Ice maker and refrigerator

Abstract

A refrigerator includes a cabinet, an ice maker configured to make spherical ice, and an ice bin for storing the ice. The ice maker includes an upper assembly including a plurality of hemispherical upper chambers, a lower assembly disposed below and pivotably coupled to the upper assembly, where the lower assembly includes a plurality of hemispherical lower chambers that are configured to come in contact with the plurality of hemispherical upper chambers to define a plurality of spherical ice chambers, a driver configured to pivot the lower assembly, and an ice-full state detection lever that is coupled to and configured to be pivoted by the driver, where the ice-full state detection lever is configured to pivot in the same direction as the lower assembly to detect whether the ice bin is in an ice-full state.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A refrigerator comprising:
 a cabinet; and   an ice maker disposed in the cabinet and configured to make spherical ice;   an ice bin disposed below the ice maker and configured to receive spherical ice made in the ice maker;   wherein the ice maker includes:
 an upper assembly including a plurality of hemispherical upper chambers, 
 a lower assembly disposed below and pivotably coupled to the upper assembly, wherein the lower assembly includes a plurality of hemispherical lower chambers that are configured to come in contact with the plurality of hemispherical upper chambers to define a plurality of spherical ice chambers, respectively, 
 a driver configured to pivot the lower assembly, and 
 an ice-full state detection lever that is coupled to and configured to be pivoted by the driver, wherein the ice-full state detection lever is configured to pivot in the same direction as the lower assembly to detect whether the ice bin is in an ice-full state, 
   wherein the ice-full state detection lever is configured to extend vertically downward to a vertical level beyond a pivoting radius of the lower assembly, and   wherein the ice-full state detection lever is configured to pivot to a lowest vertical level, wherein the lowest vertical level is positioned vertically higher than a bottom of the ice bin by a sum of a diameter of a single spherical ice and a predefined vertical dimension.