JP6014381B2 - Ice machine - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an ice making machine provided with a louvered panel in which a machine room and an ice making room are arranged in a vertical or left-right relationship, and are commonly arranged in both the machine room and the ice making room.

  An automatic ice maker that continuously manufactures a large amount of ice blocks is suitably used in facilities such as coffee shops and restaurants and other kitchens. A conventional ice making machine 90 illustrated in FIG. 7 includes a ice making mechanism 12 and a refrigeration mechanism 14, and is a stack-on type that is placed in an ice storage (not shown). The ice making machine 90 includes a machine room 22 that houses a refrigeration mechanism 14 composed of a compressor CM, a condenser CD, a cooling fan FM, and the like, and an ice making room 24 that houses an ice making mechanism 12 in an upper and lower sides inside a housing 16. Arranged in a relationship. An opening 28 that opens to the front surface corresponding to the machine room 22 and the ice making room 24 in the housing 16 is detachably covered by a single front panel 21.

  The condenser CD of the ice making machine 90 is actively air-cooled by a cooling fan FM disposed in the machine room 22. For this reason, an intake port 36 is opened at an appropriate portion corresponding to the machine room 22 of the front panel 21 and external air is taken into the machine room 22 from the intake port 36 by the rotation of the cooling fan FM. . The air taken into the machine room 22 contacts various devices such as the condenser CD and the compressor CM disposed in the machine room 22 to exchange heat, and for example, exhaust air provided on the back surface of the housing 16. It is discharged from the outlet to the outside. In addition, a louver 37 that functions as a blindfold is attached to the intake port 36 to prevent foreign matter from entering the machine room 22. An ice making machine in which a louver is provided at the air inlet of such a front panel is disclosed in Patent Document 1.

JP 2009-109078 A

  Since the front panel 21 is resistant to rust in a water environment, and is not easily soiled and has a clean feeling, a stainless steel plate is generally used as a material. As shown in FIG. It is bent into a letter shape or a bowl shape to give rigidity. In the front panel 21, when the panel 21 is set on the housing 16, an intake port 36 is opened at an appropriate portion corresponding to the machine room 22, and a synthetic resin louver 37 is fitted into the intake port 36. It has become. However, in the configuration in which the louver intake port 36 is provided on the front panel 21 as described above, a process of cutting the intake port 36 with a cutter or punching it with a press is required, so that there is a problem that the yield of the material is poor. is there. In addition, it is necessary to separately prepare the above-mentioned jigs and tools for opening the air inlet 36 in the stainless steel front panel 21 and for cutting and punching the opening. Further, as described above, stainless steel is used for the front panel 21, but since this stainless steel has a generally high market supply price, the material cost of the conventional front panel 21 occupying most of the stainless steel as a whole increases. The difficult point is pointed out.

  Therefore, in view of the problems inherent in the prior art, the present invention has been proposed to suitably solve these problems, and an object thereof is to reduce the manufacturing cost of a louvered metal panel in an ice making machine.

In order to overcome the above-mentioned problems and achieve the intended purpose, an ice making machine according to claim 1 of the present application includes:
An ice making chamber containing an ice making mechanism and a machine room containing a refrigeration mechanism connected to the ice making mechanism are arranged adjacent to each other in a vertical or horizontal relationship inside the housing to open the ice making chamber and the machine room. In an ice making machine in which the opening of the housing is covered with a single front panel,
The front panel is configured so that the part corresponding to the machine room is a synthetic resin louver part and the other part corresponding to the ice making room is a metal plate part. and,
Inside the housing, the machine room is disposed above the ice making room,
The front panel is made of the louver portion that forms the upper portion of the front panel, the plate portion that forms the middle portion of the front panel, and a synthetic resin that is provided at the lower portion of the plate portion and forms a part of the front panel. The essence is that it is composed of a skirt portion .
According to the first aspect of the present invention, the portion corresponding to the machine room on either one of the upper and lower sides or the left and right sides of one front panel is a synthetic resin louver part, and the other portion corresponding to the ice making chamber is Since the metal plate portion is used, it is not necessary to provide an opening for fitting the louver portion into the metal plate portion, and the yield can be improved. Moreover, the process of providing an opening and the jig for opening cutting and punching become unnecessary. Furthermore, since either the top, bottom, left or right of the front panel is configured with a synthetic resin louver that is cheaper than metal, the overall usage rate of the metal plate on the front panel is reduced. Panel material costs can be reduced. In addition, since the plate part is sandwiched between the louver part and the skirt part, the common louver part and the skirt part can be used even in ice machines with different heights by simply changing the height of the plate part. There is an advantage that can be used. Therefore, when manufacturing ice makers with different heights, it is not necessary to newly create a mold for molding a synthetic resin louver part or skirt part, and the manufacturing cost of a series of ice machines can be suppressed. Moreover, the rigidity of a panel can be improved with the louver part and skirt part which pinch | interpose a plate part up and down.

