JPH02118375A - Ice making structure for flow-down type ice making machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce manufacturing cost and shorten ice removing time by a method wherein evaporating pipes are pinched by an opposing pair of ice making plates and grooves, functioning as the dropping flow passages of ice removing, water, are formed on respective ice making plates so as to be projected in the direction of intersecting with the transversal extending parts of the evaporating pipes. CONSTITUTION:Ice making water is sent to an ice making water sprayer 24 from an ice making water tank 18 through a pump and is supplied onto the ice making surface of an ice making plate 10 while spraying it through spraying holes 24a. The ice making plate 10 is cooled to a temperature below the freezing point of water by evaporating pipes 12. When ice plates 14, having a required thickness, are produced on the ice making surfaces of the ice making plate 10, it is detected by a sensor to switch a valve in a refrigerant circulating system and supply hot gas into the evaporating pipes 12. On the other hand, ice removing water is supplied to the rear surfaces of the ice making plate 10 while spraying it through an ice removing water sprayer 34 arranged above the ice making plate 10. In this case, the ice making plate 10 is provided with grooves 10 having required configuration in the direction of intersecting with the transversal extending par 12c of the evaporating pipes 12 whereby the sprayed water wherefrom ice is removed flows down through the grooves 10a and is diffused uniformly into the whole of the rear surfaces of the ice making plate 10.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] Industrial Application Field This invention forms wooden boards by circulating and supplying ice making water to an ice making plate set upright, and during deicing operation, deicing water is supplied to the ice making plate. In a flow-down ice maker that promotes ice removal, we have: 1) made it possible to use a thin metal plate with good thermal conductivity for the ice-making plate to reduce manufacturing costs; By distributing the deicing water temperature as evenly as possible to the ice making plate, which is a good thermal conductor, the deicing time is shortened.
It makes it easier to escape the stress caused by thermal fluctuations caused by repeated ice-making and de-icing operations, suppresses deterioration and peeling at the joint between the ice-making plate and the evaporator tube, and is also easy to process and sufficient for long-term use. This relates to an ice-making structure that can exhibit long durability.

PRIOR ART Conventionally, an evaporation tube led out from a refrigeration system is arranged on a vertically erected ice-making plate, and ice-making water is sprayed and supplied to the ice-making plate cooled by the evaporation tube to form ice sheets. Drop-down ice makers that peel off ice sheets and let them fall are widely used because they have a simple configuration and can reduce ice production costs.

The present invention relates to the ice making structure of this down-flow ice maker, so
First, the general structure of a down-flow ice maker will be briefly explained. 7th
As shown in the figure, an evaporation tube 12 led out from a refrigeration system (not shown) and meandering in the lateral direction is closely fixed to the back side of an ice-making plate 10 arranged vertically. Directly below this ice-making plate 10, a water collection plate 16 with a through hole 16a of m number is arranged at an angle, and the ice-making water supplied to the ice-making plate 10 during ice-making operation is
The ice is collected and stored in the ice-making water tank 18 located below through the through hole 16a. In addition, the water collection plate 16.

Sheet ice 14 that peels off and falls during deicing operation.

It also functions to guide the water to an ice crusher and a water storage (not shown) disposed diagonally below the water collecting plate 16.

An ice-making water supply pipe 22 led out from the ice-making water tank 18 via a circulation pump 20 is connected to an ice-making water sprinkler 24 provided on the front side of the ice-making plate 10 and on the ice-making surface side. A large number of water sprinkling holes 24a are bored in this ice-making water sprayer 24, and the ice-making water pumped from the tank 18 during ice-making operation is passed through the water sprinkling holes 24a and the deflection guide 26 to reach the freezing temperature of the ice-making plate 10. The ice cubes are dispersed and flowed down onto an ice making surface that has been cooled down to a temperature of 100.degree. C. to form sheet ice 14 of a required thickness on the ice making surface.

The illustrated ice maker is provided with a deicing water supply system in addition to the ice making water supply system described above. That is, when deicing, hot gas is circulated through the evaporation tube 12 by switching the valves of the refrigeration system to heat the ice-making plate 10, melting the ice between the ice-making surface and the ice plate 14, and melting the ice on the back surface of the ice-making plate 10. room temperature water,
Alternatively, heated water (hereinafter referred to as "deicing water") is sprayed to promote deicing by increasing the temperature.

