JP2019158282A - Ice making device - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide an ice making device capable of efficiently improving resolution in detection of an angle of an ice making tray.SOLUTION: An ice making device includes: an ice making tray, a driving gear as a gear member used in oscillation motion of the ice making tray or separating motion of the ice produced on the ice making tray; a rotation detecting portion as a sensor or a switch in which an output signal is alternately switched to H-level or L-level in conjunction with rotation of the driving gear; and a control portion for counting the change of the output signal of the rotation detecting portion, and calculating an amount of rotation of the ice making tray or the driving gear.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 7

Description

  The present invention relates to an ice making device, and more particularly to an ice making device having an automatic ice making function.

  Patent Document 1 listed below discloses an automatic ice making device including a low speed / high torque motor and a high speed / low torque motor. These two motors are connected to the ice tray via a reduction gear and are used as a drive source for rotating the ice tray. A high speed / low torque motor is used to agitate water during freezing (this produces clear ice without cloudiness), and a low speed / high torque motor is used to discharge ice from the ice tray. In the automatic ice making device of Patent Document 1, a plurality of hall sensors are arranged on the end face of the output gear that rotates the ice tray, or a pattern (arcuate traces 58) printed in an arc shape on the substrate is arranged on the end face of the output gear. By tracing with a sliding brush (joined flexible wiper fingers 57), it is detected that the output gear has reached a predetermined arrangement angle.

US Patent Application Publication No. 2015/0276295 (A1) Specification

  When the rotation angle of the ice tray is specified by a contact-type rotation angle sensor such as a potentiometer, wear of sensor parts becomes a problem depending on the frequency of rotation of the ice tray. On the other hand, when the arrangement angle of the ice tray is detected by a plurality of Hall sensors as in the cited document 1, there is a problem that it is difficult to raise the resolution of angle detection, although the problem of wear of the sensor parts hardly occurs.

  In view of the above problems, the problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide an ice making device capable of efficiently increasing the resolution of detecting the angle of an ice tray.

  In order to solve the above problems, an ice making device of the present invention includes an ice making tray, a driving gear that is a gear member used for a rocking operation of the ice making tray or an ice removing operation of ice generated in the ice making tray, A rotation detection unit that is a sensor or a switch whose output signal is alternately switched to H level or L level in conjunction with rotation of the drive gear, and a change in the output signal of the rotation detection unit is counted and the ice tray or the And a control unit that calculates the rotation amount of the drive gear.

  Rather than arranging a plurality of hall sensors on the end face of the drive gear, etc., a rotation detection unit that switches the output signal in conjunction with the rotation of the drive gear is prepared, and the number of changes in the output value is counted to create an ice tray or By calculating the amount of rotation of the drive gear, it is possible to increase the resolution of angle detection while suppressing an increase in the size of the apparatus.

  In addition, the ice making device of the present invention includes a driven gear that is a gear member meshed with the drive gear, and the driven gear is a first speed-up gear that speeds up the rotation of the drive gear, and the rotation detector Is a non-contact type sensor, and it is preferable that the rotation detection unit is configured to switch its output signal in conjunction with rotation of the driven gear. Further, at this time, the driven gear further meshes with a second speed increasing gear for speeding up the rotation of the driven gear, and the rotation detecting unit outputs its output in conjunction with the rotation of the second speed increasing gear. More preferably, the signal is switched.

  The resolution of the detection angle can be increased by accelerating the rotation of the drive gear and operating the rotation detector. In addition, by adopting a non-contact rotation angle sensor using a hall sensor, a photo sensor, or the like as the rotation detection unit, it is not necessary to consider the wear of sensor parts even when the ice tray rotates frequently.

  Further, the ice making device of the present invention has an initialization unit in which the drive gear is in a predetermined angular range in the circumferential direction, and the initialization unit is different from the other angular ranges in the output signal of the rotation detection unit. It is preferable that the switching frequency is different. For example, it comprises a driven gear that is a gear member meshed with the drive gear, the rotation detection unit is switched its output signal in conjunction with the rotation of the driven gear, the drive gear as the initialization unit, It can be considered that a part of the meshing surface with the driven gear has a missing tooth portion which is a region where the tooth portion is not formed.

  Since the drive gear includes the initialization unit, the control unit can detect that the initialization unit has reached a position from the rotation state of the drive gear and the change frequency of the output value of the rotation detection unit. Thereby, for example, by resetting the count number of the control unit with the initialization unit as the origin position of the ice tray or drive gear, the count number of the control unit and the actual arrangement angle of the ice tray or drive gear are inconsistent. Can be eliminated.

  Further, the ice making device of the present invention is a Hall sensor in which the rotation detection unit includes a Hall IC and a permanent magnet, and the permanent magnet is an outer peripheral surface of the driven gear or another speed increasing rotation of the driven gear. When the driven gear is arranged on the outer peripheral surface of the speed increasing gear and the driven gear faces the toothless portion, the permanent magnet is preferably arranged at a position where the Hall IC cannot react.

  When the driven gear faces the toothless part of the drive gear and stops rotating, if the permanent magnet such as the driven gear is in a position close to the Hall IC, the Hall IC causes the permanent magnet to There is a risk of erroneous detection and the output of the Hall sensor becomes unstable. By disposing the permanent magnet at a position where the Hall IC cannot react while the driven gear is stopped, such erroneous detection can be prevented.

  At this time, it is preferable that a plurality of the permanent magnets are disposed on the outer peripheral surface of the driven gear or the outer peripheral surface of another speed increasing gear that accelerates the rotation of the driven gear.

  By disposing a plurality of permanent magnets on the outer peripheral surface of the driven gear or the like, the resolution of angle detection by the rotation detector can be further increased. Even in this case, the malfunction of the Hall sensor can be prevented by arranging the permanent magnet at a position where the Hall IC cannot react while the driven gear is stopped.

  In addition, the ice making device of the present invention includes a first drive source that is a drive source used for the swing operation, a second drive source that is a drive source used for the ice release operation, the swing operation and the release operation. A planetary gear mechanism having an output unit for performing an ice operation, and the planetary gear mechanism includes, as its constituent members, a sun gear member, an internal gear member, and a planet carrier member, and the drive gear includes these constituent members. The output unit is provided in one of the constituent members, the first drive source is connected to one of the other two constituent members, and the second drive source is connected to the other. It is preferable.

  The planetary gear mechanism is characterized in that a large reduction ratio can be obtained with a small number of stages. Therefore, the planetary gear mechanism is provided with an output unit for swinging and deicing the ice tray, and the first drive source and the second drive source share this output unit, thereby increasing the space efficiency in the apparatus. be able to. As a result, the reduction ratio of the first drive source and the second drive source can be flexibly designed while suppressing an increase in the size of the apparatus. Further, the ice tray is rotated by one of the constituent members of the planetary gear mechanism, and the first driving source and the second driving source are separately connected to the other two constituent members. It is possible to switch the drive source smoothly while preventing rotation and interference.

  At this time, the deicing operation is an operation of twisting the ice tray to discharge ice, and the output unit performs the swinging operation and the deicing operation by rotating the ice tray, The drive gear is preferably the component member to which the second drive source is connected.

  The mechanism of the ice making device can be simplified by realizing both the swinging operation and the ice removing operation only by rotating the ice tray.

  In the ice making device of the present invention, when the first drive source rotates the ice tray to the limit in the direction opposite to the ice removing direction in the ice removing operation, or after that, the second drive source is When the ice tray is further rotated in the opposite direction, the driven gear preferably faces the missing tooth portion.

