knife 22 are the movable ice knives 23, the fixed ice knife 22 provides an upward support force on the ice cube toward the side of the movable ice knife 23, the movable ice knives 23 on both sides of the fixed ice knife 22 provide a downward force on the ice cube, so that the ice cube may be cut into pieces under the cooperation of the movable ice knife 23 and the fixed ice knife 22. If one or both sides of the fixed ice knife 22 mounted on the rotary shaft 21 are still fixed ice knife, it may result in that the fixed ice knife 22 and the fixed ice knife on one or both sides thereof cannot cooperate with the movable ice knives 23 in the mode of crushed ice, and that the ice cubes near the fixed ice knife 22 and the fixed ice knife on one or both sides thereof basically cannot be cut into pieces; similarly, if one or both sides of the movable ice knife 23 mounted on the rotary shaft 21 are still movable ice knife, the movable ice knife 23 basically cannot cooperate with the movable ice knife on one or both sides thereof in the mode of crushed ice, and the ice cubes near the movable ice knife 23 and the movable ice knife 23 on one or both sides thereof basically cannot be cut into pieces.

A plurality of ice cube separation structures 24 are arranged and the gap between two adjacent ice cube separation structures 24 may allow only one independent ice cube to pass through, which basically ensures that when the rotary shaft 21 rotates in the second direction in the mode of ice cubes, the ice cubes separated by the movable ice knife 23 and the ice cube separation structure 24 may pass through the gap and the outlet of the complete ice cubes to facilitate people's access.

For example, with reference to FIG. 6, FIG. 7, FIG. 8 and FIG. 10 as shown, the number of the fixed ice knives 22 is three, and the intermediate fixed ice knife is connected to the ice cube separation structure 24, both the gap m and gap n between the ice cube separation structure 2421 and the inner wall of the ice storage container 5 in the axial direction of the rotary shaft may only allow an independent ice cube 4 to pass through. Here the independent ice cube refers to one that is prepared by any one cell in the ice making trays in the ice making device and not frozen with other ice cubes. That is to say, the gap m and gap n between the ice cube separation structure 24 and the inner wall of the ice storage container 5 in the axial direction of the rotary shaft 21 may also be set in accordance with the size of cells in the ice making trays. For example, the gap m and gap n may be made slightly larger than the largest size of three-dimensional sizes of one cell in the ice making tray and smaller than twice of the smallest size of three-dimensional sizes of the cell in the ice making tray.

In the present embodiment, three fixed ice knives 22 and four movable ice knives 23 are provided alternately, and when the rotary shaft 21 rotates in the first direction, the ice crushing device may cut the ice cubes between the fixed ice knives 22 and the movable ice knives 23; when the rotary shaft 21 rotates in the second direction opposite to the first direction, the movable ice knives 23 may cooperate with the ice cube separation structures 24 to separate the frozen ice cubes. And when the frozen ice cubes are separated to be able to pass through the gap m and gap n, the separated ice cubes may be transported to the outlet of the complete ice cubes and slide out from the outlet of the complete ice cubes.

In one embodiment as shown in FIG. 6, FIG. 7, FIG. 9 and FIG. 10, the size of the fixed ice knives 22 is substantially the same as the size of the movable ice knives 23, the length of the ice cube separation structures 24 is slightly smaller than the length of the fixed ice knives 22 and the movable ice knives 23. Alternatively, the size of the ice cube separation structures 24 is substantially the same as the size of the fixed ice knives 22 and the movable ice knives 23.

