JP2003148842A - Ice-making device and refrigerator-freezer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an ice-making device which approximately unifies an ice-making speed in each of ice-making blocks, and easily handles the uniced water, and also to provide a refrigerator-freezer provided with this ice-making device. SOLUTION: This ice-making device comprises a cooling member such as a cold-storage plate, a cover, or a duct for guiding the cooling air for approximately uniformly cooling each ice-making block, and a water taking-up device for taking up the uniced water when the predetermined amount of ice has been made in the ice-making blocks, so that the uniced water being apt to be clouded in ice-making, can be taken up by the taking-up device and removed from the ice-making blocks, whereby the transparency of the ice in the ice- making blocks can be improved. The ice-making speed is approximately unified by applying the cooling member, and the uniced water remaining on an upper part is even, so that the water can be easily removed. Further the sizes of the ice blocks remaining after the uniced water is taken up, are approximately unified.

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 used for a freezer-refrigerator in a general household and the like, and an ice making device capable of making high quality transparent ice in a short time, and a freezing provided with this device. Regarding the refrigerator.

[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. When such an ice tray is simply cooled, ice making starts around each ice making block, and the water in the inside makes ice making last.

At this time, gas components such as air dissolved in water come out as bubbles in unmade ice water, and when these bubbles are trapped in ice, they become 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 make ice before the inside.

As a result, ice is gradually made from the bottom of each ice making block, and finally the water surface comes to make ice.
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 ice-making surface and are trapped in the ice. I feel unwell.

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

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 ice making surface are convected. It was very difficult to move and degas. Therefore, in order to perform sufficient deaeration, the ice making speed must be reduced, and there is a problem that the ice making time becomes long.

Therefore, the applicant of the present invention is provided with 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 cools the bottom surface of the ice tray (for example, −
At about 20 ° C.), an ice-making device was gradually manufactured from the bottom side of the ice-making block, and a trial production of an ice-making device was performed so that transparent ice could be obtained from the bottom. However, in this ice making device, the ice making block progresses quickly in the ice making block close to the cool air outlet, and the ice making progress becomes slow in the ice making block far from the cool air outlet. For this reason, there is a drawback that the size of the ice in the ice making block becomes uneven when the ice making is slow and the water that becomes cloudy when ice making is treated, for example, when drained. For this reason,
It is difficult to treat the unmade ice water.

The present invention provides an ice making device which has almost the same ice making speed in an ice making block and is easy to process unmade ice water, and a freezer-refrigerator equipped with this device.

[0015]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides an ice making device in which an ice making plate having a plurality of ice making blocks is arranged in an ice making chamber to which cold air of less than 0 ° C. is supplied. It is provided with a cooling member for cooling the ice making block substantially uniformly, and a water absorbing device for sucking unmade ice water when a predetermined amount of ice making is completed in the ice making block.

Further, the cooling member is a cold storage plate which has a predetermined heat capacity and covers the bottom of the ice making block so that the cold air does not come into direct contact with the cooling member.

Further, the cooling member is provided with a cover for making the cold air approximately equal to each of the ice making blocks, or
It is a duct that guides the cold air to the ice making blocks substantially uniformly.

Furthermore, when the predetermined amount of ice making is completed,
It is set as when ice is made up to near the upper end of the partition of the ice making block.

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

[0020]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. 1 is a side sectional view of a refrigerator-freezer 2 equipped with an ice making device 20 of the present invention, FIGS. 2 to 4 are configuration diagrams of the ice making device 20, FIG. 2 is a side view, FIG. 3 is a plan view, and FIG. 4 is an overall configuration diagram. It should be noted that, in these drawings, some parts are omitted or simplified as appropriate so that the configuration can be easily understood.

The refrigerator-freezer 2 has an outer box 3 and an inner box 4, and is a heat insulating structure in which a heat insulating material is filled between them. Inside the inner box 4, a plurality of heat insulating partition plates 6 are provided. As a result, a refrigerating room 7, a freezing room 8, a vegetable room 9 and the like are formed.

A water supply tank 11 for storing water for making ice and a water absorbing device 41 are provided at the lower end of the refrigerating chamber 7, and an ice making device 20 and an ice storage box 12 are provided in a freezing chamber (ice making chamber) 8. Is provided. The ice storage box 12 is provided below the ice making device 20, and receives the ice from the ice making device 20 to store the ice.

