US 11,940,196 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. 17/281,786
Filed by LG ELECTRONICS INC., Seoul (KR)
PCT Filed Oct. 1, 2019, PCT No. PCT/KR2019/012861
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Mar. 31, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/071750, 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. 10-2019-0081741 (KR), filed on Jul. 6, 2019; and application No. 10-2019-0081749 (KR), filed on Jul. 6, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2021/0381743 A1, Dec. 9, 2021
Int. Cl. F25C 1/24 (2018.01); F25C 5/08 (2006.01)
CPC F25C 1/24 (2013.01) [F25C 5/08 (2013.01); F25C 2400/10 (2013.01); F25C 2400/14 (2013.01); F25C 2600/04 (2013.01)] 21 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A refrigerator comprising:
a storage chamber;
a cooler configured to supply cold air into the storage chamber;
an ice maker including:
a first tray assembly having first portion of a cell;
a second tray assembly 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 the second tray assembly relative to the first tray assembly such that the second portion of the second tray assembly contacts the first portion of the first tray assembly to form the space of the cell in an ice making process in which the liquid in the space is phase-changed into ice, and that moves the second tray assembly relative to the first tray assembly such that the second portion of the second tray assembly is spaced from the first portion of the first tray assembly in an ice separation process in which the ice is removed from the space of the cell; and
a heater provided adjacent to at least one of the first tray assembly or the second tray assembly; and
a controller configured to:
move the second tray assembly from an ice making position to an ice separation position for the ice separation process to separate the ice from the cell after completion of the ice making process, and
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, and
wherein:
the first tray assembly includes a tray to define the first portion of the cell;
a tray case that is a separate component from the tray and configured to support the tray, and
the tray includes a wall defining the first portion of the cell and a first deformation resistance reinforcement wall extending from the wall.