Ice making apparatus for a fridge or freezer

Abstract

An ice-making device for a refrigerator or freezer comprises: an ice-making tray having an upper side, a lower side, a longitudinal direction and a transverse direction of said tray, wherein said ice-making tray is mounted so as to be rotatable about a first axis of rotation which is parallel to the longitudinal direction of the tray; a collecting container arranged underneath the ice-making tray for catching ice which falls out of said ice-making tray when the latter is in an emptying rotational position; a wall structure which, when the ice-making tray is in an ice-making rotational position, delimits a first air duct which runs underneath said ice-making tray and is open towards the underside of said tray, wherein said first air duct runs in the longitudinal direction of the tray and extends over substantially the entire length of the ice-making tray, wherein the wall structure has at least one wall element which, when the ice-making tray is in the ice-making rotational position, projects into a falling trajectory of the ice falling out of said ice-making tray and is arranged so as to be movable out of said falling trajectory; and a cold air supply system which is designed for the purpose of directing cold air into the first air duct in such a way that said cold air flows, within said first air duct, in the direction from a first longitudinal end of the tray to an opposite, second longitudinal end of said ice-making tray.

1 . An ice-making device for a refrigerator or freezer, the device comprising:
 an ice-making tray having an upper side, a lower side, a longitudinal direction and a transverse direction of the ice-making tray, wherein the ice-making tray is mounted so as to be rotatable about a first axis of rotation which is parallel to the longitudinal direction of the ice-making tray;   a collecting container arranged underneath the ice-making tray for catching ice which falls out of the ice-making tray when the latter is in an emptying rotational position;   a wall structure which, when the ice-making tray is in an ice-making rotational position, delimits a first air duct which runs underneath the ice-making tray and is open towards an underside of the ice-making tray, wherein the first air duct runs in the longitudinal direction of the ice-making tray and extends over substantially the entire length of the ice-making tray, wherein the wall structure has at least one wall element which, when the ice-making tray is in the ice-making rotational position, projects into a falling trajectory of the ice falling out of the ice-making tray and is arranged so as to be movable out of the falling trajectory; and   a cold air supply system which directs cold air into the first air duct in such a way that the cold air flows, within the first air duct, in the direction from a first longitudinal end of the ice-making tray to an opposite, second longitudinal end of the ice-making tray.   
     
     
         2 . The ice-making device according to  claim 1 , wherein the wall structure has a wall element which at least partly delimits the first air duct and which is rotatably arranged for rotation about the first axis of rotation. 
     
     
         3 . The ice-making device according to  claim 1 , wherein the wall structure has a wall element which at least partly delimits the first air duct and which is rotatably arranged for rotation about a second axis of rotation which is parallel to the first axis of rotation. 
     
     
         4 . The ice-making device according to  claim 3 , wherein the second axis of rotation runs, when observed in a top view of the ice-making tray in the ice-making rotational position, in the region of, or outside, a longitudinal lateral edge of the ice-making tray. 
     
     
         5 . The ice-making device according to  claim 1 , wherein the wall structure has a first wall element and a second wall element, wherein each of the first wall element and the second wall element delimits part of the first air duct, wherein the first wall element is arranged so as to be rotatable about a second axis of rotation which is parallel to the first axis of rotation, and the second wall element is arranged so as to be rotatable about a third axis of rotation which is parallel to the first axis of rotation and to the second axis of rotation. 
     
     
         6 . The ice-making device according to  claim 5 , wherein the second axis of rotation and the third axis of rotation lie, when observed in a top view of the ice-making tray in the ice-making rotational position, in a mirror-inverted manner in relation to a longitudinal central axis of the ice-making tray. 
     
     
         7 . The ice-making device according to  claim 5 , wherein, when observed in a top view of the ice-making tray in the ice-making rotational position, the second axis of rotation runs in the region of, or outside, a first longitudinal lateral edge of the ice-making tray, and the third axis of rotation runs in the region of, or outside, an opposite, second longitudinal lateral edge of the ice-making tray. 
     
     
         8 . The ice-making device according to  claim 1 , wherein a cross-sectional area of a duct space of the first air duct, which duct space is delimited between the wall structure and an enveloping surface of the underside of the ice-making tray, decreases in the direction from the first longitudinal end of the ice-making tray to the second longitudinal end of the ice-making tray. 
     
     
         9 . The ice-making device according to  claim 8 , wherein the cross-sectional area of the duct space decreases continuously over at least a partial portion of the length of the first air duct. 
     
     
         10 . The ice-making device according to  claim 1 , wherein the wall structure also delimits a second air duct which, when the ice-making tray is in the ice-making rotational position, runs underneath the ice-making tray in the longitudinal direction and within which at least some of the cold air flows back, after flowing through the first air duct, in a direction from the second longitudinal end of the ice-making tray to the first longitudinal end of the ice-making tray, a deflecting surface for deflecting the cold air out of the first air duct and into the second air duct being arranged in the region of the second longitudinal end of the ice-making tray. 
     
     
         11 . The ice-making device according to  claim 10 , wherein the deflecting surface is formed by the wall structure.