JP6712442B2 - Automatic ice machine - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an automatic ice making machine for continuously producing ice blocks by supplying ice making water to an ice making section cooled by an evaporator, and more specifically, it can improve corrosion resistance of the ice making section. It relates to a coating.

An automatic ice making machine for continuously producing a large amount of ice blocks is suitably used in facilities such as coffee shops and restaurants and other kitchens. These automatic ice machines include jet-type automatic ice machines that continuously supply ice making water to a large number of downwardly opening ice making chambers to produce ice of a desired shape, and the top surface of an inclined ice making plate. There is a flow-down type automatic ice-making machine or the like that flows ice making water to produce plate-like ice on the ice making plate.

For example, as shown in FIG. 2, there is an injection type automatic ice making machine provided with a so-called closed cell type ice making mechanism 13. The closed-cell type ice making mechanism 13 includes an ice making chamber 10 as an ice making section in which a large number of ice making small chambers 12 opening downward are defined. Below the ice making chamber 10, a tiltable water tray 40 is provided. It is pivotally supported by the support shaft 42. An ice making water tank 44 for storing the ice making water supplied from the water supply unit 43 is integrally provided at the lower portion of the water tray 40. An evaporator 48 led out from a refrigeration system 46 is arranged in a meandering manner on the upper surface of the ice making chamber 10, and a refrigerant from the refrigeration system 46 including a compressor CM, a condenser CD and an expansion valve EV is circulated to the evaporator 48. By supplying, the ice making chamber 10 is cooled to below the freezing point. The discharge side of the compressor CM and the suction side of the evaporator 48 are connected by a bypass pipe 50, and the bypass pipe 50 is provided with a hot gas valve HV.

During the ice making operation of the automatic ice maker, ice-making water is jetted from each of the water trays 40 that closes the ice making compartments 12 from below to the ice making compartments 12, so that the ice blocks are forcedly cooled into the ice making compartments 12. Is formed. Further, during the deicing operation, the water tray 40 is tilted downward to open the small ice making chamber 12, and the hot gas valve HV is opened to supply hot gas from the compressor CM to the evaporator 48. By doing so, the freezing between the ice making compartment 12 and the ice blocks is melted, and the ice blocks are dropped by their own weight into the ice storage chamber located below.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the ice making chamber 10 arranged in the jet type automatic ice making machine. The ice making chamber 10 is basically composed of a box-shaped outer frame 14 that opens downward, and a grid-like partition member 30 that is disposed inside the outer frame 14 and that defines the plurality of ice making small chambers 12. Is configured. A cooling pipe 48 serving as the evaporator is closely arranged in a meandering manner on the upper surface of the outer frame 14. The ice making chamber 10 is manufactured by assembling the outer frame 14, the partitioning member 30, the cooling pipe 48, and the like, which are formed into a desired shape, into the components. That is, the ice making chamber 10 accommodates the partition member 30 in which a plurality of metal plates are assembled in a lattice shape inside the outer frame 14 formed by bending a metal plate into a box shape, and at the same time, the upper surface of the outer frame 14 is accommodated. The long cooling pipe 48 is bent and a meandering cooling pipe 48 is arranged. The outer frame 14 and the partition member 30 are joined by means such as caulking fixing or brazing, and the outer frame 14 and the cooling pipe 48 are joined by brazing. When the caulking is performed, the protrusion 31 is provided on the partition member 30, and the caulking hole 14a is formed in the upper surface of the outer frame, and the caulking hole 14a is inserted into the upper surface of the outer frame 14. This is performed by crushing the projected protrusion 31 with a hammer or the like. Further, a locking piece is provided at a side end portion of each partition plate 30a that constitutes the partition member 30, and an engaging groove that engages with the locking piece at a position corresponding to the locking piece in the outer frame 14. May be provided to position both members 14 and 30.

The constituent members of the ice making chamber 10, such as the outer frame 14, the partition member 30, and the cooling pipe 48, are made of a metal material such as copper having high thermal conductivity as the base material 16 (see FIG. 4). The heat exchange with the circulating refrigerant can be favorably performed. Since the base material 16 made of copper or the like is excellent in thermal conductivity but easily rusts, as shown in the enlarged view of FIG. Is common. The soluble Torusuzu plating film 20 is, in Suzuyoku composed mainly of melted tin, by entirely immersing the whole of the ice making chamber 10 to each component 14,30,48 is assembled, the formulation icehouse It is formed on the surface of 10. In addition, this plating process may be performed individually for each of the constituent members 14, 30, 48. In this case, the ice-making chamber 10 is assembled with the constituent members 14, 30, 48 after the plating process. Assembled. An automatic ice-making machine including an ice-making chamber whose surface is coated with a hot-dip tinned coating is disclosed in, for example, Patent Document 1.

