JP2000121213A - Ice plant - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an ice plant equipped with an ice discharging means which can smoothly discharge ice. SOLUTION: Water storage depressions 20, 30 are formed on both sides of an ice tray 10, and ice 13 frozen in the depressions on one side of the ice tray 10 is allowed to face downward, and water 12 is made to flow into either one of the depressions 20, 30 on the other side of the ice tray 10 formed on the rear surface opposite to the one side. The contact surface of the ice 13 is melted by heat transfer via the ice tray 10, to thereby smoothly discharge the ice 13.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ice making apparatus and, more particularly, to a technique for surely discharging frozen ice and improving ice production efficiency.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an ice making apparatus for producing ice is provided with an ice tray, and water is supplied to the ice tray, which is a source of ice, and the supplied water is cooled together with the ice tray to freeze the ice. Let me. In general, cooling means using a refrigeration cycle is used for this cooling, and the temperature in the room in which the ice tray is stored is lowered to below freezing. As a result, the temperature of the ice tray is also reduced by being taken away by the surrounding cooled air, causing the water to freeze.

[0003] An ice making device having such a basic configuration is widely used from commercial use installed in factories and warehouses to refrigerators used in ordinary households.

[0004] From the standpoint of using ice, it is required that the required amount of ice be immediately provided when it is needed. To respond to such demands, ice that has been frozen in an ice tray is automatically discharged to a storage room for storing ice, and when this discharge is completed, water for producing the next ice is supplied. Perform on an empty ice tray and freeze continuously.

As one means for discharging ice from an ice tray, an ice tray is manufactured using, for example, a resin material which can be elastically deformed, and the manufactured ice tray is turned upside down while being turned upside down. Discharge by turning to.
By twisting the ice tray, deformation occurs and a gap is formed between the ice tray and ice, so that the ice tray is easily discharged.

[0006] The turning over of the ice tray can be realized, for example, by rotating the ice tray using a motor or the like. Also, the twisting of the ice tray is performed during the period from the start of the rotation operation to the rotation angle at which the predetermined deformation amount is obtained, so that the edge of the ice tray is mechanically pressed so as not to rotate. It can be realized by opening when the angle reaches Further, the ice tray after being turned over needs to be returned to the original position again, which can be realized by, for example, reversely rotating the motor for rotational driving.

[0007] Such a series of flow of ice production is automatically performed, and the ice is always stored in the storage chamber in a full state, and the amount of ice required by the user is provided without interruption.

As a means for automatically producing and storing ice, conventionally, the temperature of an ice tray is detected by providing a thermistor, for example, and the state of freezing is recognized based on the detection result to discharge the ice. Perform the operation.

As another means, the elapsed time from the water supply is measured, and it is estimated that the freezing has been completed when the time until the completion of the freezing obtained in advance through experiments or the like becomes equal. Is performed.

[0010]

However, according to the above-mentioned prior art, a method of discharging ice by twisting when supplied water freezes is not always satisfactory.

For example, in order to generate a deformation by applying a twist while rotating the ice tray, it is necessary to generate a high torque to the rotation driving means of the ice tray. As a result, the size of the drive motor increases, and the manufacturing cost also increases.

Further, in a configuration in which a gear mechanism or the like is provided to obtain a high torque to obtain a high torque, since the driving motor rotates at a high speed, generation of noise and vibration is inevitable, and noise generated by the gear mechanism is also a problem. Becomes In the case of a home refrigerator or the like, the noise of these mechanisms becomes unpleasant for the user.

Further, with the mechanical ice discharging means by twisting, pieces of ice remain in the depressions of the ice tray, and the ice is not discharged smoothly depending on the positions of the depressions.

Further, in order to realize the reverse rotation operation of the drive motor for returning the ice tray to the original position, it is inevitable that the control circuit becomes complicated.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems and disadvantages of the prior art, and ensures that ice is discharged without remaining.

It is another object of the present invention to reduce the generation of noise due to the discharge of ice, to facilitate the control, and to reduce the size and cost of the ice discharge mechanism.

