JPH02143071A - Ice removing structure for automatic ice making machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To remove ice blocks from second ice making small chambers smoothly by a method wherein downwardly opened grooves are formed at the rear side of a second ice making chamber so as to surround about and communicate the respective second ice making small chambers while groove passages 72, through which water from an external source flows, are defined by sealing the downwardly opened groove with a water pan. CONSTITUTION:Downwardly opened grooves 71 are formed at the rear side of a second ice making chamber 12 so as to surround and communicate respective second ice making small chambers 15 while groove passages 72 are defined by sealing the downwardly opened grooves 71 by a water pan 38. When the preparation of spherical ice blocks 1 is finished in the spaces of ice making small chambers 13, 15 of opposing first and second ice making chambers 11, 12 by circulating refrigerant into evaporators 14, a water supplying valve WV is opened to make city water to flow into the groove passage 72 through a water reservoir 65 to heat the wall surfaces of the second ice making small chambers 15 and melt frozen surfaces between the walls of the small chambers and the spherical ice blocks 1 while the water is made to flow into a tank 19 through the water discharging hole 63 of the water pan 38 and overflowed water is made to flow into a water discharging pan 69 along a water guide plate 67. Next, the second ice making chamber 12 is separated from the first ice making chamber 11 by pivoting a cam lever 17 and, thereafter, hot gas is introduced into the evaporators 14 to release the spherical ice blocks 1 from the first ice making small chambers 13.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] Industrial Field of Application This invention is capable of producing large quantities of ice cubes in the form of, for example, spheres or polyhedrons in a fully automatic manner! This invention relates to a deicing structure configured to smoothly remove ice from the ice making compartment of 12 ice blocks made in the ice making compartment in an ice making machine.

BACKGROUND ART In various industrial fields, automatic ice making machines that continuously produce large quantities of dice-shaped ice cubes, sheet ice of a required thickness, flake-shaped ice pieces, etc., are suitably used depending on the application.
For example, as an ice maker that produces the aforementioned ice cubes.

■ A large number of cube-shaped ice-making compartments are defined downward in the ice-making compartment, which can be opened and closed by a water tray from below, and ice-making water is injected from the water tray to each ice-making compartment to fill the ice-making compartments. The so-called closed-cell method is used to gradually form ice cubes.

(2) A so-called open cell system is known in which ice-making water is directly supplied to a large number of cube-shaped ice-making chambers that open downward, and ice cubes are formed in the ice-making chambers. In addition, ice makers that continuously produce sheet ice or fine crushed ice, and auger-type ice makers that continuously produce ice flakes are also in use.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention As mentioned above, most of the ice produced by various conventional ice making machines are cube-shaped ice cubes, sheet ice, other flaky ice pieces, and crushed ice. Only the above-mentioned ice cubes have the required shape and can be floated on drinks or used as a cooling bed for various foodstuffs (board ice also has a shape, but However, in recent years, coffee shops, restaurants, and other eating and drinking establishments have been working hard to differentiate themselves from other companies in order to gain an advantage over similar businesses in various ways and attract customers. Efforts are being made. As the ring, for example, a ball-shaped (spherical) block of ice can be used instead of the ice cubes that have been widely used in the past.
As a result, there is a tendency to try to provide immediate new changes to customers.

However, since this spherical water is widely used for eating and drinking, its commercial value will decrease unless it is clear and transparent ice cubes without cloudiness due to aeration. It also needs to be able to be produced in large quantities, but there has been no automatic ice-making machine for spherical water that meets this type of requirement. Therefore, the inventor of the present application engaged in the development of an ice making machine capable of producing a large amount of transparent and clear spherical water, and having obtained a mechanism that fully satisfies the above requirements, the inventor of the present application developed the basic concept in August 1988. On the 29th, he filed a patent application for his invention, an "automatic ice maker."

The ice-making machine according to the previous application includes: ■ a first ice-making compartment that defines a number of first ice-making compartments that open downward and is equipped with an evaporator on the back;
■Basically equipped with a second ice-making chamber that defines a number of second ice-making chambers that open upward, and during ice-making operation, both ice-making chambers close correspondingly to form irregularly shaped water such as spheres inside. It defines the space where In the ice maker having this basic structure, during deicing operation, the spherical water that has frozen in the 111th ice chamber can be actively melted and peeled off by passing hot gas through the evaporator. However, since the ice-making machine is further equipped with a second ice-making chamber, the problem to be solved is how to smoothly remove the frozen spherical water from the second ice-making chamber defined therein.