JP, 2005-30702, A

The hot-dip tinned coating is less likely to rust than a base material made of copper or the like, but when the atmosphere used contains an oxidizing substance or the like, corrosion products such as rust may occur over time. Since this corrosion product is easily peeled off from the plating film, problems such as mixing the corrosion product with ice blocks are pointed out. Further, the hot-dip plated film has low resistance to bactericidal agents such as sodium hypochlorite and electrolytic acid water, and therefore is not suitable for sterilizing the ice-making chamber in which the film is formed with these agents.

The present invention has been proposed in order to solve these problems in view of the problems inherent in the automatic ice making machine according to the prior art, and provides an automatic ice making machine with improved corrosion resistance of the ice making unit. The purpose is to do.

In order to overcome the above-mentioned problems and achieve a desired object, the invention according to claim 1 is an automatic ice-making machine that circulates and supplies ice-making water to an ice-making unit cooled by an evaporator to produce ice of a required shape. An electroless nickel-phosphorus plating film containing a phosphorus component of 10% to 15% is formed in a thickness of 15 μm or more on the outermost layer of the ice making part, and the electroless nickel-phosphorus plating film is a member formed by brazing. the der Rukoto which junction is directly formed on the outer surface of the base material made of copper in the ice making unit after being made to the subject matter.

According to the invention of claim 1, the electroless nickel-phosphorus plating film formed on the outermost layer of the ice making portion can improve the corrosion resistance of the ice making portion. Therefore, even in a use atmosphere in which the conventional ice-making part is corroded, the generation of corrosion can be suppressed, so that ice can be manufactured. Further, since the antibacterial agent has a high corrosion resistance, it is possible to maintain the sanitary condition of the ice making part by maintenance using the antibacterial agent. Furthermore, since the electroless nickel-phosphorus plating film formed on the outermost layer of the ice making portion improves the corrosion resistance of the ice making portion, it is not necessary to apply a multi-layer coating to the base material for the purpose of preventing corrosion of the base material. The manufacturing efficiency can be increased.

According to the automatic ice maker according to the present invention, since the corrosion resistance of the ice making part is improved, corrosion products such as rust are not mixed in the ice making water or ice, and the reliability of food hygiene can be improved.

It is sectional drawing which expanded the surface layer part of the ice making chamber which concerns on an Example, (a) is what applied the electroless nickel-phosphorus plating film to the outer surface of a base material, (b) is (a). The underlayer is provided under the electroless nickel-phosphorus plating film, and the adjustment layer is provided between the base material and the underlayer in (b). It is a schematic block diagram of an injection type automatic ice maker. It is an exploded perspective view of an ice making room concerning a prior art. It is sectional drawing which expanded the surface layer part of the ice making room shown in FIG.

Next, a preferred embodiment of the automatic ice making machine according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the embodiment, an ice making chamber used in a so-called closed cell type injection type automatic ice making machine will be described as an ice making section. As the ice making unit, an ice making chamber of a so-called open cell type injection type automatic ice making machine that supplies ice making water without passing through a water tray, an ice making plate of a downflow type automatic ice making machine that makes the ice making surface flow down, etc. May be Since the ice making chamber described in the embodiment has the same basic configuration as the conventional ice making chamber described in FIG. 3, the same reference numerals are used for the already-explained members.

(About automatic ice machine)
The automatic ice maker according to the embodiment requires the ice making water to be circulated and supplied to the ice making chamber (ice making unit) 10 which is cooled by the cooling pipe 48 as the evaporator, like the conventional ice making chamber 10 described in FIG. Generates ice in shape. Further, the ice making chamber 10 is basically composed of a box-shaped outer frame 14 opened downward, and a grid-like partition member 30 arranged inside the outer frame 14 to define a plurality of ice making small chambers. The cooling pipe 48 is closely arranged in a meandering manner on the upper surface of the outer frame 14.

