CN214406605U

CN214406605U - Ice maker and refrigerator

Info

Publication number: CN214406605U
Application number: CN202120172210.4U
Authority: CN
Inventors: 文翔; 王铭坤; 李江伟; 刘洋; 孟庆鹏; 钟泽健
Original assignee: Gree Electric Appliances Inc of Zhuhai
Current assignee: Gree Electric Appliances Inc of Zhuhai
Priority date: 2021-01-21
Filing date: 2021-01-21
Publication date: 2021-10-15
Anticipated expiration: 2031-01-21

Abstract

The present disclosure provides an ice maker and a refrigerator, the ice maker including: a screw is arranged in the cylinder, and an ice making channel is formed between the screw and the inner wall of the cylinder; the first cooling structure and the second cooling structure are arranged outside the barrel, the first cooling structure is configured to provide cold energy for the barrel in a first cold energy mode, the second cooling structure is configured to provide cold energy for the barrel in a second cold energy mode, and the cold energy in the first cold energy mode is larger than the cold energy in the second cold energy mode. The ice maker disclosed by the invention has two cooling structures, and can respectively provide cooling capacity for the barrel body in different cooling capacity modes, and under the first cooling capacity mode with larger cooling capacity, water in the ice making channel is rapidly frozen into ice, so that rapid ice making is realized; under the second cold quantity mode with smaller cold quantity, the water ring surface in the ice making channel is frozen, the ice crystals grow layer by layer, the water in the ice making channel is gradually frozen into transparent ice, the ice quality is pure, and transparent ice making is realized.

Description

Ice maker and refrigerator

Technical Field

The disclosure belongs to the technical field of refrigeration equipment, and particularly relates to an ice maker and a refrigerator.

Background

Generally, a refrigerator is an apparatus for keeping food fresh by having a storage chamber and a cool air supply device for supplying cool air to the storage chamber. The refrigerator may also have an ice making chamber and an ice maker that generates ice. In an ice making system for cooling ice making water, a direct cooling system is configured to have a refrigerant pipe extending into an ice making chamber to cool the ice making water and contacting an ice making tray. In the direct cooling system, the ice making tray receives cooling energy from the refrigerant pipe in a heat conduction manner. Thus, the direct cooling system has an advantage in that the cooling rate of chilled water is relatively fast, but also has a disadvantage in that opaque and hazy ice is generated.

Disclosure of Invention

Accordingly, an object of the present disclosure is to provide an ice maker and a refrigerator, in which an ice maker is not compatible with an ice making rate and an ice making quality.

In order to solve the above problems, the present disclosure provides an ice maker including:

the ice making machine comprises a barrel, wherein a screw is arranged in the barrel, and an ice making channel is formed between the screw and the inner wall of the barrel;

the cooling device comprises a first cooling structure and a second cooling structure, wherein the first cooling structure and the second cooling structure are arranged outside a barrel body, the first cooling structure is configured to provide cooling capacity for the barrel body in a first cooling capacity mode, the second cooling structure is configured to provide cooling capacity for the barrel body in a second cooling capacity mode, and the cooling capacity in the first cooling capacity mode is larger than the cooling capacity in the second cooling capacity mode.

The purpose of the present disclosure and the technical problems solved thereby can be further achieved by the following technical measures.

In some embodiments, the ice maker further includes a housing, the cartridge is disposed in the housing, and both axial ends of the cartridge penetrate to the outside of the housing.

In some embodiments, the first cooling structure includes a liquid inlet pipe and a gas outlet pipe, the liquid inlet pipe and the gas outlet pipe are respectively disposed on the housing, the liquid inlet pipe is configured to inject a liquid refrigerant into the housing and maintain the cylinder submerged by the liquid refrigerant, and the gas outlet pipe is configured to allow a gaseous refrigerant in the housing to flow out.

In some embodiments, the liquid inlet pipe is disposed at a lower portion of the housing in a direction of gravity, and the gas outlet pipe is disposed at an upper portion of the housing in the direction of gravity.

In some embodiments, the second cooling structure includes a liquid distribution pipe and an air outlet pipe, the liquid distribution pipe is disposed in the shell, the air outlet pipe is disposed on the shell, the liquid distribution pipe is configured to spray the liquid refrigerant onto the cylinder, and the air outlet pipe is configured to allow the gaseous refrigerant in the shell to flow out.

In some embodiments, the liquid distribution pipe is axially parallel to the cylinder, the liquid distribution pipe is arranged above the cylinder in the gravity direction, the cylinder is arranged at the lower part of the shell in the gravity direction, and the gas outlet pipe is arranged at the upper part of the shell in the gravity direction.

