JP2667225B2 - Ice making equipment such as refrigerators - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ice making device such as a refrigerator which is arranged in a freezing room or the like of a refrigerator or the like and which can generate transparent ice.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in home refrigerators and the like, an ice maker that accommodates an ice tray is arranged in a part of a freezer compartment, and the water in the ice tray is frozen by the cooling action of cold air flowing through the ice maker. Is generally performed.

However, according to such an ice generation method, the freezing of water in the ice tray when ice is generated proceeds from the contact surface between the ice tray and water and the contact surface between cold air and water to the center. As a result, the gaseous components and impurities dissolved in the water are trapped in the center of the ice, resulting in a cloudy center and opaque ice, which is organoleptically suitable for beverages such as whiskey. It was not something.

Therefore, there is a need for transparent ice from the past,
For a device for generating the same, for example, a method as shown in FIGS. 4 to 8 has been considered. The contents will be described below with reference to the drawings.

1 is a refrigerator body, and a freezer compartment 3
The refrigerator compartment 4 is defined at the lower part. Reference numeral 5 denotes a cooler of the refrigeration cycle, and reference numeral 6 denotes a blower for forced ventilation, which is disposed on the back of the freezing chamber 3. Reference numeral 7 denotes an ice making device arranged at the bottom of the freezing room 3, a first ice making room 8 for generating transparent ice in an upper stage of the box 7a, and a first ice making room 8 for generating normal ice in a lower stage. Two ice making chambers 9 are provided. The first ice making chamber 8 has an outer wall except a bottom surface and a front surface surrounded by a heat insulating material 10, an aluminum heating plate 12 having a heater 11 disposed on the back surface on the top surface, and an aluminum heating plate on the bottom surface. Cooling plates 13 are provided. Reference numeral 14 denotes a ventilation path formed below the cooling plate 13, and reference numerals 15 and 16 denote a first ice tray and a second ice tray, which are accommodated in the first ice-making chamber 8 and the second ice-making chamber 9, respectively. It is. Reference numeral 17 denotes a discharge duct for forcibly blowing the cool air cooled by the cooler 5 to the ice making device 7 with the blower 6. In the ice making chamber 9 of the vehicle. Reference numeral 19 denotes a return duct for returning the cool air discharged into the freezer compartment 3 to the cooler 5, and reference numeral 20 denotes an ice making switch for starting ice making of transparent ice. Reference numeral 21 denotes a compressor of a refrigeration cycle installed at a lower rear portion of the main body 1.

Next, an electric circuit will be described. The blower 6 and the compressor 21 are connected in parallel, connected in series with the relay contact 22, and then connected to a power supply. The heater 11 is a relay contact
After being connected in series with 23, it is connected to the power supply.

24 is a freezing compartment temperature control, a temperature sensor 25 provided in the freezing chamber 3, resistors R _1, R _2, R _3, a comparator 26
, A transistor 27, and a relay coil 18. The output of the comparator 26 is connected to the base of the transistor 27. The collector of the transistor 27 is connected to a relay coil 28 for attraction which opens and closes the relay contact 22. An ice making control device 29 includes the ice making switch 20, a timer 30, a transistor 31, and a relay coil 32.
The output of 20 is connected to the input of the timer 30 and the timer
The output of 30 is connected to the base of the transistor 31. The collector of the transistor 31 is connected to an attraction relay coil 32 for opening and closing the relay contact 23. Here, the timer 30 is configured to output an “H” signal continuously for a predetermined time (t ₀ ) once a High signal (hereinafter referred to as “H”) is input.

