JP2005037060A - Ice-making device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an ice-making device capable of improving the corrosion resistance of a plated coating of an ice-making compartment, and preventing the contamination of ice blocks caused by the excess deposit and corrosion products. <P>SOLUTION: The ice-making compartment is composed of an ice making part 14 composed of an ice making plate 16 and a partition and comprising a number of ice making cells 20 opened downward, and an evaporating pipe 22 mounted on an upper face of the ice making plate 16, and a corrosion-resisting coating 40 composed of a plurality of plated coatings is formed on its outer surface. The corrosion-resisting coating 40 is composed of a tin layer 42 positioned at a lowermost layer at a basis material side, a copper layer 44 positioned at an intermediate part, and a nickel layer 46 having an electroless nickel-phosphor plated coating 50 at least on its exposed face. Further an electric nickel plated coating 48 is formed between the copper layer 44 and the electroless nickel-phosphor plated coating 50 by an electric plating method. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an ice making device disposed in an ice making machine or the like that continuously produces a large amount of ice blocks.

  An automatic ice maker that continuously manufactures a large amount of ice blocks is suitably used in facilities such as coffee shops and restaurants and other kitchens. These automatic ice makers supply ice making water from below to a large number of ice making chambers that open downward, and spray types that continuously produce ice (ice blocks) of the required shape, or make ice making water flow down to the ice making surface. Some have a flow-down type ice making mechanism.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 3, there is an ice making machine equipped with a so-called open cell type ice making mechanism 10 as an injection type automatic ice making machine. The ice making chamber (ice making device) 11 of the ice making mechanism 10 has a partition plate 18 arranged vertically and horizontally on the lower surface of an ice making plate 16 horizontally arranged in a storage chamber (not shown), and an ice making chamber 20 opened downward is a grid. The ice making section 14 is defined in a number of shapes, and an evaporation pipe (evaporator) 22 is arranged in close contact with the upper surface of the ice making plate 16 in the ice making section 14 and communicates with a refrigeration system (not shown). During the ice making operation, the ice making chamber 20 is forcibly cooled by circulating a refrigerant through the evaporation pipe 22. Further, the ice making water stored in the ice making water tank 28 sucked by the pump motor 26 can be sprayed into the ice making chambers 20 from the fountain holes 24 provided below corresponding to the respective positions of the ice making chambers 20. It is configured. The ice making water sprayed into the ice making chamber 20 is cooled by the inner wall surface of the ice making chamber 20 and freezes in layers to obtain ice blocks.

The evaporating pipe 22 is made of copper having excellent thermal conductivity, and heat exchange with the refrigerant circulating in the evaporating pipe 22 can be suitably performed. In addition, a copper material is also used for members such as the ice making plate 16 and the partition plate 18 constituting the ice making chamber 11 so as not to disturb the cooling action of the evaporation pipe 22. And the antirust process is made by forming the coating 30 of tin plating etc. on the surface of each member which comprises the said ice making chambers 11, such as the said ice making plate 16, the partition plate 18, and the evaporation pipe 22 (FIG. 4). As a method for forming the tin plating film 30 in the ice making chamber 11, for example, there is a hot tin plating method. In this hot-dip tin plating method, first, a cap is put on the opening of the evaporation tube 22 to close it, and the cap is brazed to the evaporation tube 22, and then the brazed portion and its periphery are covered with heat-resistant tape. Then, after the evaporation tube 22 subjected to these treatments is fixed to the upper surface of the ice making plate 16, the ice making chamber 11 is held by a jig and immersed in a tin bath mainly composed of molten tin, and the tin plating film 30. Form. Thereafter, the ice making chamber 11 is cooled for a required time, and the plating process is completed by removing the heat-resistant tape, the wax and the cap from the evaporation tube 22 (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
JP-A-10-103826

  However, as shown in FIG. 4, the tin plating film 30 formed on the exposed surface of the ice making chamber 11 by the molten tin plating method is a right angle formed by the ice making plate 16 and the partition plate 18 constituting the ice making chamber 20. In the corner portion, the plating remains due to the surface tension, and the remaining excess plating may be peeled off due to the growth of ice blocks and the repeated removal of the ice blocks. Further, the tin plating film 30 is relatively hard to rust, but when an oxidizing substance or the like is included in the use atmosphere, corrosion products such as rust may be generated over time. Accordingly, it has been reported that excessive plating and corrosion products are mixed in the ice block and contaminate the ice block. In addition, the hot-dip tin plating method has a drawback in that it is difficult to manage the thickness of the tin plating film 30 and the thickness of the tin plating film 30 cannot be made uniform. Therefore, in the ice making chamber 20, there is a problem that the heat conduction speed with respect to the ice blocks is different, it takes time for the deicing operation and the ice making capacity is lowered.

