JP2003075035A - Ice making device and refrigerator-freezer having the device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an ice making device which can make ice substantially transparent, and a refrigerator-freezer using the device. SOLUTION: The ice making device is provided with: a blower for blowing cold air to the water surface of an ice making block or to the vicinity of the water surface; a through-hole at the bottom of the ice making block; a drain pipe which is connected to the through-hole and to the outside of the device; an on-off valve for opening and closing the path halfway in the drain pipe and closing the path at the time of ice making; a knockout bar for pushing the ice made in the ice making block through the through-hole and removing the ice from the ice making block; and a control unit for opening the on-off valve before starting water supply. As ice making progresses, mineral constituents and gas constituents are concentrated and pushed out without allowing water containing these constituents to freeze, and therefore substantially transparent ice can be obtained. The water containing the concentrated mineral constituents and gas constituents is drained through the drain pipe and thus is readily treated.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ice making device for use in a refrigerator / freezer in a general household or the like, and more particularly to an ice making device capable of making high-quality transparent ice and a refrigerator / freezer having this device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Today, some home refrigerators and refrigerators are equipped with an ice-making device for storing water in an ice-making tray to supply water so that a predetermined amount of ice is always available. An ice making device that automatically supplies water from a tank to make ice is provided on the market.

However, it is known that if an ice tray is simply cooled to make ice, it becomes cloudy, and even if such cloudy ice is used for watering whiskey, the atmosphere does not rise and it is transparent. Ice is demanded and ice making devices of various configurations have been proposed.

Generally, an ice tray is divided into a plurality of ice making blocks, and water is stored in each ice making block. If such an ice tray is simply cooled, freezing will start around each ice making block and the water inside will finally freeze.

At this time, air or the like dissolved in water comes out as bubbles in the unfrozen ice water, and when the bubbles are trapped in the ice, it becomes cloudy ice.

Therefore, in order to obtain transparent ice, for example, in Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 6-70543, ice is blown from the bottom side of the ice making tray to make ice, so that bubbles are not trapped in the ice. A configuration is disclosed in which a heater is embedded in a lid of a plate so that the water surface does not freeze before the inside.

As a result, the ice gradually becomes frozen from the bottom of each ice making block, and finally the water surface freezes, so that the degassing path of bubbles is secured until the ice making is completed, and transparent ice can be made. .

[0008]

However, in the above structure, although the degassing path is secured, sufficient degassing cannot be performed for the following reasons, and it becomes difficult to produce high-quality transparent ice with high transparency. There was a problem.

That is, in order for the bubbles generated on the bottom side of each ice making block to be degassed, the bubbles must naturally float to the water surface.

However, since the bubbles are very small, their buoyancy is also small, and it is difficult to float to the water surface only by this buoyancy, and sometimes they adhere to the freezing surface and are trapped in the ice, and are removed. I feel unwell.

Of course, since the surface is heated by the heater, a temperature gradient is generated in the unfrozen water, which causes convection, so that the bubbles generated on the bottom side of each ice making block are carried to the water surface by this convection. May be

However, in the above heater heating method, the water stored in the ice making block is not forcibly stirred and the temperature gradient is small, so that the bubbles adhering to the icing surface can be convected. It was very difficult to move and degas.

Therefore, in order to perform sufficient deaeration, the freezing speed must be reduced, which causes a problem that the ice making time becomes long.

Therefore, the present applicant has an ice tray having a plurality of ice making blocks and a blow mechanism for blowing warm air to the water surface of the ice tray, and the bottom of the ice making block is cooled by the cold air from the bottom side of the ice tray. An ice making device was manufactured by gradually making ice from the side and obtaining transparent ice from the bottom.

In this ice making device, water that contains mineral components and gas components and is hard to freeze can be finally frozen on the uppermost surface to make most of it almost transparent, but the slightly cloudy portion on the uppermost surface. There is a drawback that it is easy to do.

The present invention provides an ice making device that can make ice almost transparent, and a freezer-refrigerator using this device.

[0017]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, an ice making chamber, to which cold air is supplied and is controlled to a predetermined temperature below freezing point, and a door for opening and closing the opening of the ice making chamber, are provided. An ice making block in which the water inside is made and an ice storage box for storing ice from this ice making block; and an ice making device comprising a water supply device for supplying a predetermined amount of water to the ice making block, wherein the ice making block Of the ice making block is provided with a through hole at the bottom of the ice making block and a drain pipe connected to the through hole is provided, and a passage in the middle of the drain pipe is opened and closed to make ice. An on-off valve that is closed, a knock-out rod that pushes ice made in the ice making block from the through hole to de-ice it, and the on-off valve before starting water supply of the water supply device. It is obtained by a control device to open.

A deicing heater is provided outside the lower portion of the ice making block.

Further, the energization of the deicing heater is controlled so that the ice making proceeds from the upper part to the lower part of the ice making block.

Further, the ice storage box and the ice making block in the ice making chamber are set at positions closer to the door than the ice making block.

Further, the position of the drainage port is set farther from the center of the ice making block than the ice storage box.

Further, any one of these ice making devices is provided in a refrigerator-freezer.

