US 12,480,699 B1
Devices for shaping clear ice products and related methods
Ashok Kumar Notaney, San Francisco, CA (US); Todd Stevenson, Novato, CA (US); Larry Allen Mercier, Jr., Ann Arbor, MI (US); James Anthony Coller, Ann Arbor, MI (US); Andrew James Whalen, Windsor, CA (US); and Kayla Curtis, Ypsilanti, MI (US)
Assigned to Abstract Ice, Inc., Petaluma, CA (US)
Filed by Abstract Ice, Inc., Petaluma, CA (US)
Filed on Mar. 14, 2025, as Appl. No. 19/079,679.
Application 19/079,679 is a continuation of application No. PCT/US2024/014232, filed on Feb. 2, 2024.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/482,841, filed on Feb. 2, 2023.
Int. Cl. F25C 5/14 (2006.01)
CPC F25C 5/14 (2013.01) 25 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An apparatus comprising:
a support frame;
a mold for shaping ice ingots, the mold including:
a first clamshell part coupled to a first pivot point installed on the support frame, the first clamshell part having a first plurality of mold cavities on a first surface and a first channel embedded behind the first surface and configured to receive a first flow of fluid, wherein at least one cavity in the first plurality of mold cavities includes a pressure relief pin hole;
a second clamshell part coupled to a second pivot point installed on the support frame and substantially adjacent to the first pivot point, the second clamshell part having a second plurality of mold cavities on a second surface and a second channel embedded behind the second surface and configured to receive a second flow of fluid, wherein at least one cavity in the second plurality of mold cavities includes a pressure relief pin hole;
a positioner configured to dispose the first surface of the first clamshell part against a first side surface of an elongate ice ingot and a second surface of the second clamshell part against a second side surface of the elongate ice ingot, the first side surface of the elongate ice ingot being opposite the second side surface of the elongate ice ingot; and
at least one fluid inlet valve for each of the first clamshell part and the second clamshell part, the at least one fluid inlet valve being configured to control the first flow of fluid through the first channel associated with the first clamshell part, and the second flow of fluid through the second channel associated with the second clamshell part,
a conveyor system including a conveyance portion and a plurality of offset supports, the conveyor system being arranged substantially parallel to the mold and beneath a bottom surface of the mold, wherein the conveyor system is configured to:
receive the elongate ice ingot at two or more of the offset supports and advance the conveyance portion to move the elongate ice ingot to a predefined position substantially along a bottom surface of the mold; and
transport a plurality of distinct ice structures formed in the first plurality of mold cavities and the second plurality of mold cavities at completion of an ice shaping process.