In order to overcome the above-mentioned problems and achieve the intended purpose, an ice making device according to the present invention includes:
In an ice making device comprising an ice making unit that is supplied with ice making water to generate ice of a required shape, and an evaporator that is disposed in the ice making unit and cools the ice making unit,
A tin layer is plated on the outer surface of the ice making part and the evaporator, and a copper layer is plated on the outer surface of the tin layer,
Furthermore, a nickel layer having an electroless nickel-phosphorus plating film on at least an exposed surface is plated on the outer surface of the copper layer.

  According to the ice making device of the present invention, the ice making part and the outer surface of the evaporation tube constituting the ice making device are disposed on the base of the tin layer made of the tin plating film and the copper layer made of the copper plating film, at least on the exposed surface. By coating with a multilayer plating film in which a nickel layer having an electrolytic nickel-phosphorous plating film is formed, plating film defects are suppressed, corrosion resistance is improved, and contamination of ice blocks by excess deposits and corrosion products is prevented. Can do. In addition, since the electroless nickel-phosphorous plating film can form a uniform thickness of the plating film, it can achieve uniform heat conduction, suppress variations in time required for ice making and deicing, and improve ice making capacity. . In addition, the electroless nickel-phosphorous plating film can be formed on the underlayer of the tin layer and the copper layer via an electric nickel plating film, thereby reducing the cost.

  In view of the above problems inherent in the ice making apparatus according to the prior art, the present invention has been proposed to suitably solve these problems, and is a multilayer plating film having an electroless nickel-phosphorus plating film on at least an exposed surface An object of the present invention is to provide an ice making device capable of improving corrosion resistance and covering ice making capability by covering the ice making section and the evaporator.

  Next, a preferred embodiment of the ice making device according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. For convenience of explanation, the same reference numerals are used for the same elements as those of the ice making mechanism shown in FIG. 3, and detailed description thereof is omitted. In the first embodiment, an open cell type ice making mechanism will be described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the ice tray is tilted with respect to the ice making chamber by the drive mechanism so that the ice making chamber is closed during the ice making operation. Other various ice making mechanisms such as a closed cell type constructed or a flow-down type in which ice making water flows down on an ice making surface (ice making plate) may be used.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the ice making mechanism 10 of the ice making machine according to the first embodiment includes an ice making chamber (ice making device) provided with a large number of ice making chambers 20 attached to the upper part of a box-like mechanical base 32 and opening downward. 12, a fountain hole 24 formed corresponding to each ice making chamber 20, and an ice making water tank 28 provided below the fountain hole 24 for storing a predetermined amount of ice making water and collecting uniced water. It consists of and. An evaporation pipe (evaporator) 22 communicating with a refrigeration system (not shown) is closely and meanderingly arranged in the ice making section 14 in the ice making chamber 12, and the ice making chamber 20 is forcibly cooled by circulating a refrigerant during ice making operation. After the ice making is completed, the ice making chamber 20 is heated with hot gas to promote deicing of the ice block. A pump motor 26 that pumps ice-making water stored in the ice-making water tank 28 toward the fountain hole 24 is disposed close to the lower side of the ice-making water tank 28, and drives the pump motor 26, The ice making water sucked from the ice making water tank 28 via the suction pipe is configured to be pumped to the fountain hole 24.