  When the driven gear faces the missing tooth portion at the origin position of the ice tray during the ice removal operation, the rotation angle of the ice tray during the ice removal operation can be accurately grasped.

  In addition, the ice making device of the present invention has an ice detecting shaft that is a shaft member to which an arm member for inspecting the amount of ice in the ice storage container is coupled, the end surface of the component member provided with the output portion, and the inspection surface. A cam mechanism is provided on the peripheral surface of the ice shaft, and the ice detecting shaft rotates following the rotation of the component member provided with the output unit during the deicing operation to raise and lower the arm member. It is preferable to make it.

  It is equipped with an arm member that inspects the amount of ice in the ice storage container, and is moved up and down in conjunction with the movement of the output unit. By a simple mechanism, abnormal operation or failure due to ice accumulating to the movable range of the ice tray Can be prevented.

  At this time, it is preferable to provide an ice detecting shaft sensor which is a sensor for detecting that the ice detecting shaft has reached a predetermined arrangement angle. Further, the ice detecting shaft sensor is a switch component, and a switch switching portion that is a protrusion is formed on a peripheral surface of the ice detecting shaft, and the switch switching portion is configured such that the ice detecting shaft has a predetermined arrangement angle. More preferably, the ice detection axis sensor is switched on and off.

  Whether or not the icing operation can be continued can be monitored not at the continuous analog value but at the H level (on) or the L level (off), thereby simplifying the control processing of the icing operation.

  Thus, according to the ice making device of the present invention, it is possible to efficiently increase the resolution for detecting the angle of the ice tray.

It is a perspective view showing the appearance of the ice making device concerning an embodiment. It is a front view which shows rocking | fluctuation operation | movement of an ice making apparatus. It is a front view which shows the deicing operation | movement of an ice making apparatus. It is a side view which shows the ice detection operation | movement of an ice making apparatus. It is side surface sectional drawing which shows the structure of the planetary gear mechanism which a drive unit has. It is a rear view which shows the internal mechanism of a drive unit. It is a front view which shows the internal mechanism of a drive unit. It is a perspective view which shows the external appearance of an ice detecting shaft. It is a perspective view which shows rotation operation | movement of the ice detection axis | shaft at the time of ice detection operation | movement. FIG. 10 is a side view of each drawing in FIG. 9 as viewed from the direction A in FIG. 9. It is a block diagram which shows the function structure of an ice making apparatus. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of the ice making process and ice removal process of an ice making apparatus. It is a timing chart which shows the relationship between the angle of an ice tray, and the output value of each sensor. It is a perspective view which shows the structure of the ice removal operation | movement preparation mechanism of an ice making apparatus. It is a top view which shows the arrangement | positioning relationship between the internal gear member and the 1st speed increasing gear in the preparation process of ice removal operation | movement.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of an ice making device according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The ice making device 10 of this embodiment (hereinafter also referred to as “this example”) is a device that is installed in a freezer (not shown) and automatically produces ice.

  In the following description, “upper and lower” means a direction parallel to the Z-axis of the coordinate axes depicted in each figure, and the Z1 side is “upper” and the Z2 side is “lower”. “Front and back” means a direction parallel to the X axis of the same coordinate axis, and the X1 side is “front” and the X2 side is “back”. Similarly, “left and right” means a direction parallel to the Y axis of the same coordinate axis, and the Y1 side is “right” and the Y2 side is “left”. Further, “horizontal” means a plane direction parallel to the XY plane indicated by the same coordinate axis.

<Device overview>
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the appearance of the ice making device 10. The ice making device 10 of this example is mainly composed of a drive unit 11, an ice tray 12, and an ice detecting arm 13. The ice tray 12 is an elastically deformable container body and has a plurality of cube-shaped ice-making cells 121. The ice tray 12 has a back surface connected to the drive unit 11, and a shaft portion 123 provided on the front surface 12a is rotatably supported by another member (not shown). Further, on the front surface 12 a of the ice tray 12, a convex portion 122 protruding forward is formed on the left side (right side in front view) of the shaft portion 123. The drive unit 11 is a drive unit that is connected to the back surface of the ice tray 12 and rotates the ice tray 12 about the rotation center line L. The ice detection arm 13 is an arm member that mechanically inspects the amount of ice in an ice storage container 14 described later.

(Oscillating motion)
FIG. 2 is a front view showing the swinging operation of the ice making device 10. In FIG. 2, for convenience of explanation, the configuration other than the ice tray 12 is simplified and drawn. Here, the “swinging operation” of the present invention is an operation of shaking the ice tray to stir the water in the ice tray. FIG. 2A shows an initial position of the ice tray 12 and shows a state where the ice tray 12 is arranged in the horizontal h. FIG. 2B shows a state where the ice tray 12 is tilted 30 ° counterclockwise when viewed from the front, and FIG. 2C shows a state where the ice tray 12 is tilted 30 ° clockwise when viewed from the front. Hereinafter, regarding the rotation angle of the ice tray 12, the front counterclockwise direction is referred to as “minus (−)” and the front clockwise direction is referred to as “plus (+)”.

  The ice making device 10 continues to rotate the ice making tray 12 within an angle range of ± 30 ° until the water filled in the ice making tray 12 changes to ice. As the ice tray 12 rotates, the water in the ice tray 12 is agitated, thereby producing clear ice without cloudiness.

  The aspect of the “swinging operation” of the present invention is not limited to the operation of rotating the ice tray 12 as in this example. If the water in the ice tray can be stirred, for example, an operation of shaking the ice tray left and right or shaking up and down is also included in the “swinging operation” of the present invention.

(Ice removal operation)
FIG. 3 is a front view showing the ice removing operation of the ice making device 10. In FIG. 3, for the sake of convenience of explanation, the configuration other than the ice tray 12 is simplified. Here, the “ice removal operation” of the present invention is an operation of taking out the ice generated in the ice tray from the ice tray. When the ice making device 10 takes out the ice from the ice tray 12, first, the ice tray 12 is rotated to a position of −35 °. Thereafter, the ice tray 12 is reversed to a position of + 120 °, and the convex portion 122 of the ice tray 12 is brought into contact with the abutting portion 19 provided on another member (not shown). Then, the ice tray 12 is twisted to a position of + 160 ° to discharge the ice.

  In addition, the aspect of the “ice removal operation” of the present invention is not limited to the operation of twisting the ice tray 12 as in this example. If ice can be taken out from the ice tray, for example, an operation of heating the ice tray with a heater to melt the surface of the ice and scraping out the ice with the scraping member is also included in the “ice removal operation” of the present invention.

(Ice detection operation)
FIG. 4 is a side view showing the ice detecting operation of the ice making device 10. FIG. 4A shows the initial position of the ice detecting arm 13. FIG. 4B shows the operation of the ice detecting arm 13 at the start of the ice removing operation. The “ice detection operation” in the present invention is an operation for inspecting the amount of ice in the ice storage container.

  The ice making device 10 of this example causes the ice detecting arm 13 to stand by at the initial position when the ice tray 12 swings. Then, after the ice is completed, the ice detecting operation is performed when the ice removing operation is started, and the ice removing operation is canceled when a predetermined amount or more of ice is stored in the ice storage container 14.