[0023]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. 1 to 3 relate to the refrigerator-freezer of the present invention, FIG. 1 is a front view of the refrigerator-freezer of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of a main part of the refrigerator-freezer.

Reference numeral 1 shown in the figure is a refrigerator-freezer according to the present invention, and by partitioning the heat-insulating box body 2 with partitions, approximately 3
A refrigerator room 3 controlled at ℃, a vegetable room 4 controlled at about 5 ° C, an ice making room 5 at which an automatic ice making machine such as an ice making block is arranged, and a refrigerator room or a freezer room controlled at about -20 ° C. A switching chamber 6 which is used as a freezing chamber and a freezing chamber 7 which is controlled at about -20 ° C are formed. Moreover, the lower part of the refrigerating room 3 is about 0 to -1 ° C.
A controlled ice greenhouse (not shown) is formed. Further, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13 are doors for opening and closing the openings of these chambers.

In FIG. 2, 14 is an evaporator for a freezing room or an ice making room, 15 is a circulation fan for circulating cold air (about -20 ° C.) to the ice making room 5, 16 is an outlet for cold air, and ice making Cold air is supplied along the upper surface of the block 17. 18 is an ice storage box, which is a door 11 rather than the ice making block 17.
It is located on the side. Reference numeral 19 is a through hole formed in the bottom of the ice making block 17, and the position of this hole is set slightly behind the center of the ice making block 17 (the side away from the door 11).

Reference numeral 20 denotes a drain pipe, which is connected to the through hole 19 and guides the water therein to an evaporating dish (not shown) arranged at the bottom of the refrigerator-freezer 1.
Reference numeral 21 denotes an opening / closing valve provided in the middle of the drainage pipe, which is normally closed, but is opened for a certain period of time during deicing to drain the water inside. Reference numeral 22 is a deicing heater attached to the bottom of the ice making block 17 from the outside, and 23 is the drainage pipe 2.
Heater mounted from the outside near the top of 0,
Reference numeral 24 is a knockout rod for pushing up ice from the lower part to remove ice, and 25 is a drive motor for driving the knockout rod up and down.

26 is a water supply tank, 27 is a water supply pump, 2
Reference numeral 8 is a water supply pipe, and a heater 29 is provided at the tip of the water supply pipe so as to prevent water droplets adhering thereto and remaining water from freezing. In FIG. 2, the water supply tank 26 is arranged in the vegetable compartment 10 above the ice making compartment 5, but the water supply tank 26 is arranged in the refrigerating compartment 3 and a slightly longer water supply pipe 28 is provided. You may use it.

Reference numeral 30 is a control device for controlling the water supply pump 27, the circulation fan 15, the opening / closing valve 20, the heaters 22, 23 and 19, and the drive motor 25. In addition, the operation of a refrigerant compressor (not shown) is also controlled. A refrigerant compressor (not shown), a condenser (not shown), a pressure reducing device (not shown), and an evaporator are annularly connected by a refrigerant pipe. Then, the refrigerant circuit is formed, but not shown.

In the refrigerator-freezer 1 thus constructed,
The ice making device operates as shown in FIG.

First, the ice making block 1 shown in (a).
If the ice in the ice making block 17 is deiced and the unmade ice water is drained as in No. 7, (a)
As shown in, a predetermined amount of water is supplied to the ice making block 17 from the water supply pipe 28.

Next, since cold air is supplied to the upper surface of the ice making block 17 or in the vicinity of the upper surface and is cooled from the upper portion of the ice making block 17, the ice making also proceeds from the upper portion of the ice making block 17 to the lower portion. That is, water that contains mineral components and gas components and does not freeze until the end is gradually concentrated as the ice making progresses and is pushed out to the lower part. For this reason, the water that does not freeze until this end (water that easily forms a cloudy portion when frozen) is accumulated in the lowermost portion of the ice making block 17 and the drain pipe 20 immediately before de-icing.

During ice making, the heater 23 is energized or the energization ratio is controlled so that the water in the drainage pipe 20 does not freeze. Further, the deicing heater 22 may be energized or the energization ratio may be controlled to increase the temperature difference between the upper and lower sides of the ice making block 17 so that the ice making surely proceeds from above. In this case, it is considered that ice having a higher transparency can be obtained although the ice making time is slightly longer than that in the control in which the deicing heater 22 is not energized at all.

When the water in the ice making block 17 is almost made of ice, the heater 22 is energized to melt the lower portion of the ice making block 17 from the outside to facilitate deicing. When it is heated from the outside and it becomes easy to remove ice, the knockout rod 24 is raised and the ice is taken out from the ice making block 17. At this time, since the push-up position of the knockout rod 24 is located slightly on the side opposite to the ice storage box 18 with respect to the center of the ice making block, the ice rotates to the ice storage box 18 side and easily falls to the ice storage box side. There is. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the ice from remaining in the ice making block 17 even if the deicing operation is performed.

When the ice from the ice making block 17 is stored in the ice storage box 18, the control device 30 opens the opening / closing valve 20 to drain the unfrozen water. The drained water passes through a drain pipe 20 and a drain hose (not shown), is guided to an evaporation dish arranged in the lower part of the refrigerator-freezer 1, and spontaneously evaporates.