  According to the ice making machine of the present invention, the manufacturing cost of the louvered panel in the ice making machine can be reduced.

It is a front view of the ice making machine which concerns on an Example. It is a schematic perspective view which shows the ice machine of FIG. 1 in the state which removed the front panel. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a front panel according to Embodiment 1. FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows attachment of the filter to the louver part which concerns on Example 1. FIG. It is sectional drawing explaining attachment of the filter which concerns on Example 2, Comprising: (a) shows the state which attached the filter, (b) shows the state which removed the filter. FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a relationship between a filter and a filter rail according to a third embodiment, where (a) illustrates a case where the curve radius of the filter is smaller than the curve radius of the filter rail, and (b) illustrates a curve radius of the filter. Is larger than the radius of curvature of the filter rail. It is a general | schematic disassembled perspective view of the ice making machine which concerns on a prior art example.

  Next, a preferred embodiment of the ice making machine according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description, “front”, “rear”, “left”, “right”, “upper”, and “lower” are designated with reference to the case where the ice making machine is viewed from the front side shown in FIG. In addition, about the member same as a prior art, it shows with the same code | symbol.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the ice making machine 10 according to the first embodiment includes an ice making mechanism 12 and a refrigeration mechanism 14 connected to the ice making mechanism 12, and is a stack-on type that is placed in an ice storage (not shown). It is. This ice making machine 10 has as its main body a casing 16 in which rectangular panels 20 are assembled to the front, rear, left and right and top surfaces of a frame 18 forming an exoskeleton. Inside the housing 16, a machine room 22 in which the refrigeration mechanism 14 is housed and an ice making room 24 in which the ice making mechanism 12 is housed are arranged adjacent to each other in a vertical relationship. In the machine room 22, a compressor CM, a condenser CD, a cooling fan FM, and the like constituting the refrigeration mechanism 14 are arranged on a partition plate 26. A spray type ice making mechanism 12 for spraying ice making water from below to the ice making unit is disposed above the ice making chamber 24. In the ice making operation, the ice making machine 10 manufactures ice blocks by the ice making unit cooled by the refrigeration mechanism 14, and in the deicing operation, the ice making unit is heated to separate the ice blocks from the ice making unit. The ice blocks falling from the ice making section are released and stored in the ice storage chamber provided in the ice storage. The ice making machine 10 according to the first embodiment employs the jet type ice making mechanism 12 as described above, but may be a flow down type or auger type ice making mechanism.

  As shown in FIG. 2, a front opening (opening) 28 of the housing 16 that opens the machine room 22 and the ice making room 24 is covered with a single front panel 20a so as to be opened and closed. Here, in the front panel 20a, a portion corresponding to the above-described machine room 22 disposed above is the synthetic resin louver portion 30, and a part corresponding to the ice making chamber 24 disposed below the machine room 22 is used. Is a metal plate portion 60. Note that a synthetic resin skirt portion 68 is combined with the lower portion of the plate portion 60 as necessary. That is, the front panel 20a of the first embodiment is formed in a substantially rectangular plate shape as a whole, and is configured such that the middle plate portion 60 is sandwiched vertically between the louver portion 30 and the skirt portion 68. As shown in FIG. 1, the front panel 20 a is fixed to the housing 16 with screws 74.