In another embodiment, with reference to FIG. 6, FIG. 7, FIG. 11 and FIG. 12 as shown, the movable ice knife 23 may include a knife edge 231 and a knife back 232. When the rotary shaft 21 drives the movable ice knife 23 to rotate in the first direction, the knife edge 231 of the movable ice knife 23 cooperates with a knife edge 222 of the fixed ice knife 22 to cut the ice cubes in the ice storage container 5. When the rotary shaft 21 drives the movable ice knife 23 to rotate in the second direction, the knife back 232 of the movable ice knife 23 cooperates with the ice cube separation structure 24 to separate the frozen ice cubes. When the rotary shaft 21 rotates in the first direction in the mode of crushed ice, the movable ice knife 23 needs to cooperate with the fixed ice knife 22 to cut the ice cubes. Therefore, in the mode of crushed ice, the force provided by the movable ice knife 23 and the fixed ice knife 22 is required to be bigger, which increases the load of the driving device of the driving rotary shaft 21. If the movable ice knife 23 is provided with the knife edge 231 and the knife back 232, when the knife edge 231 of the movable ice knife 23 presses downward the fixed ice knife 22, the thinner knife edge 231 may provide greater pressure than the thicker knife back 232 in the case of the same rotational speed of the rotary shaft 21 to cooperate with the fixed ice knife 22 to cut the ice cubes. Meanwhile, in the mode of crushed ice, the portion of the fixed ice knife 22 for cooperation with the knife edge 231 of the movable ice knife 23 may also be thinned and provided as the knife edge 232 of the fixed ice knife 22 to reduce the workload of the fixed ice knife 22. When the rotary shaft 21 rotates in the second direction in the mode of ice cubes, the knife back 232 of the movable ice knife 23 presses downward the direction in which the ice cube separation structure 24 is located, applying downward force F1 and F2 to the upper surface of the frozen ice cubes 4′ located between the ice cube separation structure 24 and the movable ice knife 23, the ice cube separation structure 24 provides a corresponding support force F3 on the lower surface of the frozen ice cubes 4′ which is in contact with the ice cube separation structure 24, so that the frozen ice cubes 4′ are separated into ice cubes 4 under the cooperation of the knife back 232 of the movable ice knife 23 and the ice cube separation structure 24. At this time, the contact portion of the movable ice knife 23 and the frozen ice cubes 4′ only needs to provide a downward force, so there is no need for thinning the movable ice knife 23. The contact portion of the movable ice knife 23 with the frozen ice cubes 4′ is just the knife back 232 of the movable ice knife 23. If the knife back 232 of the movable ice knife 23 is thinned, it will not only increase the difficulty of processing and installing the movable ice knife 23, but also lead to that the integrity of the ice cubes will be destroyed when the frozen ice cubes are separated in the mode of ice cubes and it is not conducive to access complete ice cubes.

In another embodiment, with reference to FIG. 6 to FIG. 11 as shown, both the knife edge 231 of the movable ice knife 23 and the knife edge 222 of the fixed ice knife 22 may be serrated, the knife back 232 of the movable ice knife 23 may be serrated, and the end portion of the extension end of the ice cube separation structure 24 may be obliquely upturned. The serrated knife edge is sharper than the smooth thin knife edge, and may more easily cut the ice cubes when the rotary shaft 21 drives the movable ice knife 23 to rotate in the first direction, thus it may extend the service life of the movable ice knife 23 and the fixed ice knife 22. When the rotary shaft 21 drives the movable ice knife 23 to rotate in the second direction, the knife back of the movable ice knife 23 drives the ice cubes to rotate, and sends the frozen ice cubes to the ice cube separation structure 24. The knife back 232 of the movable ice knife 23 is provided as serrated, so that if the ice cubes slide along the knife back of the movable ice knife 23, the groove structure of the serrated knife back 232 may play a certain limiting role on the position where the ice cubes freeze together, thus it may avoid separation failure due to sliding force during the separation process of the frozen ice cubes.

One end of the ice cube separation structure 24 is fixedly connected to the fixed ice knife 22, and the other end extends in the direction away from the fixed ice knife 22, the end extending in the direction away from the fixed ice knife 22 is the extension end of the ice cube separation structure 24. The end portion of the extension end is obliquely upturned, relative to that the end portion of the extension end is arranged horizontally or downward obliquely, when the frozen ice cubes are separated, the ice cube separation structure 24 with end portion of the extension end being obliquely upturned has a higher separation success rate. When the frozen ice cubes slide due to subjected force as they are separated, the end portion of the extension end is obliquely upturned to better avoid the frozen ice cubes from being divorced from the ice cube separation structure 24.

When the ice cube separation structure 24 has other setting forms different from FIG. 8 and FIG. 9, the above beneficial effects may also be substantially achieved, and the details will not be repeated here.

In another embodiment, with reference to FIG. 8 as shown, there is a gap d between the ice cube separation structure 24 in the radial direction of the rotary shaft 21 and the inner wall of the ice storage container 5, and the gap d does not allow an independent ice cube to pass through. The gap d between the end face of the ice cube separation structure 24 away from the rotary shaft 21 and the inner wall of the ice storage container 5 may facilitate the installation or replacement of the ice cube separation structure 24. Since the gap d does not allow an independent ice cube to pass through, an ice cube that is bigger than the independent ice cube in size cannot pass through the gap d either, so that even the frozen ice cubes are driven to the vicinity of the gap d when the fixed ice knife 23 rotates, they cannot cross the ice cube separation structure 24 and directly slide through the gap d to the outlet of the complete ice cubes along the inner wall of the ice storage container 5. The ice cubes that may move to the outlet of the complete ice cubes are all ones that have been separated, and they will not block the outlet of the complete ice cubes, ensuring the normal operation of the ice crushing device.

