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EP-3663685-B1 - REFRIGERATOR

EP3663685B1EP 3663685 B1EP3663685 B1EP 3663685B1EP-3663685-B1

Inventors

  • BYUN, Aejin
  • PARK, HONGSEOK

Dates

Publication Date
20260513
Application Date
20180731

Claims (14)

  1. A refrigerator comprising: a cabinet (10) having a storage compartment; a refrigerator door (11) configured to open and close the storage compartment; an ice maker (210); an ice bin (300) configured to accommodate ice produced in the ice maker (210); and a motor assembly (700) configured to generate power to be supplied to the ice bin (300), wherein the motor assembly (700) comprises a BLDC motor (710), a gear box (740) configured to allow the BLDC motor (710) to be installed therein, and a power transmission part (750) installed at the gear box (740) and having a plurality of gears (753, 754, 755, 756) configured to transmit power generated by the BLDC motor (710) to the ice bin (300), wherein the BLDC motor (710) comprises a stator (711) and a rotor (720) rotated with respect to the stator (711), and the rotor (720) is connected to the power transmission part (750) by a shaft (715) and the stator (711) is separably coupled to the gear box (740); the refrigerator being characterised in that the ice maker (210) is provided at the storage compartment or the refrigerator door (11); the stator (711) comprises a first coupling portion (713), and the gear box (740) comprises a second coupling portion (741c) to which the first coupling portion is separably coupled, and the stator (711) is independently separable from the gear box (740) in a state where the rotor (720) is connected to the power transmission part (750), and when the stator (711) is coupled to the gear box (740) the stator (711) has a space (712) for accommodating the rotor (720).
  2. The refrigerator of claim 1, wherein the stator (711) comprises a housing (711a), a coil provided in the housing (711a), and a stator core around which the coil is wound, and the housing (711a) is integrally formed with the stator core by insert injection molding in a state where the coil is wound around the stator core, wherein a connector (730) is connected to the coil, and wherein the housing (711a) is integrally formed with the connector (730) by insert injection molding in a state where the connector (730) is connected to the coil.
  3. The refrigerator of claim 1, wherein the first coupling portion comprises a protrusion (713) protruding from a housing (711a) of the stator (711), and the second coupling portion comprises a protrusion coupling portion (741c) to which the protrusion (713) is coupled.
  4. The refrigerator of claim 3, wherein the gear box (740) comprises a slot (741a, 741b) configured to accommodate the protrusion (713) to allow the protrusion to be coupled to the protrusion coupling portion (741c), and the slot (741a, 741b) comprises: a first slot (741a) extending in a direction parallel to an extending direction of the shaft (715) and a second slot (741b) extending from the first slot (741a) in a direction perpendicular to the first slot, and wherein the protrusion coupling portion (741c) comprises a hook (741d) to be caught by the protrusion (713) in a state where the protrusion moves to the second slot (741b).
  5. The refrigerator of claim 1, wherein the shaft (715) protrudes to both sides of the rotor (720) through the rotor (720), and the shaft (715) penetrating through the rotor (720) is connected to the power transmission part (750) through the gear box (740).
  6. The refrigerator of claim 5, wherein a first bearing (716) is coupled to a first portion (715a) of the shaft (715) protruding from one side of the rotor (720), and the stator (711) comprises a depressed portion (712a) for accommodating the first bearing (716), and wherein a second bearing (717) is coupled to a second portion (715b) of the shaft (715) protruding from the other side of the rotor (720), and the gear box (740) comprises a bearing support portion (745) configured to support the second bearing (717).
  7. The refrigerator of claim 6, wherein the power transmission part (750) comprises a shaft connection portion (752) connected to the second portion of the shaft (715) penetrating through the bearing support portion, and the shaft (715) is press-fit into the shaft connection portion (752).
  8. The refrigerator of claim 6, wherein the shaft connection portion (752) and some gears, among the plurality of gears (753, 754, 755, 756), connected to the shaft connection portion (752) are formed of a first material, a last gear, among the plurality of gears (753, 754, 755, 756), connected to the ice bin (300) is formed of a second material, the other gears, among the plurality of gears (753, 754, 755, 756), transmitting power between the final gear and the gears formed of the first material comprises a first gear portion (754a) and a second gear portion (754b) which are integrally formed, and the first gear portion (754a) is formed of the same material as the first material and the second gear portion (754b) is formed of the same material as the second material.
  9. The refrigerator of claim 1, wherein the gear box (740) comprises a first installation portion (741) allowing the BLDC motor (710) to be installed therein and a second installation portion (747) integrally formed with the first installation portion (741), the second installation portion (747) comprises a first wall (771) and a second wall (772) extending perpendicularly from an edge of the first wall (771), and the power transmission part (750) is installed in a space formed by the first wall (771) and the second wall (772).
  10. The refrigerator of claim 9, wherein a reinforcing rib (773, 774) is provided on each of an outer surface and an inner surface of the first wall (771), the reinforcing rib (773, 774) comprising a first rib (773a) having a cylindrical shape, a plurality of second ribs (773b) extending in different directions from the first rib (773a), and a third rib (773b) connecting the plurality of ribs.
  11. The refrigerator of claim 10, wherein at least one of the plurality of gears (753, 754, 755, 756) is installed at the second installation portion (747), and a shaft accommodation recess (775) allowing a shaft (758) of one of the plurality of gears (753, 754, 755, 756) to be inserted therein is provided at the first rib (773a).
  12. The refrigerator of claim 9, wherein the motor assembly (700) further comprises a box cover (760) configured to cover the plurality of gears (753, 754, 755, 756) installed at the second installation portion (747), and the box cover (760) comprises a plurality of embossings (761, 762) for increasing strength, wherein the plurality of embossings (761, 762) comprises a first embossing (761) and a second embossing (762) extending in parallel to each other, and rotation centers of some of the plurality of gears are positioned between the first embossing (761) and the second embossing (762).
  13. The refrigerator of claim 12, wherein the first embossing (761) extends to cross a line connecting rotation centers of two adjacent gears among the plurality of gears (753, 754, 755, 756), and/or wherein the plurality of embossings (761, 762) further comprises a third embossing (763) and a fourth embossing (764) extending in parallel to each other, and rotation centers of the other of the plurality of gears are positioned between the third embossing (763) and the fourth embossing (764), and extending directions of the third embossing (763) and the fourth embossing (764) are parallel to a line connecting rotation centers of two adjacent gears among the plurality of gears (753, 754, 755, 756).
  14. The refrigerator of claim 12, wherein the box cover (760) further comprises a hole (765) through which a rotary shaft of the last gear among the plurality of gears (753, 754, 755, 756) passes and a fifth embossing (766) formed around the hole (765).

