ES2402968B1 - PROCEDURE OF MANUFACTURE OF ICE CUBES. - Google Patents

Abstract

The ice cube manufacturing process is a slow process, in which a certain amount of water is cooled by contact with an evaporator through which a refrigerant circulates. The problems that this entails are that the size is limited and that the geometric shape of the cubes is reduced. # With the procedure object of this invention, these problems are avoided, the ice cube manufacturing process is carried out in the following steps: # 1) the ice in flakes (1) is introduced into a mold (2). # 2) this ice in flakes is compressed in this mold (2) with the desired geometric shape; The mold (2) is subjected to force on both sides (3 and 4). # 3) Ice cubes (5) are removed from the mold (2).

Description

ICE CUBE MANUFACTURING PROCEDURE

At present there is a great diversity of manufacturing machines for

5 ice cubes for hospitality consumption. However, almost in all of these machines the fundamental idea by which the ice cube is created is the same. Therefore, the same disadvantages can also be observed in all machines. The objective of this new procedure is to replace the defects of

10 conventional procedures, in fact, intends to give a new form

to obtain ice cubes, which will, among other things, increase productivity and create cubes with any geometric shape that allows the imagination. To explain its operation, the procedures of

15 current production. In this way it is intended to give an idea of the main problems that arise. Then we will proceed to describe this new procedure and its advantages.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

20 As already mentioned, the machines for producing ice cubes are as numerous as the brands that manufacture them. Perhaps the biggest difference

among them is in the evaporator, a fundamental component that

It is part of a refrigeration circuit.

In any case, and for what is intended here to describe any kind of evaporator would be valid, however, to explain more clearly a specific evaporator has been chosen. As with the evaporator, there are multiple types of

5 procedures responsible for supplying the water, but it is not relevant for what the injector has been chosen for its ease. Stage 1 In the first stage the injectors splash the evaporator with water and it cools gradually.

10 Stage 2 The first ice layer is placed in the evaporator. In this way the sprayer splashes water against the evaporator, the refrigerant circulates inside it, which will absorb heat from its environment, heating it and cooling the outside water, which will lower

15 its temperature little by little until it drops below 0 ° C, freezing and forming the first layers of ice. Stage 3 The cube continues to grow. Water will continue to be sprayed, it will no longer come into contact with the

20 evaporator, if not with the existing ice. It will also cool, freezing and becoming part of the ice cube, which is gradually getting bigger. Stage 4 Defrost

When the desired dimensions are obtained, the cycle changes direction

for a while to heat the evaporator and let the ice creams come loose of the same. Upon completion of this process, it starts again in stage l.

The problems involved in this process originate from the following: To generate ice it is necessary to remove heat from the liquid water. When will you remove the amount of energy needed to lower the temperature below of OC the water passes through its melting point and solidifies, causing the ice. But the process of energy exchange between water and

refrigerant is totally determined by heat transfer, which in turn is mainly conditioned by two factors,

contact surfaces and thermal conductivity of materials. Well, initially the water spray comes into contact with the evaporator. Its contact surface will be determined by the shape of said evaporator, and the predominant thermal conductivity will also be that of this. The problem appears, and increases as the ice forms. The cause is that the water spray comes into contact with the ice, not with the evaporator, increasing the thermal resistance as the ice forms, making it more and more difficult to cool the water. This causes the evaporator to also gradually decrease its

temperature, which worsens machine performance, offering

less and less refrigeration capacity. By the principle of Camol, in a refrigeration cycle its performance increases as the temperatures of its lights approach. It is obvious anyway that it is less expensive to get cold at O oC than at I S oc.

Finally, increasing the dimensions of the ice creates more surface, but as the cooling effect decreases, a lower cold / surface ratio is obtained, further impoverishing the process.

In short, all industrial ice cube manufacturers base their operation on a slow process, in which a certain amount of water is cooled by contact with an evaporator through which a refrigerant circulates. The problem is that by increasing the thickness of the ice in its manufacture, the thermal resistance increases, the cooling capacity decreases, thus decreasing the speed of obtaining ice. For these reasons two problems also arise: The size is very limited, because the efficiency decreases with increasing ice. There are no capable of making ice of more than 60 grams with high productivity. The geometric shape of the cubes is very small because it depends entirely on the evaporator, a complex system. That is why currently, and industrially you can only get:

-Cylindrical cubes: It is manufactured in different versions, with or without hole,

flat or oval face, etc. It reaches a maximum of 60 grams. -Square cubes: It is generated in more complicated evaporators, but its Production is much lower than the previous ones.

-Cherical spherical: Like the previous ones, its production is much

smaller than the first.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The ice cube manufacturing process needs to feed on flake ice. Therefore, the operation of a machine that produces it will be explained, and already showing the advantages of these machines

with respect to the previous ones.

1.-Flake ice maker These manufacturers have an evaporator in which small sheets of ice are formed. Then a scraper removes them thus obtaining the ice in flakes. The biggest advantage of this is that the cycle does not have to go through the defrost stage described above. That is, the ice obtained is of small thickness and it is not necessary to perform a defrost to remove the ice formed. This makes the flake ice machine get better performance than ice cube machines. Also due to differences in its operation, water consumption is

considerably less.

Flake ice machines are much more productive and efficient (consume less water and electricity and produce more ice), as well as cheaper than ice cube machines, and as the size of the cube increases even more evident. But the fmality of flake ice is different from that of ice cubes and has no use in the hospitality world as an on-site beverage cooler. It is here that the new ice production process participates, which takes advantage of the advantages of flake makers but produces ice cubes.

The process object of this invention allows to obtain ice cubes with greater productivity, effectiveness, and in any way

geometric

Below is a scheme that describes the procedure:

1.-Entrance of ice in mores:

-

Ice is generated in a suitable machine. (It can be in scales of different sizes, and can also admit ice in the form of small cubes). 2.-Distributor Dispenser:

-

Ice is processed to take it to the compression zone (Must

keep

true terms adequate, how humidity,

temperature, and especially quantity).

3.-Compression:

-It compresses the

ice in a mold with the shape geometric

desired (The compression pressure must exceed a certain value to ensure the quality of the fmal cube).

4.-Expulsion: -The cube is removed from the mold without damaging it. 5.-Ice cube outlet: -Ice leaves the outside of the compression machine to pass to 5 distribution chain.

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The ice cube manufacturing process needs to be fed

10 of flake ice, therefore, this ice is first generated in flakes (1) with the appropriate machine for this purpose, then the ice is processed to take it to the compression zone, then the ice is compressed in a mold (2) with the desired geometric shape, at this time ice cubes (5) and the cube is removed from the mold, leaving the

15 outside the compression machine.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

20 The drawings describe the time of pressing of the ice flakes,

So:

Figure 1: Shows the moment of loading of the ice flakes (1) in the molds (2), said mold is subjected to force on both sides (3 and 4)

Figure 2:

It shows the moment of pressing of the ice flakes (1), 5 thus becoming ice cubes. (5).

Figure 3:

Shows the moment of the expulsion of the ice already turned into 10 ice cubes (5)

Claims (1)

5 l. Ice cube manufacturing procedure, characterized by being carried out in the following stages, starting from the ice in flakes (1): 1) ice is introduced into flakes (1) in a mold (2). 10 2) this flake ice is compressed in this mold (2) with the desired geometric shape; The mold (2) is subjected to force on both sides (3 and 4). 15 3) Ice cubes (5) are removed from the mold (2)