  The front panel 20a will be described in more detail. As shown in FIG. 2, the louver part 30 constitutes an upper part of the front panel 20a and constitutes a part corresponding to the machine room 22 in the front panel 20a. That is, the louver part 30 is formed over the width dimension of the front panel 20 a and covers the first opening 28 a corresponding to the machine room 22 in the front opening 28 of the housing 16. The louver portion 30 includes a frame-shaped main body 32 that covers the periphery of the first opening 28a, and a plurality of frames that extend in the horizontal direction and are spaced apart from each other on the left and right sides of the frame-shaped main body 32. The slat 34 is integrally formed. Between the upper and lower slats 34, a ventilation port 38 penetrating the louver part 30 in the front-rear direction is formed. When the front panel 20a is attached to the housing 16 by the ventilation port 38, the machine room 22 communicates with the outside spatially, and the cooling fan FM rotates to externally connect the machine room 22 to the machine room 22. Air is taken in. The air taken into the machine room 22 exchanges heat with various devices such as the condenser CD and the compressor CM, and is discharged to the outside through, for example, a discharge port (not shown) provided on the rear surface of the housing 16. The

  As shown in FIG. 1, a filter 40 that prevents dust and the like from entering the machine room 22 is attached to the back side of the slat 34 in the louver 30. As shown in FIG. 4, the filter 40 includes a frame body 42 formed in a lattice shape and a net body 44 stretched on the frame body 42, and is formed to have a size that can cover the entire vent hole 38. The An operation piece 46 that protrudes downward is formed at the lower part of the frame body 42, and two lock claws 48 that protrude forward are provided on the operation piece 46. The operation piece 46 is configured to be elastically deformable forward and backward with respect to the frame body 42 when the operator presses with a finger. In addition, the filter 40 of Example 1 is exhibiting flat form as a whole.

  As shown in FIG. 4, an insertion / removal port 50 for the filter 40 is formed below the slat 34 in the frame-shaped main body 32 constituting the louver portion 30. This insertion / removal port 50 is in spatial communication with a housing portion 52 that is provided on the back side of the slat 34 in the louver portion 30 and that matches the outer dimensions of the filter 40. As shown in FIG. 1, the accommodating portion 52 is provided with a plurality of filter rails 54 that extend in the vertical direction and guide the filter 40 to the accommodating portion 52. When the filter 40 is attached, the filter 40 inserted from below into the insertion / removal port 50 is slid upward along the filter rail 54 as shown in FIG. Thereby, the filter 40 is smoothly guided to the housing portion 52. When the filter 40 is housed in the proper position of the housing portion 52, the lock claw 48 of the operation piece 46 engages with the rear edge of the insertion / removal port 50, and the filter 40 contacts the back surface of the slat 34. It is fixed to the louver part 30 in the contacted state. The operation piece 46 of the filter 40 extends from the insertion / removal port 50 in a state where the filter 40 is attached to the louver portion 30. When removing the filter 40, the engagement of the lock claw 48 is released by pressing the operation piece 46 backward with a finger, and the filter 40 may be moved downward along the filter rail 54. Note that the filter 40 is configured to be elastically deformable as a whole, and can be smoothly inserted into and removed from the louver unit 30.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the bottom of the louver portion 30 is provided with a first groove 56 that fits into an upper portion of a plate portion 60 described later. A plurality of first locking claws 58 projecting rearward (five locations in the first embodiment) are formed on the front wall forming the first groove 56.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the plate part 60 and the skirt part 68 constitute a part corresponding to the ice making chamber 24 at the lower part of the front panel 20a. That is, the plate part 60 and the skirt part 68 are both formed over the width dimension of the front panel 20a, and in the combined state, the second opening part 28b corresponding to the ice making chamber 24 in the front opening part 28 of the housing 16 is formed. cover. As shown in FIG. 3, the plate portion 60 forms an intermediate portion of the front panel 20 a and is formed by bending left and right edge portions of a stainless steel plate material into a bowl shape. The bent portion 62 ensures the rigidity of the plate portion. The thickness of the bent portion 62 in the front-rear direction is set to a dimension that matches a first groove 56 of the louver portion 30 and a second groove 70 of a skirt portion 68 described later. In the upper part of the plate part 60, a plurality of first locking holes 64 that can be engaged with the first locking claws 58 of the louver part 30 pass through in the front-rear direction (five places in the first embodiment). . In addition, a plurality of (five in the first embodiment) second locking holes 66 are formed in the lower portion of the plate portion 60 so as to pass through in the front-rear direction and can be engaged with second locking claws 72 of a skirt portion 68 described later. ing. In addition, a plate-shaped heat insulating material (not shown) is pasted between the bent portions 62 and 62 on the back side (ice making chamber 24 side) of the plate portion 60 to insulate the ice making chamber 24. In addition, the material of the plate part 60 is not limited to stainless steel, What plated iron, copper, etc., other alloys, etc. can be used. However, it is preferable to use stainless steel as the plate portion 60 for the reasons that rust does not occur, there is a clean feeling, and maintenance is easy.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the skirt portion 68 is provided at a lower portion of the front panel 20a and constitutes a part of the front panel 20a. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the top of the skirt portion 68 is provided with a second groove 70 that fits into the lower portion of the plate portion 60. A plurality of second locking claws 72 projecting rearward (five places in the first embodiment) are formed on the front wall forming the second groove 70.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the front panel 20 a includes the louver part 30, the plate part 60 and the skirt part 68 configured as described above, and the upper part of the plate part 60 as the first groove 56 of the louver part 30. Assembling is performed by inserting the lower portion of the plate portion 60 into the second groove 70 of the skirt portion 68. That is, this causes the first locking claw 58 of the louver 30 to engage with the first locking hole 64 of the plate portion 60, and the second locking claw of the skirt portion 68 to engage with the second locking hole 66 of the plate portion 60. 72 is engaged, and the louver part 30 and the skirt part 68 constitute a single front panel 20a sandwiching the plate part 60 up and down.