A compressor for compressing the refrigerant, a capillary tube for reducing the flow rate of the refrigerant, a condenser for radiating and condensing the heat of the refrigerant and a condenser for vaporizing the refrigerant inside the refrigerator are provided in the lower part of the refrigerator-freezer 2. Cooler (evaporator) 13 for cooling air
A refrigeration system including
4, the inside of the refrigerator is cooled while being forcedly circulated.

On the other hand, the ice making device 20 includes an ice tray 21 for storing water from the water supply tank 11, a blow mechanism 22 for blowing air (for example, warm air at about 5 ° C.) to the water stored in the ice tray 21, It has an ice removing device 23 and the like for reversing the ice tray 21 and transferring the ice of the ice tray 21 to the ice storage box 12. In order to transfer the ice in the ice tray 21 to the ice storage box 12 in this way, 18
90 degrees to 13 degrees instead of flipping like rotating 0 degrees
The ice may be transferred by using a rotating method of moving it by about 0,140 degrees.

In FIG. 1, at least a part of the ice making device 20 is embedded in the heat insulating partition plate 6. The reason for having such a configuration is to increase the volume of the space used in the freezer compartment 8, so it is clear that it may not be embedded in the heat insulating partition plate 6 depending on the situation.

The ice tray 21 as described above is made of synthetic resin (polypropylene) having an open flat surface, and is divided into a plurality of ice-making blocks 24 each having a concave inside, and both ends of the ice tray 21 are formed. A rotary shaft 25 is provided in the portion (left and right in FIG. 2), and the water tank 1
A water supply port 26 for supplying water from 1 is provided.
Then, cold air (for example, about −20 ° C.) sent from the cooling device to the freezer compartment 8 is blown to the bottom surface side of the ice tray 21 to cool the ice tray 21 from the bottom side to perform ice making.

The deicing device 23 is a drive unit 27 provided on one end side (left side in FIG. 2) of the ice tray 21 and an ice detecting device for detecting whether or not a predetermined amount or more of ice is stored in the ice storage box 12. The drive unit 27 includes a lever 29 and the like, and the drive unit 27 includes a pulse motor, a gear, an output shaft, and the like, which are not shown.

The rotating shaft 25 on one side of the ice tray 21
The power of the drive unit 27 is transmitted to the ice tray 21 via the, so that the ice tray 21 is turned upside down and the ice produced is dropped into the ice storage box 12 and stored therein.

In order to determine whether or not a predetermined amount of ice is stored in the ice storage box 12, the ice detecting lever 29 first rotates toward the ice storage box 12 when the ice is removed.

At this time, if the ice detecting lever 29 does not receive a force by coming into contact with the ice even if the ice detecting lever 29 rotates a predetermined amount to the state shown by the dotted line in FIG. 2, it is determined that the ice storage box 12 is out of ice. Then, the deicing operation starts.

Further, when removing ice, the ice tray 21 is turned upside down to remove ice, but at this time, the ice may stick to the ice tray 21 and cannot be easily removed.

In such a case, a deicing heater (not shown) is attached to the side surface or the bottom surface of the ice tray 21, and the surface of the ice in contact with the ice tray 21 is removed by energizing the deice heater during deicing. You may let it melt a little.

Although deicing is facilitated by slightly melting the surface of the ice with the deicing heater, the melted portion is frozen again almost at the same time as the deicing, so the surface of the ice becomes very smooth,
There is an advantage that it is less likely to be broken by the impact when it falls into the ice storage box 12 and the thermal impact when the ice is put in whiskey or the like.

Further, since the ice surface is prevented from cracking during deicing, the appearance as transparent ice is improved.

The blow mechanism 22 has a fan 31 for blowing air, and the air blown by the fan 31 is used for the ice tray 2
1, a blower duct 32 that guides the upper part of 1, and this blower duct 32
The air heater 33 for heating the air guided by the air heater 33, the nozzle 34 for blowing the air heated by the air heater 33 into the warm air to the water stored in each ice making block 24, and the nozzle 34 for blowing the air. Gathered air,
Return duct 35 to circulate to fan 31 again, ice tray 2
1 has a temperature detector 36 and the like for detecting the temperature of the upper part.

