JP2011149589A - Ice-making machine - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an ice-making machine capable of securely preventing leakage of a refrigerant from an evaporation tube and of improving ice-making efficiency. <P>SOLUTION: The evaporation tube 18 of a cooling circuit where a refrigerant circulates has a seamless structure, to prevent leakage of the refrigerant from the evaporation tube 18. A plurality of ice-making projections 19 are provided individually, and are directly bonded to the outer face of the evaporation tube 18, respectively. By achieving good thermal conductivity between the evaporation tube 18 and the ice-making projections 19, ice-making efficiency is improved. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an ice making machine that produces ice.

  Conventionally, in an ice making machine for producing ice, a cooling circuit constituted by a refrigeration cycle in which refrigerant is circulated, a plate body on which an evaporation pipe of the cooling circuit is arranged on the upper surface, and a plurality of protrusions protruding from the lower surface of the plate body There is a so-called batch type ice making machine provided with an ice making plate having an ice making protrusion (mandrel) and a container for storing ice making water disposed below the ice making plate (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  The ice making plate of this ice making machine is generally made of aluminum die cast, and a plate body and a plurality of ice making protrusions are integrally formed.

  In the ice making machine, during ice making, the cooling circuit is operated to circulate the refrigerant to the evaporator to cool the entire ice making plate, that is, the plate body and each ice making protrusion, and the ice making water in a container disposed below the ice making plate is used. Ice is grown around each ice-making protrusion immersed in the ice, and when the ice grows to a certain size, the ice-making is stopped, the container is moved from the bottom of the ice-making plate, and the cooling circuit is switched from the cooling circuit by switching the cycle. Supply the hot gas of the refrigerant to the evaporation pipe to heat the whole ice making plate, that is, the plate body and each ice making protrusion, melt the surface of the ice in contact with each ice making protrusion, detach the ice from each ice making protrusion, and move downward It is trying to discharge. Therefore, ice is produced while repeating ice making and de-icing alternately.

  Also, by making a plurality of holes along the longitudinal direction of the evaporation pipe, and connecting a hollow ice-making projection directly to each hole of the evaporation pipe so that the refrigerant in the evaporation pipe flows through the ice-making projection, There is an ice making machine that improves efficiency (for example, see Patent Document 2).

Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2004-309105 (page 2-5, FIG. 1-7) JP 2008-64450 A (page 5-7, FIG. 1-7)

  However, in an ice making machine using an ice making plate, since the plate body having a large heat capacity is interposed between the evaporation tube and each ice making projection, the thermal conductivity between the evaporation tube and the ice making projection decreases, and unit time The ice making amount per hit was relatively small, and the ice making efficiency was poor.

  Furthermore, the reason for the low ice-making efficiency is that the ice-making plate is made of aluminum die-cast, and therefore, it may be possible to form the ice-making plate with, for example, copper, which has better thermal conductivity than aluminum die-casting, In this case, the cost of the ice making plate is high and manufacturability is also reduced, and since the plate body having a large heat capacity is interposed between the evaporation tube and each ice making projection as described above, sufficient ice making efficiency is achieved. I cannot expect improvement.

  In addition, ice making machines that have a hole in the evaporation pipe and are directly connected to the ice making projections to allow the refrigerant to flow through the ice making projections improve the ice making efficiency, but the connection between the evaporation tube and each ice making projection is poor. Otherwise, the refrigerant may leak to the outside due to deterioration. In particular, there is a case where a flammable gas such as isobutane is used as an alternative refrigerant accompanying non-fluorocarbon, but such a leakage of the flammable gas must be surely prevented.

  The present invention has been made in view of these points, and an object of the present invention is to provide an ice making machine that can reliably prevent leakage of refrigerant from the evaporation pipe and improve ice making efficiency.

  The ice making machine according to claim 1 has a container for storing ice making water, a seamless structure of an evaporation pipe, a cooling circuit through which a refrigerant circulates, and is individually provided and directly attached to the outer surface of the evaporation pipe, A plurality of ice making elements that are immersed in the ice making water of the container and that make ice by heat conduction with the outer surface of the evaporation tube without flowing refrigerant from the evaporation tube.

  The ice making machine according to claim 2 is the ice making machine according to claim 1, wherein a material of the ice making element is copper.

  An ice making machine according to a third aspect is the ice making machine according to the first or second aspect, wherein the ice making element has a cylindrical shape, and a tip opposite to the evaporation tube is open.

  According to the ice making machine of the first aspect, since the plurality of ice making elements provided individually are directly attached to the seamless structure of the evaporation pipe, it is possible to reliably prevent the leakage of the refrigerant from the evaporation pipe. At the same time, the thermal conductivity between the evaporator tube and the ice making element can be improved, and the ice making efficiency can be improved.

  According to the ice making machine of claim 2, in addition to the effect of the ice making machine of claim 1, a structure in which a plurality of individually made ice making elements are directly attached to the evaporation pipe, Copper having excellent thermal conductivity can be adopted as a material for the ice making element at low cost, and ice making efficiency can be further improved.

