• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.672-680
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• 2018

The opening angle of the duct cap assembly during the operation of a refrigerator ice dispenser was evaluated by transient structural analysis, and an improved design to maximize the opening angle was obtained. The opening angle of the existing design was found to be 78% of the upper limit. Several design modifications were proposed and analyzed to examine the effects of the design factors on the opening angle. As a result of the design modifications, the opening angle was improved by changing the lever material to a material with a high elastic modulus, moving the position of the support to the motor side, or increasing the lever shaft diameter. Considering the manufacturing cost of the new design, the design modification changing only the lever material was found to be the best because it does not require a change in the structure of the ice dispenser case. In conclusion, the opening angle can be improved by up to 95% of the upper limit value if the lever material is changed to an aluminum alloy. The methods and results presented in this study were found to be of great help in designing the duct cap assembly structure to facilitate the discharge of ice.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.37-46
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• 2018

Present research is to evaluate and improve the sealing performance of the duct cap assembly for the ice dispensers through structural analysis. The nonlinear contact problems to check the sealing performance were analyzed using ANSYS software. The results of the analyses related to the sealing performance: the displacement distribution, the contact condition between the cap-silicon and the case, and the pressure distribution on the contact surface, were examined and discussed. Based on the results of the existing design of the duct cap assembly, two cases of the design modifications to improve the sealing performance were introduced. By examining the results of the two cases, a final design improvement plan was proposed and analyzed. It is shown that the sealing performance of the proposed final design is much more favorable than the existing design. The method of structural analysis and design improvement of the duct cap assembly presented in this paper will help improve the sealing performance of the ice dispenser duct caps.