JP2003014349A - Feed water pump for refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a feed water pump for a refrigerator improved in the reliability of the water feeding operation of the same, by a method wherein the mechanism of the feed water pump is compacted and the water feeding efficiency of the same is improved while the noise of the device is reduced. SOLUTION: A feed water pump device is constituted of a feed water tank provided detachably in a refrigerator main body, the feed water pump 18 arranged in the feed water tank, and a driving unit installed at the outside of the feed water tank so as to be neighbored to the feed water pump. The feed water pump is provided with a casing 21 formed so as to have a substantially flat and cylindrical shape formed by connecting a main body 22 and a lid member 23, and an impeller 24 provided integrally with a magnetic body 25 driven by a power of the driving unit arranged in the casing through non-contact driving by a magnet coupling. The impeller is formed so that the blade unit 24a at the peripheral rim of the same is extended to the vicinity of inner surface of radial direction of the cylindrical casing 21 as well as the vicinity of the inner surface of axial direction of the same.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a refrigerator equipped with an automatic ice making device and a cold water supply device, and more particularly to a water supply pump in the automatic ice making device and the cold water supply device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, as a water supply device in an automatic ice making device for a refrigerator, as shown in FIG. 4, a water supply pump () for discharging cold water to an ice tray is provided inside a water supply tank (9 ') installed in the refrigerator. 18 ') is provided, the magnet (25') is fixed to the impeller (24 ') that is a movable part of the water supply pump (18'), and the drive motor ( 17 ') is fixed adjacent to the water supply pump (18'), and a magnet (19 ') rotated by this drive motor (17') is provided on the front surface of the drive motor (17 '),
The magnet (19 ') of the drive motor (17') and the magnet (25 ') of the water supply pump (18') are installed to face each other and are commercialized.

This water supply device operates the drive motor (17 ') by a control signal during water supply for automatic ice making, thereby driving the drive motor (17') installed outside the water supply tank (9 '). The rotational force is transferred to the water supply pump (18 ') in the tank in a non-contact manner by the magnetic force between the two magnets (19') and (25 ') facing each other, and the impeller (24
This is a so-called magnet coupling type water supply device that rotates ′) to discharge cold water.

[0004]

A water supply pump (24) in the water supply device of the magnetic coupling type of the refrigerator (24)
′) Is provided in the water supply tank (9 ′), and the water supply tank (9 ′) is provided so as to minimize the influence on the storage volume such as the side space of the low temperature corner in the refrigerating room. However, the volume of the water supply tank (9 ') is about 1
Since it is about liter and is narrower, the pump volume is inevitably made as small as possible, and a compact pump with high water supply efficiency has been demanded.

Since the drive motor (17 ') rotates during water supply, the motor noise and the mutual magnet (19')
Rotation noise is generated when the axes between ´) and (25´) are misaligned, but the impeller (24´) in the conventional pump (18´)
As shown in Fig. 5, since the bearing (30 ') attached to the casing (21') and the shaft (29 ') are supported by cantilever support, the shaft (29') and the bearing (30
There is a concern that the vibration during pump operation may increase due to the clearance in ′) or the imbalance of the impeller (24 ′) due to variation in molding, resulting in noise.

The present invention has been made in view of this point, and a refrigerator having a compact water supply pump mechanism and high water supply efficiency, reduced noise of the apparatus, and improved reliability of water supply operation. The purpose is to provide a water supply pump.

[0007]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a water supply pump for a refrigerator according to the first aspect of the present invention comprises:
A water supply tank detachably provided in the refrigerator main body, a water supply pump disposed in the water supply tank, and a drive unit installed outside the water supply tank adjacent to the water supply pump. A casing having a substantially flat cylindrical shape by the connection of the lid and the lid, and an impeller integrally provided with a magnetic body that drives the power of the drive unit arranged in the casing in a non-contact manner by a magnetic coupling. The impeller is characterized in that a blade portion provided with a magnetic material at a peripheral edge with respect to a central shaft support portion is formed by projecting to a vicinity of an inner surface in a radial direction and a vicinity of an inner surface in an axial direction of a cylindrical casing. The invention according to item 2 is characterized in that the impeller blade length in the axial direction is larger than the distance between the tips of the bearing portions.

