JP2007187412A - Ice making device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To minimize frost formation in making ice with cold air in a cryogenic region in an ice making device installed in a freezer-refrigerator. <P>SOLUTION: The ice making device comprises an ice tray 10, an ice making blower 15 blowing cold air to water in the ice tray 10, and a control part 20 controlling the operation of the ice making blower 15. When blowing cryogenic cold air to the water in the ice tray 10, the control part 20 operates the ice making blower 15 at lower speed rotation than the time of blowing cold air which has not reached an extremely low temperature, or in the case of supplying water to the ice tray 10 when a cold air temperature is the extremely low temperature, the control part 20 temporarily suspends the operation of the ice making blower 15, and resumes the operation of the ice making blower 15 after the lapse of a predetermined time. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an ice making device mounted on a refrigerator-freezer.

Ice refrigerators are often installed in refrigerators in refrigerators. Examples of such an ice making device can be found in Patent Documents 1-3. In those described in Patent Documents 2 and 3, a dedicated blower is provided in the ice making device to shorten the ice making time.
JP-A-7-218063 ([0014]-[0037], FIG. 1-6) Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-325681 ([0014]-[0028], FIG. 1-7) JP-A-11-223446 ([0054]-[0090], [0134]-[0149], [171]-[181], FIG. 1-18)

  An ice making device of a refrigerator / freezer performs ice making by freezing water in an ice tray with cold air in a freezer compartment or cold air supplied through a separate duct. At this time, if the temperature of the cold air is a low temperature of minus 30 ° C. or lower (in this specification, such a low temperature is defined as “extremely low temperature”), when the water in the ice tray is sprayed as usual, the water temperature A large amount of frost is generated due to the large difference between the cold air temperature and the cold air temperature. If frost falls into an ice storage container during de-icing, the ice will appear to be buried in the frost. This is very inconvenient for users who only want to get ice.

  The present invention has been made to cope with the above-described problem, and in an ice making device mounted in a refrigerator-freezer, it is possible to suppress the generation of frost when ice making is performed with cold air in a cryogenic region as much as possible. Objective.

  (1) In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an ice making device comprising an ice making blower that blows cold air on water in an ice making tray, and a control unit that controls the operation of the ice making blower. Is characterized in that when the cryogenic cold air is blown to the water in the ice tray, the ice making blower is operated at a lower speed than when the cold air that has not reached the cryogenic temperature is blown.

  When cryogenic cold air is blown against water in an ice tray, frost is actively generated when the wind speed of the cold air is high. In the present invention, when the cool air is at a very low temperature, the blowing speed is reduced, so that the generation of frost is suppressed.

  (2) Further, the present invention provides an ice making device including an ice making blower that blows cold air to water in an ice making tray and a control unit that controls the operation of the ice making blower. When water is supplied to the ice tray at a low temperature, the operation of the ice making blower is temporarily stopped, and the operation of the ice making blower is resumed after a predetermined time has elapsed.

  According to this configuration, when the cold air temperature is extremely low, the ice making blower is temporarily stopped, so that the surface of the water in the ice making tray is frozen without generating frost. Then, by restarting the operation of the ice making blower, the ice making can be completed quickly without any frost.

  According to the present invention, when the cold air used for ice making is at a very low temperature, instead of simply blowing it on the water in the ice tray, the ice making blower is operated at a low speed to blow at a low blowing speed, or the ice making blower Ice that is not mixed with frost can be obtained by temporarily stopping the operation and waiting for the surface to freeze.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an ice making device, FIG. 2 is a block configuration diagram, FIG. 3 is a first flowchart of ice making operation, and FIG. 4 is a second flowchart of ice making operation.

  The ice making device 1 includes an ice tray 10 which is placed in a refrigerator and refrigerator (not shown) and is formed of a synthetic resin that does not lose its elasticity even at low temperatures. The ice tray 10 is provided with a plurality of depressions 11 for forming ice blocks. The ice tray 10 is horizontally supported by support shafts 12a and 12b protruding from the ice tray 10 in a line. The support shaft 12a is connected to one end of the ice tray 10 so as not to rotate with each other. The ice tray 10 is connected to the ice removing motor 13 through the support shaft 12a. The other end of the ice tray 10 is rotatably supported on the frame 14 of the ice making device 1 via a support shaft 12b.

  The ice blower 15 blows cold air supplied in a freezer compartment or a separate duct through a funnel-shaped air guide 16 to the water stretched in the depression 11 of the ice tray 10. A wind direction plate 17 is provided at the outlet of the air guide 16 to direct the wind toward the water surface. An ice storage container 18 is disposed under the ice tray 10.

  The operation of the ice making device 1 is controlled by the control unit 20 shown in FIG. The control unit 20 also controls the entire refrigerator-freezer. In addition to the motor 13 for ice removal and the blower 15 for ice making, the refrigerator 21 serving as a cooling heat source for the entire refrigerator-freezer, and the freezing / refrigeration for delivering cold air to the entire refrigerator-freezer. The control blower 22 is a generic name for the blower 22 (which is a general term for blowers arranged in various places and does not necessarily mean a single blower), and a water supply device 23 for supplying water to the ice tray 10. On the other hand, the control unit 20 receives information on the temperature of each unit from the temperature sensor 24 (a general term for temperature sensors arranged in various places, and does not necessarily mean a single temperature sensor). Information about the amount of ice in the ice storage container 18 is received from the provided ice amount sensor 25.

