Ice maker subassembly for a refrigerator freezer

• US 5,408,844 A
• Filed: 06/17/1994
• Issued: 04/25/1995
• Est. Priority Date: 06/17/1994
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Stokes, Vijay K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tapolcai, William E.
• Application Number:
  US08/262,109
• Time in Patent Office: 312 Days
• Field of Search: 62/351, 249/79-81, 219/543
• US Class Current: 62/351
• CPC Class Codes: F25C 5/08 by heating bodies in contact with the ice

Abstract

A subassembly for an ice maker includes a plastic ice cube tray having a housing located within and attached to the refrigerator freezer. The housing has spaced-apart ice cube cavities. An electrically heatable metallic film coating is attached to and generally covers the cavity surfaces. When the cavity surfaces have been heated to detach the formed ice cubes therefrom, in one embodiment, a mechanism is provided to rotate the tray upside down to release the ice cubes. In another embodiment, a fixedly-"upside-down" and semicircular-cylindrical-shaped ice cube tray is placed in a trough, which also has an electrically heatable metallic coating, and a mechanism is provided to rotate the trough to uncover the openings of the ice cube cavities in the tray to release the formed ice cubes when the cavity and trough surfaces have been electrically heated to detach the ice cubes therefrom.

Claims

1. An ice maker subassembly for a refrigerator freezer, said ice maker subassembly comprising:

a) an ice cube tray having a housing, said housing disposed within and attached to said refrigerator freezer, said housing including a plurality of spaced-apart ice cube cavities having cavity surfaces, and said cavity surfaces having a first electrical conductance;

b) an electrically heatable coating attached to and generally covering said cavity surfaces, said electrically heatable coating having a second electrical conductance greater than said first electrical conductance, wherein said housing has a shape of a generally semicircular cylinder having a longitudinal axis, wherein said ice cube cavities face generally radially outward from said longitudinal axis wherein said housing is fixedly oriented such that said ice cube cavities face below the horizontal, and wherein each of said ice cube cavities has an opening; and

c) a generally semicircular-shaped trough generally coaxially aligned with said longitudinal axis and having a concave surface with an electrically heatable coating, said trough disposable such that said concave surface covers said openings.

2. The ice maker subassembly of claim 1, also including means for rotating said trough in one direction generally one-half turn from a first position wherein said concave surface covers said openings to a second position wherein said concave surface uncovers said openings and for rotating said trough in a direction opposite to said one direction from said second position to said first position.

3. The ice maker subassembly of claim 2, wherein said means includes a solenoid.