For example, a deicing water supply pipe 32 led out via a pump 30 from a deicing water tank 28 disposed within the ice making machine is connected to a deicing water sprayer 34 provided at the top and back side of the ice making plate 10. During the deicing operation, the deicing water force-fed from the tank 28 is distributed and supplied to the back side of the ice-making plate 10 through a large number of watering holes 34a formed in the deicing water sprayer 34, and flows down.

The frozen surfaces of the ice making plate 10 and the ice plate 14 are thawed. [Ice plate 1
The de-icing water flowing down the back side of the ice-making water tank 18 is passed through the through hole 16a formed in the water collecting plate 16 in the same way as the ice-making water.
will be collected.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention In the conventional down-flow ice maker mentioned above, the ice making plate, which is an important part of the ice making structure, accounts for a considerable proportion of the manufacturing cost. In other words, copper plates with good thermal conductivity are generally used as ice-making plates, but due to repeated ice-making and de-icing operations, the ice-making plates are constantly subjected to large thermal changes due to cooling and heating. Copper plates are generally used that have a sufficiently large thickness to prevent deformations such as warping and bending. However, such a thick copper plate has the drawback that the purchase price is much higher than that of the same thin copper plate, and therefore the manufacturing cost is higher.

Also, the ice-making plate is cooled by an evaporator tube.

If the thickness of the ice-making plate is large, a large heat capacity will be required to sufficiently cool it to below freezing.
Therefore, the refrigeration system also becomes larger, which also increases manufacturing costs. Moreover, since the price of copper is greatly influenced by market conditions and is unstable, the above-mentioned drawbacks are further exacerbated in industries that use large quantities of copper materials.

In addition, during deicing operation, deicing water is supplied to the back of the ice making plate.
As described above, the evaporation tube is designed to meander in the lateral direction as shown in Figure 1, as described above to promote the separation of the ice cubes from the ice-making plates. For this reason, even if deicing water is supplied from the deicing water sprayer installed on the back side of the upper part of the ice making plate, the flow of the deicing water is partially obstructed by the evaporation tube that snakes in the horizontal direction, so that it is uniformly spread over the back side of the ice making plate. It has also been pointed out that the ice is not fully distributed, and as a result, it takes time for the frozen surface to thaw.

As shown in FIG. 8, the evaporation tube 12 is made to meander in the vertical direction (not in the horizontal direction), and its upper and lower curved portions 12a are slightly extended from the upper and lower horizontal ends of the ice-making plate 10. It is proposed to ensure a falling flow path for deicing water between adjacent straight pipe body portions 12b by doing so. But in this case.

Lower curved portion 12a of the evaporation pipe 12 where the refrigerant meanders in the vertical direction
The refrigerant becomes stagnant, preventing smooth circulation of the refrigerant,
Another drawback arises in that cooling efficiency is reduced.

Purpose of the Invention The present invention has been proposed in view of the above-mentioned drawbacks inherent in the ice-making structure of the down-flow ice maker according to the prior art, and has been proposed to suitably solve the problems. By making it possible to use a thin metal plate with good heat conductivity as the ice plate, manufacturing costs can be reduced, and by uniformly distributing the deicing water to the ice making plate, the deicing time can be effectively shortened, and ice making and deicing operations can be improved. To provide an ice-making structure that is difficult to cause deterioration and peeling at the joint between an ice-making plate and an evaporator tube even if large thermal fluctuations are applied by repeating the process, and which is easy to process.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to overcome the above-mentioned i+uti and suitably achieve the intended purpose, the present invention provides a system in which an evaporation tube led out from a refrigeration system is closely fixed to an ice-making plate set upright, and during ice-making operation, Ice-making water is circulated and supplied to the ice-making surface of the ice-making plate to form ice sheets, and the ice is removed.
I! In a falling type ice maker which accelerates deicing by supplying deicing water to the back side of the ice making plate when turning over.

The evaporation tube is made to meander in the lateral direction, and is sandwiched between a pair of ice-making plates facing each other.

Each ice maker is characterized in that a groove portion functioning as a falling flow path for the deicing water is formed to protrude in a direction transverse to the horizontally extending portion of the evaporation tube.

EXAMPLESNext, 1. The ice making structure of the down-flow ice maker according to the present invention will be explained with reference to the attached drawings, citing preferred embodiments. 2.The basic structure of the ice maker in which the present invention is implemented is as follows. , are substantially the same as those described in connection with FIG. 6, so the same members are designated by the same reference numerals.