(About ice making room 10)
As shown in FIG. 1, the box-shaped outer frame 14, the lattice-shaped partition member 30, and the cooling pipe 48 that constitute the ice making chamber 10 are made of a metal or alloy having excellent thermal conductivity such as copper. An electroless nickel-phosphorus plating film 22 is formed on the outermost layer of the base material 16. Here, the outermost layer of the ice making chamber 10 is a layer formed on the surface of the ice making chamber 10 exposed to the outside. A part of the exposed surface of the ice making chamber 10 may have a region where the electroless nickel-phosphorus plating film 22 is not formed. As shown in FIG. 1( a ), the electroless nickel-phosphorus plating coating 22 may be provided in contact with the outer surface of the base material 16, and as shown in FIG. As a base of the nickel-phosphorus plated coating 22, a base layer 24 made of a plated coating of nickel, palladium or the like may be provided below the coating 22. Moreover, as shown in FIG. 1C, an adjustment layer 26 made of a plating film of copper or the like may be provided on the surface of the base material 16 in order to arrange the surface of the base material 16. When the base material 16 contains an element such as tin or lead that inhibits the precipitation of nickel in the electroless nickel-phosphorus plating process described later, the underlayer 24 is applied to the surface of the base material 16. Is preferred. That is, the base layer 24 and the adjustment layer 26 are appropriately formed according to the surface condition of the base material 16 and the surface condition of the base on which the electroless nickel-phosphorus plating film 22 is applied. Since the underlayer 24 and the adjustment layer 26 are not exposed to the outer surface of the ice making chamber 10, it is sufficient that the surface state can be changed. For example, the thickness of the base layer 24 and the adjustment layer 26 may be about 1 μm.

(About electroless nickel-phosphorus plating film 22)
The electroless nickel-phosphorus plating film 22 formed on the outermost layer of the ice making chamber 10 is a so-called high phosphorus type containing 10% to 15% (mass percent concentration, the same applies hereinafter) of a phosphorus component. Further, as shown in FIGS. 1A to 1C, the electroless nickel-phosphorus plating film 22 is formed so that the film thickness t is 15 μm or more. By setting the thickness of the electroless nickel-phosphorus plating film 22 to 15 μm or more, it is possible to suppress the generation of pinholes that reach the substrate 16 or the underlayer 24 or the adjustment layer 26. Confirmed by testing.

(About electroless nickel-phosphorus plating)
Here, the electroless nickel-phosphorus plating treatment for forming the electroless nickel-phosphorus plating film 22 will be described. In the electroless nickel-phosphorus plating treatment, the ice-making chamber 10 is placed in a storage tank of a nickel-phosphorus plating solution containing a metal salt containing nickel such as nickel sulfate and a reducing agent such as sodium hypophosphite as main components. It is performed by so-called dobu-zuke, which is a soaking process. The nickel-phosphorus plating solution is adjusted so that the concentration of the phosphorus component in the formed electroless nickel-phosphorus plating film 22 is 10% to 15%. Further, a required catalyst may be added to the nickel-phosphorus plating solution. When the adjustment layer 26 and the underlayer 24 are provided between the base material 16 and the electroless nickel-phosphorus plating film 22, an electroless nickel-phosphorus plating treatment is performed after the surface treatments are performed. To do. In the outermost layer of the ice making chamber 10 immersed in the storage tank, the electroless nickel-phosphorus plating film 22 made of a nickel alloy is formed by reducing and depositing nickel cations derived from the metal salt. As described above, the electroless nickel-phosphorus plating treatment is performed until the film thickness of the electroless nickel-phosphorus plating film 22 becomes 15 μm or more. In addition, the electroless nickel-phosphorus plating treatment is individually performed on the constituent members such as the outer frame 14, the partition member 30 and the cooling pipe 48, and the constituent members 14, 30, 48 after the plating treatment are assembled. You may do it.