Purpose of the Invention The present invention has been proposed in view of the above-mentioned problems and to suitably solve the problems. It is an object of the present invention to provide a deicing structure with a novel configuration that can smoothly remove polyhedral ice blocks.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to overcome the above-mentioned 11 problems and suitably achieve the intended purpose, the present invention provides a system for injecting ice-making water into an ice-making chamber to form ice cubes in the ice-making chamber and freezing the ice-making chamber. This automatic ice maker is designed to recirculate ice-making water that has not reached the desired temperature.The ice-making machine is equipped with an evaporator on the back, is fixedly placed inside the machine, and has a number of first ice-making chambers of a desired shape that open downward. A second ice-making chamber formed with a large number of second ice-making chambers each having a desired shape and arranged to be movable toward and away from the first ice-making chamber and capable of correspondingly closing each of the first ice-making chambers from below. It consists of an ice-making compartment and a water tray disposed below the second ice-making compartment to supply ice-making water to the first ice-making compartment and the second ice-making compartment. The present invention is characterized in that a groove is formed that surrounds and communicates with the small chamber and opens downward, and the groove is sealed by the water tray to define a groove passage through which water supplied from the outside flows.

Embodiments Next, the deicing structure of an automatic ice maker according to the present invention will be described below with reference to preferred embodiments and the accompanying drawings. In addition, in the embodiment of the present invention.

An automatic ice making machine that continuously produces the spherical water 1 shown in FIG. 11(a) will be explained, but by simply changing the internal shape of the ice making chamber described later, a diamond-cut polyhedron as shown in FIG. 11(b) can be obtained. It can also be easily applied to the production of ice 2.

(Regarding ice removal structure) Fig. 1 schematically shows the main ice making structure of the automatic ice making machine according to the present invention in an ice making state. The first Ice making room 1
1, and a 21!2 ice compartment 12 which can be freely opened and closed from below. That is, a rectangular first ice-making chamber 11 made of a metal with good thermal conductivity is arranged and fixed horizontally in the upper part of the inside of an ice-making machine housing (not shown), and the first ice-making chamber 11 is arranged and fixed horizontally in a predetermined alignment pattern. A large number of small ice-making chambers 13 are recessed downward in the first ice-making chamber 11. Each of the first ice-making chambers 13 is formed as a hemispherical recess, and is set to have a diameter of 3 cm and a depth of 1.5 cm, for example. On the top surface of the first ice making compartment 11.

An evaporator 14 led out from a refrigeration system (not shown) is closely fixed in a meandering manner, and heat exchange of the vaporized refrigerant in the evaporator 14 is promoted by operation of the refrigeration system.

The first ice making compartment 11 is cooled down to below freezing point.

Immediately below the first ice making chamber 11, a second ice making chamber 12 made of a metal with good heat conductivity such as copper is provided so as to be tiltable as described later. The first ice making chamber 11 can be closed from below, and the first ice making chamber 11 can be opened during water removal operation. That is, in the second ice-making compartment 12, in correspondence with the first ice-making compartment 13 recessed in the first ice-making compartment 11, a large number of second ice-making compartments 15, which also have hemispherical recesses, are arranged upward in a required alignment pattern. It is recessed. The diameter of this second ice-making chamber 15 is also, for example, 3CI11, and the depth of the recess is set to 1.5 marks. Therefore, for the first vi ice compartment 11, the second ice compartment 12
When closed from below, both ice-making compartments 13, 15 correspond to each other, and a spherical space with a diameter of 30 mm is defined within each compartment.

As described above, the second ice making chamber 12 is constructed as a block body made of a material with good thermal conductivity such as copper, and each of the second ice chambers 15
A water tray 38 for spraying and supplying ice-making water to the ice-making chamber 12 is integrally fixed to the outer bottom of the second ice-making chamber 12 via bolts 60 shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, on the surface of the second ice-making compartment 12 opposite to the surface on which the second ice-making compartments 15 are formed (the surface facing the water tray 38), each of the second ice-making compartments 15 adjacent to each other is provided. A groove 71 that opens downward is formed between them. That is, each second ice making compartment 15 is
Surrounded by a groove 71 on the back surface of the ice making chamber 12,
The lower opening of this ) 71 is sealed with a water tray 38 .