In some embodiments, the flow direction of the liquid refrigeration medium in the liquid distribution pipe is opposite to the ice outlet direction of the barrel.

In some embodiments, the barrel is externally provided with an external tooth structure configured to increase the heat exchange area of the outer surface of the barrel.

In some embodiments, the ice maker further comprises a temperature detection device configured to detect a temperature within the cartridge or housing.

In some embodiments, the screw is provided with a drive at an axial end thereof, the drive being capable of driving the screw to rotate at different rates.

In some embodiments, the barrel is provided with a water inlet at one end and an ice outlet at the other end, and the ice outlet is provided with a breaker which is configured to break the spiral ice strips output by the ice outlet into blocks.

A refrigerator adopts the ice maker.

The ice maker and the refrigerator provided by the disclosure have at least the following beneficial effects:

the ice maker disclosed by the invention has two cooling structures, and can respectively provide cooling capacity for the barrel in different cooling capacity modes, under the first cooling capacity mode with larger cooling capacity, the barrel obtains more cooling capacity, water in the ice making channel is rapidly frozen into ice, and then the ice maker is pushed out of the barrel by the screw rod, so that rapid ice making is realized; under the second cold quantity mode that cold quantity is less, the cold quantity that the barrel obtained is less, and the water ring face in the ice-making passageway freezes, and the ice crystal body increases layer by layer, and the gas in the water is extruded gradually to the water in the ice-making passageway is frozen gradually and is become transparent ice, and ice quality is pure, realizes transparent ice-making.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic structural view of an ice maker according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

The reference numerals are represented as:

1. a barrel; 2. a screw; 3. an ice making channel; 4. a housing; 5. a liquid inlet pipe; 6. an air outlet pipe; 7. a liquid distribution pipe; 8. a water inlet; 9. an ice outlet; 10. breaking device.

Detailed Description

To make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present disclosure more apparent, the following embodiments of the present disclosure will be clearly and completely described in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood that the described embodiments are merely a subset of the disclosed embodiments and not all embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments disclosed herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present disclosure.

As shown in connection with fig. 1, the present embodiment provides an ice maker including: the ice making machine comprises a barrel 1, wherein a screw 2 is arranged in the barrel 1, and an ice making channel 3 is formed between the screw 2 and the inner wall of the barrel 1; the cooling device comprises a first cooling structure and a second cooling structure, wherein the first cooling structure and the second cooling structure are arranged outside a barrel body 1, the first cooling structure is configured to provide cooling capacity for the barrel body 1 in a first cooling capacity mode, the second cooling structure is configured to provide cooling capacity for the barrel body 1 in a second cooling capacity mode, and the cooling capacity in the first cooling capacity mode is larger than the cooling capacity in the second cooling capacity mode.

The ice maker disclosed by the invention has two cooling structures, and can respectively provide cooling capacity for the barrel body 1 in different cooling capacity modes, under the first cooling capacity mode with larger cooling capacity, the barrel body 1 obtains more cooling capacity, water in the ice making channel 3 is rapidly frozen into ice, and then the water is pushed out of the barrel body 1 by the screw rod 2, so that rapid ice making is realized; under the second cold volume mode that cold volume is less, the cold volume that barrel 1 obtained is less, and the water ring face in the ice-making passageway 3 freezes, and the ice crystal body increases layer by layer, and the gas in the water is extruded gradually to the water in the ice-making passageway 3 freezes into transparent ice gradually, and ice matter is pure, realizes transparent ice-making.

The refrigeration medium provides refrigeration quantity to the cylinder 1 and absorbs heat quantity of water in the cylinder 1, the heat quantity is changed from liquid state to gas state, the process needs to be completed in a closed container, therefore, in some embodiments, the ice maker further comprises a shell 4, the cylinder 1 is arranged in the shell 4, and two axial ends of the cylinder 1 penetrate out of the shell 4.

In some embodiments, the first cooling structure needs to provide a large amount of cooling to the barrel 1, and the first cooling structure realizes a large amount of cooling supply in such a manner that the liquid refrigerant medium submerges the barrel 1. The first cooling structure comprises a liquid inlet pipe 5 and an air outlet pipe 6, the liquid inlet pipe 5 and the air outlet pipe 6 are respectively arranged on the shell 4, the liquid inlet pipe 5 is configured to inject liquid refrigeration medium into the shell 4 and maintain the cylinder 1 immersed by the liquid refrigeration medium, and the air outlet pipe 6 is configured to allow the liquid refrigeration medium in the shell 4 to flow out.

