JPH02195169A - Automatic ice making apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To generate ice having high transparency and high purity by providing a driver for rotating an ice making tray and a bottomless drip tray at supporting shafts as axes, and providing a drain tray and a drain pipe coupled to the drain tray under the drip tray. CONSTITUTION:When chilled gas cooled by a cooler 8 is forcibly ventilated on the water surface of an ice making tray 33 though a ventilation passage 59 by a blower 9 to start cooling action, freezing action is advanced unidirectionally from above the ice making tray 33 toward a downward direction, and ice having high transparency and purity in upper parts in small compartments 34 and unfrozen water having lower purity in lower parts coexist. When a driver 40 is operated in this state to rotate supporting shafts 38, 39, a drip tray 37 is first inverted, set above a drain tray 46, the ice making tray 33 is then rotated, the ice making tray 33 is deformed, ices in the small compartments 34 are separated, and small compartments set thereunder are dropped on the ice making tray and the bottomless drip tray 37 having a lateral symmetry. Simultaneously, and unfrozen water remaining in the small compartments 34 is dropped in the drip tray 37. Simultaneously, the unfrozen water remaining in the small compartments 34 is dropped in the drain tray 46, and discharged into an evaporation tray 56 through a drain tube 47 via a water guide tube 57.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic ice making device that is installed in a refrigerator or the like and is particularly capable of automatically producing transparent ice.

2. Description of the Related Art An automatic ice making device that has been conventionally employed in some household refrigerators will be described with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8.

Reference numeral 1 denotes a refrigerator body, which is composed of an outer box 2, an inner box 3, and a heat insulating material 4 filled between the outer box 2 and the inner box 3. Reference numeral 6 denotes a wall that divides the inside of the refrigerator main body 1 into upper and lower sections, and defines a freezing compartment 6 in the upper part and a refrigerating compartment 7 in the lower part.

8 is a refrigeration cycle cooler provided on the back side of the freezer compartment 6, and 9 is a blower for forcing the cold air cooled by the cooler 8 into the freezer compartment 6 and the refrigerator compartment 7.

Next, 10 is an automatic ice maker provided in the freezer compartment e,
A drive device 11 that includes a motor, a group of reduction gears (not shown), etc., an ice tray 13 that has a support shaft 12 connected and fixed to its center;
It is composed of a frame 14 and the like for pivotally supporting the ice making tray 12 on the driving device 11. Note that 16 is a stopper provided on a part of the outer shell of the drive device 11 in order to distort and deform the ice tray 13 to remove ice.
is a backing plate attached to the ice tray 13 so as to come into contact with the stopper 16. Further, 17 is the automatic ice making machine 1
This is an ice storage box located below 0.

18 is a water tank for storing water for ice making;
It is detachably provided in one section of the refrigerator compartment 7. Also 19
is a water supply port of the water supply tank 18, which is opened and closed by a valve 2o. 21 is a water storage tray provided below the water supply port 19 of the water supply tank 18, and when the water supply tank 18 is set with the water supply port 19 facing downward, the valve 2o is pushed up and the water supply port 19 is opened. It is configured so that Further, 22 is a water supply pump for pumping water received in the water storage tray 21, and 23 is a water supply pump 2.
This is a water supply pipe that is connected to the ice making machine 2 and is arranged so that its outlet faces the ice making tray 13 of the automatic ice making machine 1o.

In this configuration, when the water supply tank 18 filled with water is set at a predetermined position by the user, the valve 2o is pushed up, the water supply port 18 is opened, and the water storage tray 21 is filled with water. After that, the filled water is transferred to the water supply pump 22
The water is pumped up and poured into the ice tray 13 via the water supply pipe 23.

The water thus formed in a predetermined groove in the ice tray 13 is stored in the freezer compartment θ.
The cooling effect within the container causes it to freeze, producing ice. When ice making is finished, the ice making tray 13 rotates in reverse around the support shaft 12 due to the rotational action of the drive device 11, and the stopper 15 comes into contact with the backing plate 16, causing the ice making tray 13 to be distorted and deformed. The ice within 13 is released. Further, the ice that has been released falls into the ice storage box 17 and is stored, and the ice tray 13 whose ice removal action has been completed is returned to the drive device 11.
It returns to its original state by the reverse rotation action.