During the deicing operation, which will be described later, the tap water supplied via the water supply valve WV fills the groove passage 72 defined between the groove 71 and the surface of the water tray, and fills the second ice making chamber 15 with tap water. It is configured to promote heating.

In addition, in the predetermined position of the groove 71 in the second ice making chamber 12,
A support 73 having the same depth as the groove 71 is provided in a protruding manner, and the bolt 60 is inserted into a hole 73a formed in the support 73. The second ice-making chamber 12 is bolted to the water tray 38 with the tip of the support 73 and the hole 12a (described later) in contact with the surface of the water tray 38.

The water tray 38 has a rear end that stands up at a right angle to the rear portion 6.
4 is formed at the open end of this rear part 64 and pivoted to a fixed part of the ice maker housing (not shown) by a pivot 16 so as to be tiltable and rotatable, and f! ! Actuator motor A mentioned above
[Second ice making chamber], 2 is rotationally biased by M. That is, by rotating clockwise as shown in FIG.
When it is opened and rotated counterclockwise, the second ice-making chamber 12 closes the first ice-making chamber 13, as shown in FIG.

On the back side of the water tray 38, fountain holes 25 communicating with each of the second ice making/11 chambers 15 are correspondingly bored, and a distribution pipe 24 for supplying ice making water to these fountain holes 25 is also provided on the back side of the water tray 38. It is arranged in a meandering manner. Further, below the water tray 38, an ice-making water tank 19 for supplying ice-making water to the distribution pipe 24 is integrally provided.

As shown in the figure, a through hole 12a is bored at the bottom of each second ice making compartment 15 in the second ice making compartment 12, and when the water tray 38 and the second ice making compartment 12 are fixed, each water fountain hole 25 is opened. The dimensions are set to correspond to the through hole 12a. During the ice-making operation, which will be described later, this through hole 12a supplies ice-making water to the ice-forming spaces defined in both ice-making chambers 13. It functions to suitably discharge water (hereinafter referred to as "unfrozen water"). A return hole 26 is provided adjacent to each fountain hole 25 of the water tray 38, and the unfrozen water discharged from the through hole 12a is returned to the ice-making water tank 19 through the return hole 26. .

(Regarding the water pan tilting mechanism and water circulation system) The actuator motor AM for tilting the water pan 38 is equipped with a speed reducer, and the cam lever 17 and the lever piece 37 are fixed to the rotating shaft thereof so as to extend in the radial direction. tip 1
A coil spring 18 is elastically engaged between 7a and the front end of the water tray 38. A cam surface 17b formed at the base of the cam lever 17 is dimensioned to be able to cam engage with the upper surface of the side portion 61 of the water tray 38. Further, a changeover switch S is disposed at a fixed portion that supports the first ice making chamber 11, and when the lever piece 37 is rotated by the rotation of the motor AM accompanying the deicing operation, the changeover switch S2 is changed over. , the motor AM is stopped, and the water tray 38 is stopped in a tilted state. It also functions to switch the refrigeration system valve and circulate hot gas to the evaporator 14.

Water supply pipe 2 led out from the bottom side of the ice-making water tank 19
1 communicates with a pressure chamber 23 provided on the side of the tank via a water supply pump 22, and further communicates from the pressure chamber 23 with the distribution pipe 24. Therefore, from the ice making water tank 19 to the pump 2
2 is injected into each of the second ice making compartments 15 through the water fountain holes 25 drilled in the distribution pipe 24 and the through holes 12a drilled in the second ice making compartment 12. It is supplied. In addition, during the ice-making operation described later, unfrozen water that has not frozen in both ice-making/h chambers 13.15 is transferred to the ice-making water tank 19 from the return hole 26 formed in the through hole 12a and the water tray 38. It is now possible to return it.