  According to the ice making machine of the third aspect, in addition to the effect of the ice making machine of the first or second aspect, the ice making element has a cylindrical shape and its tip is open, so that the inside of the ice making element is added to the outside. Ice making can also be performed, and for example, the ice making element can be prevented from being affected by the contraction and expansion of air in the sealed space as in the case where the inside of the ice making element is a sealed space.

It is sectional drawing of the ice making machine which shows the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view of an ice making machine same as the above. It is a circuit diagram of the cooling circuit of the ice making machine same as the above. It is sectional drawing of the ice making machine which shows the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is sectional drawing of the ice making machine which shows the 3rd Embodiment of this invention.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  1 to 3 show a first embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the ice making machine 11 includes an ice making unit 12 that performs ice making, and a cooling circuit (refrigeration circuit) 13 that cools or heats the ice making unit 12.

  1 and 2 show the configuration of the ice making unit 12. The ice making unit 12 includes a container (tray) 15 that stores ice making water w (not shown in FIG. 2), an ice making unit 16 that cools the ice making water w stored in the container 15 and makes ice, and a container An unillustrated moving unit that moves 15 to an ice making position that combines 15 under the ice making unit 16 and a retreat position that retracts from the underside of the ice making unit 16, an unillustrated ice making water supply unit that supplies ice making water w to the container 15, It has.

  The container 15 is formed in a rectangular tray shape having an open upper surface, and can store ice-making water w.

  The ice making unit 16 constitutes an evaporator of the cooling circuit 13, and includes a plurality of ice making units directly attached to the evaporation pipe 18 through which the refrigerant of the cooling circuit 13 circulates and the outer surface of the lower face side of the evaporation pipe 18. An ice-making protrusion (mandrel) 19 as an element is provided.

  The evaporation tube 18 is a material having excellent thermal conductivity, for example, a seamless tube formed in a cylindrical shape with no holes or joints using copper, and is generally disposed so as to be within the range inside the upper surface outer shape portion of the container 15. It is bent into a U shape. The evaporation pipe 18 is supported by a support member (not shown) so as to be arranged horizontally.

  The ice making protrusions 19 are individually formed of copper, which is a material having excellent thermal conductivity, and are solid cylindrical rods that can be joined to one end along the outer surface of the evaporation tube 18. A curved mounting surface 20 is formed, and the tip which is the other end is formed in a spherical shape for facilitating ice removal. The attachment surface 20 of the ice making projection 19 is directly bonded to the outer surface on the lower surface side of the evaporation tube 18, and is bonded by an adhesive having brazing or thermal conductivity. Therefore, the ice making protrusion 19 is configured to improve the thermal conductivity with the outer surface of the evaporation pipe 18 even if the refrigerant does not flow from the evaporation pipe 18.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 3, the cooling circuit 13 includes a compressor 31, a condenser 32, an evaporator 33 that is an evaporator tube 18 disposed in the ice making unit 16 of the ice making unit 12, and an accumulator 34. It is constituted by.

  A first valve 35 is disposed between the condenser 32 and the evaporator 33, and a pipe 36 connects between the compressor 31 and the condenser 32 and between the first valve 35 and the evaporator 33. In addition, a second valve 37 is disposed in the pipe 36. At the time of ice making, the first valve 35 is opened and the second valve 37 is closed. As shown by the solid line arrow in FIG. As the refrigerant flows into the evaporator 33 and evaporates, the refrigerant is cooled, and at the time of deicing, the first valve 35 is closed and the second valve 37 is opened. A high-temperature refrigerant, that is, hot gas compressed by the compressor 31, flows into the evaporator 33 and heats it. Accordingly, the valves 35 and 37 and the pipe 36 are configured as a switching unit 38 that switches the flow of the refrigerant according to ice making and ice removing.

  Next, the operation of the ice making machine 11 will be described.

  During ice making, an ice making water supply unit supplies a predetermined amount of ice making water w set in advance to the container 15, and the moving unit combines the container 15 below the ice making unit 16, and makes each ice making unit 16 ice making The protrusion 19 is immersed in the ice making water w of the container 15.

  When the first valve 35 of the cooling circuit 13 is opened and the second valve 37 is closed and the compressor 31 is operated, the high-pressure refrigerant compressed by the compressor 31 and condensed by the condenser 32 is evaporated. It flows to the 33 evaporation pipes 18 and evaporates, and the evaporation pipes 18 and the respective ice making projections 19 are cooled.

  The ice making water w is cooled through each ice making protrusion 19, and ice i is icing on the surface of each ice making protrusion 19.

  At this time, the refrigerant in the evaporation pipe 18 does not flow to each ice making projection 19, but since each ice making projection 19 is directly bonded to the outer surface of the evaporation pipe 18, the heat of the evaporation pipe 18 and the ice making projection 19 is Conductivity is good, and the ice making protrusion 19 is efficiently cooled. Therefore, it is possible to shorten the ice making time required for making a predetermined amount or thickness of ice i on the surface of each ice making protrusion 19.