In the ice making mechanism according to the embodiment, the evaporation pipe 1 meandering in the horizontal direction
2 is installed upright, and this evaporation tube 12 is connected to a pair of ice making plates 10.1.
0 are holding it oppositely. Ice making plate 1 used here
0 is made of a copper plate with excellent thermal conductivity, but this copper plate is a thin plate material with a significantly reduced thickness compared to the copper plate commonly used in the past. However, as described above, simply adopting a thin copper plate for the ice-making plate 10 will result in minor deformations such as warpage and bending.

Therefore, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, each ice-making plate 10 is provided with protruding grooves 10a at required intervals, which serve not only to reinforce the ice-making plate 10 but also to function as deicing water drop channels as described later. The evaporator tube 12 is also made of copper, which has excellent thermal conductivity.

Both of these evaporation tubes 12 and ice-making plates 10,
Preferably, the copper surface is subjected to anti-corrosion treatment such as tin plating.

As long as the groove portion 10a has the function of reinforcing the ice-making plate 10 and functioning as a falling channel for deicing water, there are no restrictions on its shape and length.

That is, the groove portion 10a is formed in a direction crossing the horizontally extending portion 12c (the portion excluding the curved portion 12a) of the evaporator tube 12, thereby ensuring a deicing water falling flow path in this portion. Therefore, the groove 10a may be formed as a protrusion that extends over the entire height of the ice-making plate 10, as shown in FIG. 1, or may increase the mechanical strength of the thin ice-making plate 10. (2) As shown in Figure 6.

It may be formed only at least in a portion corresponding to the horizontally extending portion 12c of the evaporation tube 12.

Note that the shape of the groove portion 10a is as follows in the cross section of the ice making plate 10:
a continuous portion joined to the lateral extending portion 12c of the evaporation tube 12;
As long as the extending portions 1.2c and the gap portions forming the deicing water flow paths C are made to alternately continue in a non-contact manner, they may be formed into a trapezoidal shape as shown in FIG. It may be an f4 type shape such as the chevron shape shown in FIG. 5(a) or the semicircular shape shown in FIG. 5(b).

Regardless of the shape, since a thin copper plate is used as the ice-making plate 10, processing to form the groove portion 10a is easy.

In addition, since the ice-making plate 10 and the evaporator tube 12 are both made of the same kind of metal with excellent thermal conductivity, such as copper, soldering and other technologically advanced methods such as brazing are the only means of fixing the contact parts. can be adopted. Moreover, since they are made of the same type of metal, the bonding is reliable, and even if exposed to thermal fluctuations due to repeated ice making and deicing operations, the risk of the bonded portion peeling off over time can be minimized.

Function of the Embodiment Next, the function of the ice-making structure of the down-flow ice maker constructed as described above will be explained. When the ice-making machine starts ice-making operation, refrigerant is circulated and supplied to the evaporator tube 12, and ice-making water is force-fed from the ice-making water tank 18 to the ice-making water sprayer 24 via the pump 2o, as shown in FIG. This ice-making water is sprayed and supplied to the ice-making surface of the ice-making plate 10 from the water sprinkling holes 24a. Since the ice-making plate 10 is cooled to below freezing point by the evaporator tube 12, the sprinkled ice-making water gradually freezes on the ice-making surface to form an ice layer 6
The ice-making water that is supplied to the ice-making plate 10 and has not yet frozen reaches the water collection plate 16 fixed to the lower end of the ice-making plate 10.
An equal number of them are placed in the tank 18 and subjected to recirculation.

As the ice-making operation progresses and ice sheets 14 of a required thickness are generated on the ice-making surface of the ice-making plate 10, a sensor detects this and switches the valve of the refrigerant circulation system to supply hot gas to the evaporation tube 12.

In addition, deicing water is sprayed and supplied to the back surface of each ice making plate 10.10 from a deicing water sprayer 34 disposed above the ice making plate 10. At this time, since each ice-making plate 10 is formed with a groove 10a having a desired shape in a direction intersecting the horizontally extending portion 12c of the evaporation tube 12, the sprayed deicing water flows down the groove 10a. The ice is evenly spread over the entire back surface of the ice-making plate 12.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the groove 10a extends over the entire height of the ice-making plate 12, but as shown in FIG. Even if the deicing water is formed only in the portion corresponding to the extending portion, the deicing water that has been sprayed smoothly flows down the groove portion 10a and is uniformly spread over the entire back surface of the ice making plate 12. Further, even when the groove portions 10a are provided not on the entire surface of the ice-making plate 10 but in a scattered manner at required locations, sufficient strength is imparted to the thin copper plate.