[Operation of Example]
Next, the operation of the automatic ice maker according to the embodiment will be described. Since the electroless nickel-phosphorus plating film 22 formed on the outermost layer of the ice making chamber 10 is an alloy, it is not corroded by most organic solvents at all and is good for organic acids, salts and alkalis. It has excellent corrosion resistance and is extremely resistant to rust. Further, the electroless nickel-phosphorus plating film 22 has a film thickness of 15 μm or more, so that the occurrence of pinholes reaching the substrate 16, the underlayer 24, and the adjustment layer 26 is suppressed, and the above-mentioned favorable results are obtained. Corrosion resistance can be sufficiently exhibited. Further, by setting the concentration of the phosphorus component contained in the electroless nickel-phosphorus plating film 22 to 10% to 15%, the corrosion resistance is excellent as compared with the case where the concentration of the phosphorus component is 10% or less. .. The corrosion resistance has been confirmed by a corrosion resistance confirmation test described later. The plating film applied to the outermost layer of the ice making chamber 10 generally has a thickness of 10 μm or less. This is because of the manufacturing reason that it takes time to form the coating film, and the reason that the thermal conductivity decreases and the plated coating film is easily peeled off by increasing the film thickness.

Since the ice making chamber 10 according to the embodiment has excellent corrosion resistance as described above, in the conventional ice making chamber 10 described with reference to FIG. 3, an automatic ice making machine is installed to perform ice making even in an environment where corrosion progresses. It can be carried out. Further, since the electroless nickel-phosphorus plating film 22 exhibits excellent corrosion resistance as described above, it is hard to be corroded by a disinfectant such as sodium hypochlorite or electrolytic acid water. Therefore, maintenance such as sterilization using the sterilizer can be performed, and the ice making chamber 10 can be kept more hygienic. Further, since the corrosion resistance of the ice making chamber 10 is enhanced by the electroless nickel-phosphorus plating coating 22, a coating applied to the lower layer of the electroless nickel-phosphorus plating coating 22 for the purpose of preventing the corrosion of the base material 16. Can be omitted. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 1A, even if the electroless nickel-phosphorus plating film 22 is directly formed on the outer surface of the base material 16, the occurrence of corrosion can be effectively suppressed. That is, when the electroless nickel-phosphorus plating film 22 is formed in contact with the outer surface of the base material 16, the labor required for the surface treatment of the ice making chamber 10 can be reduced, and the effect of improving the manufacturing efficiency can be expected. .. As shown in FIGS. 1(b) and 1(c), when a multilayer coating is applied, the certainty of preventing corrosion is enhanced.

[Experimental example]
A corrosion resistance confirmation test was performed on the ice making chamber 10 of the example to confirm the corrosion resistance. Further, as comparative examples, Comparative Example 1 in which the content concentration of the phosphorus component was 8%, Comparative Examples 2 and 3 in which the film thickness of the electroless nickel-phosphorus plating film 22 was made thinner than 15 μm, and the above electroless nickel-phosphorus The corrosion resistance confirmation test was also performed for Comparative Examples 4 and 5 in which the tin coating was applied instead of the plating film 22. In Experimental Examples 1 to 6 and Comparative Examples 1 to 3, the test is performed on the test piece provided with the electroless nickel-phosphorus plated coating 22 as in the example. However, the phosphorus component content concentration of the electroless nickel-phosphorus plating film 22 in Comparative Example 1 and the film thickness of the electroless nickel-phosphorus plating film 22 in Comparative Examples 2 and 3 are different from those of the examples. Further, in Comparative Example 4 and Comparative Example 5, the test is performed on a test piece plated with molten tin as in the conventional ice making chamber 10 described in FIG. The conditions of each experimental example and comparative example are shown in Table 1. The test A described below is performed on the experimental example 1, the experimental example 2, the comparative example 1, the comparative example 2, and the comparative example 3, and the test described below is performed on the experimental example 3, the experimental example 4, and the comparative example 4. B was performed, and for Experimental Example 5, Experimental Example 6 and Comparative Example 5, Test C described later was performed.

In the test A, a 5% sodium chloride (NaCl) aqueous solution and a 0.5% hydrogen chloride (HCl) aqueous solution were mixed to prepare a test solution, and the test solution was sprayed into a test tank at 35° C. The test piece is exposed to the test liquid for 168 hours. In the test B, the test piece was immersed in a 10 ppm sodium hypochlorite (NaClO) aqueous solution for 1500 hours. In the test C, the test piece was exposed to a hydrogen sulfide gas atmosphere of 5 ppm for 1500 hours. In the corrosion resistance confirmation test, it was mainly visually confirmed whether or not corrosion occurred on the test piece. The results are shown in Table 1. In addition, in the test results of Table 1, when the occurrence of corrosion was confirmed, it was evaluated as “x”, and when the occurrence of corrosion was not confirmed, it was evaluated as “◯”.