With this construction, the outer shape of the water supply pump is made to be the minimum required compact construction, and the efficiency of the drive transmission force by the magnetic coupling is improved to expand the impeller and obtain a large pumping power to the ice making device. It is a thing.

Further, since the radial dimension of the water supply pump can be made smaller, the pumpable water level in the tank can be further lowered, and there is an effect that the water supply interval to the water supply tank can be extended.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the casing, the bearing of the impeller is projected inward from the center of the bottom portion of the main body formed in a plane, and the suction port and the other of the impeller are provided in the central portion of the opposing lid. It is characterized in that the bearing of is protruded inward.Compared with the conventional cantilever support, the vibration at the time of impeller rotation in the water feed pump drive can be suppressed to be small and the noise can be reduced. .

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the shaft is provided so as to project inward from the central portion of the main body of the cylindrical casing and the lid, and bearing portions are formed at both axial ends of the central portion of the impeller. This is also a feature, and even with this configuration, the vibration during rotation of the impeller can be suppressed to a small level, as in the invention according to claim 3.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a refrigerator according to the present invention, which has a refrigerator compartment (2) at the top and a vegetable compartment (3) below the refrigerator body (1) formed of a heat insulating box as a storage space. A freezer compartment (4) is independently arranged at the lowermost part, and an automatic ice making / ice storage compartment (5) is provided between the freezer compartment (4) and the vegetable compartment (3) via a heat insulating partition wall (5). 6) and a temperature switching chamber (not shown) are arranged side by side, and a dedicated door (7) is provided at the front opening of each storage chamber so as to be openable and closable.

Refrigerating room (2) having the largest storage volume
At the bottom of the room, the temperature is 0 ° C by partitioning with other refrigerating room temperature.
A low temperature chamber controlled to a room temperature in the vicinity is provided, and cold water for ice making is supplied to an ice making tray (8) of the automatic ice making device (6) provided at the upper side of the freezing temperature space at one corner of the low temperature chamber compartment. A water supply tank (9) for discharging and supplying water is provided.

A cooler (10) and a cooling fan (11) dedicated to the freezer compartment are provided at the rear of the freezer compartment (4), and a cooler (12) and a cooling fan (13) for refrigeration are provided at the back of the vegetable compartment (3). ) Is provided, and the cool air cooled by the coolers (10) (12) is driven by the refrigerant compressor (14) installed in the lower part of the main body to blow into each chamber by the rotation of the cooling fans (11) (13). Then, each is cooled and controlled to a predetermined temperature.

As shown in FIG. 2, the water supply tank (9) placed on the bottom of the refrigerating compartment (2) is a container having a narrow width and a long shape in the depth direction, and the upper opening thereof is a lid (15). It is hermetically sealed and attached to the water tank corner (16) on the side of the low temperature chamber in the refrigerator.

The water supply tank (9) can be easily removed from the installation portion by opening the refrigerator door (7) at the time of replenishing ice making water or cleaning the tank, and the water supply tank (9) can also be installed at the water supply tank corner (16). It can be easily carried out by sliding it into the water. It is linked to the drive unit (17) described later, and the water supply pump (18) automatically operates during water supply operation after completion of ice making. A predetermined amount of water for ice making is supplied to the ice making tray (8) of the ice making device.

Thus, on the main body side of the rear portion of the water supply tank (9) installed in the water supply tank corner (16), a drive motor (17), which is a drive device of the water supply pump, is used as in the conventional case.
The water supply pump (18) is arranged near the rear wall surface of the water supply tank (17) so as to face and adjoin the magnet (19) provided in front of the drive motor (17).