  The ice making chamber 12 includes an ice making part 14 formed by an ice making plate 16 disposed horizontally above the mechanical base 32 and a partition plate 18 disposed vertically and horizontally on the lower surface of the ice making plate 16, and the ice making plate 16. And an evaporation tube 22 arranged in a meandering manner on the upper surface of the tube. Below the ice making plate 16 in the ice making section 14, a large number of ice making chambers 20 opened downward by the partition plate 18 are defined in a grid pattern, and an evaporation pipe 22 disposed on the upper surface of the ice making plate 16 is provided. By removing heat from the ice making plate 16 and the partition plate 18 through heat exchange with the circulating refrigerant, the ice making water sprayed and supplied to the inner wall surface of the ice making chamber 20 is frozen. The evaporation pipe 22 is a pipe made of copper having excellent thermal conductivity so that heat exchange with the refrigerant circulating inside can be effectively performed. In addition, the members such as the ice making plate 16 and the partition plate 18 constituting the ice making chamber 12 are also made of a copper material so as not to disturb the cooling action of the evaporation pipe 22 disposed on the upper surface, and the heat in the ice making chamber 20 is It is set so that the exchange can be suitably performed.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the outer surfaces of the ice making section 14 and the evaporation tube 22 constituting the ice making chamber 12 are covered with a corrosion-resistant coating 40 composed of a plurality of plating coatings formed by multilayer plating. Here, the outer surface of the ice making chamber 12 on which the corrosion-resistant coating 40 is formed is defined as each member 16 when multilayer plating is performed after the members 16, 18, and 22 constituting the ice making chamber 12 are assembled. , 18, 22 indicates the entire outer surface excluding the joined portion, and when performing multilayer plating on each member 16, 18, 22, it indicates the outer surface of each member 16, 18, 22. The corrosion-resistant coating 40 formed by multilayer plating on the outer surface of the ice making chamber 12 includes a tin layer 42 located at the lowermost layer on the outer surface side (base side), and a copper layer 44 located in the middle. , Which is composed of a plurality of plating films which are located on the surface facing the outside and which have at least an exposed surface and the nickel layer 46 having the electroless nickel-phosphorous plating film 50. The required thickness is set.

  The tin layer 42 is a tin plating film directly formed on the outer surface of the ice making section 14 and the evaporation tube 22 constituting the ice making chamber 12 by electroplating using a sulfuric acid bath. The tin plating film is a material that is relatively soft and has a good spreadability, and works as a sacrificial anode for copper, which is a material of the base (ice-making chamber 12), to improve the corrosion resistance of the ice-making chamber 12. By the way, the sulfuric acid bath for forming the tin plating film includes a glossy bath and a matte bath. However, since the tin layer 42 is used as a base, the matte bath is employed in the first embodiment. In addition, as a method for plating the tin plating film constituting the tin layer 42, an electroplating method such as an alkaline bath using potassium stannate or the like, a neutral bath, or the like can be employed. It may be a law.

  The copper layer 44 is a copper plating film that is coated on the outer surface of the tin layer 42 and formed by electroplating using a copper pyrophosphate plating bath. Here, the nickel layer 46 described later cannot be directly formed on the outer surface of the tin layer 42 made of the tin plating film by plating. Moreover, even if tin and nickel having different potential differences are brought into contact with each other to form a film, effective corrosion resistance is not exhibited. Therefore, the formation of the nickel layer 46 is allowed by forming the copper layer 44 by the copper plating film on the outer surface of the tin layer 42. The copper plating film by the copper pyrophosphate plating bath has advantages such as good throwing power, few pinholes, and less erosion to the tin plating film as a base. In forming the copper plating film, electroplating using a copper cyanide plating bath may be employed, but there is a difficulty in treating the plating solution. Thus, the tin plating film that constitutes the tin layer 42 and the copper plating film that constitutes the copper layer 44 act as a base for the nickel layer 46 described later, and cannot be formed directly on the outer surface of the ice making chamber 12 in particular. It helps to form the electroless nickel-phosphorous plating film 50.

  The nickel layer 46 is composed of an electroless nickel-phosphorous plating film 50 formed on the exposed surface of the corrosion-resistant film 40 formed in the ice making chamber 12 and an electric nickel plating film 48 formed on the copper layer 44 side. Yes. The electro nickel plating film 48 is formed by an electroplating method using a watt bath or the like, whereas the electroless nickel-phosphorous plating film 50 is an electroless nickel-phosphorous plating bath using an electroless nickel-phosphorous plating bath. It is formed by a phosphor plating method.

  Next, the multilayer plating process of the ice making chamber 12 according to Example 1 will be briefly described. The ice making chamber 12 in which the multi-layer plating is formed includes a mode in which the multi-layer plating process is performed in a state where the ice making unit 14 and the evaporation pipe 22 including the ice making plate 16 and the partition plate 18 are assembled, and the members 16, 18, Both of the aspects in which the members 16, 18, and 22 are assembled to form the ice making chamber 12 after the multilayer plating process is applied to each of the members 22, but in the first embodiment, each member 16, 18, The mode which carries out multilayer plating processing in the state where 22 was assembled is adopted. The plating process of the ice making chamber 12 includes a pretreatment process for performing a necessary process such as polishing on the surface of the copper base of the ice making chamber 12 (the outer surface of the ice making section 14 and the evaporation tube 22), and each plating layer. It is roughly divided into a plating forming process and a post-processing process for finishing after plating. The plating process depends on the smoothness of the surface of the material and the adhesion of dirt such as oil and fat, so the quality of the plating is affected by the polishing process that improves the smoothness of the substrate surface and the substrate surface. Degreasing treatment for removing dirt such as oil and fat, pickling treatment for removing an oxide film formed on the substrate surface, and the like are performed. In addition, each process of a pre-processing process is not an indispensable process, but is suitably implemented in view of the state of the substrate surface, etc.

