	US 11,892,221 B2
	Refrigerator
Donghoon Lee, Seoul (KR); Wookyong Lee, Seoul (KR); Sunggyun Son, Seoul (KR); Donghoon Lee, Seoul (KR); Seungseob Yeom, Seoul (KR); Yongjun Bae, Seoul (KR); and Chongyoung Park, Seoul (KR)
Assigned to LG ELECTRONICS INC., Seoul (KR)
Appl. No. 17/281,955
Filed by LG ELECTRONICS INC., Seoul (KR)
PCT Filed Oct. 1, 2019, PCT No. PCT/KR2019/012859 § 371(c)(1), (2) Date Mar. 31, 2021, PCT Pub. No. WO2020/071748, PCT Pub. Date Apr. 9, 2020.
Claims priority of application No. 10-2018-0117785 (KR), filed on Oct. 2, 2018; application No. 10-2018-0117819 (KR), filed on Oct. 2, 2018; application No. 10-2018-0117821 (KR), filed on Oct. 2, 2018; application No. 10-2018-0117822 (KR), filed on Oct. 2, 2018; application No. 10-2018-0142117 (KR), filed on Nov. 16, 2018; application No. 10-2019-0081697 (KR), filed on Jul. 6, 2019; and application No. 10-2019-0081698 (KR), filed on Jul. 6, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2021/0356188 A1, Nov. 18, 2021
Int. Cl. F25C 1/18 (2006.01); F25C 1/10 (2006.01); F25C 1/25 (2018.01); F25C 5/02 (2006.01)

CPC F25C 1/18 (2013.01) [F25C 1/10 (2013.01); F25C 1/25 (2018.01); F25C 5/02 (2013.01); F25C 2305/0221 (2021.08); F25C 2400/10 (2013.01); F25C 2400/14 (2013.01); F25C 2700/14 (2013.01)]

22 Claims

1. A refrigerator comprising:

a storage chamber;

a cooler configured to supply cold into the storage chamber;

a first tray having a first portion of a cell;

a second tray having a second portion of the cell, the first portion and the second portion being configured to define a space formed by the cell;

a liquid supply configured to supply a liquid to the space;

a driver that moves at least one of the first tray or the second tray such that, in an ice making process in which the liquid in the space is phase-changed into ice, the first portion of the first tray contacts the second portion of the second tray to form the space of the cell, and in an ice separation process in which the ice is removed from the space of the cell, the first portion of the first tray is spaced from the second portion of the second tray;

a heater provided adjacent to at least one of the first tray or the second tray;

a bracket on which at least one of the liquid supply or the driver is mounted;

a pusher having a first edge formed with a surface for pressing the second tray to separate the ice from the cell in the ice separation process, a bar extending from the first edge, and a second edge located an end of the bar; and

a controller configured to operate the heater while the ice is being formed so that gas bubbles dissolved in the liquid within the cell move from a portion of space where the liquid that has phase-changed into the ice to another portion of the space where the liquid is in a fluid state,

wherein the pusher is mounted on the bracket, and

wherein the second tray includes a first surface that defines the second portion and a second surface extending from the first surface, and a portion of the second surface is in contact with a third surface of first tray when the ice is forming in the space.

18. A refrigerator comprising: a storage chamber; a cooler configured to supply cold into the storage chamber; a bracket coupled to a wall of the storage chamber;

a first tray having a first portion of a cell;

a second tray having a second portion of the cell, the first portion and the second portion of the cell being configured to define a space of the cell to receive liquid to be phase-changed to form ice;

a liquid supply part configured to supply the liquid into the cell;

a heater provided adjacent to at least one of the first tray or the second tray; and

a controller configured to control the heater while the ice is forming in the space of the cell so that air bubbles dissolved in the liquid within the cell move from a portion of the cell where the liquid has phase-changed into ice toward another portion of the cell where the liquid is in a fluid state, and

wherein the refrigerator further comprises a pusher having a first edge formed with a surface for pressing the second tray to separate the ice from the cell, a bar extending from the first edge, and a second edge located an end of the bar, and

wherein the pusher is mounted on the bracket.

21. A refrigerator comprising:

a storage chamber;

a cooler configured to supply cold into the storage chamber;

a bracket having a through hole through which the cold passes;

a first tray having a first portion of a cell and supported by the bracket;

a liquid supply configured to supply the liquid into the cell;

a heater provided adjacent to at least one of the first tray or the second tray; and

wherein:

the first portion includes a first wall, and the second portion includes a second wall, the first wall and the second wall forming the space of the cell when the first wall and the second wall contact each other,

the second wall includes a first surface adjacent to a portion of the space and a second surface extending from the first surface to contact the first wall of the first tray when the ice is being formed,

the first wall of the first tray and the second wall of the second tray are spaced from each other when the first tray and the second tray are spaced from each other to separate the ice from the space of the cell,

the refrigerator further comprises a pusher having a surface for pressing the second tray to separate the ice from the cell and mounted on the bracket, and

the second wall of the second tray includes a pressing region which is in contact with and separated from the pusher, and a peripheral region provided around at least a portion of the pressing region, the peripheral region having a greater degree of deformation resistance and a lesser degree of restoration than the pressing region.