<Ice tray>
As described above, the ice tray 12 is a container body that can be elastically deformed, and has a plurality of cells 121 that are cube-shaped ice making molds. As shown in FIG. 1, the ice tray 12 of this example has a cell group in which two sets of five cells 121 arranged in the front and rear are arranged on the left and right sides, and 10 ice pieces are put at a time. Generate. A waterproof wall 124 extending above the opening of the cell 121 is provided on the outer edge of the cell group so as to surround the cell group. The waterproof wall 124 blocks water splashes when supplying water to the ice tray 12 or swinging, and prevents water from splashing outside the ice tray 12.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a thermistor 125, which is a temperature sensor that detects the temperature of the ice tray 12, is attached to the bottom of the ice tray 12. The lead wire 125a of the thermistor 125 passes through the outside of the drive unit 11 and is connected to the control unit C described later.

  The ice tray 12 of the present example has a complicated shape as described above. However, the “ice tray” of the present invention can store water and can take out ice by deicing operation. Any container body may be used.

<Ice detection arm>
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, the ice detecting arm 13 of this example is an elongated plate-like arm member arranged with the plate surface facing left and right. The ice detecting arm 13 pivots about the axis t to raise and lower its tip 131 and bring the tip 131 into contact with the top of the ice 141 accumulated in the ice storage container 14. The plate surface of the ice detecting arm 13 is thinned so as to form lattice-like ribs. The ice detecting arm 13 has an arcuate outer shape as a whole, with the vicinity of the turning center (axis t) and the base end of the tip 131 bent at an obtuse angle upward. The bottom surface of the tip portion 131 is formed wider in the left-right direction than the other portions, thereby improving the accuracy of detecting the ice 141.

<Drive unit>
As shown in FIG. 1, the drive unit 11 of this example has a substantially cubic outer shape by connecting a front case 111, an intermediate case 113, and a back case 112. The left and right surfaces of the intermediate case 113 and the back case 112 are provided with a snap-fit structure 114 that fits the concave portion and the convex portion using elastic deformation. The intermediate case 113, the back case 112, and the front case 111 are coupled with screws 115.

  FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional side view showing the structure of the planetary gear mechanism 40 provided in the drive unit 11. FIG. 6 is a rear view showing the structure of the swing mechanism S that swings the ice tray 12. FIG. 6 is a view of the drive unit 11 from which the back case 112 is removed as viewed from the rear to the front. FIG. 7 is a front view showing the structure of the ice removal mechanism R that performs the ice removal operation. FIG. 7 is a view of the drive unit 11 with the front case 111 removed as viewed from the front to the rear.

  The drive unit 11 includes a stepping motor 20 (first drive source) that is a drive source used for the swing operation of the ice tray 12 and a DC commutator motor 30 (second drive source) that is a drive source used for the ice removing operation. ) (Hereinafter referred to as “DC motor 30”), and a planetary gear mechanism 40 having an output portion 435 for performing a swinging operation and an ice removing operation. The stepping motor 20 and the DC motor 30 are connected to the planetary gear mechanism 40 via another power transmission member.

  The planetary gear mechanism is characterized in that a large reduction ratio can be obtained with a small number of stages. Therefore, in the ice making device 10 of the present example, the planetary gear mechanism 40 is provided with the output unit 435 that performs the swinging operation and the ice removing operation of the ice tray 12, and the output unit 435 is shared by the stepping motor 20 and the DC motor 30. The space efficiency in the device is increased. Thereby, it is possible to flexibly design the reduction ratios of the stepping motor 20 and the DC motor 30 while suppressing an increase in the size of the apparatus.

(Planetary gear mechanism)
As shown in FIG. 5, the planetary gear mechanism 40 is mainly configured by a sun gear member 41, an internal gear member 42, and a planet carrier member 43. Hereinafter, in the structure description of the planetary gear mechanism 40 using FIG. 5, for convenience of explanation, the front side (X1 side in FIG. 5) is “up” and the rear side of the ice making apparatus 10 (X2 side in FIG. 5). Is called “below”.

  The sun gear member 41 is a compound gear member having a sun gear 412. The sun gear member 41 has a substantially cylindrical body portion 41a, and a flange portion 41b is formed at the lower end of the body portion 41a. The flange portion 41b extends radially outward from the opening. An input gear 411 of the sun gear member 41 is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the flange portion 41b. The trunk portion 41a is reduced in diameter in a plurality of steps from the lower end toward the upper end, and a sun gear 412 is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the step facing the planetary gear 434 of the planetary carrier member 43 described later. .

  In the sun gear member 41, a substantially cylindrical support shaft 112a provided in the back side case 112 is fitted in the opening at the lower end of the trunk portion 41a and the edge thereof. The body portion 41a is inserted through a sleeve 113a that is a cylindrical portion of the intermediate case 113. An upper end portion 41d of the trunk portion 41a is fitted into a bearing portion 431a of a planetary carrier member 43 described later, and a shoulder portion 41c which is an upper surface of the step of the sun gear 412 faces the tip of the bearing portion 431a. Thereby, the sun gear member 41 is rotatably held at a predetermined position in the case.

  The planet carrier member 43 is a disk-shaped housing that holds three planet gears 434. The planet carrier member 43 has an upper support portion 431 that covers the upper surface of the planetary gear 434 and a lower support portion 432 that covers the lower surface. At the center of the upper surface of the upper support portion 431, an output portion 435 is provided that is a convex portion that protrudes upward and fits into a concave portion (not shown) provided on the back surface of the ice tray 12.

  The output unit 435 is disposed at the rotation center of the planetary carrier member 43 and is directly connected to the ice tray 12, so that the output unit 435 rotates the spindle that supports the rotation center of the ice tray 12 and the ice tray 12. It also serves as the axis to be moved. As a result, the ice making device 10 of the present example has a simplified mechanism for swinging and twisting the ice tray 12.

  The upper support portion 431 has a claw arm 431a that engages the hook with the lower support portion 432 by using elastic deformation, whereby the upper support portion 431 and the lower support portion 432 are coupled inseparably. The Three support shafts 434a of the planetary gear 434 are provided at equal intervals in the circumferential direction between the upper support portion 431 and the lower support portion 432, and each planetary gear 434 is rotatably supported by these support shafts 434a. ing. As a result, the planet carrier member 43 rotates integrally with the planetary gear 434 in accordance with the revolution of the planetary gear 434 and rotates the output unit 435.

  A bearing portion 431a into which the upper end portion 41d of the sun gear member 41 is fitted is provided on the lower surface of the upper support portion 431, and the tip of the bearing portion 431a faces the shoulder portion 41c of the sun gear member 41. . A cylindrical portion 432a into which the trunk portion 41a of the sun gear member 41 is inserted is formed at the center in the radial direction of the lower support portion 432, and the lower end surface of the cylindrical portion 432a is a sleeve 113a of the intermediate case 113. Facing the top surface of the. Thereby, the planet carrier member 43 is rotatably held at a predetermined position in the case.

  The internal gear member 42 is a drive gear according to the present invention, and is a composite gear member having an internal gear 422. The internal gear member 42 is a substantially cylindrical member that is reduced in diameter in a stepped manner from a lower step 42a, a middle step 42b, and an upper step 42c from the lower end to the upper end. An input gear 421 of the internal gear member 42 is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the lower stage 42 a of the internal gear member 42. An internal gear 422 is formed on the inner peripheral surface of the middle stage 42 b of the internal gear member 42. The input gear 421 of the internal gear member 42 is also connected to a first reduction gear 35 (first reduction gear) that is a driven gear of the present invention.

  The internal gear 422 of the internal gear member 42 meshes with the planetary gear 434. The top portion of the upper stage 42 c of the internal gear member 42 faces the back surface of the front case 111, and the lower surface of the upper stage 42 c faces the upper surface of the upper support portion 431 of the planet carrier member 43. Thereby, the internal gear member 42 is rotatably held at a predetermined position in the case.

