Haier US Appliance Solutions, Inc.

General Electric Company

Whirlpool Corporation

Xergy Incorporated

Haier Smart Home Co., Ltd.

Qingdao Haier Refrigerator Co., Ltd.

Brent Alden Junge

Alan Joseph Mitchell

John Keith Besore

Danister Abeygunawardana

Justin Tyler Brown

Gregory Scott Carr

Todd C Starr

Jianwu Li

Brian Joseph Stewart

Mark Allen Stout

Thomas Wesley Arent

Duane A Schmidt

Bart Andrew Nuss

Stephanos Kyriacou

Travis Michael Perkins

Jordan Andrew Waymeyer

Tyree Edward Sampson

Timothy Ray Jackson

Kenneth J Rasche

Steven Edward Tolliver

Richard DeVos

Michael John Kempiak

Michael C Watanabe

Michael Goodman Schroeder

David G Beers

Nicholas Okruch, Jr

Gunaranjan Chaudhry

Martin Mitchell Zentner

Matthew R Hunter

Amelia Lear Hensley

James William Kendall

Allan R Steinkuhl

Wyatt A Cline

Louis Anthony Wantland

Bo Yan

Bagawathkumar Chellappan

Vineeth Vijayan

Joseph Thomas Waugh

Lauren Nicole Platts

Michael Hao Zhou

Jason Andrew May

Joel Erik Hitzelberger

Yayu Song

Ralph Tate, Jr

Jin Wu

Jeffrey Martin Wood

Roy Teng

Eddy Zhou

Jason Jiang

Anna Fenko

Kristin Marie Weirich

Timothy Scott Shaffer

Bamdad Bahar

Alexander Boris Leibman

Joseph L Coleman

Gregory William Hahn

Gregory Sergeevich Chernov

Natarajan Venkatakrishnan

William H Parmelee

Brian Michael Schork

Charles Benjamin Miller

Samuel Vincent DuPlessis

Jan M Watson

Bradley Nicholas Gilkey

Daniel Carballo

John Richard Wisnoski

Venkata Chakradhar Rangu

Keith Wesley Wait

Ronald Gary Foster

Christopher Edward O'Malley

Russell James Fallon

Thomas Glenn Merrill

Steven Naugler

Richard James Miller

Veera Venkata Anil Bhaskar Prasad Seereddy

Marcelo Torrentes

Dennis G Schenk

Eric R Meyerholtz

Joseph Anthony Tobbe

David C McCalpin

Andrew Schiller

Bahman Abbasi

Umakant Suresh Katu

Blake Philip Bomar

Eric Paez

Martin Nicholas Austin

Dianne D Mueller

Marco Stura

Quynh Hoang

Susan Ridgley Keil

Paul Haney

William Arnold Brown

Christopher J Schweiger

Andrew Jason Veenstra

John Simpson

Michael Thomas Groh

Jeffrey Jacoby

Lee Mathieson

Michael Christopher Ross

Steven R Cawley

An ice making appliance includes an ice mold and a refrigeration system. The refrigeration system includes a pump that is in fluid connection with a water supply and a compressor that is in fluid communication with a bypass valve. The compressor is one of a low back-pressure compressor and a medium back-pressure compressor. A condenser and an evaporator are in fluid communication with the bypass valve. The evaporator is positioned proximate the ice mold. The pump is operable to flow liquid from the water supply over the evaporator. The compressor is configured to turn off during an ice harvesting period, after the ice harvesting period, or both.

Systems and methods for clear ice making in appliances

A refrigerator or ice making assembly may include a housing and a mold assembly. The housing may define a receiving chamber in fluid communication with an air duct. The housing may extend transversely from a first housing end and a second housing end. The housing may define a first mounting slot at the first housing end and a second mounting slot at the second housing end. The mold assembly may include a frame, a heat exchanger mounted to the frame, an ice mold, and a latch bar. The ice mold may be supported on the heat exchanger and define a mold cavity for receiving water. The latch bar may be movably mounted on the frame and extend transversely between the first housing end and the second housing end in selective locked engagement with the first and second mounting slots to secure the mold assembly to the housing.

Refrigerator appliances and removable ice making assemblies

A refrigerator appliance may include a cabinet, a liner, a conductive ice mold, a water dispenser, and a guide ramp. The conductive ice mold may be mounted within the IB compartment. The conductive ice mold may define a mold cavity. The water dispenser may be positioned below the conductive ice mold to direct an ice-building spray of water to the mold cavity. The guide ramp may be positioned below the conductive ice mold to receive an ice billet therefrom. The guide ramp may extend from a first end to a second end and comprising an upper segment and a lower segment to support the ice billet thereon. The upper segment may extend along a first pitch angle relative to a lateral direction and the lower segment extending along a second pitch angle relative to the lateral direction. The second pitch angle may be different from the first pitch angle.

Refrigerator and ice-making assembly for making and holding clear ice billets

A refrigerator appliance may include a cabinet, a door, a camera module, a microphone, and a controller. The cabinet may define a chilled chamber. The door may be rotatably hinged to the cabinet to provide selective access to the chilled chamber. The camera module may be mounted to the cabinet. The microphone may be mounted to the cabinet within the chilled chamber. The controller may be operably coupled to the camera module. The controller may be configured to initiate an operation routine. The operation routine may include initiating a capture sequence at the camera module and the microphone, determining an internal location of a first stored item within the chilled chamber based on a two-dimensional image and a sound recording of the capture sequence, and recording the internal location of the first stored item.