  Further, when ice making of a predetermined amount or thickness reaches the surface of each ice making protrusion 19 and the ice making is completed, switching to deicing is performed.

  At the time of this ice removal, first, the container 15 is retracted from the lower side of the ice making unit 16 by the moving unit.

  Subsequently, the first valve 35 and the second valve 37 of the cooling circuit 13 are closed and the second valve 37 is opened. As shown by the broken line arrow in FIG. It feeds into the 33 evaporation pipes 18, and the evaporation pipe 18 and each ice making protrusion 19 are heated.

  As the ice making protrusions 19 rise in temperature, the surface of the ice i in contact with the surface of each ice making protrusion 19 is melted, and the ice i is deiced and dropped from each ice making protrusion 19 and stored in an ice storage section (not shown). Is done.

  At this time, the refrigerant in the evaporation pipe 18 does not flow to each ice making projection 19, but since each ice making projection 19 is directly bonded to the outer surface of the evaporation pipe 18, the heat of the evaporation pipe 18 and the ice making projection 19 is Conductivity is good, and the ice making protrusion 19 is efficiently heated. For this reason, it is possible to shorten the time required for icing the ice i from each ice making projection 19.

  Therefore, the ice making machine 11 as a whole can shorten the time of one cycle from ice making to ice removal, increase the ice making amount per unit time, and improve the ability of the ice making machine 11.

  Moreover, since the seamless structure of the evaporation pipe 18 is used, leakage of the refrigerant from the evaporation pipe 18 can be reliably prevented. In particular, as an alternative refrigerant associated with non-fluorocarbons, for example, a combustible gas such as isobutane may be used. However, such a leakage of the combustible gas can be reliably prevented.

  Furthermore, even if the evaporation pipe 18 has a seamless structure, the ice making projections 19 provided individually are directly bonded to the evaporation pipe 18, so that an ice making plate is interposed as in the past. In comparison, the thermal conductivity between the evaporation pipe 18 and the ice making projection 19 can be improved, and the ice making efficiency can be improved.

  Furthermore, the ice making protrusions 19 can be formed individually, and copper having excellent thermal conductivity as the material of the ice making protrusions 19 can be formed at a relatively low cost compared to the case where the ice making protrusions 19 are formed integrally with the ice making plate as in the past. The ice making efficiency can be further improved.

  Next, FIG. 4 shows a second embodiment.

  The ice making projection 19 is formed in a cylindrical shape having one end opened by drawing and the other end closed, and a mounting surface 20 directly bonded to the evaporation pipe 18 is formed at the opening edge of one end. ing.

  In this case, since the ice making protrusions 19 are cylindrical, the amount of material used can be reduced, and even if copper is used as the material, the cost can be reduced.

  Note that a hole (not shown) for venting air that opens the atmosphere by communicating the inner space of the ice making protrusion 19 with the outside may be provided on one end side of the ice making protrusion 19. In this case, for example, as in the case where the inside of the ice making projection 19 is a sealed space, the ice making projection 19 is prevented from being damaged by the cooling and heating of the ice making projection 19 due to the contraction and expansion of the air in the sealed space. it can.

  Next, FIG. 5 shows a third embodiment.

  The ice making projection 19 is formed in a cylindrical shape with both ends opened, and an attachment surface 20 is formed on the opening edge of one end to be directly bonded to the evaporation tube 18. Note that when the ice making protrusion 19 is infiltrated into the ice making water w on one end side of the ice making protrusion 19, the air inside the ice making protrusion 19 is released to the outside, and the ice making water w enters the inside of the ice making protrusion 19. In order to do so, a hole (not shown) for venting air is provided.

  In this case, since the ice making protrusion 19 has a cylindrical shape and the tip thereof is open, ice can be made not only on the outside of the ice making protrusion 19 but also on the inside, and ice i with a small space inside can be made. Further, for example, as in the case where the inside of the ice making projection 19 is a sealed space, it is possible to prevent the ice making projection 19 from being damaged by cooling and heating of the ice making projection 19 due to the contraction and expansion of the air in the sealed space. .

  The container 15 may be provided with a plurality of recesses for storing the ice making water w, and the ice making projections 19 may be immersed in the ice making water w in each of the recesses for ice making.

11 Ice machine
13 Cooling circuit
15 containers
18 Evaporating tube
19 Ice making process as ice making element w Ice making water

Claims (3)

A container for storing ice making water;
A cooling circuit having a seamless structure of the evaporation pipe and circulating refrigerant;
A plurality of ice making units that are individually provided and directly attached to the outer surface of the evaporation tube, are immersed in the ice making water of the container, and make ice by heat conduction with the outer surface of the evaporation tube without flowing refrigerant from the evaporation tube. An ice making machine comprising: an element. The ice maker according to claim 1, wherein the material of the ice making element is copper. The ice making machine according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the ice making element has a cylindrical shape, and an end opposite to the evaporation pipe is open.

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