(Swing mechanism)
Hereinafter, the swing mechanism S of the drive unit 11 will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6. The swing mechanism S of this example is mainly composed of a stepping motor 20, a reduction gear 22, and a planetary gear mechanism 40. The reduction gear 22 is a compound gear in which a large-diameter gear 221 and a small-diameter gear 222 are integrally formed coaxially.

  The pinion gear 21 of the stepping motor 20 meshes with the large diameter gear 221 of the reduction gear 22, and the small diameter gear 222 of the reduction gear 22 meshes with the input gear 412 of the sun gear member 41.

  During the swinging operation of the ice making device 10, the internal gear member 42 of the planetary gear mechanism 40 is fixed by the self-locking action of the worm gear 31 included in the ice removing mechanism R described later. Therefore, the driving force of the stepping motor 20 input to the sun gear member 41 causes the planetary gear 434 to revolve in the same direction as the rotation direction of the sun gear member 41, so that the ice tray 12 is moved within an angle range of ± 30 ° from the horizontal position. Rotate.

  Further, a small piece of the permanent magnet 51 is embedded in the trunk portion 41a of the sun gear member 41, and the intermediate case 113 is opposed to the permanent magnet 51 when the sun gear member 41 reaches a predetermined arrangement angle. Hall IC 52 is arranged in the area. The permanent magnet 51 and the Hall IC 52 constitute a first Hall sensor 50 that detects the rotation angle of the sun gear member 41. The first hall sensor 50 of this example operates when the sun gear member 41 reaches an angle at which the ice tray 12 is −30 °.

  As described above, the rocking motion of the ice tray 12 is an operation performed to generate clear ice without cloudiness, and is repeated until the water changes to ice. Therefore, when the arrangement angle of the sun gear member 41 is monitored by a sensor with mechanical contact, there is a concern about wear of sensor parts. In this example, the use of the first hall sensor 50 which is a non-contact type swing motion sensor prevents the product life from being shortened due to wear of sensor parts.

  Further, a convex portion 414 projecting rearward is formed on the rear end surface (lower surface in FIG. 6) of the flange portion 41 b of the sun gear member 41. Then, on the inner surface of the back side case 112, an abutting portion 112b, which is a wall portion against which the convex portion 414 comes into contact, is formed on the orbit of the convex portion 414. Thereby, the angle by which the sun gear member 41 rotates the ice tray 12 is limited to ± 35 °. In the ice making device 10 of this example, the rotation range of the ice tray 12 during the swinging operation is ± 30 °, and the convex portion 414 does not contact the abutting portion 112b during the swinging operation. As a result, the noise of the swing motion is suppressed. On the other hand, the convex portion 414 and the abutting portion 112b limit the rotation angle of the sun gear member 41 when, for example, an abnormality occurs in the operation of the ice making device 10 or an external force is applied to the ice tray 12; Protect the mechanism.

(Ice removal mechanism)
Hereinafter, the ice removal mechanism R of the drive unit 11 will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 and 7. The ice removal mechanism R of this example is mainly composed of a DC motor 30, a worm gear 31, a worm wheel 32, a third reduction gear 33, a fourth reduction gear, and a planetary gear mechanism 40. The worm wheel 32, the third reduction gear 33, and the fourth reduction gear 34 are compound gears in which a large-diameter gear and a small-diameter gear are integrally formed coaxially.

  The worm gear 31 is attached to the output shaft of the DC motor 30, and the tip thereof is supported by a bearing 311 disposed in the intermediate case 113 (see FIG. 6). The rotation of the worm gear 31 is transmitted to the large diameter gear 321 of the worm wheel 32, the rotation of the worm wheel 32 is transferred from the small diameter gear 322 to the large diameter gear 331 of the third reduction gear 33, and the rotation of the third reduction gear 33 is the small diameter thereof. The rotation of the fourth reduction gear 34 is transmitted from the gear 332 to the large-diameter gear 341 of the fourth reduction gear 34 while being reduced from the small-diameter gear 342 to the input gear 421 of the internal gear member 42.

  A convex portion 424 protruding forward is formed on the front surface of the internal gear member 42. Then, on the inner surface of the front case 111, abutting portions 113b and 113c, which are wall portions with which the convex portion 424 abuts, are formed on the orbit of the convex portion 424. The internal gear member 42 in this example reciprocally rotates in an angle range of slightly less than 300 ° limited by the abutting portions 113b and 113c. When the ice making device 10 is operating normally, the convex portion 424 does not come into contact with the abutting portions 113b and 113c and stops immediately before that. The abutting portions 113b and 113c limit the rotation angle of the internal gear member 42 and protect the mechanism when, for example, an abnormality occurs in the operation of the ice making device 10 or an external force is applied to the ice making tray 12. It is the composition.

  The ice removal mechanism R of the present example includes the worm gear 31 in the power transmission member of the DC motor 30, and can fix the arrangement angle of the worm wheel 32 using the self-locking action of the worm gear 31. Thereby, when the stepping motor 20 drives the output part 435, it becomes possible to fix the arrangement | positioning angle of the internal gear member 42 with which DC motor 30 was connected, and the rocking | fluctuation operation | movement of the ice tray 12 can be stabilized. .

  As will be described in detail later, when the ice removing mechanism R is driven, the sun gear 412 is fixed at a position where the convex portion 414 of the sun gear member 41 abuts against the abutting portion 112b of the back side case 112 in the CW direction in FIG. ing. Therefore, the driving force of the DC motor 30 input to the internal gear member 42 causes the planetary gear 434 to revolve in the same direction as the rotation direction of the internal gear member 42, thereby causing the planetary carrier member 43 (output unit 435) and the ice tray 12 to move. Rotate to + 160 ° position.

  When the internal gear member 42 rotates, the first speed increasing gear 35 and the second speed increasing gear 36 (second speed increasing gear), which are driven gears of the internal gear member 42, rotate. The first speed increasing gear 35 and the second speed increasing gear 36 are gear members used for specifying the arrangement angle of the internal gear member 42. The input gear 421 of the internal gear member 42 is meshed with the small diameter gear 351 of the first speed increasing gear 35, and the large diameter gear 352 of the first speed increasing gear 35 is meshed with the gear portion 361 of the second speed increasing gear 36. Thus, the rotation of the internal gear member 42 is increased in two stages to rotate the second speed increasing gear 36. Two pieces of permanent magnets 57 are embedded in the outer peripheral surface of the second speed increasing gear 36, and these permanent magnets 57 are arranged at symmetrical positions in the circumferential direction of the second speed increasing gear 36. A Hall IC 56 is disposed in the vicinity of the second speed increasing gear 36. The Hall IC 56 outputs an H level signal when the permanent magnet 57 is in a position where it cannot be detected. A level signal is output. The permanent magnet 57 and the Hall IC 56 constitute a second Hall sensor 55 (rotation detector) that detects the rotation of the internal gear member 42. The arrangement angle of the internal gear member 42, that is, the arrangement angle of the ice tray 12 is calculated by the control unit C, which will be described later, counting pulses of the second hall sensor 55. In the ice making device 10 of this example, the rotation of the internal gear member 42 is accelerated in two stages, and the resolution of the second hall sensor 55 is further enhanced by the two permanent magnets 57. It is possible to precisely specify the arrangement angle of the ice tray 12. In the ice making device of this example, every time the second hall sensor 55 outputs one pulse, the ice making tray 12 rotates 5 ° to the plus side.