In such a configuration, when the temperature of the freezing room 3 is higher than a predetermined value, the resistance value R _TH of the temperature sensor 25 becomes sufficiently small, and the output of the comparator 26 becomes “H”. 28 conducts. And
When the relay contact 22 is closed, the compressor 21 is operated and the cooler 5 is closed.
Performs a cooling action. At the same time, the blower 6 is operated and the cool air cooled by the cooler 5 is forcibly ventilated to the freezing room 3 and the refrigerating room 4 and is also supplied to the ice making device 7 through the discharge duct 17 and the discharge port 18. While passing through the ventilation path 14, the cool air flowing into the ice making device 7 cools mainly from the water surface of the second ice tray 16 housed in the second ice making room 9, and cools the normal ice. The cooling operation is performed while the cooling plate 13 forming the lower surface of the first ice making chamber 8 is cooled.
Then, the cool air that has passed through the ventilation path 14 is returned to the cooler 5 through the return duct 19 together with the cool air that has convected in the freezing room 3. Thereafter, when the freezing room 3 is cooled to a predetermined temperature, the resistance value R _TH of the temperature sensor 25 increases, and the comparator 2
6 generates a low signal (hereinafter referred to as “L”). Therefore, the transistor 27 is turned off, the conduction to the relay coil 28 is cut off, the relay contact 22 is opened, and the compressor 21 and the blower 6 are stopped. Thereafter, this operation is repeated to perform a normal cooling operation, and the cooling plate 13 of the first ice making chamber 8 is also sufficiently cooled and maintained. In this state, if the user turns on the ice making switch 20 at the same time as putting the first ice tray 15 filled with water in the first ice making chamber 8 to make transparent ice, an "H" signal is output. Is input to the timer 30. Timer at the same time
30 to output a predetermined time (t ₀₎ continuously "H" signal, during which the transistor 31 continues turned ON, the energization relay contact 23 conducts the relay coil 32 is closed to the heater 11 Is done. After the elapse of (t ₀ ), the output of the timer 30 becomes “L”, the transistor 31 is turned off, the conduction to the relay coil 32 is cut off, the relay contact 23 is opened, and the energization to the heater 11 ends. The ice making process will be described with reference to FIG.
For example, when the first ice tray 15 filled with water at 30 ° C. is stored in the first ice tray and the ice making switch 20 is turned on, the first ice tray is cooled by the cooling action of the cooling plate 13 already cooled.
Cooling starts from the lower surface of 15, and at the same time, from the upper surface of the first ice tray 15, the heating action by the heating plate 12 starts when the heater 11 is energized. For this reason, the water is gradually cooled over time (t ₁ ) until it reaches 0 ° C. During this time, the compressor 21 and the blower 6 repeatedly operate and stop according to the temperature state of the temperature sensor 25 in the freezing room 3. Next, the water that has reached 0 ° C. is gradually frozen in one direction from below to above by the cooling action from the lower cooling plate 13 so as not to freeze the water surface first by the heating action from the upper heating plate. After a lapse of time (t ₂ ), gas components contained in the water are released from the surface of the water and reach a temperature of about −5 ° C. with almost no bubbles, and transparent ice is generated. Thereafter, after a lapse of a short time, when the time reaches (t ₂ ) from the start of ice making, the heater 11 is turned off, and the heating action from the heating plate 12 ends. Then, only the cooling operation from the cooling plate 13 is performed to cool the vicinity of the temperature in the freezer compartment 3 (for example, -20 ° C.), and ice which can be used at this time is generated. The time required to complete ice making at about -5 ° C to -20 ° C is (t ₃ )
The ice making is completed in the total time (t) together with the times (t ₁ ) and (t ₂ ) described above.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, according to the above conventional example, there are the following problems.

(1) Simultaneously with the turning on of the ice making switch 20, that is, from the start of ice making in which the first ice tray 15 filled with water is stored, the heater 11 is turned on.
During the so-called water state from the time when water reaches 0 ° C. to the start of freezing, the heating operation of the heater 11 is performed from the upper surface until the temperature reaches 0 ° C. The time gets longer. During this time, the compressor 21 and the blower 6 are operated according to the temperature state of the temperature sensor 25 in the freezing compartment 3.
Since the cooling plate 13 is stopped, the cooling plate 13 is not actively cooled at the time of stopping, and the time to reach 0 ° C. is further increased. next,
Even after the heater 11 is turned off, the compressor 21 and the blower 6 are cooled down to a temperature close to the freezing compartment 3 while operating and stopping according to the state of the temperature sensor 25, so that the cooling time also becomes long. Therefore, the total ice making time from the start to the completion of ice making becomes long.

(2) When the heater 11 is continuously energized and a constant heating amount is given from the heating plate 12 irrespective of the operation / stop of the compressor 22 and the blower 6, when the outside air temperature is relatively low, for example, the outside air temperature When the temperature is 10 ° C., the heat load on the refrigerator body 1 decreases, and the operation time of the compressor 22 and the blower 6 decreases, and the cooling plate 13
When the cooling amount of the heating plate 12 decreases, the balance with the heating amount of the heating plate 12 is lost. That is, the amount of heating is relatively increased, and the progress of ice making is slowed down more than necessary. Therefore, when the energization of the heater 11 is stopped, the ice making is not completed even at the time when th has elapsed, and when the energization of the heater 11 is stopped while the state of the water remains, the relative cooling amount rapidly exceeds the water surface. There was a problem that the ice was frozen from the vicinity and the surface became cloudy ice, and it did not become transparent ice. Further, if the energizing time th of the heater 11 by the ice making switch 20 is set to be long enough to allow for the margin in advance, the problem that opaque ice is formed at a low outside temperature is solved. The inconvenience that the end time becomes longer than necessary cannot be solved.