[0017]

According to the present invention, there is provided a cooling device for supplying cold air to a room, a supplying device for supplying water to an ice tray in the room, and an ice tray. A rotating means for rotating the rotation axis around a rotation axis provided in the ice tray to turn the upper surface of the ice tray toward the lower surface, wherein the ice tray is provided with depressions on both sides of the ice tray, in which the water can be stored. A solution is provided by an ice making device having a configuration in which water is supplied to the other dent in order to discharge the ice in the dent and the ice is discharged by heat transfer.

In this case, the ice can be discharged smoothly, and the mechanism required for discharging the ice can be small and low-cost. Further, the generation of noise due to the discharge is small.

The ice tray further includes a temperature detecting means for detecting the temperature of the water, and a heat transfer member which constitutes a part or the whole of the ice tray. It is configured to detect a temperature by contacting with a heating element, and has a configuration to control a start timing of ice discharge by detecting icing based on a detection result of the temperature detecting means, The ice making device according to claim 1 is a solution.

In this way, since the temperature can be monitored directly, ice can be discharged without erroneously recognizing a thin ice state or the like as a freezing completed state. Further, it is possible to respond to an application in which defective production of ice is not allowed and a reliable supply of ice is required.

3. The ice making device according to claim 1, wherein said temperature detecting means is housed inside said rotary shaft to detect the temperature of said ice tray. .

In this way, since the ice tray can be easily removed, maintenance of the ice making device can be easily performed.

[0023]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIGS. 1A to 1C show an example of an embodiment according to the present invention, in which a schematic cross section of an ice tray 10 is shown.

The steps for producing ice by the ice making apparatus according to the present invention will be described in the following order. First, water 12 serving as the source of ice is supplied to the ice tray 10 by a water supply nozzle (not shown). Note that the ice tray 10 according to the present invention is different from the shape according to the prior art as shown in FIG. Conventionally, it is common to have a shape in which a water recess is provided only on one side.

The amount of the supplied water 12 depends on the ice tray 1
An appropriate amount for producing a predetermined amount of ice is set to 0 in advance, and the water supply stops when an amount equal to the set amount is supplied.

The comparison monitoring and the control of the water supply operation are compared with the water supply amount calculated by the arithmetic unit based on the water supply operation time based on the water supply amount data stored in the storage device built in the drive control means (not shown). I do. The water supply stop control is performed when the difference between the two disappears by this comparison, and accordingly, the water supply of the water supply nozzle is stopped.

The ice tray 10 filled with the water 12 is kept in this state, and is cooled by cooling means (not shown). This cooling means can be easily realized by, for example, an apparatus having a refrigeration cycle. The cooling air supplied by the refrigeration cycle is supplied to the ice tray 10 of the ice making device according to the present invention.
Is supplied to the room in which the ice tray 10 is stored, whereby the ice tray 10 can be cooled to a temperature below freezing.

FIG. 1A shows a state in which the water 12 in the ice tray 10 is frozen.

Ice 13 is generated in the water storage recess 20 of the ice tray 10, and in this state, the ice tray 10 is
0 is turned to the lower side with respect to the drawing.

This rotation operation is performed by the rotation driving device 50, and the control of the rotation operation is performed by a rotation operation control means (not shown). In the rotation operation control means provided in the ice making device according to the present invention, the control circuit is simplified as compared with the rotation operation control means provided in the ice making device according to the prior art. This is because the ice tray 10 needs to be rotated in only one direction, so that control for reverse rotation is not required.

FIG. 1B shows a state in which the water storage recess 20 faces the lower surface. In this state, the boundary surface between the ice 13 and the ice tray 10 is completely frozen.
Will not fall under its own weight.

Next, as shown in FIG. 1C, water 12 is supplied to the water storage recess 30 by a water supply nozzle (not shown) or the like. By supplying water in this manner, the heat of the water 12 is transferred to the ice tray 10, and the temperature of the ice tray 10 is increased. Due to this temperature rise, the boundary surface portion of the ice 13 fixed on the water storage recess 20 side is slightly melted. Since the melted state eliminates the sticking state, the ice 13 falls downward by its own weight. Thereby, the discharge of the ice 13 is completed.