  Since the second Hall sensor 55 is a non-contact type sensor, it is not necessary to consider the wear of sensor parts. Further, the ice making device 10 of the present example employs a digital output sensor as the rotation angle sensor of the internal gear member 42, and counts the pulses to calculate the arrangement angle of the internal gear member 42, which will be described later. It is possible to make the control processing of the control unit C to be relatively simple. Further, the driving torque of the second speed increasing gear 36 is very small because the rotation of the internal gear member 42 is increased in two stages. Therefore, in the second speed increasing gear 36, it is difficult to operate a sensor or switch that involves mechanical contact. The second hall sensor 55 of this example is a non-contact type sensor, and can be operated without difficulty even with the second speed-up gear 36 having a small driving torque. These effects can be obtained even when a photo sensor is employed instead of the second hall sensor 55. On the other hand, the aspect of the rotation detection unit of the present invention is not limited to a non-contact type sensor. The rotation detection unit of the present invention may be a sensor or switch with mechanical contact as long as the output signal is alternately switched between the H level and the L level in conjunction with the rotation of the drive gear. For example, a configuration in which a switch button is repeatedly hit with an arm or the like provided separately on the drive gear is conceivable.

  As described above, the swinging operation and the deicing operation of this example are executed by rotating the output unit 435 while appropriately switching the stepping motor 20 and the DC motor 30 that are driving sources. In the ice making device 10 of this example, the output part 435 is provided in the planetary carrier member 43, the stepping motor 20 is connected to the sun gear member 41, and the DC motor 30 is connected to the internal gear member 42, respectively. As a result, it is possible to smoothly switch between the swinging operation and the de-icing operation while preventing interference caused by unnecessary rotation of these drive sources and detent torque.

  On the other hand, among the constituent members of the planetary gear mechanism 40 (the sun gear member 41, the internal gear member 42, the planet carrier member 43), the constituent member provided with the output unit 435 and the constituent member to which each drive source is connected are: The combination is not limited to this example. A combination different from this example can also be adopted by appropriately adjusting the reduction ratio between the constituent members. Further, in the ice making device 10 of this example, only one output unit 435 is arranged at the rotation center of the planetary gear mechanism 40, but the arrangement and number of “output units” of the present invention are not limited to those of this example. Not limited. For example, separate the support shaft that supports the rotation center of the ice tray and the output section that rotates the ice tray, and place the output section away from the center on the front of the planetary gear mechanism and connect it to the ice tray. Also good. Furthermore, an output unit for swinging operation and an output unit for deicing operation are separately provided on the front surface of the planetary gear mechanism, and the swinging operation and deicing operation are performed according to the rotation angle and rotation direction of the planetary gear mechanism. A configuration for switching between the two is also conceivable.

  Further, the swinging motion of the ice tray 12 can be performed with a relatively small torque, but is repeated until the water changes to ice. On the other hand, the ice removing operation is an operation of twisting the ice tray 12 to deform the ice tray 12 and requires a large torque. Therefore, the ice making device 10 of this example employs a stepping motor 20 that does not have a brush as a wear part and has few mechanical contacts as a drive source for the swinging operation, and the DC is easy to increase the torque in the ice removing operation. By adopting the motor 30, both the maintenance of the product life and the reliability of the operation are achieved.

(Ice detection mechanism)
FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing the external appearance of the ice detecting shaft 60. FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing the rotation operation of the ice detecting shaft 60 during the ice detecting operation. 10 is a side view of the respective views in FIG. 9 as viewed from the direction A in FIG.

  The ice detecting shaft 60 is a shaft member to which the ice detecting arm 13 for inspecting the amount of ice in the ice storage container 14 is coupled. The ice detecting shaft 60 has a cylindrical body portion 60a, and an arm connecting portion 66 to which the ice detecting arm 13 is coupled is provided at one end (Y2 side end portion) of the body portion 60a. Furthermore, a plurality of protrusions protruding from the peripheral surface are formed on the body 60a. These protrusions include a follower 61 that is a cam follower fitted in a groove 433 of a planet carrier member 43 described later, a switch switching unit 62 that switches on / off of a tactile switch 70 (ice detecting shaft sensor) described later, and a coil spring. And an urging portion 63 that urges the ice detecting shaft 60 in the direction of the arrow in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 9, a groove 433 that is a guide rail continuous in the circumferential direction is formed on an end surface on the back side of the planet carrier member 43 (the lower surface of the lower support portion 432 as viewed in FIG. 6). The follower 61 of the ice detecting shaft 60 is inserted. The groove portion 433 and the follower portion 61 constitute a groove cam mechanism, and the follower portion 61 moves up and down following the displacement of the groove portion 433 as the planet carrier member 43 rotates. Further, the groove portion 433 is provided with a widened portion 433a which is a portion where the groove width is widened to the outer peripheral side.

  When the ice making device 10 starts the deicing operation, the internal gear member 42 rotates the planet carrier member 43 in the direction of the arrow in FIG. Then, when the planet carrier member 43 rotates to a predetermined arrangement angle, the follower portion 61 reaches the widened portion 433a, and the ice detecting shaft 60 is urged by the urging portion 63 to rotate in the direction of the arrow in FIG. To do. As a result, the tip 131 of the ice detecting arm 13 is lowered into the ice storage container 14.

  The ice detection mechanism of this example further includes a tactile switch 70 (hereinafter simply referred to as “switch 70”) that is an ice detection shaft sensor that detects that the ice detection shaft 60 has reached a predetermined arrangement angle. . The switch 70 switches the on / off state when the descending angle of the ice detecting arm 13, that is, the rotation angle of the ice detecting shaft 60 is large enough to indicate that the ice storage container 14 has sufficient free space. It is a switch part to inform by. As described above, the ice detecting mechanism of this example can control whether or not the ice removing operation can be continued by monitoring the H level (on) or the L level (off) instead of a continuous analog value. Processing has been simplified.

  More specific description will be given below. The switch 70 of this example is a general momentary switch, and conducts the circuit only while the button is pressed (while it is on) to output the input voltage. In the initial state, the switch 70 is in a state where the button is pressed on the switch switching plate 72 (see FIG. 9A). The switch switching plate 72 is a plate-like member that can turn around the shaft portion 721, and is always urged by a coil spring 722 in the direction of pressing the button of the switch 70. When the ice detecting shaft 60 rotates to a predetermined arrangement angle, the switch switching unit 62 of the ice detecting shaft 60 pulls the switch switching plate 72 away from the button of the switch 70 and turns off the switch 70.

  Here, when the ice detecting arm 13 comes into contact with the ice in the ice storage container 14 and its lowering is hindered on the way, the ice detecting shaft 60 cannot sufficiently rotate to the position of FIG. As a result, the switch 70 cannot be switched. That is, when the switch 70 is turned off, the deicing operation should be continued, and when the switch 70 remains on and cannot be switched, the deicing operation should be canceled.

  When the ice removal operation is continued after the ice storage container 14 is detected, the ice detection arm 13 lowered into the ice storage container 14 becomes an obstacle. Therefore, when the ice removal operation is continued, it is necessary to return the ice detection arm 13 to the initial position, that is, the position retracted from the ice storage container 14 before the ice is discharged from the ice tray 12. In this example, when the planet carrier member 43 continues to rotate, the follower portion 61 of the ice detecting shaft 60 is detached from the widened portion 433a of the groove portion 433, and the arrangement angle of the ice detecting shaft 60 is the angle shown in FIG. Return to. As a result, the ice detecting arm 13 also returns to the initial position. In addition, the arrangement | positioning angle of the ice detection axis | shaft 60 of Fig.9 (a) and FIG.9 (c) is the same.