In addition, even when the door is opened or closed, or when there is a heat load on the food, a constant amount of heating is given to the heating plate 12 regardless of the opening and closing of the door or the heat load on the food. Because the amount is the same, the ice making time becomes longer than necessary. For this reason, when the energization of the heater 11 is stopped, the ice making is not yet finished even after the time th has elapsed, and the energization of the heater 11 is stopped while the state of water remains. Thereafter, the relative cooling amount suddenly exceeds the water level and freezes from the vicinity of the water surface, and the surface becomes cloudy ice.

According to the above-described example, when the door body is opened or closed or when a food load is applied, any change in the thermal load condition of the refrigerator body 1 cannot be dealt with every time, and opaque ice is generated depending on the condition. There was something.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide an ice making device capable of stably and efficiently generating transparent ice even when a change occurs in a heat load condition of a main body such as a refrigerator. I have.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above problems, an ice making device such as a refrigerator of the present invention comprises a cooling chamber, a cooling room temperature sensor for detecting the temperature of the cooling chamber, a cooling plate, and cooling the cooling plate. A cooling means for performing the cooling operation, an ice making chamber formed with the cooling plate as a bottom surface and an open front surface in the cooling chamber, an ice tray housed in the ice making chamber and placed on the cooling plate, and an ice tray. A heating plate provided with a heating means provided on the upper surface of the ice-making chamber, a heat insulating material disposed in an outer wall except for a bottom surface and a front surface of the ice making chamber, and an atmosphere temperature of an upper surface of the ice tray attached to the back surface of the heating plate. Water temperature sensor, an ice making switch for instructing the start of ice making, and a first, second, and third ice making period from input of the ice making switch to the ice making switch until the ice making is completed after the ice making switch is turned on. Perform in order of 3 ice making periods An ice making control device, wherein in the first ice making period, the heating means is stopped and the cooling means is continuously operated, and in the second ice making period, when the cooling means is operating or When the detected temperature of the water temperature sensor becomes equal to or lower than a first temperature at which the operation of the heating means is started, the heating means is operated, and the detected temperature of the water temperature sensor stops the operation of the heating means. In the case where the temperature is equal to or higher than the temperature, when the temperature detected by the cooling room temperature sensor becomes equal to or higher than a third temperature at which the operation of the heating unit is stopped, the heating unit is stopped even if the cooling unit is operating, and In the ice making period 3, the heating means is stopped and the cooling means is continuously operated.

Operation According to the present invention having the above-described configuration, (1) during the first cooling period until water reaches 0 ° C., the cooling operation is rapidly performed by continuously receiving only the cooling operation from the cooling plate.

Similarly, during the third cooling period after the freezing is completed, the ice is rapidly cooled to produce hard ice.

(2) During the second cooling period in which the freezing is progressing, the heating means such as a heater is basically operated in synchronization with the operation of the cooling means, so that the cooling and heating are balanced and the ice making is performed at a predetermined freezing speed. Proceed further to the top.

When the cooling means does not operate for a long time, or when the temperature of the cooling chamber rises due to the opening / closing of the door and the heat load of food, the heating means does not operate and the temperature of the water temperature sensor decreases.

Embodiment An ice making apparatus such as a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. The same components as those in the related art are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof is omitted. 33
Is an ice making device provided in the lower part of the freezing room 3, and a water temperature sensor
35 is attached to the back surface space of the heating plate 12 by a support piece 34. 36 is a freezing compartment temperature control device of the freezing compartment temperature sensor 25, the resistor _{R 1, R 2, R 3} , comparator circuit having a comparator 26, OR circuit 37, the transistor 27 comprises a relay coil 28, the The output of the comparator 26 is connected to one input of the OR circuit 37, and the output of the OR circuit 37 is connected to the base of the transistor 27. The collector of the transistor 27 is connected to an attraction coil relay 28 for opening and closing the relay contact 22.

38 the water temperature sensor 35 is a temperature sensing circuit, the resistor R _4, R _5,
R ₆ , a comparison circuit having a comparator 39, an OR circuit 40, and the output of the comparators 26 and 39 is the OR circuit 40
Connected to the input.

41 is an ice making control device, an ice making switch 20, a timer
42, a transistor 31, and an AND circuit 43. The output of the ice making switch 20 is connected to the input of the timer.

