ICE MAKER WITH INTERNAL EJECTION BUTTON

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

This application claims benefit of priority to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2024-0191578 filed on Dec. 19, 2024 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

The present disclosure relates to an ice maker having a discharge button therein, and, in particular, an ice maker having a discharge button therein enabling an ice discharge operation and a water discharge operation even in a state in which an external cover having an ice discharge button and a water discharge button is removed during an after-sales service or a cleaning process.

2. Description of Related Art

An ice maker may be a device for making ice. When water is filled in a water tank, a water pump may be operated to supply the water to a cold plate, and ice may be generated by heat exchange between a refrigerant cooled in operating a compressor and the water flowing downwardly to the cold plate.

In a conventional ice maker, a water discharge button and an ice discharge button for discharging the thus made ice may be installed to be exposed from an external side surface of a cover. In addition, the ice discharge button and the water discharge button may be electrically connected to a control unit mounted on a main body through a connector.

When performing after-sales service due to a breakdown of the ice maker, a cleaning process due to long-term use, or the like, the connector connecting the control unit of the main body and the cover may be separated for smooth operations, and thus, discharge of ice or water may become impossible during the after-sales service or the cleaning process.

In this manner, since the discharge of ice or water is impossible in a state in which an external cover is removed, when it is necessary to discharge ice or water during a process for determining whether an operation is working properly or for other reasons, the external cover equipped with the discharge button and the main body should be reconnected to the connector, and when an after-sales service or a cleaning process should be continued after discharge of water or ice is finished, the cover should be separated again, which significantly reduces workability.

SUMMARY

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, an ice maker having a discharge button therein enabling an ice discharge operation and a water discharge operation even in a state in which an external cover is removed during an after-sales service or a cleaning process, may be provided.

The subject of the present disclosure is not limited to the above-described contents. Anyone with ordinary knowledge in the technical field to which the present disclosure belongs will have no difficulty in understanding additional tasks of the present disclosure from the overall content of the present specification.

According to an aspect of the present disclosure, an ice maker includes a cover and a main body, and the cover having an ice discharge port, a water discharge port, an ice discharge button, and a water discharge button, wherein the main body is provided with an internal display module on an external side surface of the main body, and the internal display module includes an internal discharge button that allows ice or water to be discharged even if the cover is not attached.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the ice may be discharged from the ice discharge port when the internal discharge button is clicked once, and the water may be discharged from the water discharge port when the internal discharge button is clicked twice consecutively.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the internal discharge button is configured such that when it is clicked while the ice or water is being discharged, the discharge of the ice or water is stopped. That is, during discharging of ice or water, the discharging of ice or water may be stopped when the internal discharge button is clicked.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The above and other aspects, features, and advantages of the present disclosure will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an ice maker according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a front view illustrating an internal display module provided on an external side surface of a main body after an external cover is removed in FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the attached drawings. However, embodiments of the present disclosure may be modified in various different forms, and the scope of the present disclosure is not limited to embodiments described below.

In addition, embodiments of the present disclosure may be provided to more completely explain the present disclosure to a person having average knowledge in the relevant technical field.

In the drawings, shapes, sizes, or the like of elements may be exaggerated for clarity.

In describing embodiments of the present disclosure, when it is judged that a specific description of known technologies related to the present disclosure may unnecessarily obscure the gist of the present disclosure, the detailed description thereof will be omitted. In addition, the terms described below may be terms defined in consideration of their functions in the present disclosure, and these may vary depending on the intention, custom, or the like of the user or operator. Therefore, the definitions should be made based on the contents throughout the present specification. The terms used in the detailed description may be only for describing the embodiments of the present disclosure, and should never be limited. Unless clearly used otherwise, expressions in the singular form include plural meanings.

In the present description, expressions such as “including” or “having” may be intended to indicate certain features, numbers, steps, operations, elements, portions or combinations thereof, and should not be construed to exclude the presence or possibility of one or more other features, numbers, steps, operations, elements, portions or combinations thereof other than those described.

In the present specification, terms such as “on,” “upper,” “upper portion,” “upper surface,” “below,” “lower,” “lower portion,” “lower surface,” “side surface,” or the like may be based on the drawings, and may actually vary depending on a direction in which elements or components are disposed.