Thereafter, this action is repeated until the water in the water supply tank 18 is used up, thereby automatically making ice and storing water.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, with such an ice making method, the freezing of the water in the ice tray 13 when ice is generated is caused by the contact surface between the ice tray 13 and the water and the contact between the cold air and the water. As it progresses from the contact surface to the center, gas components, soluble salts, and insoluble impurities dissolved in the water are trapped in the center of the ice, resulting in a cloudy, opaque center. Furthermore, there is a problem in that the ice is low in purity and does not have a good taste, and is not sensually suitable for use in beverages such as whisky.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems, and aims to provide an automatic ice making device that can produce highly transparent and highly pure ice.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above problems, an automatic ice making device such as a refrigerator according to the present invention is provided in a heat insulating tank provided in one section of the cooling chamber, the top surface of which is open, and a heater provided at the bottom of the inner surface. The ice-making trays are superimposed, and the small compartments arranged in parallel with the ice-making trays are symmetrical with respect to the ice-making trays, and a driving device is provided for rotating the ice-making trays together with a bottomless draining tray about their respective support shafts. A drain tray and a drain pipe connected to it are installed below the drain tray, and a water supply tank, a water storage tray for receiving this water, and a water supply pump are installed outside the cooling chamber, and the water supply pipe is led to the top of the ice tray. It is composed of

According to the above-described structure, when a predetermined amount of water in the water tank is supplied into the ice tray via the water storage tray and the water supply pipe, the water is heated by the heat insulating effect of the heat insulating tank and the heating effect of the heater from the bottom. The cold air in the cooling chamber causes a unidirectional freezing effect from the ice surface downwards, and ice crystals are formed while gaseous components and impurities in the water are discharged into the water below. Next, when the ice reaches the appropriate thickness, the drive device is activated, and the ice cube tray rotates and reverses to release the ice, and the small compartment is symmetrical with the ice cube tray and placed on a bottomless draining tray. Unfrozen water with a high concentration of gas components and impurities due to falling ice is separated.
The water is drained and drained through the drain pan and drain pipe below.

Next, when the draining tray loaded with ice is rotated and reversed by the driving device, highly transparent and pure ice falls into the ice storage box and is stored.

Embodiment Hereinafter, an automatic ice making apparatus such as a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 6.

Incidentally, the same components as those in the prior art are given the same reference numerals, and detailed explanation thereof will be omitted.

24 is a partition wall containing a heat insulating material 26 inside, and a freezer compartment 26. A refrigerating chamber 27 is defined in the lower part. 2
Reference numeral 8 denotes a concave-shaped heat insulating tank with an open top surface, which is placed on the partition wall 24, and includes an outer frame 29 made of resin, a metal plate 3° (for example, an aluminum plate) placed on the bottom of the concave portion, and the outer frame. 2
9. A heat insulating material 31 surrounded by a metal plate 30 and the metal plate 3
It is composed of a heater 32 that is thermally conductively fixed to the back surface of the o. Reference numeral 33 denotes an ice tray whose outer shape is formed to overlap with the inner surface of the heat insulating tank 28, and an ice tray 33, which has a small section 34, a partition frame 35 that partitions this small section 34, and an ice tray formed on this partition frame to communicate between the small sections 34. It is composed of a communication groove 36 that allows the Reference numeral 37 is a bottomless draining tray in which the small compartments arranged in parallel with the ice tray 33 are symmetrical with the ice tray 33, and a first support shaft 38 is provided at one end of the ice tray 33;
A second support shaft 39 is connected and fixed to one end of the support shaft 39 . 4
゜ is a drive device that rotates the first support shaft 38 and the second support shaft 39 to rotate the ice making tray 33 and the draining tray 37, and has a motor, reduction gear group, etc. (not shown) inside. is built-in. Reference numeral 41 denotes a frame for pivotally supporting the ice making tray 33 and the draining tray 37 via the first support shaft 38 and the second support shaft 39 on the drive device 4o. 4
2.43 is a stopper provided on a part of the outer shell of the drive device 4o, and 44.45 is a stopper provided on a part of the outer shell of the drive device 4o, and 44.45 is the ice tray so as to come into contact with the stopper 42.43 when the ice tray 33 and draining tray 37 are reversed. 33 and draining plate 37, respectively. Next, reference numeral 46 indicates a drain plate provided below the drain plate 37, 47 indicates a drain pipe connected to the drain plate 46, and heaters 48 and 49 are respectively disposed for thermal conduction. Further, 50 is an ice storage box provided adjacent to the drain tray 46 below the drain tray 37 when it is in an inverted position. Furthermore,
The drain pipe 47 passes through the heat insulating material 26 of the partition wall 24 and the heat insulating material 4 of the main body 1, and communicates with a machine room 51 provided at the bottom of the main body 1. and 52 is an evaporator;
It consists of a heating plate 55 to which a high-temperature, high-pressure heating tube 64 connected from a compressor 63 of the refrigeration cycle is closely attached, and an evaporation plate 56 placed on the heating plate 55. Further, 67 is a water conduit pipe connected to the outlet of the drain pipe 4 to lead water into the evaporating dish 66.

