1. A wheel support bearing assembly with a built-in load sensor, which assembly is operable to support a wheel rotatably relative to a vehicle body and comprises:
an outer member having an inner peripheral surface formed with double rows of raceway surfaces;
an inner member having an outer peripheral surface formed with double rows of raceway surfaces in face-to-face relation with the double rows of the raceway surfaces of the outer member;
double rows of rolling elements interposed between those raceway surfaces of the outer member and the inner member;
a first angle detecting sensor including a to-be-detected part provided in the inner member and a corresponding detecting part provided in the outer member in face-to-face relation with the to-be-detected part provided in the inner member;
a second angle detecting sensor including a to-be-detected part provided in an outer race of a constant velocity universal joint that is coupled with the inner member, and a corresponding detecting part provided in the outer race in face-to-face relation with the to-be-detected part provided in the outer race; and
a load conversion unit for comparing respective detection signals from the detecting parts of the first and second angle detecting sensors to detect a relative angular difference between the inner member and the constant velocity universal joint to thereby detect a load acting on the wheel support bearing assembly.
2. The wheel support bearing assembly with the built-in load sensor as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of the first and second angle detecting sensors is a wound-type sensor in which the detecting part has a coil winding and the to-be-detected part is made of a magnetic member having a plurality of circumferentially arranged indentations.
3. The wheel support bearing assembly with the built-in load sensor as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of the detecting parts of the first and second angle detecting sensors is a magnetic sensor capable of providing an analog output, and each of the to-be-detected parts of the first and second angle detecting sensors is a magnetic encoder magnetized to have alternating N and S poles.
4. The wheel support bearing assembly with the built-in load sensor as claimed in claim 1, wherein one of the first and second angle detecting sensors is used to output a signal for controlling an anti-lock brake system.
5. The bearing assembly for the wheel with the built-in load sensor as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of the to-be-detected parts includes a ring having a row of windows cyclically defined therein and wherein the rings of the to-be-detected parts are spaced a predetermined gap therebetween in a radial direction and arranged in such a manner that the windows of the rings do not overlap with each other and wherein each of the detecting parts includes a coil winding.
6. The wheel support bearing assembly with the built-in load sensor as claimed in claim 5, wherein each of the rings has two rows of the windows and wherein the rings are so arranged that an area of opening of the windows of one row becomes small while an area of opening of the windows of the other row becomes large when a torque is applied to the wheel support bearing assembly, and wherein the load conversion unit detects the load by calculating a differential output of respective changes in magnetic resistances of the rings detected by the corresponding detecting parts.
7. The wheel support bearing assembly with the built-in load sensor as claimed in claim 5, wherein in place of the ring a plurality of indentations are formed as the to-be-detected part directly in a surface of one of the inner member and the outer race of the constant velocity universal joint, whereas the ring having the windows is secured to a surface of the other of the inner member and the outer race.
8. The wheel support bearing assembly with the built-in load sensor as claimed in claim 1, wherein respective portions of the inner member and the outer race which contact with each other have the same outer diameter and wherein a plurality of indentations defining the to-be-detected part are provided in each of the contact portions and wherein the indentations on the inner member and the indentations on the outer race contact with each other while aligned out of phase with each other and wherein one of the detecting parts of the first and second angle detecting sensors provided in the outer member includes a coil winding in face-to-face relation with the indentations on the inner member and the outer race, and wherein one of the first and second angle detecting sensors which includes the detecting part having the coil winding detects a change in relative phase between the indentations on the inner member and the indentations on the outer race as a change in magnetic resistance of the coil winding of the corresponding detecting part when a torque is applied to the wheel support bearing assembly.
9. The wheel support bearing assembly with the built-in load sensor as claimed in claim 8, wherein a coil winding is additionally provided as the other of the detecting parts in the outer member so as to confront with a rotating portion of the outer race, where no indentation is formed, and wherein a differential output of respective changes in magnetic resistances of those coil windings forming the detecting parts is detected.
10. The wheel support bearing assembly with the built-in load sensor as claimed in claim 8, wherein the inner member includes a hub axle having a wheel mounting flange and an inner race mounted on an outer peripheral surface of the hub axle and wherein the inner race is axially fixed to the hub axle by a staked portion provided in an inboard end portion of the hub axle, and wherein ring members, each having indentations arranged circumferentially thereof at one face thereof, are secured respectively to the inner race and the outer race of the constant velocity universal joint with the indentations of the ring members opposed to each other, or circumferentially arranged indentations are formed directly in each of the inner race and the outer race with those indentations of the inner race and the outer race opposed to each other, and wherein an end face of the outer race of the constant velocity universal joint and the staked portion in the hub axle lightly contact with each other under slight pressure or a gap is provided between the end face of the outer race and the staked portion.
11. The wheel support bearing assembly with the built-in load sensor as claimed in claim 10, wherein a spacer is arranged between a free end of a stem portion of the outer race of the constant velocity universal joint and a washer secured to the outboard side of the hub axle and wherein the outer race and the hub axle are bolted together through a threaded hole defined in a free end face of the stem portion with the washer and the spacer intervened and wherein a gap is provided between the staked portion and the end face of the outer race.
12. The wheel support bearing assembly with the built-in load sensor as claimed in claim 1, wherein a stem portion of the outer race has a length smaller than an outboard end of a center bore of the inner member in which the stem portion of the outer race engages, and wherein a threaded hole is defined in a free end face of the stem portion and, by threading a bolt into the threaded hole through a washer contacting a portion of the inner member around the threaded hole, the stem portion of the outer race and the inner member are connected together.