At the moment, the surface of the cylinder body 1 is completely contacted with a liquid refrigeration medium, the heat exchange rate is high, the evaporation is fast, and the surface of the cylinder body 1 can be made of a metal material with good heat conduction so as to enhance the heat exchange; the ice making speed can be controlled by controlling the rotation speed of the screw and the liquid supplementing speed of the refrigerant.

Compared with other heat exchange modes in the related art, such as a heat exchange tube, when the cylinder body 1 is immersed by the liquid refrigeration medium, the obtained cold quantity is maximum, and the water in the ice making channel 3 is frozen at the fastest speed.

In some embodiments, the liquid inlet pipe 5 is arranged at the lower part of the shell 4 along the gravity direction, liquid refrigeration medium is directly collected around the barrel 1 after being injected into the shell 4, the phenomena of splashing and the like are avoided, liquid level fluctuation is reduced, the gas outlet pipe 6 is arranged at the upper part of the shell 4 along the gravity direction, the weight is convenient to be light, and the gas refrigeration medium collected to the upper part flows out.

In some embodiments, the second cooling structure needs to provide less cooling energy to the cylinder 1, and the second cooling structure realizes less cooling energy supply in a mode that the liquid refrigeration medium sprays the cylinder 1. The second cooling structure comprises a liquid distribution pipe 7 and an air outlet pipe 6, the liquid distribution pipe 7 is arranged in the shell 4, the air outlet pipe 6 is arranged on the shell 4, the liquid distribution pipe 7 is configured to spray liquid refrigeration medium to the cylinder 1, and the air outlet pipe 6 is configured to allow the liquid refrigeration medium in the shell 4 to flow out.

After the liquid distribution pipe 7 is opened, the liquid distribution pipe 7 sprays refrigerant droplets, the droplets fall on the surface of the barrel body 1 to form a film, the film can be quickly evaporated, and the liquid distribution pipe 7 uniformly sprays the refrigerant on the surface of the barrel body 1, so that the heat exchange of the barrel body 1 is more uniform, and transparent ice blocks can be formed.

In some embodiments, the second cooling structure may also cover the outer surface of the barrel 1 with a layer of cotton gauze, etc., so as to realize heat absorption and ice making on the outer surface of the barrel 1.

In some embodiments, the liquid distribution pipe 7 is axially parallel to the cylinder 1, the liquid distribution pipe 7 is disposed above the cylinder 1 in the direction of gravity, the cylinder 1 is disposed at the lower portion of the housing 4 in the direction of gravity, so as to ensure that the refrigerant sprayed by the liquid distribution pipe 7 falls on the surface of the cylinder 1, and the air outlet pipe 6 is disposed at the upper portion of the housing 4 in the direction of gravity.

In some embodiments, the flow direction of the liquid refrigeration medium in the liquid distribution pipe 7 is opposite to the ice outlet direction of the cylinder body 1, the amount of the refrigeration medium sprayed by the liquid distribution pipe 7 closer to the liquid inlet direction is larger, the relative cold quantity is sufficient, the cold quantity received by the surface of the cylinder body 1 along the ice outlet direction is ensured to be gradually increased, and the transparent ice block can be completely iced.

In some embodiments, in order to make the liquid refrigerant pass through the liquid film outside the cylinder 1, so as to improve the heat exchange efficiency, an external tooth structure is arranged outside the cylinder 1, and the external tooth structure is configured to increase the heat exchange area of the outer surface of the cylinder 1.

In some embodiments, the ice maker further comprises a temperature detection device configured to detect a temperature within the cartridge 1 or the housing 4, and to monitor an icing condition within the ice making channel 3 by monitoring the temperature within the cartridge 1 or the housing 4, so as to adjust the supply of the refrigerant medium and the rotation speed of the screw.

In some embodiments, the screw 2 is provided with drive means at the axial ends, which are able to drive the screw 2 in rotation at different rates. The ice making speed can be controlled by controlling the rotating speed of the screw rod 2, when the rotating speed of the screw rod 2 is low, the ice making speed is low as the speed of pushing out ice blocks is low, and the required refrigerant flow is relatively small at the moment; when the screw rod 2 rotates at a high speed, the speed of pushing out the ice blocks is high, the ice making speed is high, and the required refrigerant flow is relatively large at the moment.

