JP2012077999A - Automatic ice-making machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an automatic ice-making machine capable of reliably removing ice depositing on an upper face of a water pan while suppressing an amount of water used for melting the ice.SOLUTION: The ice-making machine includes a guide plate, the posture of which can be displaced in such a manner that the guide plate covers from above an injection port on an upper face of a water pan when the water pan is inclined downward to be in an open position for opening ice-making chambers during a deicing operation, and that the guide plate retracts from the upper face of the water pan when the water pan is in a closing position for closing from below the ice-making chambers during an ice-making operation. During the deicing operation, a supply pump is driven to inject ice-making water remaining in the ice-making tank toward the guide plate in a covered posture from the injection port. Thereby, the injected ice-making water is reflected by the guide plate to be uniformly distributed on the upper face of the water pan and can melt ice depositing on the upper face of the water pan.

Description

  The present invention relates to an automatic ice maker that includes an ice making chamber that defines a plurality of ice making chambers that open downward, and a water tray that is tiltably disposed directly below the ice making chamber. The present invention relates to an automatic ice making machine that removes ice adhering to the upper surface of a water tray by sprinkling melted water during operation.

  Conventionally, ice making operation in which ice making water is sprayed and supplied to produce a large number of ice blocks in a state where a number of ice making chambers are defined in a downwardly opened ice making chamber and closed under a water dish, and the water dish is moved downward The so-called closed cell type that repeats the deicing operation in which the ice making chamber is heated with the ice making chamber tilted and the ice block dropped from the ice making chamber slides on the water dish and is guided to the ice storage and stored. Automatic ice maker is known. In this type of automatic ice maker, ice making is performed with the ice making chamber closed from the top of the water dish from below during ice making operation, so ice adheres to the upper surface of the water dish and the injection port, etc. Ice blocks that fall from the ice making chamber may get stuck on the ice on the water tray and do not slide well. Therefore, in order to solve the problem, in the automatic ice making machine shown in Patent Document 1, when the water tray is tilted to the open position by switching from the ice making operation to the deicing operation, The water on the water tray is melted by sprinkling tap water from the water supply mechanism. Further, in the automatic ice making machine shown in Patent Document 2, when the water tray is in the open position, the ice making water in the ice making water tank is used as melted water, and the water tray is sprayed from the injection port with a pump having a reduced rotation speed. The top ice is melted.

JP 2008-175463 A JP-A-62-169979

  However, in the method of Patent Document 1, since a large amount of ice-melted water is required to melt the ice on the water tray, the running cost becomes high. Furthermore, in order to melt all the ice, it is necessary to flow the melted ice uniformly over the entire upper surface of the water dish, but in the case of a large ice-making chamber, the water dish is also large, and the melted ice water does not flow uniformly. Ice may remain. Moreover, in the method of patent document 2, the special pump for changing the rotation speed is needed, and it will raise a cost. Furthermore, taking into consideration the pipe resistance of the water path and the diameter of the injection port, the number of revolutions is determined so that the injected ice melt water does not fall into the ice storage, and the output is maintained during ice melting. Although it is necessary, some of the injection ports may be blocked during ice making, or cotton ice may be generated in the water path and the pipe resistance will change, causing phenomena that affect the pump output during operation. It was difficult to always maintain a constant output.

  Therefore, in the present invention, in view of the problems inherent in the above-described conventional technology, it has been proposed to suitably solve this problem. It is an object of the present invention to provide an automatic ice maker that can reliably remove ice by flowing ice melt water.

In order to overcome the above-mentioned problems and achieve the desired purpose suitably, the automatic ice making machine according to the present invention is:
An ice making chamber that defines a plurality of ice making chambers that open downward, a water tray that is tiltably disposed directly below the ice making chamber, and an ice making water tank that stores ice making water underneath is integrally assembled; A supply position for supplying ice making water in the ice making water tank to each ice making chamber from a plurality of injection holes provided in the water tray, and the water tray closes the ice making chamber from below. The ice making chamber is heated at an open position where the water tray tilts downward to open the ice making chamber by driving the supply pump to inject ice making water into the ice making chamber and generating a lump of ice. It is possible to perform the deicing operation in which the ice block is dropped,
A guide member is provided that displaces a covering posture that covers the spray port of the water tray in the open position from above and a retracted posture that is retracted from the water tray in the closed position, and drives the supply pump during the deicing operation. The ice making water in the ice making water tank is jetted from the jet port toward the guide member in the covering posture.

  According to the automatic ice making machine according to the present invention, the amount of melted water can be suppressed, and ice can be reliably removed by flowing the melted water over the entire upper surface of the water dish.

