Haier US Appliance Solutions, Inc.

General Electric Company

Jarvis Ward

Ronald Scott Tarr

Tomas Garces

Jason Andrew May

Andrew Reinhard Krause

Louis Anthony Wantland

Charles Benjamin Miller

Bradley Nicholas Gilkey

Lauren Nicole Platts

William Everette Gardner

Michael C Watanabe

Lokesha Kodigenahalli Chinnappa Reddy

Christopher George Bissig

Justin Daniel Berger

Robert H Lewis

Vinayak Reddy

Edward Philip Strauss

Bernhard Thomas Klaus

Joseph Wimsatt

John Donovan Nolan

David Calvert

A pitcher with an alternate dispensing feature for use in an autofill pitcher system in a chamber of a refrigerator appliance is provided. The pitcher defines a height direction, a width direction, and a depth direction. The pitcher comprises a pitcher wall connected to a pitcher bottom defining a pitcher volume. The pitcher further comprises a spigot defining an axis, with the spigot disposed on the pitcher wall such that the axis is generally parallel to the width direction.

Autofill pitcher with alternate dispensing feature

A refrigerator appliance includes a chilled chamber defining a plurality of cooling zones and a lighting assembly comprising a plurality of lighting zones corresponding to the plurality of cooling zones. A climate control system generates and selectively directs a flow of cooling air into the plurality of cooling zones such that the temperature in each zone is independently regulated and the lighting assembly selectively illuminates the plurality of lighting zones to provide user feedback regarding the operation of the climate control system, e.g., by indicating which zones are receiving the flow of cooling air, by notifying a user when a zone has reached a setpoint temperature, or by identifying the presence and location of a flow restriction.

Method of operating a lighting assembly in a refrigerator appliance

A refrigerator appliance, as disclosed herein, may include a cabinet, a door, a dispensing assembly, an ice-making assembly, and an ice storage bin. The door may define a dispenser recess having a transverse opening extending vertically from a top recess end to a bottom recess end and laterally from a first recess side to a second recess side. The dispensing assembly may be positioned within the dispenser recess and define an ice delivery passage. The ice-making assembly may be attached to the cabinet. The ice storage bin may include a bin body defining a storage cavity. The bin body may be selectively mounted to the door within the dispenser recess to receive ice from the dispensing assembly. The bin body may extend vertically from the top recess end to the bottom recess end and laterally from the first recess side to the second recess side.

Refrigerator appliance having an ice storage bin

A stand-alone ice making appliance is provided. The stand-alone ice making appliance may include an outer casing, a water tank, a pump, an ice maker, and a container. The outer casing may define an internal cavity that includes a primary opening. The water tank may define a storage volume to receive water. The pump may be in fluid communication with the storage volume of the water tank to actively flow water therefrom. The ice maker may in fluid communication with the storage volume of the water tank to receive water therefrom. The container may be disposed within the internal cavity. The container may include an insulated sidewall positioned across the primary opening and at least partially defining a storage volume to receive ice from the ice maker.

Stand-alone ice making appliance

An appliance and method of operation is provided. The appliance may include an outer casing, a user interface, and a controller. The outer casing may define an enclosed volume. The user interface may be mounted to the outer casing to include a light projector and a translucent diffuser disc. The light projector may be positioned within the enclosed volume and include a plurality of discrete segmented light emitting diodes to each selectively emit one or more discrete light emissions. The translucent diffuser disc may be positioned between the light projector and the outer casing. The diffuser disc may include a continuous outer surface aligned with the light projector to display the one or more discrete light emissions as a visually continuous pattern. The controller may be operably connected with the light projector and configured to determine the visually continuous pattern displayed at the continuous outer surface.

Appliance user interface and method of operation

Ice maker appliance

An apparatus includes a refrigerator door, comprising an inner door material and an outer door material, wherein a portion of the outer door material of the refrigerator is formed into a shape of a dispenser recess. The apparatus also includes a support structure, wherein the support structure is situated behind the dispenser recess of the outer door material and in front of the inner door material, and wherein the support structure facilitates implementation of one or more dispenser features. A refrigerator using the apparatus is also disclosed.

Apparatus for refrigerator dispenser recess integrated with door material

Growing community of inventors

Louisville, KY, United States of America

Jarvis Ward