Haier US Appliance Solutions, Inc.

General Electric Company

Whirlpool Corporation

Pur Water Purification Products, Inc.

Alan Joseph Mitchell

Bart Andrew Nuss

Brent Alden Junge

Ansuraj Seenivasan

Stephanos Kyriacou

Charles Benjamin Miller

Andrew Reinhard Krause

Joel Erik Hitzelberger

David James Emmons

John Paul Boros

Judd Dylan Olson

Donald Stephen Bretl

Todd Lawrence Rose

John Keith Besore

Gregory Sergeevich Chernov

Kevin Farrelly Nolan

Martin Mitchell Zentner

Ginger Elayne Patera

Jason Robert Yochum

Lorina June White

Russell James Fallon

Jeffrey Michael Colyer

Allan R Steinkuhl

Ronald Scott Tarr

Ramasamy Thiyagarajan

Errin Whitney Gnadinger

Matthew R Hunter

Vineeth Vijayan

Bradley Nicholas Gilkey

Keith Wesley Wait

Ronald Gary Foster

William Everette Gardner

Jason Andrew May

Richard James Miller

Arun Madhav Talegaonkar

Jeffrey Martin Wood

Ryan John Prince

Stephen Michael Bischoff

David L Benefiel

Wade Antoine Powell

Robert Lee Lewis, Jr

Umakant Suresh Katu

John P Tinney

Tanner Davis Gunn

Michael Glenn Mattingly

Christopher David Hunter

Kristin Marie Weirich

Joseph Michael Hauser

Herbert Sabelhaus

Chaitanya Krishna Karanam

Michael Thomas Groh

Jeffrey Jacoby

Lee Mathieson

Jeffrey Charles Mellinger

Michael Christopher Ross

Louis R Kessler

A refrigerator appliance includes a cabinet with a door rotatably mounted to the cabinet. The refrigerator appliance also includes an ice making chamber defined in one of the cabinet and the door. An ice making assembly and an ice storage bin are positioned within the ice making chamber. The refrigerator appliance further includes an infrared emitter mounted to a movable part of the ice making assembly and an infrared detector mounted to a movable part of the ice making assembly. The refrigerator appliance further includes an infrared emitter and an infrared detector mounted to the ice making assembly.

Ice making assembly for a refrigerator appliance

An ice making assembly for a refrigerator appliance includes a resilient mold defining a mold cavity and a heat exchanger in thermal communication with the resilient mold to freeze water and form one or more ice cubes therein. The ice making assembly also includes a lifter mechanism positioned below the resilient mold for selectively deforming the mold and raising the ice cubes formed therein. A resilient seal is sealingly engaged with the lifter mechanism and the heat exchanger, whereby an air-tight seal is formed between the lifter mechanism and the resilient seal and between the heat exchanger and the resilient seal.

A refrigerator appliance or ice making assembly may include an ice mold, a heat exchanger, a lifter arm, and a cam shaft. The ice mold may define a mold cavity for receiving water. The heat exchanger may be in thermal communication with the ice mold to freeze the water and form one or more ice cubes therein. The lifter arm may be disposed below the ice mold and movable relative to the mold cavity along a channel path between a lowered position and a raised position to raise ice cubes within the mold cavity. The cam shaft may include a rotating cam lobe slidably engaged with the lifter arm to direct the lifter arm between the lowered position and the raised position. The cam shaft may be rotatable about a cam axis horizontally offset from the channel path.

Refrigerator appliances and ice making assemblies having one or more ice ejection cams

A refrigerator appliance includes a cabinet, a liner, a thermodynamic assembly, an air conduit, a heat exchange (HE) sleeve, a conductive ice mold, and a water dispenser. The liner defines an icebox (IB) compartment. The air conduit disposed within the IB compartment to define a conduit path between a conduit inlet and a conduit outlet downstream from the conduit inlet. The heat exchange (HE) sleeve is disposed along the air conduit between the conduit inlet and the conduit outlet. The HE sleeve includes a conductive panel extending across the conduit path. The conductive ice mold is mounted to the HE sleeve within the IB compartment. The conductive ice mold defines a mold cavity outside of the air conduit. The water dispenser is positioned below the conductive ice mold to direct an ice-building spray of water to the mold cavity.

Refrigerator appliance having an air-cooled clear ice making assembly

An icemaker appliance includes a cabinet forming an ice storage compartment, an ice maker provided in the ice storage compartment, a first reservoir storing liquid, a filter nested within the first reservoir, and a circulation system to deliver the liquid from the first reservoir to the ice maker. The liquid not frozen on the ice maker is filtered through the filter and resupplied to the circulation system.

Icemaking appliance having a replaceable filter

An icemaker assembly includes a mold body defining a plurality of cavities. A working fluid line is directly attached to the mold body, and a drain duct is disposed below the mold body. A defrost heating element is positioned below the mold body and within the drain duct. The defrost heating element is spaced from the mold body, and the defrost heating element is operable to melt frost on the mold body with radiant heat from the defrost heating element. A related appliance is also provided.