The water feed pump (18) is connected to a discharge pipe (20) formed integrally with the lid (15) of the water feed tank, and its details are shown in FIG. An impeller (24) in which a magnet (25) is integrally embedded and provided in a casing (21) which is a combination of a main body (22) and a lid member (23) provided in an opening of the main body (22). ) Is arranged.

The impeller (24) has a shaft support (2
5) is provided, and a blade portion (24a) extending to the vicinity of the inner surface in the radial direction of the cylindrical casing (21) is provided on the peripheral edge of the shaft support portion (25).
The axial tip of a) is a cold water suction port (26) in the water supply tank (9) formed in the central part of the lid member (23) of the casing.
So as to face the inner surface of the lid member (23).

Further, a magnet (25) adjacent to the flat bottom surface (22a) of the casing body (22) is embedded and integrally provided in the rear portion of the impeller (24). Transmits the power of the drive motor (17) to the impeller (24) through a side wall of the water supply tank (9) by a magnetic coupling in a non-contact manner to rotate the impeller (24). It is positioned so as to face the magnet (19).

From the center of the flat bottom portion (22a) of the casing body (22), the impeller (2
The bearing portion (27) of 4) is formed so as to project. The bearing portion (27) is further provided with a synthetic resin material with good lubricity,
For example, a bearing (28) molded from polycarbonate is provided by press fitting, and the pivot shaft (25) of the impeller (24) is installed in this.
The shaft (29) which is the rear shaft of the is inserted.

A bearing (30) is formed at the center of the suction port (26) of the lid member (23) so as to face the bearing (28) and project rearward in the casing. By holding the front shaft (31) of the impeller in the (30), the impeller (24) is supported by both bearings (28) of the casing.
It is rotatably held between (30).

The water supply pump (18) is constructed as described above, and the casing body (2
2) Insert the impeller (24) into the shaft and its shaft (29)
Is fitted and held in the bearing (28) of the casing body (22), and the bearing (30) of the lid member (23) is engaged with the front shaft (31) of the impeller to hold the lid member (23) in the body. It suffices to cover and fix the opening of (22), and the assembly of the assembled water supply pump (18) to the discharge pipe (20) completes the attachment to the water supply tank (9). is there.

Therefore, compared with the conventional cantilever support, it is possible to suppress the vibration when the impeller (24) is rotated in driving the water supply pump (18) to be small.

At this time, the length of the axial vane portion (24a) including the magnet (25) of the impeller (24) is larger than the distance between the front and rear ends of the front and rear bearing portions (28) (30). (21) Overhangs in the front and back.

As mentioned above, the impeller blade portion (24a)
Is a flat cylindrical casing (2
It reaches to the vicinity of the inner surface of 1), and the outer shape of the water supply pump (18) has a minimum required compact structure, and
The efficiency of the drive transmission force by the magnetic coupling can be improved, the impeller (24) can be enlarged, and a large pumping force can be obtained as an ice water supply device.

In the drive of the impeller (24), when obtaining a similar amount of water supply with the same driving force, if the axial length of the impeller blade portion (24a) is long, the blade portion (24
a) The length in the radial direction can be shortened. When the water supply pump (23) is arranged in the tank (9) to reduce the diameter of the cylindrical portion as shown in FIG. ) Will be lowered. Therefore, the pumpable water level in the tank can be further lowered, and the stored water in the water supply tank (9) is used up to the end, which has the effect of extending the water supply interval.

Although the bearing structure is not shown in the drawings, contrary to the above-described embodiment, the shaft is projected inward from the bottom of the cylindrical casing body and the center of the water inlet of the lid, and the impeller is formed. You may form a bearing in the axial direction of the both ends of the central shaft support part.

The present invention is configured as described above, and when ice making is completed in the ice tray (8) installed in the freezer compartment (6), the ice tray (8) is rotated by detecting this. Then the ice is removed and the next water supply operation is performed.