The fan 31 is composed of a sirocco fan or the like, and is formed so as to take in air from the central portion and discharge it from the surroundings, and the fan 31, the air duct 32, and the nozzle 34.
The air path formed by the return duct 35 is formed in a closed circuit, and the air from the fan circulates through the blower duct 32, the nozzle 34, and the return duct 35 according to the arrow shown in FIG. A plurality of nozzles 34 are provided corresponding to the ice making block 24, and are attached so as to rectify the air and spray the water stored in the ice tray 21 at a predetermined spray angle.

As shown in FIG. 4, the water absorbing device 41 has a suction nozzle 42 for sucking unmade ice water, a water absorbing pump 43,
It is composed of a concentrated water container 44 for storing the sucked water, a mounting table 46 equipped with a weight sensor 45, and the like. Also,
A sensor is attached to the suction nozzle 42,
It is controlled so that the descent is stopped when it touches a hard object such as ice. Although a drive device for lowering or raising the suction nozzle 42 is installed, it is not shown. Further, when a predetermined weight is detected by the weight sensor 45, this is displayed on a display device (not shown) to prompt the user to drain water, or to control the water suction pump 43 not to operate.

Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the ice tray 21
The ice making block 24 has a predetermined heat capacity, and
A cold storage plate 47 that covers the ice making block 24 is arranged so that the cold air does not come into direct contact therewith. The cold storage plate 47 uses a metal plate having a predetermined thickness in order to secure a predetermined heat capacity. Therefore, the ice making block 24 on the right side shown in FIG. 4 close to the blowout port of the cool air and the ice making block on the left side far from the blowout port of the cool air are cooled substantially uniformly.

The spray angle and spray position of the nozzle 34 are determined by the size of the ice making block 24 (size of spray surface), the nozzle 3
4 is designed in accordance with the speed of the warm air blown from No. 4, the amount of water stored in the ice making block 24, and the like.

Therefore, although the spraying angle and the spraying position cannot be unconditionally specified, the ice tray 2 currently marketed today is used.
1, the spray angle is preferably 20 to 70 degrees, and more preferably the spray angle θ = 45 ± 1 degrees.

Further, the spraying position is preferably at least on the windward side with respect to the horizontal plane center position of the ice making block 24.

The warm air blown from the nozzle 34 having the blowing position and the blowing angle set in this manner blows against the water of the ice tray 21 and stirs the water. It rotates in a figure 8 shape on the surface of the water and also rotates in a vertical section. In particular, since the spraying position is on the windward side of the left and right center lines, the water can be efficiently rotated and stirred.

The rotation of the water in the ice making block 24 in this way means that this water is agitated, so that the bubbles that have come into the unmade ice water during the ice making process also move along with the agitated water, Alternatively, it can be easily degassed because it is carried to near the water surface. Since the air to be blown is warm air, the temperature of the water that is blown by the hot air and rotates also increases accordingly, so the water surface does not make ice earlier than the inside, and degassing is done until the ice making is completed. It goes without saying that the pass can be secured.

As a result, the amount of air contained in the ice made can be made extremely small, and it is possible to obtain transparent ice of very high quality.

The air heater 33 is composed of a heating element such as a nichrome wire, and this heating element is used to heat the air flowing through the air blowing duct 32 into warm air.

Next, a detailed description of the above configuration will be given with respect to the ice making device 2.
The ice making process and control method of transparent ice in No. 0 will be described.

First, the temperature of the air in the ice making block 24 is detected by the temperature detector 36, and the operation of the fan 31 is started.

As a result of the temperature detection, when the air in the ice making block 24 is below the freezing point, the air heater 33 is operated to heat the air and blow it out from the nozzle 34 to cause the temperature detector 36.
Warm the air above the ice tray 21 in the vicinity.

After that, the water supply tank 1 is placed in the ice making block 24.
Water is supplied from 1 to start ice making.

The warm air is blown before the water is supplied for the following reason. That is, since it takes time for the heater 33 to warm up, the air heating heater 33 is operated earlier by this time so that the warm air of about 5 ° C. is blown out at the time of water supply. In addition, by blowing warm air to warm the ice tray to 0 ° C. or higher, it is possible to prevent the supplied water from immediately freezing and turning into cloudy ice before being deaerated.