In one embodiment, with reference to FIG. 6 as shown, the bottom of the side where the fixed ice knife 22 is arranged in the ice storage container 5 is provided with an ice discharging funnel (not shown in the figure), and the bottom of the side where the ice cube separation structure 24 is arranged in the ice storage container 5 is provided with an ice discharging door 51. When the ice cubes in the ice storage container 5 are driven by the ice knife assembly to rotate, there will be a certain centrifugal force. The direction of the ice cubes with the centrifugal force when they are flying out is uncertain. Once the ice discharging door 51 is provided, the ice cubes with the centrifugal force will fall on the ice discharging door 51 and then slide out along the ice discharging door 51, avoiding the situation where the ice cubes with the centrifugal force directly fly out of the ice storage container 5 and fall outside the container for accessing the ice cubes or even injure people or things nearby. The ice cubes that slide out of the ice discharging door 51 are discharged out of the ice crushing device through the ice discharging funnel for people's access.

In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 19, the ice discharging door 51 is fixed relative to the refrigerator door. A surface of the ice discharging door 51 facing toward the rotary shaft 21 of the ice knife assembly 2 extends along a circumferential direction of the rotary shaft 21 of the ice knife assembly 2. The ice discharging door 51 is configured to guide the ice cubes from the ice storage container to be discharged outside of the ice storage container. During the process of discharging ice cubes, the ice discharging door 51 does not deform, and is fixedly connected to the refrigerator door, with their relative positions fixed.

It should be noted that the technical features in each embodiment of the present disclosure may be arbitrarily combined in the case of no conflicts to form new embodiments and achieve corresponding technical effects. For example, in the ice crushing device shown in FIG. 6 and FIG. 7, a rotatable stirrer is provided above the ice knife assembly 2, the axis of the rotary shaft 11 of the stirrer and the axis of the rotary shaft 21 of the ice knife assembly 2 are mutually skew lines. Since the technical feature and the achievable beneficial effects have been introduced above in detail, and will not be repeated here.

In another embodiment of the present disclosure, a refrigerator is also provided, wherein the refrigerator comprises an ice maker. For example, with reference to FIG. 13 as shown, an inner wall of the refrigerator door 100 thereof is provided with an ice maker. The above ice crushing device 200 is provided in the ice maker, so that the ice cubes stored in the ice storage container 5 after they are prepared by the ice making device are sufficiently stirred. The refrigerator with the function of preparing ice cubes may ensure that the prepared ice cubes will not freeze together, so that users may timely access ice cubes as needed. Moreover, the ice crushing capacity of the refrigerator is also greatly enhanced to facilitate use when the ice cubes freeze together. Meanwhile, the refrigerator can not only make the movable ice knife 23 cooperate with the fixed ice knife 22 to cut the ice cubes when the movable ice knife 23 rotates in the first direction in the mode of crushed ice, but also make the movable ice knife 23 cooperate with the ice cube separation structure 24 to separate the frozen ice cubes when the movable ice knife 23 rotates in the second direction opposite to the first direction in the mode of ice cubes, so that the separated ice cubes may pass through the outlet of the complete ice cubes, thus facilitating people's smooth access to ice cubes in the situation where they directly use the mode of ice cubes.

Since the ice crushing device used in the refrigerator of the present embodiment is the same as that provided in each embodiment of the above ice crushing device, both of them may solve the same technical problem and achieve the same expected effect.

Other configurations of the refrigerator according to the embodiments of the present disclosure have been well known to those skilled in the art and will not be described in detail herein.

The above description is merely specific implementation of the present disclosure, and the protection scope of the present disclosure is not limited thereto. Changes or replacements readily obtained by any person skilled in the art who is familiar with the technical field within the disclosed technical scope of the present disclosure should be included in the protection scope of the present disclosure. Therefore, the protection scope of the present disclosure should be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Number	Date	Country	Kind
201511034383.5	Dec 2015	CN	national
201511034935.2	Dec 2015	CN	national

	Number	Date	Country
Parent	15633498	Jun 2017	US
Child	16743871		US
Parent	PCT/CN2016/074062	Feb 2016	US
Child	15633498		US

	Number	Date	Country
Parent	16743871	Jan 2020	US
Child	18140494		US

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