The drive motor (17) is driven for a predetermined time according to the water supply instruction, and the magnet (19) is rotated, whereby the magnet (25) adjacent to the water supply pump (18) is rotated by the magnetic coupling, By rotating the impeller (24) integrated with the magnet (25), cold water in the water supply tank (9) is sucked from the suction port (26), and 180 cc from the discharge port to the ice tray (8) through the discharge pipe (20).
The pump operates to supply a predetermined amount of water.

In the above description, the water supply device for the automatic ice making device in the refrigerator has been described as one embodiment.
The present invention is not limited to this, and is applicable to all pump drive devices in a water supply device installed in a storage room of a refrigerator, for example, a water tank installed on a shelf in a refrigerating room or in a pocket inside a door. It can also be used as a water supply pump device of a so-called cold water supply device, which supplies cold water through the door to the receiving portion on the door surface.

[0032]

As described above, according to the water supply device for a refrigerator of the present invention, the outer shape of the water supply pump can be made the minimum necessary compact structure, and the efficiency of the drive transmission force by the magnetic coupling can be improved. It is possible to increase the impeller and expand the impeller, and obtain a large pumping power to the water supply device.

Further, since the diameter of the water supply pump can be reduced by expanding the size of the impeller in the front-rear direction, the pumpable water level in the tank can be further lowered, and the effect of extending the water supply interval to the water supply tank. There is.

Further, as compared with the conventional cantilever support, vibration at the time of impeller rotation during pump drive is suppressed to a small level,
It is possible to reduce noise.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional side view of a refrigerator showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a vertical cross-sectional side view showing a related configuration of the water supply tank unit of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a detailed cross-sectional view of a water supply pump section of the water supply tank in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional side view showing a conventional configuration corresponding to FIG.

FIG. 5 is a vertical cross-sectional side view showing a conventional water supply pump configuration corresponding to FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Refrigerator main body 2 ... Refrigerator 6 ... Automatic ice making device 7 ... Refrigerator door 8 ... Ice tray 9 ... Water tank 15 ... Water tank lid 16 ... Water tank corner 17 ... Drive motor 18 ... Water pump 19 ... Magnet 20 ... Discharge pipe 21 ... Casing 22 ... Casing body 22a ... Flat bottom 23 ... Lid member 24 ... Impeller 24a ... Blade 25 ... Shaft support 26 ... Suction port 27 ... Bearings 28, 30 ... Bearing 29 ... Shaft 31 ... Impeller front shaft

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI theme code (reference) F04D 29/42 F04D 29/42 AE 29/66 29/66 AF term (reference) 3H033 AA01 AA18 BB01 BB06 CC01 CC03 CC05 CC06 DD02 EE06 EE19 3H034 AA01 AA18 BB01 BB06 CC01 CC03 CC05 CC06 DD01 DD14 EE06 EE18

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A water supply tank detachably provided in a refrigerator main body, a water supply pump disposed in the water supply tank, and a drive unit installed adjacent to the water supply pump and outside the water supply tank. The water supply pump is integrally provided with a casing having a substantially flat cylindrical shape by connecting a main body and a lid, and a magnetic body for driving the power of the driving unit arranged in the casing in a non-contact manner by a magnetic coupling. The impeller has a blade portion provided with a peripheral magnetic body with respect to the central shaft support portion and is formed by projecting to the vicinity of the radial inner surface and the axial inner surface of the cylindrical casing. Characteristic refrigerator water pump. 2. The water supply pump for a refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the impeller has a blade length in the axial direction which is larger than the distance between the tips of the bearings. 3. The casing projects the bearing of the impeller inward from the center of the bottom of the main body formed in a plane, and the suction port and the other bearing of the impeller are inward at the center of the opposing lid. The water supply pump for a refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the water supply pump protrudes toward the front. 4. The cylindrical casing is provided with a shaft protruding inwardly from the bottom of the main body and the center of the lid, and bearings are formed at both axial ends of the center of the impeller. Alternatively, the refrigerator water supply pump according to the item 2.