Defroster for a direct cool icemaker

An icemaker appliance includes a first reservoir, a second reservoir, a first circulation system associated with the first reservoir, and a second circulation system associated with the second reservoir. Liquid in the first reservoir is directed toward a first set of ice molds and liquid from the second reservoir is directed toward a second set of ice molds. Liquid in the first reservoir is selectively supplied to the second reservoir.

Drainless clear ice maker for recycling water used to make clear ice

A domestic appliance may include a cabinet, a door, and a linear hinge coupling the door to the cabinet. The linear hinge may include a bearing assembly, an elongated shaft, a door linkage, and a cabinet linkage. The bearing assembly may be mounted to the cabinet. The elongated shaft may be received within the bearing assembly and slidable along a translation axis on the bearing assembly. The elongated shaft may define a first shaft pivot axis perpendicular to the translation axis and a second shaft pivot axis parallel to the first shaft pivot axis. The door linkage may couple the door to the elongated shaft. The door linkage may be pivotally connected to the elongated shaft at the first shaft pivot axis. The cabinet linkage may couple the cabinet to the elongated shaft. The cabinet linkage may be pivotally connected to the elongated shaft at the second shaft pivot axis.

Linear hinge assembly for an appliance

An icemaker appliance and a method for making clear ice are provided. The icemaking apparatus includes a cabinet forming an ice storage compartment. A reservoir is provided within the ice storage compartment. A liquid supply conduit is configured to supply liquid to the reservoir. An ice mold is configured to freeze liquid at the ice mold. A nozzle is configured to dispense the liquid from the reservoir to the ice mold. A controller is configured to execute instructions that perform operations. The operations include dispensing, from a body of liquid at the reservoir, a flow of liquid toward the ice mold; freezing, at the ice mold, a first portion of the flow of liquid received from dispensing the flow of liquid to the ice mold; providing, to the reservoir, a second portion of the flow of liquid dispensed toward the ice mold; and providing, from the liquid supply conduit to the reservoir, a supply of liquid after dispensing the flow of liquid toward the ice mold.

Method and apparatus for making clear ice

A filter cartridge assembly for an ice making appliance having a rectilinear filter cartridge with a plurality of partitions that are positioned within an internal chamber, form multiple sub-chambers, and create a non-linear pathway for the flow of water through the filter cartridge. Filter media positioned in the sub-chambers of the filter cartridge are configured to remove dissolved solids from water travelling through the filter cartridge and used by the appliance to create ice, including clear ice.

Filter assembly for ice making appliance

An ice making assembly for a refrigerated appliance can include a mold defining a chamber for the formation of an ice shape, the mold rotatable between a first position and a second position. An ejector may be positioned adjacent to the mold and is rotatable with the mold between the first position and the second position. The ejector can be configured to push the ice shape out of the chamber through an opening as the mold rotates between the first position and the second position.

Appliance ice making assembly

An ice maker for a refrigerator appliance includes an ice making assembly defining a receiving chamber in fluid communication with an air duct and a mold assembly removably mounted to the ice making assembly. The mold assembly includes a frame configured for receipt within the receiving chamber of the ice making assembly, a heat exchanger mounted to the frame and defining a mold support surface, and a flexible mold positioned on the mold support surface that is supported by the heat exchanger such that the flexible mold is in thermal communication with the heat exchanger and defines a mold cavity configured to receive a liquid. The mold assembly is replaceable with alternate mold assemblies.

Ice making assembly for receiving interchangeable mold assemblies

An icemaker appliance includes a cabinet forming an ice storage compartment, a first reservoir provided within the ice storage compartment, a circulation system arranged within the first reservoir, an ice maker provided within the first reservoir to dispense ice into the ice storage compartment, a second reservoir connected to the ice storage compartment, a return line conduit connected to the second reservoir and the first reservoir to direct melt water from the second reservoir to the first reservoir, a second pump provided at the second reservoir to pump melt water through the return line conduit, and a cleanout line having a first end connected to the second reservoir and a second end exposed outside of the cabinet.

Drainless ice machine with cleaning system

A refrigerator appliance is provided. The refrigerator appliance includes a fresh food compartment, an ice storage compartment within the fresh food compartment and insulated from the fresh food compartment, a sealed system configured to circulate a refrigerant through a refrigerant conduit; an ice maker positioned in the fresh food compartment and being in direct thermal communication with the sealed system, and an insulated door configured to open and close the ice storage compartment to selectively allow ice from the icemaker to enter the ice storage compartment. Methods of using the refrigerator appliance are also provided.

Refrigerator appliance ice making and dispensing system

An ice making assembly for a refrigerator appliance includes a resilient silicone mold defining a mold cavity and a lifter mechanism positioned below the resilient mold for selectively deforming the mold and raising the ice cubes formed therein. A sweep assembly is positioned over the resilient mold and moves to an extended position after the cubes are raised to discharge the ice cubes at a top of the ice making assembly. A fill cup is positioned above the resilient mold for selectively filling the mold cavity with water and a heating element in thermal communication with the fill cup for selectively heating the fill cup to prevent ice jams or clogging.

Growing community of inventors

Louisville, KY, United States of America

Alan Joseph Mitchell