Further, in front of the water tray 38, a dam part 62 is provided which is set to be lower than the side part 61 by a predetermined dimension, and both ends of this dam part 62 are in close contact with both side parts 61. . Further, a drainage hole 63 of a required diameter is bored in the water tray 38 between the front end of the second ice making chamber 12 and the damming part 62. As a result, the inner surface of the water tray 38 has both sides 61,
6], A water reservoir portion 65 is formed which is surrounded by the dam portion 62 and the rear portion 64. At this time, the water stored in the water reservoir 65 is transferred to the Vf171 of the second ice making chamber 12 and the water tray 3.
8 and heats each of the second ice-making chambers 15. A part of the water stored in the water reservoir 65 flows down from the drain hole 63 to the ice-making water tank 19, and the other water overflows from the upper end of the dam 62 and flows from the front side of the water tray 38. It is arranged so that it flows into the tank 19.

Note that water is supplied to the ice-making water tank 19 by opening the water supply valve WV of the water supply pipe 27 connected to the external water supply system.

(About the temperature-sensing mechanism) A temperature-sensing part (probe) of an ice-making detection thermometer Th, which functions as an ice-making completion detection means, is disposed at a predetermined position on the upper surface of the 1i2 ice chamber 11, and another temperature-sensing section (probe) of the ice-making detection thermometer Th, which functions as an ice-making completion detecting means, is provided at a predetermined position on the upper surface of the 1i2 ice chamber 11. A temperature sensing part of a deicing detection thermometer Th2 functioning as a deicing completion detecting means is disposed at the position. Further, a temperature-sensing section of a thermometer Th is disposed at a required side of the second ice-making chamber 12, and the main body of the thermometer Th, which emits an electric signal, is attached to the rear portion 64 of the water tray 38.

(About the water guide plate) A drain tray 69 is provided below the ice-making water tank 19 to receive ice-making residual water and discharge it to the outside of the machine.
A water guide plate 67 fixed to a shaft 68 faces above. During the ice-making operation, the water guide plate 67 is positioned in contact with a positioning member 70 that extends and hangs down from the fixed part of the housing, and is positioned close to the open end of the tank 19 as shown in FIG. It's stopped. In this state,
When the ice-making water in the tank 19 overflows, as shown in FIG. 6, this water flows down along the back surface of the water guide plate 67 and is then discharged from the drain tray 69 to the outside of the machine.

Also, during deicing operation, as shown in Figure 7, the water guide plate 6
When the shaft 68 to which 7 is fixed is driven counterclockwise by a drive means (not shown), this water guide plate 67 will fall onto the upper surface of the second ice making chamber 12 which is in a tilted state (described later), and each second This results in the ice making chamber 15 being blocked. As shown in FIG. 8, the ice falling from the first ice making chamber 11 is caused to slide down on this water guiding plate 67 and is smoothly guided to a water storage (not shown).

Note that when the water tray 38 (second ice making compartment) returns to its original position, the water guide plate 67 is pressed by the water tray 38 returning to the horizontal state and rotates clockwise, as shown in FIG. , comes into contact with the positioning member 70 and stops. This water guide plate 6
7 is tilted by moving the center of gravity using the shaft 68 as a fulcrum.

Next, FIG. 10 shows a modification of the second ice making chamber 12 adopted in the deicing structure according to the present invention, and the second ice making chamber 12 is made of a thin material such as a sheet metal, and the thin material has a hemispherical shape. A large number of second ice-making chambers 15, each consisting of four shaped parts, are recessed upward in a desired alignment pattern.

More specifically, each of the second ice-making compartments 15 is recessed on the back side of the thin material (the side facing the water tray 38), and is connected to other adjacent second ice-making compartments 15 on this back side. A required groove 71 is formed between them. The second ice-making chamber 12 is fixed with the top of each second ice-making chamber 1.5 in contact with the water tray 38, and between the groove 71 and the surface of the water tray 38 there is a A groove passage 72 is defined which functions as a flow passage for external tap water during ice operation.

Furthermore, a through hole 12a communicating with the fountain hole 25 of the water tray 38 is bored at the top of each second ice making chamber 15.
a is for the ice making operation described later.

It functions to supply ice-making water to the ice-forming space defined in both ice-making compartments 13, 15, and to discharge unfrozen water that has not yet frozen in the space.

