Ice making apparatus having rotational cutter

Abstract

An ice making apparatus, including: a fixed cylinder; a drive shaft mounted to the fixed cylinder and rotated by a drive unit; a lower rotational plate mounted to the drive shaft; an upper rotational plate provided with an ice dropping hole and mounted to the upper end of the drive shaft; a fixed gear mounted to the outer circumference of the fixed cylinder; a rotational gear externally engaged with the fixed gear; a rotational shaft mounted to the rotational gear and extending upward through the lower rotational plate to a position above the ice dropping hole; and a rotational cutter mounted to the upper end of the rotational shaft and rotated to cut dropping ice into pieces, wherein the pieces of ice drop through the ice dropping hole and are distributed to the outside of the ice making apparatus by a centrifugal force of the lower rotational plate.

1 . An ice making apparatus having a rotational cutter, comprising:
 a vertically installed fixed cylinder;   a drive shaft inserted into and held by the fixed cylinder and rotated by a drive unit;   a lower rotational plate rotatably coupled to the drive shaft at a location above the fixed cylinder;   an upper rotational plate having a circular shape and provided with an ice dropping hole, and mounted to an upper end of the drive shaft;   a fixed gear mounted to an outside of the fixed cylinder;   a rotational gear externally engaged with the fixed gear and rotated thereby;   a rotational shaft mounted to the rotational gear so as to be rotated and extending upwards through the lower rotational plate to a location above the ice dropping hole; and   a rotational cutter mounted to an upper end of the rotational shaft and rotated to cut ice that drops because of gravity,   wherein the ice cut by the rotational cutter drops through the ice dropping hole and is centrifugally distributed to an outside of the ice making apparatus due to a centrifugal force of the lower rotational plate.   
     
     
         2 . The ice making apparatus having the rotational cutter as set forth in  claim 1 , wherein the fixed gear comprises:
 an external gear mounted to an outer circumference of the fixed cylinder and externally engaged with the rotational gear.   
     
     
         3 . The ice making apparatus having the rotational cutter as set forth in  claim 2 , wherein the drive unit comprises:
 a motor arranged at a location around the upper rotational plate; and   a drive gear rotated by the motor,   wherein the upper rotational plate is shaped as a spur gear engaged with the drive gear and thereby rotates the drive shaft.   
     
     
         4 . The ice making apparatus having the rotational cutter as set forth in  claim 1 , wherein the fixed gear comprises:
 an internal gear arranged to surround the fixed cylinder and internally engaged with the rotational gear.   
     
     
         5 . The ice making apparatus having the rotational cutter as set forth in  claim 4 , wherein the drive unit comprises:
 a driven gear mounted to a lower end of the drive shaft;   a drive gear rotatably engaged with the driven gear; and   a motor for driving the drive gear.   
     
     
         6 . The ice making apparatus having the rotational cutter as set forth in  claim 1 , wherein the fixed cylinder is provided with a bearing for rotatably supporting the drive shaft. 
     
     
         7 . The ice making apparatus having the rotational cutter as set forth in  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a rotational cylinder provided at a location below the lower rotational plate, with a bearing provided in the rotational cylinder for rotatably holding the rotational shaft inserted into the rotational cylinder.