The output of the terminal b of the timer 42 and the output of the OR circuit 40 are connected to the input of the AND circuit 43. Here, the timer 42 is "H" signal is input once the predetermined time (t ₁ ') outputs an "H" signal from between a terminal, followed by a predetermined time (t _2') than between terminal b of " The H signal is output, and the "H" signal is output again from the terminal a until the set time (t ') until the ice making is completed finally. Next, the output of the terminal a of the timer 42 is connected to the other input of the OR circuit 37 of the freezer compartment temperature control device 36, and the output of the AND circuit 43 is connected to the base of the transistor 31. . The collector of the transistor 31 is connected to a relay coil 32 for suction that opens and closes the relay contact 23.

Reference numeral 46 denotes a freezing room temperature rise detection device which includes resistors R ₇ and R ₈ , a comparator 44, an inverter circuit 45, and an AND circuit 47. The output of the comparator 44 is input to the inverter circuit 45. The output of the inverter circuit 45 is connected to one input of the AND circuit 47, and the output of the AND circuit 47 is
Connected to one input of circuit 40. The other input of the AND circuit 47 is connected to the output of the comparator 26 of the freezer compartment temperature controller 36. Freezer temperature control device
Phase input of the comparator 44 of the phase inputs and the freezing compartment temperature-rise detector 46 of the comparator 26 of the 36 is connected to a temperature sensor 25 and resistor R _1.

Because in such a configuration, "H" signal is output from between a terminal of the input to the "H" signal is input when the ice making switch 20 user turns on the timer 42 (t ₁ '), OR
One input of the circuit 37 becomes “H” and the output becomes “H” regardless of the other input. As a result, the transistor 27 is turned on, the relay coil 28 is turned on, the relay contact 22 is closed, and the compressor
21 and the blower 6 are continuously operated. Then, the cooling plate 13 of the first ice making chamber 8 is continuously cooled by the cool air flowing through the ventilation passage 14. During this time, the b terminal output of the timer 42 is "L"
, The transistor 31 is OFF, that is, the heater 11 is O
FF is performed, and there is no heating effect from the heating plate 12 and the water in the first ice tray 15 is rapidly cooled to 0 ° C.
° C. (ie, t ₁ ′ <t ₁ ).

Next, when the time (t ₁ ′) elapses, the output of the timer 42 becomes b
Since “H” is output from the terminal for the time (t ₂ ′), when the other input of the AND circuit 43 becomes “H”, the transistor 31 is turned on.
ON, conducts to the relay coil 32 and closes the relay contact.
Heater 11 turns on. That is, when the output of the comparator 39 is "H", the words, the temperature of the water temperature sensor 35 is within a temperature range from a temperature lower than the energization starting temperature T ₁ of the heater 11 to reach the power supply stop temperature T ₂ of the heater 11 In this case, or when the output of the AND circuit 47 is “H”, the heater 11 is energized. here,
In order for the output of the AND circuit 47 to become “H”, the comparator 2
This is the case when the output of 6 is “H”, that is, when the compressor 21 is operated and cooled, and the output of the comparator 44 is “L”, that is, when the temperature of the freezing compartment 3 is lower than the power supply stop temperature T _{3 of the} heater 11. It is low. Then, even when the compressor 21 is stopped, or when the compressor 21 is operated and cooled, the output of the comparator 44 is “H”, that is, the temperature of the freezing chamber 3 stops the energization of the heater 11. If higher than the temperature T ₃ is energized to the heater 11 is stopped. Further, in a case where the compressor 21 is cooled in operation, the above energization stop temperature T ₃ of the temperature heater 11 of the freezing compartment 3 temperature, energization restart temperature T of the temperature of the freezing compartment 3 a heater 11 _{When the} voltage has dropped to ₄ , the power supply to the heater 11 is restarted.

