Search

EP-4741742-A1 - ICE MAKER, REFRIGERATOR INCLUDING ICE MAKER, AND METHOD OF CONTROLLING REMOVAL OF RESIDUAL ICE FROM FILL CUP OF REFRIGERATOR INCLUDING ICE MAKER

EP4741742A1EP 4741742 A1EP4741742 A1EP 4741742A1EP-4741742-A1

Abstract

According to an ice maker, a refrigerator including the ice maker, and a method of controlling removal of residual ice of a fill cup of the refrigerator including the ice maker according to the present invention, by arranging a heating wire on a fill cup of an ice maker, it is possible to prevent residual ice from remaining and freezing in the fill cup after water supply.

Inventors

  • KIM, YONG HYUN
  • HONG, JIN IL
  • CHOI, SOO YOUNG
  • KIM, RIN

Assignees

  • LG Electronics Inc.

Dates

Publication Date
20260513
Application Date
20251023

Claims (15)

  1. An ice maker comprising: a housing that forms an ice-making space; a fill cup mounted in the housing to receive water; a heating wire disposed on at least one outer surface of the fill cup; a heating wire cover fastened to the fill cup to fix the heating wire to the fill cup; and an ice tray disposed in the ice-making space and having one or more ice-making cells.
  2. The ice maker of claim 1, wherein the heating wire is disposed to surround a lower surface and both side surfaces of the fill cup.
  3. The ice maker of claim 1 or 2, wherein an upper surface of the fill cup to which the water is supplied is open, and the heating wire disposed on a lower surface of the fill cup is disposed to overlap the open upper surface of the fill cup in a vertical direction.
  4. The ice maker of one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the heating wire extends in a second direction intersecting the first direction in which water supplied to the fill cup flows to the ice tray.
  5. The ice maker of claim 4, wherein the heating wire disposed on a lower surface of the fill cup is continuously disposed in the second direction.
  6. The ice maker of one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the heating wire cover includes a first fastening body portion that surrounds a lower surface and two side surfaces of the fill cup with the heating wire interposed therebetween, and the first fastening body portion is fastened to the two side surfaces of the fill cup in a hook-coupling manner.
  7. The ice maker of one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the heating wire cover includes a second fastening body portion that extends outward from the fill cup to fix a heating wire terminal electrically connected to the heating wire, the second fastening body portion includes a hook that protrudes toward an inner surface of the housing, the housing includes an insertion portion having an open upper surface for the hook to be inserted, and the hook is inserted from the top to bottom of the insertion portion and coupled to the insertion portion.
  8. The ice maker of one of claim 1 to 7, further comprising: a driving unit configured to rotate the ice tray about one axis; a main connector connected to power applied to the driving unit; an auxiliary connector electrically connected to the main connector; and a heating wire connector electrically connected to the heating wire, wherein the heating wire connector is coupled with the auxiliary connector, and the heating wire receives power applied to the main connector.
  9. A refrigerator comprising: a cabinet including a first storage compartment and a second storage compartment; a water supply pipe connecting the first storage compartment to the second storage compartment; and an ice maker disposed in the second storage compartment, wherein the ice maker includes: a fill cup that receives water from the water supply pipe; a heating wire disposed on at least one outer surface of the fill cup; and a heating wire cover fastened to the fill cup to fix the heating wire to the fill cup.
  10. The refrigerator of claim 9, further comprising: a water supply device disposed in the first storage compartment located above the second storage compartment, wherein water supplied through the water supply device flows into one side of the water supply pipe, is discharged from the other side of the water supply pipe, and is delivered to the fill cup.
  11. The refrigerator of claim 9 or 10, wherein the heating wire is disposed to surround an outer lower surface and two outer side surfaces of the fill cup.
  12. The refrigerator of claim 10 or 11, when being dependent on claim 10, wherein the water supply device includes a water storage compartment that stores water.
  13. The refrigerator of one of claims 10 to 12, when being dependent on claim 10, wherein the water supply device receives water from a water source disposed outside the cabinet.
  14. A method of controlling removal of residual ice of a fill cup of a refrigerator including a cabinet including a first storage compartment and a second storage compartment, a water supply pipe connecting the first storage compartment to the second storage compartment, and an ice maker including a fill cup that is disposed in the second storage compartment and receives water from the water supply pipe and a heating wire disposed on at least one outer surface of the fill cup, the method comprising: determining whether an ice-transferring control operation of the ice maker exceeds a preset number of times; and operating the heating wire for a preset time when the ice-transferring control operation of the ice maker exceeds the preset number of times.
  15. The method of claim 14, further comprising initializing the preset number of times to 0 after the operating of the heating wire for the preset time.

