DE9311442U1 - Device for producing a liquid ice mixture - Google Patents

Description

The invention relates to a device for producing a liquid ice mixture.

Liquid ice mixtures are formed when water evaporates in a vacuum or when an aqueous brine freezes on cooled surfaces to form ice that can be pumped as a suspension of microscopic ice crystals in water and offers similar heat transfer possibilities.

1937

JAN G. TCNNIES
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A particular advantage is the ease of storage of liquid ice mixtures compared to ice blocks or solid or chunky ice and the ease of incorporation into technical systems because liquid ice mixtures can be pumped through pipes.

The energy density of a liquid ice mixture is many times higher than that which can be achieved with cooled water. This property also makes liquid ice mixtures interesting as coolants for cooling systems, especially where previously used coolants are increasingly being replaced by harmless coolants due to their harmful effects on the climate. Liquid ice mixtures are already being used on a large scale to cool underground workplaces where the cooling systems are located a long distance from the place where cooling is to take place, namely on the earth's surface.

Refrigeration machines on these devices are usually designed so that they run at the same load all day long and produce ice for an ice storage facility, from where the ice or cold water or brine can be called up as needed. This storage has the advantage that even large, short-term cooling capacities can be managed with a relatively small refrigeration machine.

The aim of the invention is to increase the efficiency of such machines so that they operate more efficiently in terms of energy.

This object is achieved by a method having the features of claim 1.

JAN G. TGNNffiS

It is particularly advantageous that the "warm" return flow is not fed directly to the ice storage tank and does not cause any immediate change in the ice/liquid ratio.

The ice maker (evaporator) can work more efficiently in terms of energy with the higher return temperature if the return is so warm that no ice can be produced, because then the evaporation temperature is higher and the energy consumption is lower and/or the cooling capacity is higher. If the cooling maker can no longer produce ice from the warm return, but only "cold" water or brine, the change in ice concentration in the ice storage, into which this "cold" water now flows instead of the return water, is less than in the previously known process in which the cooling maker uses water (or brine) from the storage to produce more ice and releases it into the storage.

Instead of going into the storage tank, the "cold" water obtained can also be fed directly to the place of use and only mixed with liquid ice mixture from there after the ice storage, whereby only the amount fed in from the storage tank needs to be replaced by the cold water.

Further features and advantages of the invention emerge from the following description of preferred embodiments based on an attached drawing. Shown here:

Fig. 1 a refrigeration machine that releases the produced medium exclusively into a storage tank (ice storage), and

JAN G. TONNffiS

Fig. 2 a refrigeration machine that delivers the produced medium into a storage container or to the point of use.

The device shown in Fig. 1 consists of a refrigeration machine with ice maker 1, throttle device 3, compressor and condenser 2. The reference number 4 designates an ice storage unit, from which a cooling point 10 is supplied via a pipeline 12 using a pump 9.

The reference numerals 6 and 7 indicate possible locations of probes for determining the ice concentration in the return line 11, for example. The return line 11 is connected to both the refrigeration machine (ice maker 1) and the ice storage tank 4 in order to be independent of the flow rates through the ice maker, e.g. to be able to cool for a certain time even when the ice maker 1 is switched off.

If cooling is not required, pump 5 can also be used to maintain a circuit just for charging the ice storage tank 4.

The device shown in Fig. 2, like the first embodiment, consists of a refrigeration machine with ice maker 1, throttle device, compressor and condenser 2. The reference number 4 again designates an ice storage unit, from which a cooling point 10 is supplied via a pipe 12 using a pump 9. However, the additional pipe 13 makes it possible to supply the cooling point 10 directly with the medium coming from the ice maker 1 and, if necessary, to add medium from the ice storage unit at point 14.

The reference numerals 6 and 7 indicate the proposed locations for probes for determining the ice concentration in the return line 11 by way of example.

JAN G. TGNMBS
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In both versions, reference numeral 8 designates a safety pressure relief valve.

In both cases, reference numeral 3 indicates a drive unit or a drive motor for the ice maker, which moves the ice crystals. If only "cold" water (or brine) without ice is produced, drive unit 3 can be switched off.

Claims (2)

JAN G. TONNIES I 5028 CLAIMS 1. Devices for producing ice in water-ice mixtures, with an ice maker (1, 2, 3), an ice storage (4) which is connected to a cooling point (10) via pipes, at least one pump (9; 5) and a return line (11) for medium flowing back from the cooling point (10), characterized in that the return line (11) can be connected directly to the ice maker (1, 2, 3) if the return line is so warm that no ice can be produced. 2. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the ice maker (1) is connected directly via a pipeline (13) to the cooling point (10) and to the ice storage (4).