JPH01179879A - Ice making device for refrigerator and the like - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To contract a difference between ice making times of respective sections of an ice making pan, by a method wherein a ventilating passage is provided below a cooling plate and a ventilating hole is provided at the central part of the same while a rib is established at the outer periphery of the rear surfaces of central sections of the ice making pan so as to surround the ventilating hole. CONSTITUTION:An ice making device 24 is provided with a ventilating passage 14, provided below a cooling plate 22, a ventilating hole 23, provided at the central part of the cooling plate 22, and a rib 15b, established at the outer periphery of the rear surfaces of central sections 15a of the ice making pan 15 so as to surround the ventilating hole 23. As a result, a portion of cooling air which flows through the ventilating passage 14 flows through the central rear surface space of the ice making pan 15 after passing through the ventilating hole 23 and is stagnated in a division provided by the rib 15b. Accordingly, cooling of only the central sections 15a of the ice making pan 15 is promoted and the increase of the amount of heating of a heating plate 12 at the central part of the same is cancelled, whereby the freezing speed of the central sections 15a is not slowed down specially, a difference between the ice making times of respective sections 15a may be reduced and transparent ice may be produced efficiently.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ice-making device that is disposed in a freezer compartment of a refrigerator and is particularly capable of producing transparent ice.

2B-7 Conventional Technology Conventionally, in household refrigerators, etc., an ice making device that stores an ice tray is placed in one section of the freezer compartment, and the water in the ice tray is drained by the cooling effect of the cold air flowing through the ice making device. It is common practice to generate ice by freezing.

However, with this ice generation method, when ice is generated, the water in the ice tray progresses from the contact surface between the ice tray and the water and the contact surface between the cold air and water to the center. As a result, gaseous components and impurities dissolved in the water are trapped in the center of the ice, resulting in opaque ice with a cloudy center, which is sensually suitable for beverages such as whisky. It wasn't.

There has been a need for transparent ice for a long time, and a method as shown in FIG. 6, for example, has been considered for an apparatus for producing it. The contents will be explained below according to the drawings.

1 is the refrigerator main body, with a compartment wall 2, a freezer compartment 3 at the top,
The lower part is divided into a refrigerator compartment 4. 5 is 3 b.

The coolers 6 of the refrigeration cycle are blowers for forced ventilation, and are arranged on the back side of the freezer compartment 3, respectively. Reference numeral 7 denotes an ice-making device placed at the bottom of the freezer compartment 3, with a first ice-making compartment 8 for producing transparent ice in the upper stage and a second ice-making compartment for producing regular ice in the lower stage. There are 9.

The first ice making chamber 8 has an outer wall made of heat insulating material 1 except for the bottom surface.
On the top surface, an aluminum heating material 12 with a heater 11 disposed on the back surface is placed, and on the bottom surface, an aluminum cooling plate 13 is placed.

Reference numeral 14 indicates a ventilation passage formed in the upper part of the second ice-making compartment 9, and 15 and 16 indicate a first ice-making tray and a second ice-making tray stored in the first ice-making compartment 8 and the second ice-making compartment 9, respectively. This ice tray is divided into a plurality of sections 15d and 16a.

Reference numeral 17 denotes a discharge duct for forcing the cold air cooled by the cooler 5 into the ice making device γ by the blower 6, and the discharge duct 17 is used to forcefully ventilate the cold air cooled by the cooler 5 to the ice making device γ, and is connected to the ventilation passage 14 and the It communicates with the inside of the second ice making chamber 9. Reference numeral 19 denotes a return duct for returning cold air discharged into the freezer compartment 3 to the cooler 5. Further, 20 is a transparent ice making switch, and once the switch is turned on, the heater 1
1 is configured to be energized for a predetermined period of time.

In this configuration, the cold air cooled by the cooler 5 is supplied to the freezer compartment 3 and the refrigerator compartment 4 by the forced ventilation action of the blower 6, and at the same time is supplied to the ice making apparatus Y through the discharge port 18 of the discharge duct 1-17. It is discharged into the second ice making compartment 9 and the ventilation passage 14. The cold air guided into the second ice-making compartment 9 directly cools the second ice-making tray 1θ, and sequentially freezes the water inside from the water surface and the remaining surface that contacts the second ice-making tray 16. Generates regular ice. However, as mentioned above, the ice produced in this way is cloudy and does not become transparent. On the other hand, the cold air guided into the ventilation passage 14 cools the cooling plate 13. Therefore, in order to make transparent ice, the user stores the first ice tray 15 filled with water in the first ice making compartment 8 in the section 15a and turns on the ice making switch 20. From then on, the heater 11 starts a heating action of 5 pages via the heating plate 12, and from the lower surface, cooling, ie, freezing, starts via the cooling plate 13. Further, since the outer wall of the first ice tray 15 except for the lower surface is covered with the heat insulating material 10, it is not affected by the cooling effect from the freezer compartment 3, and the freezing action progresses from the lower surface to the upper surface. This freezing effect is caused by the cooling plate 1
In addition to the indirect cooling via the heater 11, the heating effect is added by the heater 11, which is set to an appropriate capacity in advance.
The rate at which ice grows and freezes is slower than the rate of diffusion of gaseous components in water, and ice making progresses without air bubbles being incorporated into the ice. If the freezing rate is controlled to approximately 3 rrvn/h or less in this way, the gaseous components in the water will be degassed from the surface of the frozen ice to the outside air, so the ice that is finally formed will have almost no bubbles. You can get clear ice without any contaminants. Further, the heater 11 automatically stops energizing after a predetermined time has elapsed, with some margin given to the required time, after ice making is completed.

