JP2008101853A - Auger type ice making machine - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an auger type ice making machine which surely melts ice in an ice making cylinder while stopping an ice making operation when icing in the ice making cylinder is predicted, and then restarting the ice making operation. <P>SOLUTION: The icing in the ice making cylinder 3 is predicted when a detected value of a temperature detector 15 is lowered to a prescribed value, and a control device 21 stops a compressor 10, further stops a geared motor 4 after the stop of the compressor 10, closes a water supply valve 19 and opens a water discharge valve 20 to discharge the ice making water from an ice making water tank 16 and the ice making cylinder 3, starts the geared motor 4 after terminating water discharging, and starts the compressor 10 after starting the geared motor 4. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an auger type ice making machine, and more particularly to control when predicting the occurrence of ice in an ice making cylinder.

  In a conventional auger type ice making machine, if the ice formed in the ice making cylinder is not normally carried out due to clogging of the guide cylinder, the thin ice layer formed on the inner peripheral wall surface of the ice making cylinder has a thickness of a predetermined value or more. It grows and the so-called ice is generated. When this icing occurs, a great load is applied to the geared motor that drives the auger, and a failure such as motor burning occurs. If the geared motor is locked, heat exchange between the refrigerant and ice-making water cannot be performed in the evaporator, so a low-pressure liquid refrigerant returns to the compressor without being evaporated in the evaporator, so-called liquid return phenomenon appears. This may cause a compressor failure.

  In order to solve such a problem, in the auger type ice making machine disclosed in Patent Document 1, a temperature detector is provided in a pipe connecting the heat exchanger and the compressor, and the detection value of the temperature detector is −25. When the temperature is kept at or below 1 ° C. for 1 minute, the ice making operation is stopped by detecting the possibility of ice formation in the ice making cylinder and stopping the operation of the geared motor and the compressor. In addition to this, it is also known to stop only the compressor and restart the compressor after a lapse of a certain time when it is predicted that ice will be attached.

Japanese Patent No. 3683384

However, although the auger type ice making machine of Patent Document 1 can prevent a geared motor, a compressor, or the like from being broken, there is a problem that the ice making operation cannot be resumed unless it is reset. In particular, when an auger type ice making machine is used in a store or the like, if the ice making operation is stopped after the store is closed, this will not be noticed until the next day.
Further, in the auger type ice making machine that stops only the compressor, the compressor is restarted after a certain period of time, so the problem of the auger type ice making machine of Patent Document 1 does not arise, but also during the compressor stop period. There was a problem that ice could not be thawed as the ice progressed. Further, the concentration of ice-making water inside the ice-making cylinder also progresses with time, and there is a problem that the force for pushing the ice upward is weakened.

  The present invention has been made to solve such problems, and when it is predicted that ice will be generated in the ice making cylinder, the ice making operation is stopped and the ice in the ice making cylinder is reliably melted, and then the ice making operation is performed. The object is to provide an auger type ice making machine capable of resuming operation.

  In the auger type ice making machine according to the present invention, an ice making cylinder in which an auger is provided coaxially, a geared motor for driving the auger, a compressor, a condenser, a decompression means, and an evaporator for cooling the ice making cylinder are sequentially provided. Connected refrigeration circuit, iced detection means for predicting the occurrence of ice in the ice making cylinder, draining means for draining ice making water staying in the ice making cylinder, the geared motor and the compressor And a control device for operating the drainage means so that the ice making water is drained from the ice making cylinder, and the ice detecting means predicts the occurrence of ice in the ice making cylinder In this case, the control device stops the compressor, and after stopping the compressor, stops the geared motor and operates the drainage means to drain ice-making water from the ice-making cylinder, After water finished, start the geared motor, after the activation of the geared motor, characterized in that to start the compressor.