Therefore, in the present invention, the temperature of the air in the ice making block 24 is detected by the temperature detector 36 prior to the water supply, and when the temperature of this air (that is, the temperature of the ice making block 24) is below the freezing point, the air heater is used. The air heated in 33 is blown out from the nozzle 34 so that the air temperature in the upper part of the ice tray 21 becomes higher than the freezing point.

Incidentally, in the method of raising the temperature of the ice tray 21 as described above, it is also possible to drive the deicing heater. That is, when the ice tray 21 is below freezing, the above-mentioned inconvenience can be avoided by operating the deicing heater for a predetermined time to warm the ice tray 21.

Air heating heater 33 and fan 3 during ice making
1. As a control method of the water suction pump 43, for example, control as shown in FIG. 5 is possible. FIG. 5 shows the power of the air heater 33 (FIG. 5A), the amount of air blown by the fan 31 (FIG. 5B), from the start of water supply to the completion of ice making.
It is a figure showing control (Drawing 5 (c)) of water absorption pump 43.

Needless to say, other controls are possible, for example, the air may be heated for a certain period of time, or the power of the air heater 33 and the blowing amount of the fan 31 may be controlled simultaneously.

As described above, the hot air of about 5 ° C. from the nozzle 34 causes the water in the ice making block 24 to rotate and stir in the horizontal and vertical planes, and at that time, the bubbles generated in the unmade ice water are stirred. It moves with the flowing water, reaches the water surface and near the water surface, and is deaerated.

At the time of ice making, warm air is blown out and cold air of about -20 ° C. is blown out at the bottom surface of the ice making block.

At the end of water supply, as shown in FIG.
Water is supplied so that the water surface is at position A near the upper end of the partition.

After the water is supplied to the ice making tray, cold air is supplied to the cool storage plate 47 below the ice making block 24 to be cooled, but the cool storage plate 47 having a predetermined heat capacity works to cool the air. Although the cooling power is somewhat indirect, the ice-making blocks 24 are cooled substantially evenly, so that the ice-making speed of each ice-making block 24 becomes substantially uniform. Therefore, the water surface of the unmade ice water is almost the same in any of the ice making blocks.

When ice making progresses gradually and the ice making in the ice making block 24 is completed by a predetermined amount, for example, when the upper end surface of the ice reaches the position A, the water surface of the unmade ice becomes B due to the expansion by the ice making. It becomes the position of.

At this time, the suction nozzle 42 is lowered, and when the ice having an upper end at the position A hits the ice, this is detected, the lowering of the suction nozzle 42 is stopped, and the water suction pump 4
3 is driven to absorb unmade ice water. At this time, since the ice making speeds are almost the same, the top end of the ice is almost the same, and it is easy to treat the unmade ice water. Then, when the unmade ice water is absorbed, the surface of the ice becomes almost at the position A, the water slightly left on the surface is made, and the ice making is completed.

Since the weight of the container 44 is detected by the weight sensor, when the amount of water in the container 44 becomes almost full, this is displayed on the display (not shown) and the water absorption operation of the pump 43 is indicated. Stop until the water in 44 is drained.

In this embodiment, an example in which absorbed water is stored in the container 44 will be described.
Instead of storing it in 4, the water may be drained to an ice tray (not shown) arranged below. With such a configuration, it is possible to spontaneously evaporate in the evaporating dish, which is convenient because there is no need to treat water.

When ice is made, water that tends to become cloudy, that is, water that contains gas components and mineral components and is hard to make ice is absorbed,
Since the ice making block 24 is prevented from making ice, the transparency of the ice in the ice making block 24 can be increased.

Further, since the cooling member 47 makes the ice making speed substantially uniform and there is no unevenness of the water of the unmade ice remaining on the upper part, the treatment for removing this water is very easy, and the water of the unmade ice is When the water is absorbed, the size of the remaining ice is almost the same and it is easy to use and the usability is improved.

Further, since the time when the predetermined amount of ice making is completed is set to the time when the ice is made up to the vicinity of the upper end of the partition of the ice making block, even if the ice making blocks are pasted and the ice making blocks are stuck together. During the de-icing, the ice can be easily divided into ice making blocks.