  In the ice making chamber 12 that has undergone the required treatment in the pretreatment process, the plating layers of the tin layer 42, the copper layer 44, and the nickel layer 46 are formed in the plating formation process. First, a tin layer 42 made of a tin plating film is formed on the ice making unit 14 constituting the ice making chamber 12 and the outer surface of the evaporation tube 22 disposed in the ice making unit 14 by electroplating using a sulfuric acid bath. To do. That is, in a sulfuric acid bath prepared by adjusting stannous sulfate or sulfuric acid so as to have a required composition, a tin piece is used as an anode, and the ice making chamber 12 is connected and immersed so as to serve as a cathode. By applying a voltage, a tin plating film is formed on the exposed surface of the ice making chamber 12. Next, a copper layer 44 made of a copper plating film is formed on the outer surface of the tin layer 42 formed in the ice making chamber 12 by electroplating using a copper pyrophosphate plating bath. In other words, in a copper pyrophosphate plating bath prepared by adjusting copper pyrophosphate or potassium pyrophosphate so as to have a required composition, a copper piece was used as an anode, and the ice making chamber 12 was connected as a cathode. By applying a voltage in the immersed state, a copper plating film is formed on the outer surface of the tin layer 42 formed in the ice making chamber. In addition, when forming the tin layer 42 and the copper layer 44 using the electroplating method, the ice making chamber 12 has a complicated shape in which the ice making plate 16 and the partition plate 18 are assembled. By using it, a uniform plating film can be formed.

  Then, a nickel layer 46 is formed on the outer surface of the copper layer 44 formed in the ice making chamber 12. First, the nickel electroplating film 48 is formed on the outer surface of the copper layer 44 by electroplating using a watt bath. That is, a state in which nickel sulfate is used as an anode and the ice making chamber 12 is connected and immersed so as to serve as a cathode in a watt bath prepared by adjusting nickel sulfate or nickel chloride to have a required composition. Thus, an electric nickel plating film 48 is formed on the outer surface of the copper layer 44 formed in the ice making chamber 12 by applying a voltage. In addition, since the electroplating method is used when forming the said electronickel plating film 48, the uniform electronickel plating film 48 can be formed by using an auxiliary anode.

  Next, an electroless nickel-phosphorous plating film 50 that forms an exposed surface of the corrosion-resistant coating 40 in the ice making chamber 12 is formed by an electroless nickel-phosphorous plating method using an electroless nickel-phosphorous plating bath. That is, the ice making chamber 12 itself is a catalyst by immersing the ice making chamber 12 which is an object to be plated in a plating bath in which sodium hypophosphite, nickel sulfate or the like is adjusted to have a required composition. Then, the reduction reaction proceeds and the nickel cation in the plating bath is reduced to form an electroless nickel-phosphorous plating film 50 made of a nickel alloy on the outer surface of the electric nickel plating film 48. Finally, in the post-processing step, the corrosion-resistant coating 40 made of a multilayer plating coating formed on the outer surface of the ice making chamber 12 is finished. In the post-treatment process, a cleaning process for completely removing the plating solution adhering to the ice making chamber 12 with water, a solvent, an activator, and the like, and water remaining in the ice making chamber by the cleaning process, such as hot air and centrifugation The drying process which removes by is implemented. In addition, when each plating process in the plating forming process is completed, processes such as washing and drying are performed to prevent the plating solution from being brought into the next process.