  As described above, the ice making device 10 of the present example includes the ice detecting arm 13 that inspects the amount of ice in the ice storage container 14. It is possible to prevent abnormal operation and failure due to accumulation up to a movable range with a simple mechanism.

<Preparation mechanism for de-icing operation>
(Outline of the mechanism)
Hereinafter, the ice removal operation preparation mechanism provided in the ice making device 10 will be described. In this example, “preparation for deicing operation” refers to resetting the pulse count number of the second hall sensor 55 by resetting the arrangement angle of the internal gear member 42 to −35 ° before the start of the deicing operation. Means.

  As described above, in the ice removing operation of the ice making device 10, the ice making tray 12 is rotated from the position of −35 ° to the position of + 160 °. When the ice making device 10 starts the deicing operation, the internal gear member 42 is rotated so that the ice tray 12 is rotated further to the minus side than −35 ° as a preparation step for the deicing operation every time immediately before that. Therefore, the pulse count number of the second hall sensor 55 is reset. Thereafter, the ice tray 12 is returned to the position of −35 °, and the pulse count of the second hall sensor 55 is restarted. More specific description will be given below.

(Specific configuration)
FIG. 14 is a perspective view showing the configuration of the ice removal operation preparation mechanism of the ice making device 10. In the preparation step of the ice removal operation, the internal gear member 42 rotates in the direction shown in FIG. 14 (CCW direction in FIG. 14), and rotates the ice tray 12 in the minus direction. When the ice making device 10 is operating normally, the ice making tray 12 when the preparation process of the ice removing operation is started is arranged at a position of −35 °. In the preparation step, the internal gear member 42 is rotated so that the ice tray 12 is further rotated to the minus side. In this example, the internal gear member 42 is rotated until the position of the ice tray 12 reaches −45 °.

  As shown in FIG. 14, the internal gear member 42 has a missing tooth portion 421 a (initialization portion) that is a region where the tooth portion is not formed on a part of the meshing surface with the first speed increasing gear 35. Yes. The toothless portion 421a faces the first speed increasing gear 35 when the position of the ice tray 12 is rotated to the minus side from −35 °. That is, the missing tooth portion 421 a faces the first speed increasing gear 35 at one end of the reciprocating range of the internal gear member 42.

  The missing tooth portion 421a is provided with a first idling prevention surface 82a that is an arc surface that contacts the tooth tip of the first speed increasing gear 35 and prevents the first speed increasing gear 35 from idling. The small-diameter gear 351 of the first speed increasing gear 35 has a short tooth portion 81b that is a tooth portion formed with a shorter tooth height than the other tooth portions. The short tooth portion 81b and the first anti-spinning surface 82a are disposed so as to be unable to contact each other at different positions in the axial direction. More specifically, a portion of the missing tooth portion 421a that is in the same position as the short tooth portion 81b in the axial direction has a relief portion 81a that is a space whose surface is lower than the first anti-spinning surface 82a. The short tooth portion 81b can escape to the escape portion 81a without contacting the first idling prevention surface 82a. And the 1st contact | abutting part 82b which is a tooth | gear part adjacent to the short tooth part 81b contacts the 1st idling prevention surface 82a.

  In addition, a disk layer 353 that is a substantially disk-shaped layer in which a part in the circumferential direction of the outer peripheral surface is notched is provided between the small diameter gear 351 and the large diameter gear 352 of the first speed increasing gear 35. It has been. The internal gear member 42 is provided with a second idling prevention surface 83a that is a circular arc surface at a portion that is located at the same position as the disk layer 353 in the axial direction. The second contact portion 83b that is a corner portion of the disc layer 353 contacts the second idling prevention surface 83a.

  When the first speed increasing gear 35 faces the toothless portion 421a of the internal gear member 42, one of the first speed increasing gears 35 (FIG. 14) is brought into contact with the first idling portion 82b. Idling in the CCW direction (view CCW) is prevented, and the second contact portion 83b is in contact with the second idling prevention surface 83a to prevent idling of the first speed increasing gear 35 in the other direction (CW direction in FIG. 14). The

(Idling prevention structure)
Hereinafter, the idling prevention structure of the first speed increasing gear 35 will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. 14 and 15. FIG. 15 is a plan view showing the positional relationship between the internal gear member 42 and the first speed increasing gear 35 in the preparation step of the ice removing operation. FIG. 15A is an arrangement of the internal gear member 42 and the first speed increasing gear 35 when the ice tray 12 is −36 °, and FIG. 15B is a diagram when the ice tray 12 is −38 °. Arrangement, FIG. 15 (c) is an arrangement when the ice tray 12 is −45 °. In FIG. 15, for the sake of clarity of the line, the hide line is drawn with a thin solid line instead of a broken line.

  In the arrangement of FIG. 15A, the small-diameter gear 351 of the first speed increasing gear 35 passes through the last tooth portion of the internal gear member 42 and starts to face the missing tooth portion 421a. The first contact portion 82b, which is a tooth portion adjacent to the short tooth portion 81b of the first speed increasing gear 35, is engaged with the side portion of the first idling prevention surface 82a of the internal gear member 42.

  In the arrangement of FIG. 15 (b), the tooth tip of the first contact portion 82b rides on the surface of the first anti-spinning surface 82a, whereby the short tooth portion 81b escapes to the escape portion 81a. The second idling prevention surface 83 a of the internal gear member 42 is in contact with a second contact portion 83 b that is a corner portion of the disk layer 353 of the first speed increasing gear 35. Since a clearance is actually provided between the first contact portion 82b and the first slip prevention surface 82a and between the second contact portion 83b and the second slip prevention surface 83a, these are It is not always in contact and sliding.

  As described above, in this example, in order to increase the resolution of the second Hall sensor 55, the rotation of the internal gear member 42 is increased in two stages to rotate the second speed increasing gear 36. Therefore, the arrangement angle of the second speed increasing gear 36 varies greatly even if the first speed increasing gear 35 is slightly different in angle. Further, two permanent magnets 57 are arranged on the outer peripheral surface of the second speed increasing gear 36, and when the arrangement angle of the first speed increasing gear 35 is fixed, the permanent magnet 57 of the second speed increasing gear 36. May be in a position close to the Hall IC 56, the Hall IC 56 may erroneously detect the permanent magnet 57 and the output of the second Hall sensor 55 may become unstable.

  Therefore, in the ice making device 10 of the present example, the first magnet 57 of the second speed increasing gear 36 is disposed at the position farthest from the Hall IC 56 when the arrangement angle of the first speed increasing gear 35 is fixed. 1 The height of the surface of the anti-spin surface 82a is precisely adjusted. In this example, in addition to the configuration of the short tooth portion 81b and the relief portion 81a, the first contact speed 83a and the second idling prevention surface 83a are also used in combination to fix the arrangement angle of the first speed increasing gear 35. The fixed angle of the speed increasing gear 35 is precisely adjusted, whereby the permanent magnet 57 is disposed at a position where the Hall IC 56 cannot react, and the malfunction of the second Hall sensor 55 is prevented. In other words, if it is not necessary to adjust the position of the permanent magnet 57, the height of the first anti-spinning surface 82a may be adjusted to such an extent that the two adjacent tooth portions of the first speed increasing gear 35 touch each other. The idling gear 35 can be prevented from idling, and the short tooth portion 81b and the escape portion 81a, as well as the second contact portion 83b and the second idling prevention surface 83a become unnecessary.