  Next, the operation and effect of the ice making machine 10 according to the first embodiment will be described. In the ice making machine 10, the upper portion of the front panel 20 a is the synthetic resin louver portion 30 formed over the width dimension of the front panel 20 a covering the first opening 28 a, so the louver portion 30 is attached to the plate portion 60. There is no need to provide an opening for fitting the material, and the yield of the material can be improved. In addition, a process of providing an opening for fitting the louver part 30 and a jig for cutting or punching the opening are not required. Further, since the upper portion of the front panel 20a is formed in the width direction with the louver portion 30 made of synthetic resin, which is less expensive than stainless steel, the amount of stainless steel used in the front panel 20a is reduced, and the material cost of the front panel 20a is reduced. Can be suppressed. Furthermore, since the front panel 20a of Example 1 is configured to include the skirt portion 68 made of synthetic resin, the amount of stainless steel used can be further suppressed.

  In the ice making machine 10, the front panel 20a is constituted by the louver part 30 forming the upper part, the plate part 60 forming the intermediate part, and the skirt part 68 forming the lower part. Therefore, by changing the height dimension of the plate part 60, The common louver part 30 and the skirt part 68 can be used even in ice machines with different heights. Therefore, when manufacturing ice makers with different heights, it is not necessary to newly create a mold for forming the louver part 30 and the skirt part 68, and the initial investment when the ice machines are serialized can be suppressed. The rigidity of the front panel 20a can be increased by the louver part 30 and the skirt part 68 that sandwich the plate part 60 in the vertical direction. For this reason, it is not necessary to perform the process for providing rigidity with respect to the upper part and the lower part of the plate part 60, and the plate part 60 can be made into a simple shape.

  Since the front panel 20a is configured so that the filter 40 can be taken in and out from the lower side of the louver part 30, the plate can be used regardless of the installation environment of the ice making machine 10 such as when there is no space on the left and right sides or above the ice making machine 10. The filter 40 can be easily put in and out using the space in front of the unit 60. Further, since the ice making machine 10 is a stack-on type that is placed in an ice storage, the space in front of the ice storage can also be used when the filter 40 is put in and out.

  Next, Example 2 will be described with reference to FIG. In the second embodiment, in the ice making machine having the front panel described in the first embodiment, the filter is curved in an arc shape. In the second embodiment, only parts different from the first embodiment will be described, and the same parts as those in the first embodiment will be denoted by the same reference numerals and detailed description thereof will be omitted.

  As shown in FIG. 5A, the filter 76 has a shape curved in the vertical direction protruding rearward (machine room 22 side) in a state of being attached to the louver portion 30. The housing portion 78 and the filter rail 80 are also formed in a circular arc shape that protrudes rearward similarly to the filter 76. Further, as shown in FIG. 5B, the filter 76 is removed from the louver portion 30 by being pulled out from the insertion / removal opening 50 along the curved filter rail 80. Note that the filter 76 is configured to maintain an arcuate shape even when the filter 76 is detached from the louver portion 30.