  Next, the operation of the ice making device according to the first embodiment will be described. The electroless nickel-phosphorous plating film 50 formed by the electroless nickel-phosphorous plating method is far more difficult to peel off than the electric nickel plating film 48 formed by the electroplating method, and no pi is generated. In addition, since the electroless nickel-phosphorous plating film 50 is an alloy, it is not affected by most organic solvents, exhibits good corrosion resistance against organic acids, salts, alkalis, and the like, and is extremely resistant to rust. There are advantages such as. By the way, when the electroless nickel-phosphorous plating film 50 is directly formed in the ice making chamber 12 composed of the copper ice making plate 16, the partition plate 18 and the evaporation tube 22, the effective corrosion resistance may not be exhibited depending on the use environment. . Therefore, as in Example 1, a tin layer 42 made of a tin plating film and a copper layer 44 made of a copper plating film were previously formed on the outer surface of the ice making chamber 12 as a base, and the electroless nickel- By applying phosphorous plating, the electroless nickel-phosphorous plating film 50 exhibits suitable corrosion resistance and can effectively prevent pitting corrosion. Accordingly, corrosion products such as rust are not generated with time in the ice making chamber 20, and there is no possibility that the corrosion products are mixed into the ice blocks and contaminate the ice blocks, and the evaporator tube 22 is not contaminated. Since pinholes and the like due to corrosion can be prevented, complaints due to refrigerant leakage can be reduced.

  In the electroless nickel-phosphorous plating method, when the ice making chamber 12 in which a required base plating film (tin layer 42 and copper layer 44) is formed in a plating bath is immersed, only the surface immersed in the plating solution causes the plating reaction to continue. . Therefore, the electroless nickel-phosphorous plating is uniformly applied to the surface in contact with the plating solution regardless of the shape. Therefore, at the right-angled corner portion formed by the ice making plate 16 and the partition plate 18, the surplus of plating is not peeled off due to surface tension, but the remaining surplus is peeled off by repeated growth of the ice lump or separation of the ice lump. There is no end. Further, since the thickness of the electroless nickel-phosphorous plating film 50 is uniformly formed, uniform heat conduction is performed in all parts of the ice making chamber 20, and there is variation during ice making and deicing operations. Disappear. Therefore, it can drive | operate efficiently and can improve ice making capacity.

  Prior to the formation of the electroless nickel-phosphorus plating film 50, the electroless nickel plating film 48 is formed by electroplating, thereby complementing the electroless nickel-phosphorous plating method having a slow film formation speed, Manufacturing speed can be improved. That is, the electroless nickel-phosphorous plating film 50 can be thinned to shorten the plating time. In addition, the lifetime of the relatively expensive electroless nickel-phosphorous plating solution can be improved, the precipitation of impurities can be prevented, and the cost can be reduced.

  In Example 1, the nickel layer 46 is composed of two layers of the electroplating film 48 and the electroless nickel-phosphorous plating film 50. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and only the electroless nickel-phosphorous plating film is formed. It may be a thing. That is, the corrosion-resistant film formed on the outer surface of the ice making chamber is composed of a tin layer formed of a tin-plated film formed on the outer surface (base side) and an intermediate copper formed on the outer surface of the tin layer. A copper layer formed from a plating film and a nickel layer formed from an electroless nickel-phosphorous plating film formed on the outer surface of the copper layer and serving as an exposed surface of the ice making chamber.

1 is a schematic perspective view showing a partially broken ice making mechanism including an ice making chamber according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. It is the X section enlarged view of FIG. It is a vertical front view which shows the ice making mechanism provided with the ice making chamber based on the prior art. It is an enlarged view which shows the Y section of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

14 Ice making part, 22 Evaporator, 42 Tin layer, 44 Copper layer, 46 Nickel layer 48 Electro nickel plating film, 50 Electroless nickel-phosphorus plating film

Claims (4)

An ice making device comprising an ice making unit (14) that is supplied with ice making water to generate ice of a desired shape, and an evaporator (22) that is disposed in the ice making unit (14) and cools the ice making unit (14) In
The tin layer (42) is plated on the outer surface of the ice making part (14) and the evaporator (22), and the copper layer (44) is plated on the outer surface of the tin layer (42),
Furthermore, the nickel layer (46) having an electroless nickel-phosphorus plating film (50) on at least the exposed surface is plated on the outer surface of the copper layer (44).   The said nickel layer (46) consists of an electroless nickel-phosphorus plating film (50) formed in the exposed surface, and an electro nickel plating film (48) formed in the said copper layer (44) side. Ice making equipment.   The ice making device according to claim 1, wherein the nickel layer (46) is formed only of an electroless nickel-phosphorus plating film (50). The ice making device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the copper layer (44) is formed by an electroplating method using a copper pyrophosphate plating bath.

Images