  15B to 15C, even if the internal gear member 42 rotates, the rotation is not transmitted to the first speed increasing gear 35. That is, although the internal gear member 42 continues to rotate at a constant speed, the frequency at which the output value of the second hall sensor 55 switches changes. More specifically, the second hall sensor 55 does not output a pulse. By detecting this state, it can be confirmed that the internal gear member 42 has rotated to the limit in the direction of rotating the ice tray 12 to the minus side. The pulse count number of the second hall sensor 55 is reset here. In the ice making device of this example, it is detected that the internal gear member 42 is at a predetermined arrangement angle by stopping the pulse of the second hall sensor 55, but conversely, the pulse is output more frequently. In this way, the arrangement angle of the internal gear member 42 can be specified. For example, as described above, the latter configuration can be adopted in the configuration in which the switch button is repeatedly hit with the arm provided on the drive gear.

  When the pulse count number of the second hall sensor 55 is reset, the internal gear member 42 starts to rotate in the direction of rotating the ice tray 12 to the plus side, and the second hall sensor 55 is configured such that the first speed increasing gear 35 is the internal gear. Pulse counting is started from a position where the member 42 meshes with the member 42 and starts rotating (a position where the ice tray 12 becomes −35 °). Here, since the disposition angle of the first speed increasing gear 35 in the toothless portion 421a is kept constant, the first speed increasing gear 35 can be moved even after the first speed increasing gear 35 is engaged with the internal gear member 42. The teeth of the small-diameter gear 351 and the teeth of the input gear 421 of the internal gear member 42 are always meshed in the same combination. This prevents inconsistency in the relative angle of the first speed increasing gear 35 with respect to the internal gear member 42.

  Further, for example, even when the power supply to the ice making device 10 is unexpectedly cut off during the ice removing operation and the pulse count number disappears, the above preparation process is performed after the recovery and before the ice removing operation is started. Therefore, the mismatch between the pulse count number and the actual arrangement angle of the internal gear member 42 is eliminated.

  In the ice removal operation preparation mechanism of this example, the rotation of the ice tray 12 to the minus side stops before the convex portion 424 of the internal gear member 42 contacts the abutting portion 113c of the front case 111. Since the torque that the DC motor 30 drives the internal gear member 42 is relatively large, the convex portion 424 has a structure (so-called mechanical stopper) that detects the origin position of the internal gear member 42 by preventing the rotation of the convex portion 424 by the abutting portion 113c. In addition, the contact portion 113c may be damaged. In the ice removal operation preparation mechanism of this example, it is detected from the output value of the second hall sensor 55 that the missing tooth portion 421a has faced the first speed increasing gear 35, that is, the internal gear member 42 has reached the origin position. . Thus, it is possible to match the pulse count number of the second hall sensor 55 with the actual arrangement angle of the internal gear member 42 while avoiding mechanical contact between the members.

<Functional configuration>
FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the ice making device 10. The ice making device 10 has, as its sensor system, a first hall sensor 50 that detects that the sun gear member 41 has reached a predetermined arrangement angle during the swinging operation, and a first angle sensor that detects the rotation angle of the internal gear member 42 during the ice removal operation. A two-hole sensor 55 and a switch 70 for detecting that the ice detecting arm 13 is lowered to a predetermined position during the ice detecting operation are provided. Further, the thermistor 125 for measuring the temperature of the ice tray 12 is attached to the ice tray 12. The output values of these sensors are input to the control unit C of the ice making device 10, and the control unit C controls the driving of the stepping motor 20 and the DC motor 30 that are drive sources while monitoring the output values of the sensors.

<Control processing>
FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing the flow of the ice making process and the ice removing process of the ice making device 10. FIG. 13 is a timing chart showing the relationship between the rotation angle of the ice tray 12 and the output value of each sensor. Hereinafter, control processing of the ice making device 10 will be described.

(Ice making process)
When the ice tray 12 is filled with water from a water supply tank (not shown), the control unit C starts the swinging operation of the ice tray 12. In the swinging operation, the stepping motor 20 is driven alternately in the CW / CCW direction (S11), and the sun gear member 41 is rotated back and forth (S12). As a result, the ice tray 12 rotates within a range of ± 30 ° (S13). The first hall sensor 50 detects that the ice tray 12 has become −30 ° each time, and the control unit C monitors this. The swinging operation is repeated until the water changes to ice (S14: N).

  While the ice tray 12 and the planet carrier member 43 are rotated by ± 30 °, the follower portion 61 of the ice detecting shaft 60 does not reach the widened portion 433a of the groove portion 433, and therefore the ice detecting shaft 60 rotates. do not do. Further, the DC motor 30 is not driven during the swinging operation, and the arrangement angle of the internal gear member 42 is fixed by the self-locking action of the worm gear 31 attached to the DC motor 30. Therefore, the output value of the second hall sensor 55 does not change during the swinging operation.

(Ice removal process)
When the ice is completed and the thermistor 125 of the ice tray 12 detects this, the controller C starts the ice removing operation (S14: Y).

  In the deicing operation, first, the stepping motor 20 is driven in a direction in which the ice tray 12 rotates in the minus direction (S21), and the projection 414 of the sun gear member 41 abuts against the abutting portion 112b of the back case 112. Rotate to the limit. Thereby, the ice tray 12 is rotated to -35 ° (S22).

  Thereafter, the DC motor 30 starts driving (S23). First, the DC motor 30 executes a preparation process for the ice removing operation, and the arrangement angle of the internal gear member 42 and the pulse count number of the second hall sensor 55 are reset (S23).

  After resetting the pulse count, the internal gear member 42 reverses the planetary gear member 43 (output unit 435) and the ice tray 12 in the plus direction (S25). Further, when the internal gear member 42 rotates, the second speed increasing gear 36 operates the second hall sensor 55. The pulse count in this example starts from the position where the ice tray is at -35 °, and the ice tray 12 rotates 5 ° to the plus side every time the second hall sensor 55 outputs one pulse.

  When the ice tray 12 and the planet carrier member 43 are rotated to a position where the pulse count becomes 16 (+ 40 °), the follower portion 61 of the ice detecting shaft 60 reaches the widened portion 433a of the groove portion 433 and urges the coil spring 631. The detected ice detecting shaft 60 rotates in a direction to lower the ice detecting arm 13 into the ice storage container 14 (S26). When the rotation angle of the ice detecting shaft 60, that is, the turning angle of the ice detecting arm 13 is large enough to indicate that there is sufficient free space in the ice storage container 14, the switch switching unit 62 of the ice detecting shaft 60 switches the switch. The plate 72 is pulled away from the button of the switch 70, and the switch 70 is turned off.

  Here, when the empty space of the ice storage container 14 is not enough and the descending of the ice detecting arm 13 is hindered on the way, the ice detecting shaft 60 does not rotate to the position where the switch switching plate 72 is separated from the button of the switch 70, The switch 70 remains on (S30: Y). When the controller C detects this, the ice removing operation is canceled. More specifically, when the switch 70 is not turned off until the internal gear member 42 rotates by a predetermined angle, the control unit C rotates the DC motor 30 in the reverse direction, so that the planet carrier member 43, and The ice tray 12 and the ice detecting arm 13 interlocked with this are returned to the initial positions. Then, it waits for a certain time (S31).

  As a result of the ice detection operation, when the free space of the ice storage container 14 is sufficient and the ice removal operation is continued (S30: N), the planetary carrier member 43 is further rotated, so that the follower 61 of the ice detection shaft 60 is rotated. Is removed from the widened portion 433a of the groove portion 433, and the arrangement angle of the ice detecting shaft 60 and the ice detecting arm 13 is returned to the initial position (S27).

