Ice making assembly for a refrigerator appliance

Abstract

A refrigerator appliance includes a cabinet defining a chilled chamber, a door rotatably mounted to the cabinet and rotatable between a closed position enclosing the chilled chamber and an open position providing access to the chilled chamber, and an ice making assembly mounted to the door of the refrigerator appliance. The ice making assembly includes an icemaker frame mounted to the door, an ice tray rotatably mounted to the icemaker frame and defining a plurality of mold cavities for receiving water that is formed into ice, a drive motor operably coupled to the ice tray to rotate the ice tray and harvest the ice formed within the plurality of mold cavities, a splash shield extending from a top edge of the ice tray to prevent splashing from the plurality of mold cavities, and an insulation layer that covers a bottom surface of the ice tray.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A refrigerator appliance defining a vertical direction, a lateral direction, and a transverse direction, comprising:
 a cabinet defining a chilled chamber;   a door rotatably mounted to the cabinet and rotatable between a closed position enclosing the chilled chamber and an open position providing access to the chilled chamber; and   an ice making assembly mounted to the door of the refrigerator appliance, the ice making assembly comprising:
 an icemaker frame mounted to the door; 
 an ice tray rotatably mounted to the icemaker frame and defining a plurality of mold cavities for receiving water that is formed into ice; 
 a drive motor operably coupled to the ice tray to rotate the ice tray and harvest the ice formed within the plurality of mold cavities; and 
 a splash shield extending from a top edge of the ice tray to prevent splashing from the plurality of mold cavities. 
   
     
     
         2 . The refrigerator appliance of  claim 1 , wherein the splash shield extends upward toward a center of the ice tray at an extension angle measured relative to a horizontal plane. 
     
     
         3 . The refrigerator appliance of  claim 2 , wherein the extension angle is between about 45 and 85 degrees. 
     
     
         4 . The refrigerator appliance of  claim 2 , wherein the extension angle is about degrees. 
     
     
         5 . The refrigerator appliance of  claim 1 , wherein the splash shield is positioned around an entire perimeter of the ice tray. 
     
     
         6 . The refrigerator appliance of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 an insulation layer that covers at least a portion of a bottom surface of the ice tray.   
     
     
         7 . The refrigerator appliance of  claim 6 , wherein the splash shield and the insulation layer are formed as a single, integral piece. 
     
     
         8 . The refrigerator appliance of  claim 6 , wherein the insulation layer fully surrounds an entirety of a bottom surface of ice tray. 
     
     
         9 . The refrigerator appliance of  claim 1 , wherein the ice tray is formed from polypropylene and the splash shield is formed from a silicone rubber. 
     
     
         10 . The refrigerator appliance of  claim 1 , wherein the splash shield is over molded onto the ice tray. 
     
     
         11 . The refrigerator appliance of  claim 1 , wherein the ice tray is twistable to facilitate harvest of ice from within the plurality of mold cavities. 
     
     
         12 . The refrigerator appliance of  claim 1 , wherein the refrigerator appliance is a side-by-side refrigerator appliance and the chilled chamber is a freezer chamber. 
     
     
         13 . An ice making assembly mounted to a door of a refrigerator appliance, the ice making assembly comprising:
 an icemaker frame mounted to the door;   an ice tray rotatably mounted to the icemaker frame and defining a plurality of mold cavities for receiving water that is formed into ice;   a drive motor operably coupled to the ice tray to rotate the ice tray and harvest the ice formed within the plurality of mold cavities; and   a splash shield extending from a top edge of the ice tray to prevent splashing from the plurality of mold cavities.   
     
     
         14 . The ice making assembly of  claim 13 , wherein the splash shield extends upward toward a center of the ice tray at an extension angle measured relative to a horizontal plane. 
     
     
         15 . The ice making assembly of  claim 13 , wherein the splash shield is positioned around an entire perimeter of the ice tray. 
     
     
         16 . The ice making assembly of  claim 13 , further comprising:
 an insulation layer that covers at least a portion of a bottom surface of the ice tray.   
     
     
         17 . The ice making assembly of  claim 16 , wherein the splash shield and the insulation layer are formed as a single, integral piece. 
     
     
         18 . The ice making assembly of  claim 16 , wherein the insulation layer fully surrounds an entirety of a bottom surface of ice tray. 
     
     
         19 . The ice making assembly of  claim 13 , wherein the ice tray is formed from polypropylene and the splash shield is formed from a silicone rubber. 
     
     
         20 . The ice making assembly of  claim 13 , wherein the splash shield is over molded onto the ice tray.