Therefore, when the temperature of the water temperature sensor 35 is lower than the current supply starting temperature T ₁ of the heater 11, or the temperature of the compressor 21 is operated freezer compartment 3 is equal to or less than the energization stop temperature T ₃ of the heater 11, the heater 11 is energized. That is, basically the cooling plate
Heating from the water surface is performed when 13 is cooled, even if the operation rate of the compressor 21 changes and the cooling amount of the cooling plate 13 changes,
At the same it is possible to balance the heating amount in synchronism, when the turned like a door opening and closing and food load, the temperature of the freezing compartment 3 is higher than the power supply stop temperature T ₃ elevated heater 11, The energization of the heater 11 can be stopped.
When the subsequent temperature of the freezing compartment 3 is lowered to the conduction restart temperature T ₄ of the heater 11 is energized to the heater 11 is restarted, that water is frozen earlier without working heater 11 is long To prevent. Also, when the outside air temperature is low (5 ° C. to 0 ° C.), the operation rate of the compressor 21 is reduced, and the energization rate of the heater 11 is also reduced, which may freeze the water surface.
Is lower than the current supply starting temperature T ₁ of the heater 11, the output of the comparator 39 becomes "H", to prevent the water freezing is energized heater 11. When the time (t ₂ ′) further elapses, the output of the timer 37 is switched from the terminal b to the terminal a again, and the “H” signal is output until the ice making completion time (t ′) is reached. That is, the above-described continuous cooling operation without the heating operation is performed, and the cooling operation is rapidly cooled to the vicinity of the freezing room 3 (about −20 ° C.) in a short time. That is, the time required to reach 0 ° C. is t ₁ ′
t ₁ ), from 0 ° C. to about −5 ° C. at which freezing has been completed is t ₂ ′ (t ₂ ) in the conventional example, and the subsequent cooling period for finishing is t ₃ ′ (the conventional example is t ₃ ′).
t ₃ ), the total ice making time t ′ = t ₁ ′ + t ₂ ′ + t ₃ ′
Is much shorter than the conventional ice making time t = t ₁ + t ₂ + t ₃ .

Effects of the Invention As described above, according to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.

(1) a first cooling period until the water reaches 0 ° C.,
Since the third cooling period after the end of the heating operation in the second cooling period is subjected to a continuous cooling operation without the heating operation, the required time is shortened in each period, and the overall ice making time can be greatly reduced. can get.

(2) When the door is opened and closed and food is loaded, the heating means operates only when the cooling means for the ice tray is operating, even if the condition changes such that the heat load on the main body of the refrigerator or the like changes. When the operation of the cooling means stops, the operation of the heating means also stops, and even when the temperature of the cooling chamber rises due to the opening and closing of the door or the heat load of food, the operation of the heating means is stopped. The time required for ice making is kept substantially constant, and transparent ice can be produced with a constant quality and in a minimum time.

(3) Even when the operation time of the cooling means is extremely short due to low outside air temperature or the like, the water temperature sensor detects the ambient temperature on the upper surface of the ice tray and activates the heating means, so that the water surface does not freeze. .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an electric circuit diagram of an ice making device such as a refrigerator showing one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a characteristic diagram when transparent ice is produced by the ice making device, and FIG. 3 is a cross section of the ice making device. FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a refrigerator provided with a conventional ice making device, FIG. 5 is a front view of the ice making device, FIG. 6 is a sectional view of FIG. 5, and FIG. FIG. 8 is a circuit diagram and FIG. 8 is a characteristic diagram when the transparent ice is produced by the ice making device. 3 ... freezing room (cooling room), 8 ... first ice making room, (ice making room), 10 ... heat insulating material, 11 ... heater (heating means), 12 ...
... heating plate, 13 ... cooling plate, 14 ... ventilation path (cooling means),
15: First ice tray (ice tray), 20: Ice switch
25: Temperature sensor (cooling room temperature sensor), 33: Ice making device, 35: Water temperature sensor, 41: Ice making control device.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] A cooling room; a cooling room temperature sensor for detecting a temperature of the cooling chamber; a cooling plate; cooling means for cooling the cooling plate; An ice-making room that is open and partitioned, an ice-making tray housed in the ice-making room and placed on the cooling plate, a heating plate provided with heating means provided on an upper surface of the ice-making plate, and a bottom surface of the ice-making room A heat insulating material disposed in an outer wall excluding the front surface, a water temperature sensor attached to a back surface of the heating plate and indirectly detecting an ambient temperature of an upper surface of the ice tray, an ice making switch for instructing ice making start, and the ice making An ice making control device that executes a first, second, and third ice making periods in the order from the input of the ice making switch to the completion of ice making after the input of the ice making switch, and the first ice making control device; During the ice making period, the heating means is stopped In the second ice making period, when the cooling means is operating or the temperature detected by the water temperature sensor is equal to or lower than a first temperature at which the heating means starts operating. When the water temperature sensor is activated, the detected temperature of the water temperature sensor is equal to or higher than a second temperature at which the operation of the heating means is stopped, and the detected temperature of the cooling room temperature sensor controls the operation of the heating means. When the temperature becomes equal to or higher than a third temperature to be stopped, the heating unit is stopped even if the cooling unit is operating. During the third ice making period, the heating unit is stopped and the cooling unit is continuously operated. An ice making device such as a refrigerator.