  As described above, in the second embodiment, since the filter 76 curved in the vertical direction is configured to be pulled out toward the front and removed, when the filter 76 is removed, the curved inner surface 76a of the filter 76 to which dust or the like adheres faces upward. ing. Since the upward curved inner side surface 76a supports dust and the like from below, the filter 76 can be removed without dropping the dust and the like downward. In addition, since the filter 76 is removed by pulling it downward toward the front, the filter 76 can be attached and detached even if the space below the filter is small compared to a filter that is simply slid downward.

  Next, Example 3 will be described with reference to FIG. In the third embodiment, the bend radii of the bendable filter and the filter rail are not matched. In the third embodiment, only parts different from the first and second embodiments will be described.

  As shown in FIG. 6A, in the third embodiment, the radius of curvature of the filter 84 (R = 270 mm) is set smaller than the radius of curvature of the filter rail 80 (R = 300 mm). For this reason, the filter 84 attached to the louver part 30 is in a state of being elastically deformed in accordance with the shape of the filter rail 80. A force that presses the filter rail 80 is applied to the filter 84 in this state due to elasticity to return to the original radius of curvature. Therefore, even if the engagement between the locking claw 48 of the filter 84 and the rear side edge of the insertion / removal port 50 is released due to mechanical vibration or the like, the filter 84 does not fall off the louver 30. In FIG. 6A, the case where the radius of curvature of the filter 84 is smaller than the radius of curvature of the filter rail 80 is taken as an example. However, as shown in FIG. 6B, the radius of curvature of the filter 86 (R = Even when 330 mm) is larger than the radius of curvature of the filter rail 80 (R = 300 mm), the same operation and effect can be obtained.

(Change example)
The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and can be modified as follows.
(1) In the embodiment, the ice making machine having the configuration in which the machine room and the ice storage room are adjacent to each other in the vertical relationship has been described as an example. It may be. In this case, the front panel may be configured such that the left part or the right part corresponding to the machine room is a louver part and the other part corresponding to the ice making room is a plate part. That is, in this case, the louver portion is formed over the vertical dimension of the front panel.
(2) In the embodiment, the front panel having the plate portion and the skirt portion as the portion corresponding to the ice making chamber has been described as an example. However, the skirt portion is not provided, and the portion corresponding to the machine chamber is used as the louver portion. It may be a front panel having a configuration in which a portion (a portion corresponding to the ice making chamber) is a plate portion.
(3) In the embodiment, the upper portion of the plate portion is fitted in the first groove of the louver portion, and the lower portion of the plate portion is fitted in the second groove of the skirt portion, and the first and second locking holes are respectively inserted into the first and second locking holes. The front panel is configured to assemble the louver part, plate part and skirt part by engaging the locking claws respectively, but is not limited to this. For example, the louver part, plate part and skirt part are bonded with an adhesive or the like. Or may be configured to be screwed.
(4) In the embodiment, a stack-on type ice making machine placed in an ice storage was described as an example. However, one machine room and an ice making room provided adjacent to each other in the vertical and left / right relations. For example, a vertical type ice maker may be used as long as the ice maker is configured to be covered with an object panel.

12 ice making mechanism, 14 refrigeration mechanism, 16 housing, 20a front panel,
22 machine room, 24 ice making room, 28 front opening (opening),
30 louvers, 60 plates, 68 skirts

Claims (1)

An ice making chamber (24) containing an ice making mechanism (12) and a machine room (22) containing a refrigeration mechanism (14) connected to the ice making mechanism (12) are arranged vertically or horizontally in the housing (16). Therefore, the opening (28) of the housing (16) that opens the ice making chamber (24) and the machine chamber (22) is covered with a single front panel (20a). In ice machine,
The front panel (20a) is one of the upper and lower sides and the left and right sides, and the portion corresponding to the machine room (22) is a synthetic resin louver part (30), and the other side corresponding to the ice making room (24). Is configured to be a metal plate part (60) ,
Inside the housing (16), the machine room (22) is disposed above the ice making room (24),
The front panel (20a) includes the louver part (30) that forms the upper part of the front panel (20a), the plate part (60) that forms an intermediate part of the front panel (20a), and the plate part (60 ) And a synthetic resin skirt portion (68) which forms a part of the front panel (20a) .

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