Refrigerator appliance and methods of item location identification

A beverage-dispensing appliance may include a carbonation tank, a carbonator jacket, a cold water line, and an ice bin. The carbonation tank may define a tank volume, a water inlet upstream from the tank volume, a carbon dioxide inlet upstream from the tank volume, and a carbonated water outlet downstream from the tank volume. The carbonator jacket may define a jacket volume disposed about the carbonation tank. The cold water line may extend to the carbonator jacket in upstream fluid communication with the tank volume to direct a cold water flow to the tank volume. The ice bin may be spaced apart from the carbonation tank. The ice bin may define a drain aperture upstream from the cold water line to direct melt water thereto.

Beverage-dispensing appliance having a chilled carbonator

A compressor includes a housing defining a sump for collecting lubricant, a pump for circulating the lubricant within the housing, the pump comprising a lubricant intake tube defining a pump inlet positioned within the sump, and a noise dissipation media positioned within the sump on a surface of the lubricant and above the pump inlet, wherein a media void is defined around the lubricant intake tube.

Noise reduction media for a reciprocating compressor

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 attached to the cabinet, a conductive ice mold, a water dispenser, and a water basin. The liner defines an icebox (IB) compartment. The conductive ice mold is mounted within the IB compartment. The conductive ice mold defines a mold cavity. The water dispenser is positioned below the conductive ice mold to direct an ice-building spray of water to the mold cavity. The water basin is removably disposed within the IB compartment below the conductive ice mold. The water basin includes a basin wall defining a water reservoir and an electrical basin plug fixed to the basin wall to move therewith.

Refrigerator and ice-making assembly having a removable water basin

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 ice making assembly includes a mold body defining an ice-making cavity. An evaporator is coupled to the mold body. The evaporator includes a cap positioned on the mold body such that an open end of the cap is positioned at the mold body. An inlet tube is mounted to the cap. An outlet tube is also mounted to the cap. An evaporation chamber is formed between the cap and the mold body. The inlet tube is configured for directing a flow of refrigerant into the evaporation chamber, and the outlet tube configured for directing the flow of refrigerant out of the evaporation chamber.

Evaporator for an ice making assembly

A beverage dispensing assembly may include a dispenser body, one or more flanges, a brew module, and a water delivery system. The dispenser body may define a dispenser recess. The flanges may extend from and below an upper wall. The brew module may be selectively installed within the dispenser recess and define a brew chamber therein. The brew module may include one or more rails movably received on the one or more flanges to support the brew module within the dispenser recess. The water delivery system may be mounted to the dispenser body in selective engagement with the brew module. The water delivery system may include a delivery nozzle and a biasing spring. The delivery nozzle may be slidably attached to the upper wall and axially slidable between a lowered position and an elevated position. The biasing spring may motivate the delivery nozzle toward the lowered position.

Beverage dispensing assembly for an appliance

A free-standing appliance may include a cabinet, a water source, an icemaker, an ice bin, a cold water line, and one or more other features. The icemaker may be mounted within the cabinet downstream from the water source to receive water therefrom. The ice bin may be disposed within the cabinet downstream from the icemaker to receive ice therefrom. The cold water line may be mounted to the cabinet and define a cold water outlet downstream from the water source in fluid isolation from the icemaker.

Free-standing ice or beverage dispensing appliance

A method for brewing Japanese-style iced coffee with a single-serve beverage dispenser includes dispensing heated water onto coffee grounds disposed within a brew chamber of a brew module, flowing brewed coffee from the brew chamber into an ice chamber of an iced coffee module, the brewed coffee flowing over ice within the ice chamber, and flowing the iced brewed coffee from the ice chamber into a container. A related single-serve beverage dispenser is also provided.

Japanese-style iced coffee maker

A refrigerator appliance includes a cabinet that cabinet defines a food storage chamber therein. The refrigerator appliance also includes a shelf having an upper surface and a lower surface opposite the upper surface along the vertical direction. A flexible telescopic storage container mounted to the shelf. A top flange of the flexible storage container may be flush with the upper surface of the shelf. The shelf may include an aperture extending through the shelf from the upper surface to the lower surface and the flexible telescopic storage container may be mounted to the shelf through the aperture.

Refrigerator appliance with flexible storage container

A refrigerator appliance may include a cabinet, a liner, a thermodynamic assembly, an air conduit, a heat pipe, a conductive ice mold, and a water dispenser. The liner may define an icebox (IB) compartment. air conduit may be disposed within the IB compartment. The air conduit may define a conduit path between a conduit inlet and a conduit outlet downstream from the conduit inlet. The heat pipe may be mounted to the air conduit and extend therefrom outside of the conduit path. The conductive ice mold may be mounted to the heat pipe within the IB compartment. The conductive ice mold may define a mold cavity outside of the air conduit. The water dispenser may be positioned below the conductive ice mold to direct an ice-building spray of water to the mold cavity.

Growing community of inventors

Evansville, IN, United States of America

Brent Alden Junge