Ice maker with rocking cold plate

摘要

An ice maker assembly includes an ice forming plate and a cooling source thermally engaged to a bottom surface of the ice forming plate. The cooling source is configured to freeze water coming into contact with a top surface of the ice forming plate. A containment wall surrounds the top surface of the ice forming plate to define an ice tray that is configured to retain water. An electrical drive body is rotatably coupled to the ice tray and is configured to oscillate the ice-forming plate in a rocking cycle about a transverse axis of the ice tray. A median wall divides the ice tray along the transverse axis into a first reservoir and a second reservoir. The rocking cycle causes water to repeatedly move over the median wall to form layers of an ice piece within each reservoir of the ice tray.

主权项

1. An ice maker assembly comprising:
an ice-forming plate having a top surface and a bottom surface; a cooling source thermally engaged to the bottom surface of the ice-forming plate and configured to freeze water coming into contact with the top surface of the ice-forming plate; a containment wall surrounding the top surface of the ice-forming plate to define an ice tray that is configured to retain water; and an electrical drive body rotatably coupled to the ice tray, wherein the drive body is configured to oscillate the ice-forming plate in a rocking cycle about a transverse axis of the ice tray causing water to move repeatedly across the top surface of the ice-forming plate to form layers of an ice piece within the ice tray; wherein the rocking cycle is configured to expose a top layer of the ice piece to air when the rocking cycle changes between a first direction and a second direction; wherein the cooling source includes an evaporator element coupled with the bottom surface of the ice-forming plate; and wherein the evaporator element includes a first coil proximate a first end of the ice tray and a second coil proximate a second end of the ice tray, and wherein the first and second coils are separated from the bottom of the ice tray and extend below opposite ends of the ice tray, and are configured to flex when the drive body rotates the ice tray.