On the other hand, 58 is a water supply pipe through which water temporarily stored in the water storage tray 21 from the water supply tank 18 is supplied to the ice making tray 33 by the water supply pump 22. One end is connected to the water supply pump 22, and the other end is connected to the ice tray 33. It is opened so as to face the curved surface of the ice tray 33. Further, reference numeral 69 denotes a ventilation passage that is located in the freezer compartment 28 and guides cold air to the upper surface of the ice tray 33;
0 detects the temperature inside the freezer compartment 26 and operates the blower 9;
This is a temperature control device that controls operation and stop of the compressor 63.

In this configuration, when the water supply tank 18 filled with water is placed in a predetermined position by the user, the valve 2o is opened.
is pushed up, the water supply port 19 opens, and the water storage tray 21 is filled with water. After that, the filled water is pumped to the water supply pump 2.
2, and water supply to the ice tray 33 is started via the water supply pipe 58. When water is supplied to one of the subdivisions 34 of the ice tray 33, a predetermined amount of water is supplied to the other subdivisions 34 through the communication groove 36 (the predetermined amount of water is supplied, for example, by stipulating the operating time of the motor of the water supply pump 22, etc.) (performed by means of This state is shown in FIG. 3. At this time, the draining tray 37
is in an inverted position away from the drain tray 46.

In this state, the blower 9 forces the cold air cooled by the cooler 8 through the ventilation path 69 onto the ice surface of the ice tray 33, thereby starting the cooling action. At the same time,
The heating action of the heater 32 disposed on the bottom surface of the heat tank 28 is started, and the metal plate 30 on the bottom surface is heated. Also, ice tray 3
Since the outer periphery of the ice tray 3 is surrounded by a heat insulating material 31 in the heat insulating tank 28, the cooling effect from the outer periphery is also suppressed, and the freezing effect is limited to the ice tray 3.
It progresses in one direction from above 3 to below.

If the freezing speed is moderately slowed down (for example, s
m/h) As ice formation progresses, gaseous components dissolved in the water and various impurities contained are precipitated outside the ice crystals and discharged into the unfrozen water below. In this way, the ice that is produced sequentially over time has extremely high transparency and is highly pure ice with few impurities. Then, as a predetermined cooling time elapses, ice of a required appropriate thickness (for example, 26 pieces) is generated. That is, as shown in FIG. 4, the state diagram shows a state in which highly transparent and pure ice coexists in the upper part of each small section 34 of the ice tray 33, and unfrozen water with reduced purity coexists in the lower part. It has become.

In this state, the drive device 40 is operated and the first support shaft 38 and the second support shaft 39 start rotating, and first the draining tray 37 is reversed and set above the draining tray 46, and then The ice making tray 33 rotates and leaves the heat insulating tank 28, and is reversed to a position close to and overlapping the draining tray 37 that was previously set. At the same time, the heater 3 in the insulation tank 28
The heating action of 2 is stopped. Then, the backing plate 44 fixed to the ice tray 33 comes into contact with the stopper 42 provided on the drive device 4o, and the drive device 40 then applies rotational force to the ice tray 33, so that the ice tray 33 is distorted and deformed. The ice in each small section 34 is released and the small section set below falls onto a bottomless draining tray 37 that is symmetrical to the ice cube tray. As a result, since the shape of the falling water and the shape of the small section of the draining tray are the same, the ice is stored in the small section of the draining tray.