Function of the embodiment Next, the function of the de-icing structure according to the embodiment will be explained. First, in the ice-making operation, as shown in FIG. 1, the second ice-making chamber 12 closes the first ice-making chamber 11 from below, makes each first ice-making chamber 13 correspond to each second ice-making chamber 15, and closes the inside of the second ice-making chamber 12. It defines a space for ice formation. When the automatic ice maker is turned on in this state, ice making operation starts, and the steamer 5 installed in the first ice making compartment 13! ! Refrigerant is circulated and supplied to the first
The ice making compartment 11 is cooled. In addition, the ice making water from the ice making water tank 19 is pumped to the distribution pipe 24, and the ice making water is pumped to the distribution pipe 24.
The ice is injected into the spherical space defined by both ice-making compartments 13.15 through the four water fountain holes 25 and the through-hole 12a of the second ice-making compartment 12.

The injected ice-making water contacts the inner surface of the first ice-making chamber 13 and is cooled, moistens the second ice-making chamber 15 located below, and then is discharged from the spherical space through the through hole 12a. This unfrozen water is returned to the ice-making water tank 19 through the return hole 26 formed in the water tray 38 and is circulated again. As the circulation of the ice-making water is repeated, the temperature of the entire ice-making water stored in the tank 19 gradually decreases, and the temperature of the second ice-making chamber 15 also gradually decreases.

First, a portion of the ice-making water freezes on the inner wall surface of the first ice-making chamber 13 and an ice layer begins to form (see Figure 3), and the unfrozen water returns to the tank 19 through the through hole 12a and the return hole 26. As these operations are repeated, the growth of the ice layer further progresses, and as shown in FIGS. 1 is generated. In addition, if the ice making operation is ended at the timing when the ice making state shown in Fig. 3 is reached, the state shown in Fig. 11(c)
Hollow spherical ice as shown in Figure 2 is obtained. The hollow ice obtained in this manner can stimulate new demand for ice by filling the inner space with food such as cherries, drinks such as juice, and ornamental materials such as flower petals. Furthermore, by blowing by placing the perforated part of this hollow ice (the part corresponding to the fountain hole 25 and the return hole 26) against the lower lip, it can also be used as a whistle (ice layer).

You can get a unique taste.

To explain the progress of ice making in more detail, the second ice making chamber 12
As mentioned above, since it is made of a good thermal conductor made of metal such as copper, good heat conduction from the first ice making compartment 11 is achieved, and the appropriate cooling temperature between the first ice making compartment 11 and the ice making compartment 11 is quickly reached. becomes. For this reason.

At the same time that an ice layer is formed in the first ice making compartment 11, an ice layer is also formed in the fJ2 ice making compartment 12, resulting in the state shown in FIG. 3. Further, by forming the groove 71 on the back side of the second ice making chamber 12, the volume of the second ice making chamber 12 is reduced, which has the advantage of reducing heat load and improving cooling efficiency.

As shown in Part 5, when the production of one spherical ice is completed and the temperature of the first ice-making chamber 11 drops to the required temperature range, the ice-making detection thermo Th1 detects this temperature drop and stops the circulating supply of ice-making water. At the same time, the supply of refrigerant to the evaporator 14 is continued. Then, as shown in FIG. 6, open the water supply valve Wv,
Supply of water to the water reservoir 65 defined on the surface of the water tray 38 is started.

Since the amount of tap water supplied via the water supply valve Wv is large compared to the amount flowing down from the drain hole 63 to the tank 19, the water level in the water reservoir 65 gradually rises and finally reaches the dam part of the water tray 38. 62, resulting in an overflow. The water surface level of the water reservoir section 65 when overflowing is the same as that of the second ice making chamber 12.
By setting the temperature so that the water reaches near the upper end of the ice-making chamber 12, tap water at room temperature can mainly heat the second ice-making chamber 12.

At this time, each second ice compartment 15 in the second ice making compartment 12
Since the groove 71 is formed around the .

The groove passage 72 defined between the groove 71 and the surface of the water tray 38 is filled with water, thereby ensuring a sufficiently large contact area between the water and the 212th water chamber 12.

Therefore, the heat exchange efficiency between the water and the second ice making chamber 12 is improved,
The time required for deicing operation can be shortened.