  According to the present invention, when the ice detection means predicts the occurrence of ice in the ice making cylinder, the control device stops the compressor, and after the compressor stops, stops the geared motor and operates the drainage means. The ice making water is drained from the ice making cylinder, the geared motor is started after the drainage is completed, and the compressor is started after starting the geared motor, so the ice making operation is stopped and the ice in the ice making pipe is surely thawed. Then, the ice making operation can be resumed.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Embodiment 1 FIG.
As shown in FIG. 1, an auger type ice making machine 1 includes a cylindrical ice making cylinder 3 having a spiral auger 2a and a rotatable auger 2 provided therein, a geared motor 4 for rotating the auger 2, and a refrigerant. And a refrigeration circuit 5 that circulates. A guide cylinder 6 communicating with an ice storage (not shown) is provided on the top of the ice making cylinder 3. The refrigeration circuit 5 is configured by sequentially connecting a compressor 10, a condenser 11, an expansion valve 12 that is a decompression unit, and an evaporator 13 that is wound around the ice making cylinder 3 to cool the ice making cylinder 3. . A temperature detector 15 is provided in the refrigerant pipe 14 between the evaporator 13 and the compressor 10. Here, the temperature detector 15 constitutes an ice detecting means for predicting the occurrence of ice in the ice making cylinder 3. Further, the auger type ice making machine 1 includes an ice making water tank 16 for storing ice making water, and the ice making water tank 16 and the ice making cylinder 3 are communicated with each other by a water supply pipe 17. The ice making water tank 16 is provided with a water supply pipe 22 communicating with a water supply source (not shown) such as a water supply. The ice making cylinder 3 is provided with a drain pipe 18, and the water supply pipe 22 and the drain pipe 18 are provided with a water supply valve 19 and a drain valve 20, respectively. Here, the drain pipe 18, the water supply valve 19, and the drain valve 20 constitute drainage means for draining the ice making water staying in the ice making cylinder 3. Further, the auger type ice making machine 1 includes a control device 21, and the control device 21 is electrically connected to the geared motor 4, the compressor 10, the temperature detector 15, the water supply valve 19 and the drain valve 20.

Next, the operation of the auger type ice making machine according to the first embodiment will be described.
When the auger type ice making machine 1 is turned on, the ice making operation is started by starting the compressor 10, and the refrigerant circulates in the refrigeration circuit 5. The refrigerant compressed by the compressor 10 is cooled and condensed by the condenser 11 and expanded by the expansion valve 12 to become a low-temperature and low-pressure refrigerant. The low-temperature and low-pressure refrigerant flows through the evaporator 13 to cool the ice making cylinder 3. The high-temperature and low-pressure refrigerant that has flowed out of the evaporator 13 is sucked into the compressor 10 through the refrigerant pipe 14. In this way, the refrigerant circulates through the refrigeration circuit 5.

  When the ice making operation is started and the ice making cylinder 3 is sufficiently cooled, the control device 21 opens the water supply valve 19 and activates the geared motor 4 to rotate the auger 2. Then, the ice making water is supplied into the ice making water tank 16 and further supplied through the water supply pipe 17 into the ice making cylinder 3. The ice making water supplied into the ice making cylinder 3 is cooled, and ice is generated on the inner peripheral surface of the ice making cylinder 3. The generated ice is scraped by the spiral blade 2a of the auger 2 and compressed into ice pieces. The ice pieces are supplied to an ice storage (not shown) via the guide tube 6.

  Here, for example, when an ice piece is clogged in the guide cylinder 6, the ice formed in the ice making cylinder 3 is not normally carried out, and the thin ice layer formed on the inner peripheral surface of the ice making cylinder 3 has a predetermined value. It grows to the above thickness and ice is generated. When ice is generated, the low-temperature and low-pressure refrigerant flowing through the evaporator 13 cannot exchange heat with the ice-making water in the ice-making cylinder 3, and thus flows out of the evaporator 13 with the low temperature and low pressure. Therefore, as soon as the temperature of the refrigerant pipe 14 decreases and the temperature detector 15 detects that the detected value has decreased to −20 ° C. or less, the temperature detector 15 predicts the possibility of ice formation in the ice making cylinder 3. .

  Next, the control when the temperature detector 15 predicts the occurrence of ice in the ice making cylinder 3 will be described with reference to FIG. When the occurrence of ice is predicted, the control device 21 first stops the ice making operation by stopping the compressor 10. Five minutes after stopping the compressor 10, the control device 21 stops the geared motor 4. At the same time, the control device 21 closes the water supply valve 19 and opens the drain valve 20, that is, operates the drainage means, thereby stopping the water supply to the ice making water tank 16 and the ice making water tank 16 and Ice making water staying in the ice making cylinder 3 is drained through the drain pipe 18. After 10 minutes from the stop of the geared motor 4 and the start of drainage, the control device 21 starts the geared motor 4 and closes the drain valve 20. Then, after another 5 minutes, the control device 21 starts the compressor 10. Thereafter, the normal auger type ice making machine 1 is operated.

  As described above, when the occurrence of ice in the ice making cylinder 3 is predicted, the failure can be prevented by stopping the geared motor 4 and the compressor 10. In addition, the ice making water that has accumulated in the ice making water tank 16 and the ice making cylinder 3 is drained together with the stop of the ice making operation, so that the ice in the ice making cylinder 3 can be reliably unwound. Furthermore, by automatically starting the geared motor 4 and the compressor 10 after the drainage is completed, the ice making operation can be resumed, and the ice making operation can be prevented from being stopped more than necessary.