Further, FIGS. 6 and 7 show the second and third embodiments, and only different points will be described.

Reference numeral 51 shown in FIG. 6 is a cover made of, for example, a synthetic resin, which covers the ice-making block. A part where cold air is hard to reach far away (Fig. 6
The left side) covers the ice making block in a small size, so that the cooling amount by the cool air is set to be substantially equal in the portion near the air outlet and the portion far from the outlet.

For this reason, the ice making progresses substantially evenly as in the embodiment shown in FIGS. However,
Compared with the embodiment shown in FIG. 5, since the cold air is directly applied to the ice making block, the ice making speed can be made uniform while the ice making speed remains high.

Reference numeral 52 shown in FIG. 7 is a duct for guiding the cool air from the air outlet to the ice making blocks 24 substantially uniformly without diffusing it.

In the thus-constructed one, since the cold air is directly applied to the ice making block as in the case shown in FIG. 6, the ice making speed can be made uniform while the ice making speed remains high.

[0071]

As described above, according to the invention of claim 1, the ice making chamber to which the cold air of less than 0 ° C. is supplied,
In an ice making device in which an ice tray having a plurality of ice making blocks is arranged, a cooling member for cooling the ice making block substantially evenly, and sucking unmade ice water when a predetermined amount of ice making is completed in the ice making block Since it was equipped with a water absorption device,
Since ice-making water, which is liable to become cloudy when ice-making, can be removed from the ice-making block by absorbing water with the water-absorbing device, the transparency of the ice in the ice-making block can be increased. Further, the cooling member makes the speed of ice making substantially uniform, and there is little unevenness in the water of the unmade ice remaining on the upper part, so the process of removing this water is very easy, and yet the water of the unmade ice is absorbed. And, the size of the remaining ice can be made almost the same, and the usability can be improved.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the cooling member is a cold storage plate having a predetermined heat capacity and covering the bottom of the ice making block so that the cold air does not come into direct contact therewith. It is possible to cool the portion of the block that is easy to hit the cold air and the portion that is hard to hit the cold air substantially evenly, and it is possible to make the ice making speed of the ice making block uniform.

Further, according to the third aspect of the invention, the cooling member is a cover for making the cold air hit the ice making blocks substantially evenly, or a duct for guiding the cold air to the ice making blocks substantially evenly. By directly applying cold air to the ice making block, the ice making speed can be made uniform while the ice making speed remains high.

Further, in the invention according to claim 4, the time when the predetermined amount of ice making is completed is set as the time when the ice is made up to the vicinity of the upper end of the partition of the ice making block. Even when the ice is removed, the ice can be easily divided into each ice making block.

According to the invention described in claim 5, since the ice making device according to any one of these is provided in the freezer-refrigerator, almost transparent ice can be easily obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of the ice making device of the refrigerator-freezer.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the ice making device.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an overall configuration of the ice making device.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of control of an air heater and the like.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory view showing an ice making device using a cover as a cooling member.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory view showing an ice making device using a duct as a cooling member.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 freezer refrigerator 8 Freezing room (ice making room) 20 Ice maker 21 Ice tray 22 Blow mechanism 23 Deicing device 24 Ice Block 41 Water absorption device 47 Cold storage plate (cooling member) 51 cover (cooling member) 52 Duct (cooling member)

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── 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 (5)

[Claims] 1. An ice making chamber to which cold air below 0 ° C. is supplied,
In an ice making device in which an ice tray having a plurality of ice making blocks is arranged, a cooling member for cooling the ice making block substantially evenly, and sucking unmade ice water when a predetermined amount of ice making is completed in the ice making block An ice making device, which is provided with a water absorbing device. 2. The cooling member has a predetermined heat capacity,
Further, the cold storage plate covers the bottom portion of the ice making block so as not to directly hit the cold air.
The ice making device described in. 3. The cooling member is a cover that allows cold air to impinge on each of the ice making blocks in a substantially equal amount, or a duct that guides the cool air to the ice making blocks in a substantially even manner. 1. The ice making device according to 1. 4. The ice making device according to claim 1, wherein the time when the predetermined amount of ice making is completed is set as the time when ice is made up to near the upper end of the partition of the ice making block. 5. A freezer-refrigerator comprising the ice making device according to any one of claims 1 to 4.