The overflow water from the dam 62 is transferred to the water tray 38.
The water flows down into the tank 19 from the tip. The water level in the tank 19 gradually rises due to the water flowing in from the tip of the water dish and the water flowing down from the drain hole 63, and the water overflows from the tip of the tank in a short time, causing the water guide plate 67 to be in the standby position. It is discharged from the drain tray 69 to the outside of the machine along the same direction.

The 212th ice chamber 12 is heated by the tap water stored in the water reservoir 65 and the groove passage 72, and the temperature rises, and the freezing force between the wall surface of the second ice making chamber 15 and the hydrophobicity decreases. Also, the 1st f
The adhesion force of the ice formed on the surface close to the JA ice room 11 is also weakened. When the temperature of the 211th ice room 12 rises in this way,
This was applied to the Thermo Th.

is detected and closes the water supply valve Wv, and at the same time, the actuator AM is energized and starts rotating counterclockwise in FIG. As a result, as shown in Fig. 7,
The cam lever 17 rotates and the cam surface 1 formed at its base
7b forcibly presses the side upper surface of the water tray 38 downward.

As already mentioned.

Since the second ice-making compartment 12 is heated by tap water and the adhesion force between the first ice-making compartment 11 and the spherical ice 1 is reduced, the water tray 38 and the second ice-making compartment 12 are It is forcibly peeled off and begins to tilt diagonally downward. By tilting the water pan 38 and the tank 19, the ice-making water in the tank 19 and the water in the water reservoir are disposed of outside. By pushing a lever (not shown) with a part of the water tray assembly, the water guide plate 67 is reversed.

It tilts while leaning against the water tray 38. At the timing when the water tray 38 is tilted to the maximum, the lever piece 37
suppresses and energizes the changeover switch S2.

As a result, the motor AM stops its rotation and the tilting of the water tray 38 is stopped. As mentioned above, the water guide plate 67 is
The upper surface of the second ice making chamber 12 is covered to provide a smooth surface for sliding ice cubes down.

Furthermore, by switching the switch S2, the condenser fan motor (not shown) is stopped, the hot gas valve (not shown) is opened, hot gas is supplied to the evaporator 14, and the first ice making compartment 11 is supplied with hot gas. Heating has been done.

The frozen surface between the inner surface of the first ice making chamber 13 and the spherical ice begins to melt. Note that the first ice making chamber 11 has a water tray 38 as described above.
Since the cooling continues until the spherical ice cube 1 is tilted and opened, the freezing force (adhesion force) between the spherical ice cube 1 and the inner surface of the first ice cube compartment 13 is strong, and when the second ice cube compartment 12 is opened, the spherical ice cube 1 is As shown in the figure, the temperature of the first ice making compartment 11 is increasing because hot gas has been circulating in the evaporator 14 since a while ago. And the first
When the ice-making chamber 13 is heated to a sufficient temperature, the spherical ice 1 is unfrozen from the chamber wall and falls under its own weight.

As shown in FIG. 8, the water guide plate 67 is tilted and ready.
It lands on the surface and is collected by sliding into a water storage (not shown).

In this way, when all the spherical water 1 leaves the first ice making chamber 13, the first ice making chamber 11 moves to the evaporator 1, as shown in FIG.
The temperature rises all at once due to the hot gas circulating in step 4. When the deicing detection thermo Th2 detects this temperature rise,
At the same time as the deicing operation is completed, the motor AM reversely rotates to drive the cam lever 17. Therefore, the coil spring 1 is elastically engaged between the lever 17 and the water tray 38.
8, the water tray 38 and the ice-making water tank 19 are rotated counterclockwise and returned to the horizontal state.
The first ice making chamber 11 is closed again from below.

Next, the cam lever 17 is rotated by the reverse rotation of the motor AM.
The refrigeration system valve also rotates in the opposite direction, presses and energizes the changeover switch S2, switches the refrigeration system valve, and stops the supply of hot gas to the evaporator 14. Also, the water supply valve Wv is opened to supply new ice-making water to the tank 19 whose water level has decreased6, and the ice-making operation is restarted and the above-described operations are repeated.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION According to the de-icing structure according to the present invention, the first ice-making chamber includes a first ice-making chamber that opens downward, and a second ice-making chamber that opens upward. In relation to an ice-making machine that basically comprises two ice-making chambers and a water tray for supplying ice-making water to one ice-making chamber and generates ice blocks in an ice-forming space internally defined by opening one ice-making chamber; A groove is formed in the bottom of the second ice-making chamber, the groove and the surface of the water tray define a groove passage, and external tap water supplied onto the water tray during deicing operation flows into the groove passage. It is configured to allow Thereby, the spherical or polyhedral ice cubes that have frozen in the first chamber of the second ice making chamber can be smoothly removed in a short time. Therefore, the time required for deicing can be shortened, ice making capacity is improved, and tap water and electricity supplied for deicing can be prevented from being wasted, thereby effectively saving energy. Further, by forming the groove in the second ice making chamber, there is an advantage that the heat load on the second ice making chamber is reduced during ice making operation, and the ice making time can be shortened.