In the first embodiment, in the control method when the occurrence of ice in the ice making cylinder 3 is predicted, the geared motor 4 is stopped 5 minutes after the compressor 10 is stopped, and the geared motor 4 is stopped and the drainage is started 10 minutes. The geared motor 4 is started after the lapse of time, and the compressor 10 is started after the lapse of 5 minutes from the start of the geared motor 4, but it is not limited to these timings. These timings are merely examples in the auger type ice making machine 1 of the first embodiment, and should be appropriately changed depending on the type and size of the auger type ice making machine, the environment in which it is installed, and the like.
In the first embodiment, the temperature detector 15 is provided downstream of the evaporator 13, but may be provided upstream of the evaporator 13. Also in this case, when the ice making in the ice making cylinder 3 occurs, the detection value of the temperature detector 15 decreases, so that the same control can be performed when a predetermined temperature is reached.

Embodiment 2. FIG.
Next, an auger type ice making machine according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In the following embodiments, the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 1 are the same or similar components, and detailed description thereof will be omitted.

  The auger type ice making machine according to the second embodiment predicts the occurrence of ice in the ice making cylinder 3 based on the current value of the geared motor 4 with respect to the first embodiment. As shown in FIG. 3, the auger type ice making machine 30 has the same configuration as that of the first embodiment except that there is no temperature detector for detecting the temperature of the refrigerant pipe 14. In the auger type ice making machine 30, since the control device 21 detects the current value of the geared motor 4, the control device 21 also serves as ice detecting means.

  After the auger type ice making machine 30 is started by the same operation as in the first embodiment, when ice is generated in the ice making cylinder 3, the thickness of the thin ice layer formed on the inner peripheral surface of the ice making cylinder 3 increases. Therefore, the resistance that the spiral blade 2a receives when scraping the thin ice layer is increased. Therefore, the current value of the geared motor 4 is increased, and the control device 21 predicts the occurrence of ice in the ice making cylinder 3 by detecting that the current value has increased to a preset value. Thereafter, the control device 21 stops the geared motor 4 and the compressor 10 by the same control as in the first embodiment to prevent these failures, and ice making water staying in the ice making water tank 16 and the ice making cylinder 3. The ice in the ice making cylinder 3 is completely thawed, and the geared motor 4 and the compressor 10 are started. Thereby, the effect similar to Embodiment 1 can be acquired.

  In the second embodiment, the generation of ice is predicted from the current value of the geared motor 4, but the present invention is not limited to this. When ice is generated in the ice making cylinder 3, the resistance that the spiral blade 2 a receives when scraping the thin ice layer is increased, so that the rotation speed of the auger 2 is decreased. As a result, the rotation speed of the geared motor 4 is also decreased. The control device 21 can detect the number of rotations so that the occurrence of ice can be predicted when the detected value falls to a preset value. Also in this case, the control device 21 also serves as the ice detecting means.

It is a block diagram of the auger type ice making machine which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. In the auger type ice making machine which concerns on Embodiment 1, it is a figure which shows the time passage of control when ice attachment generate | occur | produces. 3 is a configuration diagram of an auger type ice making machine according to Embodiment 2. FIG.

Explanation of symbols

  1,30 auger type ice making machine, 2 auger, 3 ice making cylinder, 4 geared motor, 5 refrigeration circuit, 10 compressor, 11 condenser, 12 expansion valve (pressure reducing means), 13 evaporator, 15 temperature detector (detection with ice) Means), 18 drainage pipe (drainage means), 19 water supply valve (drainage means), 20 drainage valve (drainage means), 21 control device (detection means with ice).

Claims (1)

An ice making cylinder in which an auger is provided coaxially;
A geared motor for driving the auger;
A refrigeration circuit in which a compressor, a condenser, a decompression unit, and an evaporator for cooling the ice making cylinder are sequentially connected;
With ice detection means for predicting the occurrence of ice in the ice making cylinder;
Drainage means for draining ice making water staying in the ice making cylinder;
Switching between driving and stopping of the geared motor and the compressor, and a control device for operating the drainage means so that ice making water is drained from the ice making cylinder;
When the ice detection means predicts the occurrence of ice in the ice making cylinder,
The controller is
Stop the compressor,
After stopping the compressor, stop the geared motor and operate the drainage means to drain the ice making water from the ice making cylinder,
After draining, start the geared motor,
An auger type ice making machine, wherein the compressor is started after the geared motor is started.

Images