At the same time, unfrozen water with increased concentration of gaseous components and impurities remaining in each subdivision 34 also flows out and falls, but since the draining tray 37 is formed in a lattice shape and most of the through holes are occupied, Then, the ice does not accumulate on the draining tray 37, but instead falls into the draining tray 46, where the ice and water are separated. That is, only ice with high transparency and purity is left on the draining tray 37. This state is shown in FIG. On the other hand, the unfrozen water that has fallen into the drain tray 48 is drained via the drain pipe 47 into the evaporator tray 66 of the evaporator 52 in the machine room 51 from the water conduit 57 . Thereafter, the water drained into the evaporating dish 66 is transferred to the heating plate 56 which is in close contact with the heating pipe 54 through which the high temperature, high pressure refrigerant gas from the compressor 63 flows.
is evaporated by the heating action of In addition, heaters 48 and 49 are installed to prevent water from freezing in the drain tray 46 and drain pipe 47.
A heating effect is performed as appropriate.

On the other hand, since the ice thus left has moisture attached to a portion of its surface, it is cooled and dried as it is for a suitable period of time. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 6, the drive device 40 is operated again, the first support shaft 38 and the second support shaft 39 are rotated, and the ice tray 33 is first rotated and stored and set in the heat insulating tank 28. On the other hand, the draining tray 37 is inverted from the top of the draining tray 46 and the backing plate 4 fixed to the draining tray 37 is placed above the ice storage box 50.
5 comes into contact with a stopper 43 provided on the drive device 4o.

Then, as the drive device 40 further applies rotational force to the draining tray 37, the draining tray 37 is distorted and deformed, and the ice placed on the draining tray 37 is released and placed in the ice storage box 50 provided below. falls and is stored as ice. This state is shown in FIG.

In this way, after the water supply tank 18 is set by the user, these series of steps are automatically repeated until the water in the water supply tank 18 is used up.

As a result, only ice with high transparency and purity is stored in the ice storage box 50, and the user can produce extremely sensually excellent ice for eating and drinking without much effort. can be fully used at any time.

Effects of the Invention According to the present invention, by separating unfrozen water containing gaseous components and impurities discharged as ice formation progresses, highly transparent and pure ice can be kept in the ice storage box. Since a large amount of ice is automatically stored, the user can use a sufficient quantity of highly sensually excellent ice for eating and drinking at any time.

However, since the draining tray is symmetrical with the ice tray and has no bottom, when the ice tray rotates, faces the draining tray, and drops the ice into the draining tray, the ice is stored in each small section of the draining tray below. In addition, there is no contact between ice cubes, and since there is no bottom, water can be drained easily.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an enlarged perspective view of essential parts of an automatic ice-making device such as a refrigerator showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a refrigerator equipped with the automatic ice-making device shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. A cross-sectional view showing the state in which water is supplied to the automatic ice making device shown in Fig. 1, and Fig. 4 is a sectional view showing the automatic ice making device shown in Fig.
A cross-sectional view showing a state in which ice making has progressed from the state shown in the figure. Figure 6 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which ice has been released and water has separated from the state in Figure 4. Figure 6 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which the ice storage box is more advanced than the state shown in Figure 5. FIG. 7 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a refrigerator equipped with an automatic ice-making device showing a conventional example, and FIG. 8 is an enlarged perspective view of essential parts of the automatic ice-making device shown in FIG. 7. . 18... Water supply tank, 21... Water storage tray, 22... Water supply pump, 26... Freezer room (cooling room), 28...・Insulation tank, 32...
... Heater, 33 ... Ice tray, 37 ...
・Draining plate, 38...First support shaft, 39...
...Second support shaft, 4o...Drive device, 4e
...Drain pan, 47...Drain pipe, 6o.
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Claims (1)

[Claims] a heat insulating tank with an open top surface provided in one section of the cooling chamber; a heater disposed around the bottom of the inner surface of the heat insulating tank; an ice tray that overlaps the inner surface from the opening of the heat insulating tank; and the ice tray. a first support shaft connected and fixed to one end; a draining tray with no bottom, which is installed in parallel with the ice tray, and whose small compartments are symmetrical to the ice tray; and a second support shaft connected and fixed to one end of the draining tray. a support shaft,
a drive device that rotates the ice tray about the first support shaft and rotates the draining tray about the second support shaft; a drain tray provided below the draining tray; A drain pipe connected to the drain tray, an ice storage box provided adjacent to the drain tray, a water tank provided outside the cooling chamber, a water storage tray for storing water from the water tank, and a water storage tray in the water storage tray. An automatic ice making device comprising a water supply pump for pumping water, and a water supply pipe connected to the water supply pump and led to the top surface of the ice tray.