After discharging the unfrozen water, except when the operation for stopping the ice making is performed, the water in the water supply tank 26 is exhausted, or the ice in the ice storage box 18 is full, Again, the operations of (a), (a), ... Are repeated, and ice making is continuously performed.

As described above, in the ice making device of this embodiment,
Since hot air is not used unlike the prototype described in the related art, the ice making time can be shortened and energy can be saved.

Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the ice storage box 18 is
Since it is arranged closer to the door 11 than the ice making block 17, it is easy to take out the stored ice and keep the ice making block 17 away from the side of the door 11 where heat easily comes in to allow the heat to enter the ice making block 17. It can prevent and shorten ice making time.

[0038]

As described above, according to the invention as set forth in claim 1, the blower for sending the cool air to the water surface of the ice making block or in the vicinity of the water surface is provided, and the ice making block includes:
Along with a through hole at its bottom, a drain pipe connected to this through hole is provided, and an opening / closing valve that is closed during ice making by opening and closing a passage in the middle of this drain pipe and pressing the ice made in the ice making block from the through hole. Since a knockout rod for removing ice from this ice making block and a control device for opening the on-off valve before starting water supply of the water supply device are provided, as the ice making of water in the ice making block progresses, mineral components and gas components Is concentrated and extruded down, so that almost clear ice can be obtained. Moreover, the water in which the mineral components and the gas components are concentrated can be drained through the drain pipe and easily treated. Further, according to the invention described in claim 2, since the deicing heater is provided outside the lower part of the ice making block, it is possible to melt a part of the lower part of the ice at the time of deicing to facilitate deicing.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the deice heater is energized and controlled so that the ice making proceeds from the upper part to the lower part of the ice making block. Then, it is possible to gradually and surely proceed, and it is possible to obtain ice having a higher transparency as compared with the case where the deicing heater is not energized.

Further, according to the invention as set forth in claim 4, since the ice storage box and the ice making block in the ice making chamber are set at a position closer to the door than the ice making block, the door is opened. When opened, the ice storage box is located on the door side, making it easy to take out ice. Moreover, since the ice making block can be separated from the side of the door to which a large amount of heat flows, the heat is less likely to be transmitted to the ice making block, and energy can be saved.

Further, according to the invention of claim 5, since the position of the drainage port is set farther from the center of the ice making block than the ice storage box, when the ice in the ice making block is pushed by the knockout rod. , It is easy to rotate to the ice making box side, and the de-iced ice can be surely stored in the ice storage box.

According to the sixth aspect of the invention, since any one of these ice making devices is provided in the freezer-refrigerator, almost transparent ice can be easily obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a refrigerator-freezer according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of a main part of the refrigerator-freezer.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an operation of the same refrigerator-freezer from ice making to ice removal.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 freezer refrigerator 5 ice making room 11 doors 15 blower 17 Ice Block 18 ice box 19 through holes 20 drainage pipe 21 on-off valve 22 Deicing heater 24 knockout sticks 30 control device

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Junichi Kubota             2-5-3 Keihan Hondori, Moriguchi City, Osaka Prefecture             Within Yo Denki Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Hideaki Kamiya             2-5-3 Keihan Hondori, Moriguchi City, Osaka Prefecture             Within Yo Denki Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Hitoshi Hoshino             2-5-3 Keihan Hondori, Moriguchi City, Osaka Prefecture             Within Yo Denki Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Masaya Matsuoka             2-5-3 Keihan Hondori, Moriguchi City, Osaka Prefecture             Within Yo Denki Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Naoki Otsuka             2-5-3 Keihan Hondori, Moriguchi City, Osaka Prefecture             Within Yo Denki Co., Ltd.

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An ice making machine, which is provided with cold air and is controlled to a predetermined temperature below freezing point, and a door for opening and closing an opening of the ice making room. In an ice making device comprising a block and an ice storage box for storing ice from the ice making block, and a water supply device for supplying a predetermined amount of water to the ice making block, a blower for sending the cool air to or near the water surface of the ice making block Equipped with
The ice making block is provided with a through hole at the bottom thereof, and a drain pipe connected to the through hole is provided, and an opening / closing valve which is opened / closed at the time of ice making by opening / closing a passage in the middle of the drain pipe, and ice made in the ice making block. An ice making device, comprising: a knock-out rod for pushing the water from the through hole to remove ice from the ice making block; and a control device that opens the on-off valve before starting water supply of the water supply device. 2. The ice making device according to claim 1, wherein a heater for de-icing is provided outside the lower portion of the ice making block. 3. The ice making device according to claim 1, wherein energization of the ice removing heater is controlled so that ice making proceeds from an upper portion to a lower portion of the ice making block. 4. The ice storage box and the ice making block in the ice making chamber are set at a position where the ice storage box is closer to the door than the ice making block is. The ice making device according to claim 2. 5. The ice making device according to claim 1, wherein the position of the drainage port is set farther from the center of the ice making block than the ice storage box. 6. A freezer-refrigerator comprising the ice-making device according to any one of claims 1 to 5.