In addition, throughout the specification, when a portion is said to be “connected” to another portion, this may include not only cases in which it may be “directly connected,” but also cases in which it may be “indirectly connected” with another element interposed therebetween.

Hereinafter, the present disclosure will be described in detail through each embodiment or example of the present disclosure. It should be noted that each embodiment or example described in the present specification is not limited to a single embodiment or example, but may be combined with other embodiments or examples. Therefore, citation of a claim in the scope of the patent claims may be only an example of an embodiment, and the technical idea of the present disclosure should not be interpreted only as a combination with the cited claim, and the combination with various claims may be also included in the scope of the technical idea of the present disclosure.

Hereinafter, the present disclosure will be specifically described through examples. However, it should be noted that the examples described below may be only intended to illustrate and concretize the present disclosure, and may not be intended to limit the scope of the rights of the present disclosure. This may be because the scope of the rights of the present disclosure may be determined by matters described in the patent claims and matters able to be reasonably inferred therefrom.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an ice maker according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, and FIG. 2 is a front view illustrating an internal display module provided on an external side surface of a main body after an external cover is removed in FIG. 1.

Referring to FIG. 1, an ice maker according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may include a cover 10 installed to cover a front surface of a main body 200, an ice discharge port 60, and a water discharge port 40.

In addition, reference numeral 70 in the drawings refers to a stand preventing ice and water discharged from the ice discharge port 60 and the water discharge port 40 from falling to a floor when the ice and water fall downward.

In addition, the cover 10 may be equipped with an ice discharge button 30 and a water discharge button 50.

When the ice discharge button 30 is pressed, in a state in which it is pressed, ice may be discharged from the ice discharge port 60, and when the water discharge button 50 is pressed, in a state in which it is pressed, water may be discharged from the water discharge port 40.

Referring to FIG. 2, an internal display module 100 may be equipped on an external side surface of the main body 200 from which the cover 10 has been removed, to check a state, or to perform an operation such as cleaning or the like, when performing an after-sales service.

The internal display module 100 may be equipped with a slot 160 into which a connector (not illustrated) is inserted to be electrically connected to the ice discharge button 30 and the water discharge button 50 equipped on the cover 10.

In addition, the internal display module 100 may be equipped with a control unit (not illustrated), and may include a status display window 180 for simply displaying and checking an overall status to be exposed externally, a power on/off display unit 171 for checking whether power is turned on, a cleaning operation display unit 172 for checking whether cleaning is in progress, a power button 120 for turning power on/off, a status check button 130 for checking various current statuses of the ice maker, a cleaning button 140 for instructing the ice maker to clean, and an internal discharge button 150.

Since a conventional ice maker may be equipped with an ice discharge button and a water discharge button only on an external cover, when the cover is separated from a main body, ice or water may not be discharged until the cover is reattached to the main body even though repair, inspection, or cleaning is in progress or work is completed.

However, an ice maker of an embodiment may discharge ice or water through the ice discharge port 60 or the water discharge port 40 without connecting the cover 10 by using the internal discharge button 150 installed in the internal display module 100.

In an embodiment, when the internal discharge button 150 is clicked once, the control unit may recognize this and may issue a command to discharge ice through the ice discharge port 60 in the same manner as a case in which the ice discharge button 30 of the cover 10 is pressed, and when the internal discharge button 150 is clicked twice consecutively within a set short period of time, the control unit may recognize this and may issue a command to discharge water through the water discharge port 40 in the same manner as a case in which the water discharge button 50 of the cover 10 is pressed.

In addition, when the internal discharge button 150 is clicked while ice or water is being discharged, the control unit may recognize this and may stop the discharge of ice or water.

Therefore, even when the cover 10 is not attached to, but is separated from the main body 200, it is possible to easily test whether ice or water is properly discharged during a repair or inspection process or a cleaning process of the ice maker.

An ice maker equipped with an internal discharge button of the present disclosure has an effect of being able to perform an ice discharge operation and a water discharge operation even in a state in which an external cover is removed during an after-sales service due to a breakdown of the ice maker, or a cleaning process due to long-term use.

While example embodiments have been illustrated and described above, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that modifications and variations could be made without departing from the scope of the present disclosure as defined by the appended claims.