It is explanatory drawing which partially fractures | ruptures and shows the state in the ice making of the automatic ice making machine which concerns on an Example. It is explanatory drawing which fractures | ruptures and shows the state in the process of deicing of the automatic ice maker which concerns on an Example.

  Next, the automatic ice making machine according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings, taking preferred examples. In the following description, the vertical and horizontal directions are the vertical and horizontal directions when FIG. 1 is viewed from the front.

  FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing a state during ice making of an automatic ice maker according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the automatic ice maker, the inside of an ice storage chamber defined in a housing (not shown) is provided. An ice making mechanism 1 is provided. The ice making mechanism 1 is provided with a rectangular plate-like mechanism frame 3 installed on the upper part of the housing, and an ice making chamber 5 opened downward via an attachment member 4 is disposed below the mechanism frame 3. In the ice making chamber 5, a plurality of ice making chambers 5a are defined by a plurality of partition plates arranged vertically and horizontally. On the upper surface of the ice making chamber 5, an evaporator 7 connected to a refrigeration apparatus (not shown) is closely and meandered so as to pass through the upper portion of each ice making chamber 5a, and refrigerant supplied to the evaporator 7 during ice making operation is supplied. Each ice making chamber 5a is forcibly cooled by being vaporized. In the deicing operation, hot gas is supplied from the refrigeration apparatus to the evaporator 7 to heat the ice making chamber 5a. A temperature sensor 9 connected to a control means (not shown) is disposed on the outer surface of the ice making chamber 5, and when the temperature of the ice making chamber 5 decreases during the ice making operation and the temperature sensor 9 detects the ice making completion temperature. On the other hand, it is determined that the ice making is completed, and the ice making operation is terminated to switch to the deicing operation. Further, in the deicing operation, when the temperature of the ice making chamber 5 rises and the temperature sensor 9 detects the deicing completion temperature, it is determined that the deicing is completed, and the deicing operation is terminated to switch to the ice making operation. It has become.

  Below the ice making chamber 5, there is disposed a water tray 12 in which an ice making water tank 10 for storing a predetermined amount of ice making water is integrally assembled. The water tray 12 is attached to the mechanism frame 3 by a support shaft (not shown). It is pivotably supported. During the ice making operation, the water tray 12 is horizontally disposed close to the lower side of the ice making chamber 5a, and is held in this closed position where the ice making chamber 5a is closed during the ice making operation. During the deicing operation, the water tray 12 is urged by a water tray opening / closing mechanism (not shown), and tilts in a direction away from the ice making chamber 5 around the support shaft, and is held in an open position for opening the ice making small chamber 5a. (See FIG. 2). Further, in order to detect the position of the water tray 12, a water tray position detection means (not shown) is provided, and the fact that the water tray 12 has reached the closed position or the open position is transmitted to the control means. Yes.

  The water tray 12 has a flat plate portion 14 having a required thickness at a position facing the ice making chamber 5, and the flat plate portion 14 closes each ice making chamber 5 a during ice making operation. An ice making water supply pipe 16 is disposed on the lower surface side of the flat plate portion 14, and an injection port 18 disposed corresponding to each ice making chamber 5 a is provided on the upper surface of the ice making water supply pipe 16. The spray port 18 is disposed so as to be able to spray ice making water into the ice making chamber 5a through the flat plate portion 14, and the flat plate portion 14 around the spray port 18 did not freeze in the ice making chamber 5a. A return port 20 for collecting the ice making water in the ice making water tank 10 is formed. In addition, a supply pump 22 is connected to the lower part of the ice making water tank 10, and during ice making operation, ice making water supplied to the ice making water supply pipe 16 by the supply pump 22 is supplied from each injection port 18 to the corresponding ice making water. The ice is supplied to the small chambers 5a to generate ice blocks in each ice making chamber 5a. Note that the right end tip of the flat plate portion 14 is bent downward, and a gap 23 is provided between the flat plate portion 14 and the ice making water tank 10.

  The ice making water tank 10 has a three-dimensional shape with the bottom inclined upward in the right direction, and ice making water (tap water) is supplied to the ice making water tank 10 through a water supply pipe 24 connected to an external water supply source (for example, tap water). Water can be supplied. The water supply pipe 24 is provided with a water supply valve 26, and by opening the water supply valve 26, ice making water is supplied to the ice making water tank 10 so that a predetermined amount of ice making water can be stored. In addition, a discharge port 30 for discharging ice-making water in the ice-making water tank is provided in the vicinity of the bottom of the side wall defining the ice-making water tank 10, and the discharge port 30 is arranged in a horizontal direction during the ice-making operation. One end of a discharge pipe 32 extending at a predetermined length is connected, and the other end 34 is opened sideways. Thus, when ice making water is supplied from the water supply pipe 24 in the ice making operation, as shown in FIG. 1, the water level H at the time of full water is defined by the discharge port 30, and surplus ice making water is discharged from the discharge port 30 to the discharge pipe 32. And is discharged to a tray-like drain pan 36 disposed below. Further, in the deicing operation, when the ice making water tank 10 starts to tilt downward, the ice making water remaining in the ice making operation is discharged to the drain pan 36 through the discharge port 30 and the discharge pipe 32. As shown in FIG. 2, when the ice making water tank 10 reaches the open position, the other end 34 of the discharge pipe 32 is positioned above the discharge port 30. An amount of ice-making water of the level L defined by the lower end remains. The ice making water received by the drain pan 36 is drained outside the apparatus.

  A guide member 44 including a support shaft 38, a guide plate 40, and a contact piece 42 is disposed on the right side of the ice making water tank 10. The support shaft 38 is attached to the inner wall surface of the ice storage chamber by an attachment member (not shown), and is located near the right end of the ice making water tank 10 in the open position as shown in FIG. A guide plate 40 formed in a flat plate shape is rotatably attached to the support shaft 38, and the guide plate 40 has an upright retreat posture as shown in FIG. 1 and each injection port as shown in FIG. The posture can be changed to an inclined covering posture that covers 18 from above. Further, the lower end portion of the guide plate 40 in the retracted position extends a predetermined length toward the ice making water tank 10, and the right bottom portion of the ice making water tank 10 in the middle of the tilting of the water tray 12 from the closed position to the open position. Are integrally provided with a bar-shaped contact piece 42 capable of contacting with each other. The ice making water tank 10 is in contact with the contact piece 42 from above and continues to tilt, so that the guide plate 40 is configured to rotate following the retracted position to the covering position.

  The guide plate 40 is formed in a size that covers all the injection ports 18 provided in the water tray 12 from above in the covering posture, and is the same as the guide plate 40 on the surface on the ice making water tank 10 side in the retracted posture. A first protrusion 46, a second protrusion 47, and a third protrusion 48 having a depth width are provided. The first protrusion 46 is provided at the end opposite to the support shaft 38. In the covering position, as shown in FIG. 2, the first protrusion 46 abuts on the upper surface of the flat plate portion 14, and the flat plate portion 14 and the guide plate 40 are brought into contact with each other. It is formed in parallel length. The second protrusion 47 is located in the middle of the guide plate 40 and is shorter than the first protrusion 46, and has a length that does not contact the upper surface of the flat plate portion 14 in the covering posture. The third protrusion 48 is located in the vicinity of the support shaft 38 and has a slightly shorter length than the first protrusion 46, and is close to the upper surface of the flat plate portion 14 in the covering posture. A holding member 50 is disposed on the lower surface of the mechanism frame 3 so as to hold the guide plate 40 in the retracted position by abutting and supporting the guide plate 40 in the retracted position.

  The automatic ice making machine of the present embodiment is provided with ice melting control for removing ice adhering to the upper surface of the flat plate portion 14 of the water tray 12 during the ice making operation. This ice melting control is started at the timing when the water tray position detecting means detects that the ice tray 12 has reached the open position after the ice making operation is finished and switched to the deicing operation. At this time, as shown in FIG. 2, the guide plate 40 is in a state of being covered above the ejection ports 18 of the water tray 12. When the ice melting control is started, the supply pump 22 is driven, and ice making water (melted ice water) remaining in the ice making water tank 10 is injected from the injection port 18. The melted ice sprayed from the spray port 18 hits the guide plate 40, then falls on the flat plate portion 14, flows on the flat plate portion 14 to the downstream side, returns from the return port 20 to the ice making water tank 10, and again. The ice adhering to the upper surface of the flat plate portion 14 is gradually melted by repeating the circulation of being sprayed from the spray port 18 by the supply pump 22. Then, when a timer (not shown) connected to the control means measures that a predetermined time has elapsed since the start of driving the supply pump 22, it is determined that all the ice adhering to the upper surface of the flat plate portion 14 has been melted and removed, The supply pump 22 is stopped to end the ice melting control. Note that ice blocks dropped from the ice making chamber 5a in the deicing operation are received by the guide plate 40 and slid down on the guide plate 40 to be guided to the ice storage.

(Operation of Example)
Next, the operation of the automatic ice maker configured as described above will be described. It is assumed that the water tray 12 is in the closed position at the start of ice making. When the ice making process is started, the refrigerant is supplied from the refrigeration apparatus to the evaporator 7 to cool the ice making chamber 5. Simultaneously with the start of the ice making process, the water supply valve 26 is opened, and ice making water is supplied from the water supply pipe 24 into the ice making water tank 10. When the ice making water is stored up to the water level H in the ice making water tank 10, the supply pump 22 is driven, and the ice making water stored in the ice making water tank 10 is supplied to the ice making water supply pipe 16 via the supply pump 22. The ice making water supplied and jetted from each jet port 18 is supplied to the ice making chamber 5a. Since the ice making chamber 5a is cooled by the refrigerant supplied to the evaporator 7, the injected ice making water is cooled in contact with the inner wall of the ice making chamber 5a, and the ice making water after contacting the inner wall of the ice making chamber 5a. Falls and is collected in the ice making water tank 10 from the return port 20. Then, the ice making water is gradually cooled by being repeatedly circulated to the ice making chamber 5a by the supply pump 22 and gradually approaches 0 ° C., and ice is gradually generated on the inner wall of the ice making chamber 5a.

  When the ice making process proceeds and ice blocks are generated in the ice making chamber 5a and the temperature sensor 9 detects that the ice making chamber 5 has reached the ice making completion temperature, the ice making operation is terminated and the ice removing operation is switched to. At this time, the ice blocks grown in the ice making chamber 5a grow until they contact the upper surface of the flat plate portion 14, and a rectangular ice block is generated on the inner surface of the ice making chamber 5a and the upper surface of the flat plate portion 14. When the deicing operation is switched, hot gas is supplied from the refrigeration apparatus to the evaporator 7 to heat the ice making chamber 5, and the water tray 12 is tilted downward by the water tray opening / closing mechanism, so that the bottom surface of the ice block and the flat plate portion 14 At this time, a part of the ice block remains attached to the upper surface of the flat plate portion 14. While the water tray 12 is tilting, the bottom surface of the ice making water tank 10 contacts the contact piece 42 from above, and when the water tray 12 tilts as it is, the contact piece 42 is pushed down and follows the contact piece 42. As a result, the guide plate 40 rotates from the retracted position to the covering position.

  When the water pan position detecting means detects that the water pan 12 has reached the open position, the ice melting control is started, the supply pump 22 is driven, and the timer starts counting. A part of the ice making water remaining in the ice making water tank 10 at the end of ice making is discharged from the discharge port 30 to the drain pan 36 when the water tray 12 is tilted, and the ice making water tank 10 is equivalent to the amount of water at the water level L. It is left as melted ice water. When the supply pump 22 is driven, melted ice water is jetted from the jet port 18, hits the back surface of the guide plate 40, flows on the flat plate portion 14, and returns to the ice making water tank 10 from the return port 20 and the gap 23. The ice adhering to the flat plate portion 14 is gradually melted by repeating the circulation of being again injected from the injection port 18 by the supply pump 22. A part of the melted water hitting the back surface of the guide plate 40 flows along the back surface of the guide plate 40 as it is. However, since the second protrusion 47 and the third protrusion 48 are provided in the middle, the flat portion is formed by the protrusion. 14 falls on the top. Since the second protrusion 47 is formed to have a length that forms a gap with the upper surface of the flat plate portion 14, the melted water flowing on the flat plate portion 14 is inhibited from flowing by the second protrusion 47. Absent. The third protrusion 48 positioned further downstream of the jet port 18 positioned on the most downstream side is formed in a length close to the upper surface of the flat plate portion 14, so that the flow of the melted ice water flowing on the flat plate portion 14 is reduced. By inhibiting, the momentum is reduced, and the melted water is easily returned from the return port 20 and the gap 23 to the ice making water tank 10. In addition, the solid line arrow in FIG. 2 has shown the flow of the melted water.

  When the timer counts that the predetermined time has elapsed, it is determined that all the ice adhering to the flat plate portion 14 has been melted, the supply pump 22 is stopped, and the ice melting control is terminated. The melted water in the ice making water tank 10 at this time is used as ice making water in the next ice making operation. When the ice making chamber 5 is heated by the deicing operation and the ice formation surface of the ice block with the ice making chamber 5a is melted, the ice block is peeled and dropped from the ice making chamber 5a due to its own weight, and slides down on the guide plate 40 and drain pan 36. Is released and stored in an ice storage chamber located below the storage area. Thereafter, when the temperature of the ice making chamber 5 rises, the temperature sensor 9 detects the deicing completion temperature and the control means detects that the ice melting control is also completed, the hot gas is supplied to the evaporator 7. While being stopped, the water tray 12 is tilted upward by the water tray opening and closing mechanism. Here, when the ice melting control is not yet finished when the temperature sensor 9 detects the deicing completion temperature, the supply of hot gas to the evaporator 7 is stopped, but the ice melting control is completed. The water dish 12 is not tilted upward. When the water tray 12 is tilted upward, the guide plate 40 is also pushed up from below by the water tray 12 to rotate from the covering posture to the retracted posture. Since the support shaft 38 is located in the vicinity of the right end of the water dish 12, the guide plate 40 is configured to rotate greatly even if the water dish 12 is slightly tilted. The center of gravity of 40 exceeds the vertical position (directly above the support shaft 38), and further continues to rotate due to gravity and comes into contact with the holding member 50 and is held in the upright retracted position shown in FIG. When it is detected by the water pan position detection means that the water pan 12 has reached the closed position, it is determined that the deicing has been completed, the deicing operation is terminated, and the ice making operation is switched to. By repeating such ice making operation and deicing operation, a predetermined amount of ice blocks are stored in the ice storage chamber.

  As described above, by providing the guide plate 40 that covers each injection port 18 from above in the open position of the water tray 12 and driving the supply pump 22, the melted water is evenly distributed on the flat plate portion 14. Since the spray holes 18 are uniformly sprayed on the flat plate portion 14 from the respective injection ports 18, the melted ice water can flow over almost the entire upper surface of the flat plate portion 14 regardless of the size of the flat plate portion 14, and is attached. Can melt ice. Even if some of the injection ports 18 are blocked by ice, the melted ice sprayed from the other injection ports 18 disposed nearby is reflected by the guide plate 40 and flows down to the surroundings, so that the blocked ice can be removed. Can be melted. Further, since the supply pumps 22 are driven after the injection ports 18 are covered with the guide plates 40 from above, the injection is performed even if the output of the supply pumps 22 during ice melting control is the same as that during ice making operation. Since the melted ice water does not fall into the ice storage chamber, an inexpensive pump whose rotation speed cannot be changed can be used. Furthermore, since the remaining water remaining in the ice making water tank after ice making is used as the melted water, it is not necessary to replenish new water from the outside, and the amount of water used can be suppressed.

(Example of change)
The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, but can be modified as follows.
(1) Although the first to third protrusions are provided on the guide plate, the number of protrusions is not limited to three, and may be three or more, or the protrusions may not be provided.
(2) The ice making water in the ice making water tank after the ice making operation is used as the ice melting water, but since the temperature of the ice making water immediately after the ice making operation is reduced to near 0 ° C, the temperature is low as the ice melting water. It takes time to melt the ice. Therefore, immediately after the water pan reaches the open position, the water supply valve is opened, and normal temperature tap water is supplied from the water supply pipe into the ice making water tank to increase the temperature of the ice melt water, and then control the ice melting. It may be. Thereby, the time of ice melting control can be shortened and ice can be melted reliably.
(3) The ice making water remains in the ice making water tank when the water tray is in the open position by using the discharge port and the discharge pipe, but the ice making water tank is in the open position when the water tray is in the open position. Other structures may be used as long as ice making water remains inside.
(4) The third protrusion is positioned so as to correspond to the upper surface on the right end side of the flat plate portion when the guide plate is in the covering posture. However, when the guide plate is in the covering posture, It is good also as a positional relationship which fits in the clearance gap between ice-making water tanks. As a result, it is possible to reliably return the melted water sprayed from the spray port during the melt melting control to the ice making water tank through the third protrusion.

  5 ice making chamber, 10 ice making water tank, 12 water tray, 18 injection port, 22 supply pump, 40 guide plate, 44 guide member, 46 first protrusion, 47 second protrusion, 48 third protrusion

Claims (1)

An ice making chamber that defines a plurality of ice making chambers that open downward, a water tray that is tiltably disposed directly below the ice making chamber, and an ice making water tank that stores ice making water underneath is integrally assembled; A supply pump for supplying ice making water in the ice making water tank to each ice making chamber from a plurality of injection holes provided in a water dish,
An ice making operation for generating ice blocks by driving the supply pump and injecting ice making water into the ice making chamber in a closed position where the water tray closes the ice making chamber from below, and the water tray tilts downward. In an automatic ice making machine that can perform the deicing operation in which the ice making chamber is dropped by heating the ice making chamber at an open position that opens the ice making chamber,
A guide member is provided that displaces a covering posture that covers the spray port of the water tray in the open position from above and a retracted posture that is retracted from the water tray in the closed position, and drives the supply pump during the deicing operation. An automatic ice making machine characterized in that ice making water in an ice making water tank is jetted from a jet port toward a guide member in a covering posture.

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