Effects of the Invention In the ice-making structure according to the present invention, an evaporation tube is closely fixed to an ice-making plate set upright, and ice-making water is supplied to the ice-making surface of the ice-making plate to form ice sheets. In a down-flow ice maker that supplies deicing water to promote the peeling of ice sheets, an evaporation tube is meandered in the horizontal direction, and this evaporation tube is sandwiched between a pair of ice-making plates facing each other, and each ice-making plate is provided with the de-icing water. A groove portion functioning as a falling flow path for ice water is formed to protrude in a direction crossing the horizontally extending portion of the evaporation tube.

■The formation of this groove increases the mechanical strength of the ice-making plate, so there is no longer a need to use thick copper plates as the material for the ice-making plate, which was previously required, and a thin copper plate can now be used. . This makes it possible to significantly reduce manufacturing costs, and in addition, since a small heat capacity is sufficient to cool the ice-making plate, the refrigeration system can be made smaller, which also contributes to lower manufacturing costs. Also, the use of thin material makes processing easier.

■When supplying de-icing water to the back of the ice-making plate to promote the peeling of the ice-board, this de-icing water can flow down through a groove formed protruding in a direction transverse to the lateral extension of the evaporation tube. , evenly spread over the entire back side of the ice cube. Therefore, together with the heating effect of the hot gas switched and supplied to the evaporation tube, v
i The time required to peel the ice sheet from the ice sheet can be shortened.

(2) Since steel, which has excellent thermal conductivity, is used as the same material for the ice-making plate and the evaporation tube, it is possible to perform good joining by brazing, which is technically perfected by soldering. Therefore, even if the bonded portion is exposed to large thermal changes due to repeated ice making and deicing operations, it will not peel off over a long period of time, and sufficient durability can be achieved.

■The structure has a pair of ice-making plates facing each other across the evaporation tube, which increases the yield per unit time and improves ice-making efficiency. Furthermore, since each ice-making plate is formed with the aforementioned grooves, the ice sheet formed on the ice-making surface will have a slightly thinner ice layer at the grooves, but the peeled ice cubes will be immediately crushed by a crusher. Therefore, this point is not an issue at all.

That is, according to the present invention, it is possible to use a thin heat-conducting metal plate for the ice-making plate, thereby reducing the manufacturing cost, and also to shorten the de-icing time by uniformly distributing the de-icing water to the ice-making plate. This has beneficial effects such as making it difficult for the joint between the ice-making plate and the evaporator tube to peel off even when large thermal fluctuations occur due to repeated ice-making and de-icing operations, and also making it easier to form the ice-making plate. .

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a schematic configuration of an ice making structure according to a preferred embodiment, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of essential parts showing a state in which grooves are formed in an ice making plate as an example, and FIG. 3 is shown in FIG. 1. A side view of the ice making structure, FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line IV-IV in FIG. 1, and FIGS. 5(a) and 5(b) are sectional views showing separate grooves formed in the ice making plate. , FIG. 6 is a schematic front view showing another embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing the schematic configuration of a conventional down-flow ice maker, and FIG. 8 is an evaporator tube meandering in the vertical direction. FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view of an ice making structure according to the configuration. 10... Ice making plate 12... Evaporation tube 10a...
・Groove

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] [1] An evaporation tube (12) led out from the refrigeration system is closely fixed to an ice-making plate (10) set upright, and during ice-making operation, ice-making water is poured onto the ice-making surface of the ice-making plate (10). In a flow-down ice maker that forms sheet ice by circulating supply and accelerates deicing by supplying deicing water to the back side of the ice making plate (10) during deicing operation, the evaporation tube (12) is arranged in a horizontal direction. At the same time, the evaporation tube (12) is connected to a pair of ice-making plates (10, 10) facing each other.
), and each ice-making plate (10) is provided with a groove (10a) that functions as a falling flow path for the deicing water and protrudes in a direction crossing the lateral extension of the evaporation tube (12). The ice-making structure of a down-flow ice maker. [2] The ice-making plate (10) and the evaporator tube (12) are both made of the same kind of metal with excellent thermal conductivity, such as copper, and the contact portion between each ice-making plate (10) and the evaporator tube (12) is 2. The ice making structure of a falling type ice making machine according to claim 1, wherein the fixation is performed by adhesive means such as brazing. [3] The ice-making structure of the down-flow ice-making machine according to claim 1, wherein the groove (10a) is formed as a protrusion extending over the entire height of the ice-making plate (10). [4] The groove portion (10a) is provided with at least the evaporation tube (12
2. The ice making structure of a down-flow ice making machine according to claim 1, wherein the ice making structure is formed only in a portion corresponding to a portion extending in the lateral direction of the ice making structure.