  When the ice tray 12 rotates to a position where the pulse count becomes 32 (+ 120 °), the convex portion 122 of the ice tray 12 contacts the abutting portion 19. Then, the ice tray 12 is twisted to the + 160 ° position as it is to deform the ice tray 12, and the ice is discharged from the ice tray 12 (S28).

  Here, the planet carrier member 43 (output unit 435) tends to escape in the direction opposite to the rotation direction of the internal gear member 42 (the direction in which the ice tray 12 is twisted) due to the reaction of the ice tray 12 being twisted. . When the planet carrier member 43 rotates in the reverse direction, the sun gear member 41 rotates in the CW direction in FIG. However, at this time, the sun gear member 41 has its convex portion 414 in contact with the abutting portion 112b of the back case 112 in the CW direction as viewed in FIG. 6, and is prevented from further rotation in the CW direction. Thus, the reverse rotation of the planet carrier member 43 is prevented, and the ice tray 12 is twisted until the pulse count reaches 40 (+ 160 °).

  After the ice is discharged (after the pulse count 40), the DC motor 30 is rotated in the reverse direction to return the internal gear member 42 to the origin position (position where the missing tooth portion 421a faces the first speed increasing gear 35) (S29). . As a result, the planet carrier member 43, the ice tray 12 and the ice detecting arm 13 linked to the planet carrier member 43 are also returned to the initial positions. When the internal gear member 42 returns to the origin position, the arrangement angle of the sun gear member 41 is maintained by the detent torque of the stepping motor 20, and the internal gear member 42 rotates without rotating the sun gear member 41. When the ice removal operation is completed, the ice tray 12 is filled with new water, and the ice making process is resumed.

  Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. For example, the application target of the present invention is not limited to the ice removing mechanism of the ice tray, but can be applied to a swing mechanism. Further, the first speed increasing gear and the second speed increasing gear are not essential, and the rotation detecting unit may detect the rotation of the drive gear itself.

10: ice making device, S: swing mechanism, R: ice removing mechanism, C: control unit, L: rotation center line, 11: drive unit, 12: ice tray, 122: convex part, 123: shaft part, 125 : Thermistor, 19: Butting part, 13: Ice detection arm (arm member), 14: Ice storage container, 141: Ice, 20: Stepping motor (first drive source), 21: Pinion gear, 22: Reduction gear, 30: DC Motor, DC commutator motor (second drive source), 31: worm gear, 32: worm wheel, 33: third reduction gear, 34: fourth reduction gear, 35: first speed increase gear (driven gear) (first Speed increasing gear), 351: small diameter gear, 352: large diameter gear, 353: disk layer, 36: second speed increasing gear (second speed increasing gear), 361: gear portion, 40: planetary gear mechanism, 41: Sun gear member (component), 411: input gear, 41 : Sun gear, 50: 1st Hall sensor, 51: Permanent magnet, 52: Hall IC, 42: Internal gear member (component) (drive gear), 421: Input gear, 421a: No-tooth portion, 422: Internal gear , 55: second Hall sensor (rotation detector), 56: Hall IC, 57: permanent magnet, 43: planet carrier member (component), 433: groove, 433a: widened portion, 434: planetary gear, 435: output Part: 60: Ice detecting shaft, 61: Follower part, 62: Switch switching part, 63: Energizing part, 631: Coil spring, 66: Arm connecting part, 70: Tactile switch (ice detecting axis sensor), 72: Switch Switching plate, 722: coil spring, 81a: relief portion, 81b: short tooth portion, 82a: first slip prevention surface, 82b: first contact portion, 83a: second slip prevention surface, 83b: second contact portion

Claims (13)

An ice tray,
A driving gear which is a gear member used for the swinging operation of the ice tray or the de-icing operation of the ice generated in the ice tray;
A rotation detector that is a sensor or a switch that alternately switches the output signal to H level or L level in conjunction with rotation of the drive gear;
A control unit that counts a change in an output signal of the rotation detection unit and calculates a rotation amount of the ice tray or the drive gear;
An ice making device comprising: A driven gear that is a gear member meshed with the drive gear;
The driven gear is a first speed-up gear that speeds up rotation of the drive gear;
The rotation detection unit is a non-contact sensor,
The ice making device according to claim 1, wherein an output signal of the rotation detection unit is switched in conjunction with rotation of the driven gear. The driven gear further meshes with a second speed-up gear that speeds up the rotation of the driven gear,
The ice making device according to claim 2, wherein an output signal of the rotation detecting unit is switched in conjunction with rotation of the second speed increasing gear.   The drive gear has an initialization unit that is a predetermined angle range in the circumferential direction, and the initialization unit is different in frequency of switching the output signal of the rotation detection unit from other angle ranges. The ice making device according to any one of claims 1 to 3. A driven gear that is a gear member meshed with the drive gear;
The rotation detection unit, the output signal is switched in conjunction with the rotation of the driven gear,
5. The ice making device according to claim 4, wherein the drive gear includes, as the initialization unit, a missing tooth portion which is a region where a tooth portion is not formed on a part of a meshing surface with the driven gear. . The rotation detection unit is a Hall sensor having a Hall IC and a permanent magnet,
The permanent magnet is disposed on the outer peripheral surface of the driven gear, or on the outer peripheral surface of another speed increasing gear that speeds up the rotation of the driven gear,
6. The ice making device according to claim 5, wherein the permanent magnet is disposed at a position where the Hall IC cannot react when the driven gear faces the tooth-missing portion.   The ice making device according to claim 6, wherein a plurality of the permanent magnets are arranged on an outer peripheral surface of the driven gear or an outer peripheral surface of another speed-up gear that speeds up the rotation of the driven gear. . A first drive source which is a drive source used for the swing operation;
A second drive source which is a drive source used for the deicing operation;
A planetary gear mechanism having an output unit for performing the swinging operation and the deicing operation,
The planetary gear mechanism has a sun gear member, an internal gear member, and a planet carrier member as its constituent members, and the drive gear is one of these constituent members,
The output unit is provided in one of the constituent members, the first drive source is connected to one of the other two constituent members, and the second drive source is connected to the other. The ice making device according to any one of claims 1 to 7. The deicing operation is an operation of twisting the ice tray to discharge ice,
The output unit performs the swinging operation and the deicing operation by rotating the ice tray,
9. The ice making device according to claim 8, wherein the drive gear is the component member to which the second drive source is connected.   The driven gear is moved when the first drive source rotates the ice tray to the limit in the direction opposite to the de-icing direction in the deicing operation, or after that, the second drive source causes the ice tray to rotate. The ice making device according to claim 9, wherein the toothless portion faces the missing tooth portion when further rotated in the opposite direction. An ice detecting shaft which is a shaft member to which an arm member for inspecting the amount of ice in the ice storage container is coupled;
A cam mechanism is provided on an end surface of the component member provided with the output portion and a peripheral surface of the ice detecting shaft,
The said ice detecting shaft rotates following the rotation of the structural member provided with the said output part at the time of the deicing operation, and raises and lowers the said arm member. The ice making device according to any one of the above.   The ice making device according to claim 11, further comprising an ice detecting shaft sensor that is a sensor that detects that the ice detecting shaft has reached a predetermined arrangement angle. The ice detection axis sensor is a switch component,
A switch switching portion that is a protrusion is formed on the peripheral surface of the ice detecting shaft,
The ice making device according to claim 12, wherein the switch switching unit switches on / off of the ice detecting shaft sensor when the ice detecting shaft reaches a predetermined arrangement angle.

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