Furthermore, although the case has been described in which external tap water is directly used as the heating means, it is also possible to supply hot water heated by a heater, water heater, or the like. Furthermore, although the production of spherical water has been described, the present invention is not limited to this.
Of course, it is also possible to produce polyhedral water having other shapes.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show a deicing structure according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1 shows an initial state when the second ice making compartment is closed with respect to the first ice making compartment and ice making operation is started. A vertical cross-sectional view of the ice-making mechanism. Figure 2 is a schematic perspective view of the second ice-making chamber in Figure 1 viewed from the back side. Figure 3 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the ice-making mechanism. Figure 4 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the ice making mechanism showing the state in which spherical water has been formed.As the ice making process approaches completion, approximately solid spherical water is formed in the ice compartments on both sides, and the ice making mechanism in the tank begins to form. FIG. 3 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the ice-making mechanism section showing a state in which the water level is decreasing. Figure 5 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the ice making mechanism showing a state in which solid spherical water is formed in both ice break chambers after ice making is completed, and Figure 6 is a longitudinal sectional view of the ice making mechanism when ice making is completed and the water supply valve is opened. , a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the ice-making mechanism section showing a state in which water overflowing from the dam section due to a rise in the water level in the water reservoir section flows down along the back surface of the water guide plate and is discharged from the drain tray to the outside of the machine, No. 7 In the figure, the actuator motor is energized to tilt and open the second ice maker in a clockwise direction, and the water guide plate is moved to the 21st! i. A vertical cross-sectional view of the ice making mechanism section showing a state in which the ice making mechanism is collapsed onto the top surface of the ice making compartment to block each of the second ice making compartments. FIG. 8 shows a state in which spherical water falls from the first ice making compartment. FIG. 9 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the ice-making mechanism showing the state in which the ice-making mechanism slides down the water guide plate located at an angle directly below the ice-making mechanism.
FIG. 10 is a longitudinal sectional view of the ice making mechanism section showing a state in which the ice making chamber begins to rotate counterclockwise and the water guide plate is also returned to its original position, which is adopted in the deicing structure according to the present invention. A schematic perspective view of a modified example of the second ice making chamber viewed from the back side, FIG. 11(a) is an explanatory diagram showing spherical water, FIG. 11(b) is an explanatory diagram showing multifaceted water, Figure 11(c)
is an explanatory diagram showing hollow spherical water. 11...First ice compartment 13...First ice making compartment 15...Second ice making compartment 71...Groove 12...Second ice making compartment 14...Evaporator 38...Water tray 72 ...Groove passage

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] An automatic ice maker in which ice making water is injected into an ice making chamber to form ice cubes in the ice making chamber, and the ice making water that has not frozen is recirculated. A first ice-making compartment (11) is provided with a container (14), is fixedly arranged in the machine, and has a number of first ice-making compartments (13) of a desired shape that open downward.
), and a second ice-making chamber (15) of a desired shape, which is disposed so as to be movable toward and away from the first ice-making chamber (11) and capable of correspondingly closing each of the first ice-making chambers (13) from below. ) and a second ice-making compartment (12) which is arranged below the second ice-making compartment (12) and supplies ice-making water to the first ice-making compartment (13) and the second ice-making compartment (15). a water tray (38), and a second ice-making compartment (15) on the back side of the second ice-making compartment (12).
A groove passageway (71) that surrounds and communicates with the groove (71) that opens downward is formed, and the groove (71) is sealed by the water tray (38) to allow water supplied from the outside to flow through the groove (71). 72) A deicing structure for an automatic ice maker, characterized by defining: