Ice clearing structure for ice makers
US6209340A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Dec 7, 1999 |
| Grant date | Apr 3, 2001 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Dec 7, 2019 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC F)Mechanical Engineering; Lighting; Heating
- CPC primaryF25C1/12
- WIPO fieldThermal processes and apparatus
- WIPO sectorMechanical engineering
Abstract
A modified water drain pan for use in an ice maker is positioned below a vertically oriented evaporator and includes a front lip for receiving run off water from the evaporator during an ice making cycle. The lip includes a plurality of spaced apart ice removing structures defining a V-shaped groove there along. The V-shaped groove is defined by a plurality of front and rear angled surfaces. In operation, when the ice is harvested, the ice sheet falls from the evaporator such that a bottom edge thereof lands within the V-shaped groove. The bottom edge of the ice sheet contacts a front surface of the V-shaped groove wherein the force applied there against by the weight of the entire sheet causes the sheet to rotate about an imaginary axis extending within and along that groove. As a result thereof, the top of the ice sheet tips in a forward direction away from the evaporator where upon it falls into an ice bin there below.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.