Description

BACKGROUND [Technical Field] The present invention relates to an ice maker, a refrigerator including an ice maker, and a method of controlling removal of residual ice from a fill cup of the refrigerator including the ice maker. [Description of the Related Art] A refrigerator is a home appliance for supplying cold air generated using circulation of refrigerant to a storage compartment to keep various types of storage objects fresh for a long time. An ice maker that generates ice can be provided inside the refrigerator. The ice maker is configured to make ice by accommodating water supplied from a water source or a water tank in an ice tray. Meanwhile, in the case of an ice maker, a fill cup that receives water and supplies the water to an ice tray can be provided. However, during the process of supplying water to the fill cup, residual water can remain in the fill cup and freeze. For example, a freezing problem in the fill cup can occur through the following process. First, water is supplied to the fill cup through a water pipe provided in the refrigerator, and ice making begins. After water supply is completed, residual water remains inside the fill cup, which can cause freezing due to a low temperature inside the ice maker. This residual ice needs to melt during the next water supply after ice making is completed, but due to the low temperature and limited heat, the residual ice cannot melt completely and can gradually grow. When such a process is repeated, the residual ice continuously accumulates and blocks the fill cup and an inlet of the water supply pipe, which can eventually cause water to overflow or the water supply to be blocked through a sealing part that seals the water supply pipe during the water supply process. As a result, when freezing occurs in the fill cup of the ice maker, a problem that ice production stops or water leaks into the refrigerator can occur. This problem can adversely affect the performance of the ice maker and the hygiene inside the refrigerator and cause inconvenience to a user and lower the reliability of a product. The ice maker provided in the conventional refrigerator has no separate structural device to solve such a freezing problem and is not effectively solving the defect problem caused by freezing in the fill cup. Accordingly, in order to solve the above problem, the present invention proposes an ice maker, a refrigerator including an ice maker, and a method of controlling removal of residual ice from a fill cup of the refrigerator including the ice maker, which can improve the reliability and efficiency of the ice maker by preventing a freezing problem of the fill cup. [SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION] The present invention is directed to providing an ice maker capable of preventing residual water from remaining in a fill cup of the ice maker and freezing, a refrigerator including an ice maker, and a method of controlling removal of residual ice from a fill cup. The present invention is also directed to providing an ice maker capable of effectively removing residual ice from a fill cup while minimizing the degradation of the performance of the entire ice maker due to the heat from the heating wire disposed in the fill cup, a refrigerator including an ice maker, and a method of controlling removal of residual ice from a fill cup. The present invention is also directed to providing an ice maker capable of increasing the heat transfer efficiency of a heating wire transferred to a fill cup, a refrigerator including an ice maker, and a method of controlling removal of residual ice from a fill cup. The present invention is also directed to providing an ice maker capable of increasing adhesion between a heating wire and a fill cup, a refrigerator including an ice maker, and a method of controlling removal of residual ice from a fill cup. The present invention is also directed to providing an ice maker capable of preventing a heating wire from being easily removed from a fill cup, a refrigerator including an ice maker, and a method of controlling removal of residual ice from a fill cup. The present invention is also directed to providing an ice maker capable of reducing an installation space of a heating wire terminal connected to a heating wire and increasing assemblability, a refrigerator including an ice maker, and a method of controlling removal of residual ice from a fill cup. Objects of the present invention are not limited to the above objects, and other objects and advantages of the present invention that are not described can be understood by the following description and will be more clearly understood by embodiments of the present invention. In addition, it will be able to be easily seen that the objects and advantages of the present invention may be achieved by devices and combinations thereof that are described in the claims. In order to solve the above problems, according to one embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a refrigerator including a hous