Appliance with a clear ice maker and ice press

Abstract

An appliance described herein can include an ice maker and a cooled storage compartment. The ice maker can include a cooling plate coupled to a mold cavity, where the cooling plate includes a cooling tube and an electric heater. The cooling tube can cool the mold cavity during an ice production mode in which an ice billet is formed in the mold cavity by spraying water from a nozzle into the mold cavity. The electric heater can heat the mold cavity during an ice harvesting mode in which the ice billet is released from the mold cavity and guided along a guide ramp to the cooled storage compartment, where the ice billet can remain until needed. The appliance can also include an ice press, which can have one or more interchangeable molds and electric heaters to melt an ice billet into a shape of the molds.

1 . An appliance comprising:
 an ice press including:
 an interchangeable mold; 
 a first electric heater configured to heat ice positioned in the interchangeable mold to melt the ice into a shape of the interchangeable mold; and 
 a guide rail along which the interchangeable mold is vertically movable to mold the ice into the shape of the interchangeable mold; 
   an ice maker including:
 an ice mold defining a mold cavity; 
 a cooling plate coupled to the ice mold, the cooling plate including a cooling tube and a second electric heater, the cooling tube being configured to cool the mold cavity and the second electric heater being configured to heat the mold cavity; 
 a guide ramp extending from below the mold cavity to a cooled storage container, the guide ramp being configured to transfer an ice billet created in the ice mold to the cooled storage container; and 
   the cooled storage container for storing one or more ice billets.   
     
     
         2 . The appliance of  claim 1 , wherein the ice press includes a first interchangeable mold and a second interchangeable mold, the first interchangeable mold being movable along one or more guide rails toward the second interchangeable mold to shape the ice, and wherein the ice press is configured to be manually operated by a user independently of the ice maker. 
     
     
         3 . The appliance of  claim 1 , wherein the ice press is selectively removable from the appliance, and wherein the appliance includes a receptacle for storing the ice press. 
     
     
         4 . The appliance of  claim 1 , wherein the ice maker further comprises a water tank and a water pump, the water tank being positioned below a bottom opening in the mold cavity to capture water runoff during an ice production mode, and the water pump being configured to circulate water from the water tank through a nozzle into the mold cavity to produce the ice billet. 
     
     
         5 . The appliance of  claim 4 , wherein the nozzle is positioned below the bottom opening of the mold cavity and oriented to spray the water upwards into the mold cavity. 
     
     
         6 . The appliance of  claim 5 , wherein the guide ramp is positioned between the nozzle and the bottom opening of the mold cavity. 
     
     
         7 . The appliance of  claim 1 , wherein the cooled storage container includes a carousel of ice holders, the carousel being rotatable about a central axis, and wherein the guide ramp is oriented to guide the ice billet from the ice maker to the carousel. 
     
     
         8 . The appliance of  claim 1 , further comprising a water dispenser that is separate from the ice maker and the ice press, the water dispenser being usable to dispense water into a cup of a user. 
     
     
         9 . The appliance of  claim 1 , wherein the ice maker includes a cover plate with evaporator fins, the cover plate being disposed overtop of the cooling plate; and
 wherein the appliance further comprises a duct surrounding the evaporator fins, the duct extending from the evaporator fins to the cooled storage container, wherein the duct includes a fan configured to circulate cooled air to the cooled storage container.   
     
     
         10 . The appliance of  claim 1 , wherein the cooling plate is coupled to a top of the mold cavity, and further comprising:
 a refrigerant circuit coupled to the cooling tube, the refrigerant circuit being configured to circulate refrigerant through the cooling tube to cool the top of the mold cavity during an ice production mode; and   an electrical circuit coupled to the second electric heater, the electrical circuit being configured to activate the second electric heater to heat the top of the mold cavity during an ice harvesting mode.   
     
     
         11 . The appliance of  claim 1 , further comprising a load sensor coupled to a processor, the processor being configured to initiate an ice harvesting mode based on a load measurement from the load sensor being below a threshold level. 
     
     
         12 . The appliance of  claim 1 , further comprising a transfer sensor coupled to a processor, the processor being configured to:
 receive a sensor signal from the transfer sensor, the sensor signal indicating that the ice billet was transferred from the ice maker to the cooled storage container; and   based on receiving the sensor signal, drain excess water from a water tank by operate a valve associated with the water tank, wherein the water tank serves as a source of water sprayed through a nozzle during an ice production mode.   
     
     
         13 . A method comprising:
 cooling, by an ice maker of an appliance, a mold cavity by circulating refrigerant through a cooling tube in a cooling plate coupled to the mold cavity;   creating, by the ice maker, an ice billet in the mold cavity by spraying water from a nozzle below the mold cavity through a bottom opening of the mold cavity during an ice production mode;   releasing, by the ice maker, the ice billet from the mold cavity using an electric heater in the cooling plate during an ice harvesting mode, wherein the ice harvesting mode is subsequent to the ice production mode, and wherein the electric heater is separate from the cooling tube; and   guiding, by the ice maker, the ice billet along a guide ramp to a cooled storage container.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising:
 shaping, by an ice press that is separate from the ice maker, the ice billet into a shape defined by an interchangeable mold of the ice press, wherein the ice billet is shaped at least in part by applying heat from another electric heater of the ice press to the ice billet in the interchangeable mold.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the appliance includes a receptacle for storing an ice press, the ice press being selectively removable from the appliance and usable to shape the ice billet. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the cooled storage container includes a carousel of ice holders, and wherein the guide ramp is oriented to guide the ice billet from the ice maker to the carousel. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the cooled storage container includes one or more ramps for storing ice billets, each of the one or more ramps being oriented at a downward angle from a back of the cooled storage container to a front of the cooled storage container. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising:
 operating a refrigerant circuit coupled to the cooling tube to circulate the refrigerant through the cooling tube to cool the mold cavity during the ice production mode; and   operating an electrical circuit coupled to the electric heater to heat the mold cavity during the ice harvesting mode.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the water for creating the ice billet is stored in a water tank, and further comprising:
 receiving, by a processor, a load measurement from a load sensor coupled to the water tank; and   initiating, by the processor, the ice harvesting mode based on the load measurement.   
     
     
         20 . An ice maker, comprising:
 an ice mold defining a mold cavity;   a nozzle positioned below a bottom opening of the mold cavity and oriented to spray water into the mold cavity;   a water tank;   a cooling plate coupled to a top of the mold cavity, the cooling plate including a cooling tube and an electric heater, the cooling tube being separate from the electric heater;   a processor; and   a memory storing instructions that are executable by the processor for causing the processor to:
 initiate an ice production mode in which an ice billet is formed in the mold cavity by spraying the water from the water tank through the nozzle into the mold cavity to accumulate ice on the cooling plate, wherein initiating the ice production mode involves operating a refrigerant circuit to direct refrigerant through the cooling tube; and 
 initiate an ice harvesting mode in which the ice billet is released from the cooling plate, wherein initiating the ice harvesting mode involves operating an electrical circuit to activate the electric heater.