The discharged ice 13 is stored in a storage (not shown), and is used by the user.

After the ice 13 has been discharged, the ice tray 10 is held while the water 12 is stored in the water storage recess 30. Here, since the cooling by the refrigerating device is continuously maintained, the water 12 reaches the freezing point soon and changes to ice 13. The ice 13 thus frozen is discharged again through the above-described steps.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the ice tray 10 according to the present invention.

A heat transfer plate 60 is provided inside the ice tray 10, so that the heat transfer between the water storage dent 20 and the water storage dent 30 is efficiently performed. Further, a thermistor S for detecting a temperature is provided at an end of the heat transfer plate 60.
Is provided in contact. The thermistor S is housed inside a rotary drive shaft 51 for rotatingly driving the ice tray 10, detects the temperature from the heat transfer plate 60, and detects the icing state based on the detected temperature data. The heat transfer plate 60 can be achieved by using a metal such as aluminum.

The heat transfer plate 6 is placed inside the ice tray 10.
For example, the entire ice tray 10 may be formed of a material having a heat conductivity equivalent to that of the heat transfer plate 60 (for example, aluminum or another material subjected to antibacterial treatment) without being limited to the configuration including 0. In the same manner, heat can be transferred to the thermistor S. Further, the same temperature detection can be performed even if a part of the ice tray 10, for example, only a part that comes into contact with ice is formed of a material having the same heat conductivity as the heat transfer plate 60.

When the icing state is detected, the rotation driving device 5
The ice tray is rotated by 0, so that the surface on the water storage recess 20 side where the ice 13 is formed faces downward. In this way, by using temperature detecting means such as thermistor S in combination, it is possible to accurately detect waste of time, defective ice making, and the like, and to avoid such defects.

The embodiments described above are described for the purpose of facilitating the understanding of the present invention, and are not described for limiting the present invention. Therefore, each element disclosed in the above embodiment is intended to include all design changes and equivalents belonging to the technical scope of the present invention.

[0041]

As described above, according to the ice making device of the present invention, it is possible to discharge ice without leaving it.

Further, it is possible to reduce the generation of noise due to the discharge of ice, facilitate the control, and provide a downsized and low-cost ice discharge mechanism.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view for explaining an embodiment of an ice making device according to the present invention, wherein (a) and (b) explain a series of operations for discharging ice.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining a schematic configuration of a icing detection unit according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a view schematically showing an ice discharging means according to a conventional technique.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Ice tray, 12 ... Water, 20 ... Water pit, 30 ... Water pit, 50 ... Rotary drive, 60 ... Heat transfer plate.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A cooling means for supplying cool air to a room, a supply means for supplying water (12) to an ice tray (10) in the room, and a rotating shaft (51) provided in the ice tray (10). Rotating means for rotating the upper surface of the ice tray (10) to the lower surface by rotating the ice tray (10). A depression (20) in which the water (12) can be stored on both sides of the ice tray (10). , (30), and water is supplied to the other depression (20), (30) to discharge the ice (13) in one of the depressions (20), (30), and the ice (13) is transferred by heat. An ice making device having a configuration for discharging the ice. 2. A temperature detecting means provided in the ice tray (10) for detecting the temperature of the water (12), and a heat transfer body (60) constituting a part or the whole of the ice tray (10).
And wherein the temperature detecting means is configured to contact the heat transfer body (60) to detect a temperature, and to detect icing based on a detection result of the temperature detecting means to detect ice (13). 2. The ice making device according to claim 1, wherein the ice making device has a configuration for controlling a start time of the discharge of (i). 3. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said temperature detecting means is provided on said rotating shaft (51).
3. The ice making device according to claim 1, wherein the ice making device is configured to be housed inside the ice tray and detect a temperature of the ice tray (10).