In some embodiments, the barrel 1 is provided with a water inlet 8 at one end and an ice outlet 9 at the other end, the ice outlet 9 is provided with a breaker 10, and the breaker 10 is configured to break the spiral ice strips output from the ice outlet 9 into blocks. Since the ice cubes pushed out by the screw 2 along the ice making channel 3 are continuous spiral ice strips, a periodic breaker 10 is required to be installed at the outlet to control the size of the ice cubes, and the breaker 10 only needs to cut off the ice cubes at a set period to complete the making of ice cubes with a specific size.

According to the ice maker, rapid ice making or transparent ice making can be realized by matching the screw ice making cylinder and the pump tube type ice maker with tube pass type cooling ice making.

A refrigerator adopts the ice maker.

It is readily understood by a person skilled in the art that the advantageous ways described above can be freely combined, superimposed without conflict.

The present disclosure is to be considered as limited only by the preferred embodiments and not limited to the specific embodiments described herein, and all changes, equivalents and modifications that come within the spirit and scope of the disclosure are desired to be protected. The foregoing is only a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure, and it should be noted that, for those skilled in the art, several improvements and modifications can be made without departing from the technical principle of the present disclosure, and these improvements and modifications should also be considered as the protection scope of the present disclosure.

Claims

1. An ice maker, comprising:

the ice making machine comprises a barrel (1), wherein a screw (2) is arranged in the barrel (1), and an ice making channel (3) is formed between the screw (2) and the inner wall of the barrel (1);

the cooling device comprises a first cooling structure and a second cooling structure, wherein the first cooling structure and the second cooling structure are arranged outside the barrel body (1), the first cooling structure is configured to provide cooling capacity for the barrel body (1) in a first cooling capacity mode, the second cooling structure is configured to provide cooling capacity for the barrel body (1) in a second cooling capacity mode, and the cooling capacity in the first cooling capacity mode is larger than the cooling capacity in the second cooling capacity mode.

2. The ice maker as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a housing (4), wherein the cartridge (1) is disposed in the housing (4), and both ends of the cartridge (1) in the axial direction are protruded to the outside of the housing (4).

3. The ice maker according to claim 2, wherein the first cooling structure includes a liquid inlet pipe (5) and a gas outlet pipe (6), the liquid inlet pipe (5) and the gas outlet pipe (6) are respectively disposed on the housing (4), the liquid inlet pipe (5) is configured to inject a liquid refrigerant into the housing (4) and maintain the drum (1) submerged by the liquid refrigerant, and the gas outlet pipe (6) is configured to allow the gaseous refrigerant to flow out of the housing (4).

4. An ice maker according to claim 3, wherein the liquid inlet pipe (5) is provided at a lower portion of the housing (4) in a direction of gravity, and the gas outlet pipe (6) is provided at an upper portion of the housing (4) in the direction of gravity.

5. The ice maker according to claim 2, wherein the second cooling structure comprises a liquid distribution pipe (7) and an air outlet pipe (6), the liquid distribution pipe (7) is disposed in the housing (4), the air outlet pipe (6) is disposed on the housing (4), the liquid distribution pipe (7) is configured to spray the liquid refrigerant onto the drum (1), and the air outlet pipe (6) is configured to allow the gaseous refrigerant in the housing (4) to flow out.

6. The ice maker as claimed in claim 5, wherein the liquid distribution pipe (7) is axially parallel to the cartridge (1), the liquid distribution pipe (7) is disposed above the cartridge (1) in the direction of gravity, the cartridge (1) is disposed at a lower portion of the housing (4) in the direction of gravity, and the air outlet pipe (6) is disposed at an upper portion of the housing (4) in the direction of gravity.

7. Ice maker according to claim 6, wherein the flow direction of the liquid refrigerant medium in the liquid distribution pipe (7) is opposite to the direction of the ice discharge from the cartridge (1).

8. An ice maker according to any of claims 1-7, wherein the outside of the cartridge (1) is provided with an external tooth arrangement configured to increase the heat exchange area of the outer surface of the cartridge (1).

9. The ice maker according to claim 8, further comprising a temperature detection device configured to detect a temperature inside the cartridge (1) or the housing (4).

10. Ice maker according to claim 1, wherein the screw (2) is provided with drive means at an axial end, which drive means are able to drive the screw (2) to rotate at different rates.

11. The ice maker according to claim 1, wherein the cartridge (1) is provided with a water inlet (8) at one end and an ice outlet (9) at the other end, the ice outlet (9) is provided with a breaker (10), and the breaker (10) is configured to break the spiral-shaped ice strips output from the ice outlet (9) into blocks.

12. A refrigerator characterized in that the ice maker of any one of claims 1 to 11 is used.