Description

[Technical Field] The present disclosure relates to a refrigerator. [Background Art] Generally, a refrigerator is a device for storing food in a low temperature state by low temperature air. The refrigerator may include a cabinet in which a storage compartment is provided and a refrigerator door that opens and closes the storage compartment. The storage compartment may include a refrigerating compartment and a freezing compartment, and the refrigerator door may include a refrigerating compartment door that opens and closes the refrigerating compartment and a freezing compartment door that opens and closes the freezing compartment. The storage compartment may include only a freezing compartment or a refrigerating compartment depending on the type of the refrigerator. The refrigerator may further include an ice making assembly that produces and stores ice using cold air. The ice making assembly may include an ice maker that produces ice and an ice bin in which ice separated from the ice maker is stored. When a dispenser for dispensing ice is provided in the refrigerator door, the ice making assembly may further include a motor assembly for crushing ice in the ice bin or driving a blade for discharging ice. Korean Patent Publication No. 10-1631322, a related art document, discloses a refrigerator. The refrigerator of the related art includes a support mechanism on which an ice maker is seated, an ice bin seated on the support mechanism, and a motor assembly installed at the support mechanism and selectively connected to the ice bin. The ice bin includes a plurality of rotary blades for discharging ice and a plurality of stationary blades for crushing ice together with the rotary blades. A plurality of rotary blades may be rotated in a first direction to discharge each ice (uncrushed ice) from the ice bin. The ice of the ice bin is then discharged from the ice bin without interfering with the plurality of stationary blades. Meanwhile, in order to discharge the crushed ice from the ice bin, the plurality of rotary blades are rotated in a second direction opposite to the first direction. Then, the ice is crushed by the plurality of rotary blades and the plurality of stationary blades and then discharged from the ice bin. In the process of dispensing each ice, if the ice is entangled in the ice bin, if the ice lies on the rotary blade, or if the ice is caught on the rotary blade and a wall of the ice bin, the rotary blade may not be rotated normally and the ice may not be dispensed. However, in the case of the related art document, the motor operates to rotate the plurality of rotary blades in the first direction regardless of whether ice is dispensed. Here, when the rotary blade is not rotated normally, the motor may be damaged due to overload thereof. In addition, even though a user operates an operation pad for discharging ice, ice may not be dispensed and the user may misrecognize that the ice making assembly is broken. In addition, ice must be crushed so that the crushed ice may be dispensed. Here, a dispersion of torque of the motor for crushing ice is large. If the torque of the motor is large, overload of the motor may occur, but the related art does not provide a technique for preventing the overload of the motor. In addition, in the case of the related art document, the motor is operated if an ice dispensing command is input, and the motor is stopped if the ice dispensing command is not input. However, although the operation pad is released due to malfunction of a detection part for detecting the operation pad for an ice dispensing command after the operation pad is operated, if the detection part detects the operation of the operation pad, the motor is not stopped but continuously operates to be damaged. CN 205 336 029 U provides a utility model that relates to a refrigeration technology field specifically is a commercial and domestic ice machine or for refrigerator for ice crusher gear box motor, including external rotor brushless motor, motor shaft, input gear subassembly, output gear subassembly, input transmission shaft, output shaft, input shaft installation bearing, output shaft installation bearing, gear box upper cover and gear box lower cover, external rotor brushless motor passes through the motor shaft and the input transmission shaft links to each other, and the input transmission shaft is installed through input shaft installation bearing and is covered under gear box upper cover and the gear box, sets up the input gear subassembly on the input transmission shaft, and the output shaft is installed through output shaft installation bearing and footstep bearing and is covered under gear box upper cover and the gear box, sets up the output gear subassembly on the output shaft, and input gear subassembly and output gear subassembly mesh. This document discloses a refrigerator according to the preamble of claim 1. DE 10 2008 054330 A1 presents a claw pole motor i.e. linear stepping motor. The mo