Problem to be Solved by the Invention However, the first ice tray 15 is divided into several sections 15a as shown in FIG. 10, and the ice making time of each section 15a is shown in FIG. Similarly, there is a tendency for the speed of ■ in the central section 15a to be slow.

In order to obtain transparent ice in each section 15a,
It is necessary to set the capacity and energization time of the heater 11 so that section 15a (■), which has the fastest ice making time, can obtain clear ice, but if the ice making time (■) of section 15a in the center is delayed more than necessary, The problem was that it could not be frozen until the end.

In view of the above-mentioned problems, the present invention aims to reduce the difference in ice-making time between sections of an ice-making tray.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above problems, the ice making device of the present invention has a ventilation passage provided below the cooling plate and a central part of the cooling plate opposite to the back space between the sections of the ice tray. It consists of a ventilation hole and a rib standing on the outer periphery of the back surface of the central section of the ice tray so as to surround the ventilation hole.

Effect The present invention has the above-described configuration, so that the passage 71\- in the center of the cooling plate is
Cold air is introduced through the air holes, and the ribs surrounding the center allow the cold air to stay in the center, promoting cooling of the central section of the ice tray.

EXAMPLE Hereinafter, an ice making apparatus for a refrigerator or the like according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5. Incidentally, the same components as those in the prior art are given the same reference numerals, and detailed explanation thereof will be omitted.

Reference numeral 24 denotes an ice-making device provided at the lower part of the freezer compartment 3, with a first ice-making compartment 21 for producing transparent ice in the upper stage and a second ice-making compartment 9 for producing normal ice in the lower stage. ing. 23
is a ventilation hole provided in the center of the cooling plate 22, passing through the ventilation path 14 and the ice-making chamber 21, and facing the back space between the sections 15a of the ice-making tray.

Reference numeral 15b denotes a rib that stands up on the outer periphery of the back surface of the central section of the first ice tray 15.

In this configuration, a part of the cold air flowing through the ventilation path 14 passes through the ventilation hole 23, flows through the space on the back surface of the central portion of the first ice tray 15, and stays in the section provided by the rib 15b.

Therefore, the cooling of only the central section 15a of the first ice tray 15 is promoted, and the increase in the heating amount of the heating plate 12 in the central portion is offset, so that the freezing speed of the central section 15a is particularly slower than the others. First, the difference in ice making time between sections 15a is reduced, and transparent ice can be made efficiently.

As described above, according to the present invention, cold air is introduced from the ventilation hole in the center of the cooling plate, and the ribs surrounding the center part
Since cold air stays in the center, the ice making time is shortened and the difference between the ice making time and other sections is reduced, allowing efficient production of transparent ice.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of an ice making device such as a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line a-a in FIG. 1. Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view of a refrigerator equipped with the same ice-making device, Figure 4 is
The figure is a graph showing the time and temperature of the ice making tray section of the same ice making device, FIG. 5 is a front view of the ice making tray of FIG. Figure 7 is a cross-sectional view of the ice making device shown in Figure 6;
The figure is a cross-sectional view taken along line b-b in Figure 6, Figure 9 is a graph showing the time and temperature of each section when ice is made with the ice making device in Figure 7, and Figure 10 is the ice making device in Figure 7. FIG. 3 is a front view of the ice tray of the device. 10... Insulating material, 11... Heater (heating device), 12... Heating plate, 14... Ventilation duct,
15...First ice tray (ice tray), 15a...
・Section, 15b...Rib, 21...
・First ice making room (ice making room), 22...Cooling plate,
23...Ventilation duct, 24...Ice making device. Name of agent: Patent attorney Toshio Nakao and 1 other person 0~
To special η combination ＼〜γY ＼＼＼＼＼ｄ1/′) 1. /') N~N~ Area Figure 6 Figure 7-9 Figure 9 Figure 8 Time (hr) - Figure 10

Claims (1)

[Claims] a cooling plate, an ice-making compartment formed with the cooling plate as a bottom and an opening at the front, an ice-making tray stored in the ice-making compartment and placed on the cooling plate, and a heater provided above the ice-making tray. a heating plate equipped with a heating device such as, a ventilation passage provided below the cooling plate, a ventilation hole provided in the center of the cooling plate opposite to the back space between the sections of the ice tray; An ice-making device such as a refrigerator, which is equipped with a rib that stands up on the outer circumference of the back surface of the central section of the ice-making tray so as to surround a ventilation hole, and a heat insulating material that is placed inside the outer wall of the ice-making compartment except for the bottom and front surface. Device.