13. The wheel support bearing assembly with the built-in load sensor as claimed in claim 1, wherein a stem portion of the outer race has a length smaller than an outboard end of a center bore of the inner member in which the stem portion of the outer race engages and wherein a threaded hole is defined in a free end face of the stem portion and, by threading a bolt into the threaded hole while a cylindrical flange of a cylindrically flanged washer is inserted into the center bore of the inner member with its free end held in contact with a free end of the stem portion, the stem portion of the outer race and the inner member are connected together.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A refrigerator, comprising:
a freezing compartment;
a freezing compartment door to open and close the freezing compartment;
an icemaker equipped to the freezing compartment to produce ice cubes;
an ice cube container including first and second ends to contain the ice cubes;
a shaved ice dispensing unit positioned within the ice cube container;
an ice cube dispensing unit positioned in parallel to the shaved ice dispensing unit within the ice cube container; and
a dispensing passage to guide the shaved ice and the ice cubes respectively produced from the shaved ice dispensing unit and the ice cube dispensing unit to an outside of the freezing compartment door.
2. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the shaved ice dispensing unit comprises at least one compressing wing rotatably disposed on the second end of the ice cube container, and at least one blade fixedly disposed on the second end of the ice cube container to crush the ice cubes contained within the ice cube container into crushed ice.
3. The refrigerator according to claim 2, wherein the shaved ice dispensing unit further comprises a driving motor disposed on the first end of the ice cube container, a guide barrel disposed on the second end of the ice cube container, a rotational shaft disposed axially within the guide barrel to be rotated by the driving motor, and a shaved ice outlet provided at a lower portion of the guide barrel, the compressing wing being connected with the rotational shaft while radially extending towards an inner peripheral surface of the guide barrel, and the blade being fixed to the shaved ice outlet of the guide barrel.
4. The refrigerator according to claim 3, wherein the shaved ice dispensing unit further comprises a spiral guide connected between the driving motor and the rotational shaft to guide the ice cubes contained within the ice cube container to the guide barrel.
5. The refrigerator according to claim 3, wherein the compressing wing is of an arc-shape curved towards the blade in a rotational direction of the rotational shaft.
6. The refrigerator according to claim 3, wherein the shaved ice dispensing unit further comprises at least one spiral wing rotatably connected with the rotational shaft at the front of the compressing wing within the guide barrel to push the ice cubes towards the compressing wing.
7. The refrigerator according to claim 3, wherein the shaved ice dispensing unit further comprises a case surrounding the guide barrel and having an opening formed at a lower portion of the case to guide the shaved ice discharged from the crushed ice outlet below the case.
8. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the ice cube dispensing unit comprises an ice cube crusher to selectively crush the ice cubes contained within the ice cube container into crushed ice.
9. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the ice cube dispensing unit further comprises an ice cubecrushed ice outlet provided on the second end of the ice cube container, and the ice cube crusher comprises a rotational cutter and a stationary cutter positioned corresponding to the ice cubecrushed ice outlet to crush the ice cubes, having been conveyed to the ice cubecrushed ice outlet, into the crushed ice.
10. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the ice dispensing unit further comprises an outlet adjusting device to adjust a size of the ice cubecrushed ice outlet according to whether the ice cube crusher is operated or not.
11. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the dispensing passage comprises a shaved ice discharge port formed at a location corresponding to the shaved ice dispensing unit, and an ice cubecrushed ice discharge port formed at a location corresponding to the ice cube dispensing unit in the freezing compartment door.
12. A refrigerator, comprising:
a freezing compartment;
an ice cube container equipped within the freezing compartment to contain ice cubes;
a shaved ice dispensing unit positioned within the ice cube container to dispense shaved ice after shaving the ice cubes contained in the ice cube into the shaved ice; and
an ice cube dispensing unit positioned in parallel to the shaved ice dispensing unit within the ice cube container to allow the ice cubes contained in the ice cube container to be discharged or to discharge crushed ice after crushing the ice cubes contained in the ice cube.
13. The refrigerator according to claim 12, wherein the ice cube container comprises a partition plate between the shaved ice dispensing unit and the ice cube dispensing unit to allow the ice cubes contained in the ice cube container to be smoothly conveyed into the shaved ice dispensing unit and the ice cube dispensing unit.
14. The refrigerator according to claim 12, wherein the shaved ice dispensing unit comprises a driving motor disposed on a first end of the ice cube container, a guide barrel disposed on a second end facing the first end of the ice cube container and having a crushed ice outlet formed through the guide barrel, at least one blade equipped to the crushed ice outlet, a rotational shaft axially disposed within the guide barrel and rotated by the driving motor, and at least one compressing wing connected with the rotational shaft and radially extending towards an inner peripheral surface of the guide barrel to compress the ice cubes conveyed to the guide barrel against the blade to produce the crushed ice.
15. The refrigerator according to claim 14, wherein the shaved ice dispensing unit further comprises a spiral guide connected between the driving motor and the rotational shaft to guide the ice cubes contained within the ice cube container to the guide barrel.
16. The refrigerator according to claim 14, wherein the shaved ice dispensing unit further comprises at least one spiral wing rotatably connected with the rotational shaft at the front of the compressing wing within the guide barrel to push the ice cubes to the compressing wing.
17. The refrigerator according to claim 12, further comprising: a freezing compartment door to open and close the freezing compartment, the freezing compartment door including a shaved ice discharge port formed at a location corresponding to the shaved ice dispensing unit, and an ice cubecrushed ice discharge port formed at a location corresponding to the ice cube dispensing unit in the freezing compartment door.