  Next, ice making operation control by the control unit 20 will be described. There are the control method of the flowchart of FIG. 3 and the control method of the flowchart of FIG.

  A control method according to the flowchart of FIG. 3 will be described. In step # 101, the water supply device 23 supplies the ice tray 10 with water. In step # 102, the temperature sensor 24 checks whether or not the temperature of the cold air sprayed on the water in the ice tray 10 is in a very low temperature region. If the temperature has not fallen to the extremely low temperature range, the process proceeds to step # 103.

  In step # 103, the ice making blower 15 is normally operated. Cold air is blown onto the water surface at a relatively high wind speed, but frost is hardly generated because it is not extremely cold air. In step # 104, the passage of time is checked, and after the water is completely frozen, the process proceeds to step # 105.

  In Step # 105, the ice making blower 15 is stopped and the ice removing motor 15 is driven. The ice removing motor 15 rotates the support shaft 12a to turn the ice tray 10 upside down. One step before the ice tray 10 is turned upside down completely, the end near the support shaft 12b of the ice tray 10 hits a stopper (not shown), and the ice tray 10 stops rotating. Since the rotation is still applied to the support shaft 12a by the ice removing motor 15, the ice tray 10 is twisted. As a result, ice blocks are separated from the inner surface of the depression 11 and fall into the ice storage container 18. After dropping the ice block, the ice removing motor 13 returns the ice tray 10 to the original direction. Thereafter, the process returns to step # 101 to repeat the cycle.

  When it is determined in step # 102 that the cold air temperature is in the extremely low temperature region, the process proceeds to step # 106. In step # 106, the ice making blower 15 is operated at a low speed. When the rotational speed of the ice-making blower 15 in normal operation is 2,000 rpm, it is felt that the rotational speed is reduced from 1,500 rpm to 1,000 rpm in low-speed operation (the numerical values are merely examples, and the contents of the invention are limited) Not) Thus, by operating the ice-making blower 15 at a low speed, the wind speed is reduced, and frost is hardly generated even though the cold air is at a very low temperature. In step # 107, the passage of time is checked, and after the water is completely frozen, the process proceeds to step # 105.

  Next, the control method according to the flowchart of FIG. 4 will be described. In step # 111, the water supply device 23 supplies the ice tray 10 with water. In step # 112, the temperature sensor 24 checks whether or not the temperature of the cold air sprayed on the water in the ice tray 10 is in a very low temperature region. If the temperature has not fallen to the extremely low temperature range, the process proceeds to step # 113.

  In Step # 113, the ice blower 15 is normally operated. Cold air is blown onto the water surface at a relatively high wind speed, but frost is hardly generated because it is not extremely cold air. In step # 114, the passage of time is checked, and after the water is completely frozen, the process proceeds to step # 115 to perform deicing. Thereafter, the process returns to step # 111 to repeat the cycle.

  When it is determined in step # 112 that the cold air temperature is in the extremely low temperature region, the process proceeds to step # 116. In Step # 116, the ice making blower 15 is temporarily stopped. The water in the ice tray 10 freezes from the surface, but no frost is generated because the wind is not blowing. In step # 117, the passage of time is checked, and after the surface of the water is completely frozen, the process proceeds to step # 118.

  In step # 118, the ice-making blower 15 performs a normal operation, and blows the cryogenic cold air to the water in the ice-making tray 10 at a relatively high wind speed. Since the surface of the water is already frozen, frost is no longer generated even if the wind speed of the cryogenic cold air is high. Cryogenic cold with a high wind speed quickly takes heat away from the water, and freezing proceeds rapidly. In step # 119, the passage of time is checked, and after the water is completely frozen, the process proceeds to step # 115.

  As mentioned above, although each embodiment of the present invention was described, the scope of the present invention is not limited to this, and various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.

  The present invention can be widely used for an ice making device mounted on a refrigerator-freezer.

Schematic configuration diagram of ice making equipment Block diagram First flowchart of ice making operation Second flowchart of ice making operation

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Ice making apparatus 10 Ice making tray 13 Motor for ice removal 15 Fan for ice making 20 Control part 24 Temperature sensor

Claims (2)

In an ice making device comprising an ice making blower for blowing cold air to water in an ice making tray, and a control unit for controlling the operation of the ice making blower,
The said control part operates the said ice-making blower at low-speed rotation when spraying cryogenic cold air on the water in an ice-making tray, rather than spraying cold air which has not reached cryogenic temperature. In an ice making device comprising an ice making blower for blowing cold air to water in an ice making tray, and a control unit for controlling the operation of the ice making blower,
The controller, when water is supplied to the ice tray when the cold air temperature is extremely low, temporarily stops the operation of the ice making blower and resumes the operation of the ice making blower after a predetermined time has elapsed. And ice making equipment.

Images