In Test A, corrosion was observed in Comparative Example 2 and Comparative Example 3 in which the electroless nickel-phosphorus plating film 22 had a film thickness of 10.4 μm and 10.8 μm, but the electroless nickel-phosphorus plating film 22 had a corrosion resistance. In Experimental Examples 1 and 2 in which the film thickness was 27.0 μm and 27.1 μm , no corrosion was confirmed. This is because in Comparative Example 1 and Comparative Example 2 in which the thickness of the coating is thinner than in Experimental Examples 1 and 2, the base material 16 exposed through the pinholes in the coating was oxidized, whereas the coating was thickened. It is considered that in Experimental Examples 1 and 2, there is no pinhole reaching the base material 16. Also in Test B and Test C, the electroless nickel-phosphorus plating film 22 had thicknesses of 15.2 μm, 21.0 μm, 15.1 μm, and 21.5 μm, respectively, Experimental Example 3, Experimental Example 4, Experimental Example 5, and Experiment. In Example 6, no corrosion occurred. From this, it was confirmed that sufficient corrosion resistance can be exhibited by setting the thickness of the coating film 22 to 15 μm or more.

In Comparative Example 1 in which the content of the phosphorus component in the electroless nickel-phosphorus plating film 22 was 8% (so-called medium phosphorus type), the film thickness was 15 μm or more, but corrosion was confirmed in the film. On the other hand, in Experimental Examples 1 to 6 in which the content of the phosphorus component of the electroless nickel-phosphorus plated coating 22 was 10% to 15% (so-called high phosphorus type), no corrosion was confirmed. Therefore, it can be confirmed that by setting the content of the phosphorus component of the electroless nickel-phosphorus plated coating 22 to 10% to 15%, sufficient corrosion resistance can be exhibited.

Further, in Comparative Examples 4 and 5 in which the thickness of the hot-dip plated film was 21.8 μm and 21.3 μm, respectively, corrosion was confirmed in the film. On the other hand, in Experimental Example 3 and Experimental Example 5 in which the thicknesses of the electroless nickel-phosphorus plating film 22 were 15.2 μm and 15.1 μm, respectively, no corrosion was observed in the film. From this, it can be confirmed that the electroless nickel-phosphorus plating film 22 exhibits higher corrosion resistance than the molten tin plating film.

[Modification example]
The invention according to the present invention is not limited to the configuration of the embodiment and can be modified as follows, for example.
(1) The layer structure between the substrate and the electroless nickel-phosphorus plating film is not limited to the examples. That is, a base layer and an adjustment layer different from those in the examples may be provided, or another layer may be provided.
(2) As the ice making unit, the ice making chamber for use in injection type automatic ice maker, not only the ice making plate to be used in the flow-down type ice maker for the constitution of the ice making chamber as the manufacturing ice portion, not limited to the examples .. For example, it may be of a type in which a frame body in which an ice making chamber is formed is provided on the lower surface of an ice making substrate in which a cooling pipe is arranged in a meandering manner. Further, the automatic ice maker is not limited to the independent type as in the embodiment, but may be one built in a refrigerator or a freezer. That is, the automatic ice making machine according to the present invention may be provided in an ice making space defined in a freezer of a domestic refrigerator, and the ice making unit in this case is arranged in the ice making space, It may be an ice tray or the like that is cooled by an evaporator connected to a refrigeration system to produce ice.
(3) The electroless nickel-phosphorus plating film may be formed at least in the outermost layer of the ice making portion in a range where ice is generated.

10 ice making chamber (ice making part), 14 outer frame (member), 16 base material ,
2 2 electroless nickel - phosphorus plating film 30 partition member (member)
4 8 Cooling pipe (evaporator , member )

Claims (1)

In an automatic ice making machine that circulates and supplies ice making water to the ice making unit cooled by the evaporator (48) to produce ice of a required shape,
An electroless nickel-phosphorus plating film (22) containing 10% to 15% of a phosphorus component is formed in the outermost layer of the ice making part (10) with a thickness of 15 μm or more,
The electroless nickel-phosphorus plating film (22) is directly attached to the outer surface of the base material (16) made of copper in the ice making part (10) after the members (14, 30, 48) are joined by brazing. automatic ice maker, characterized in der Rukoto those formed.

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