JPH024185A - Promotion of ice making in automatic ice making machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To permit the starting of ice making in a first ice making chamber quickly upon re-starting ice making operation by a method wherein the first ice making chamber is forcibly cooled previously until a second ice making chamber is returned to a closed condition after melting and releasing ice blocks from second ice making small chambers after opening the first ice making chamber. CONSTITUTION:When all of spherical ice blocks 1 are released from second ice making small chambers 15, the temperature of a second ice making chamber 12 is risen gradually. The temperature rise of the second ice making chamber 12 is detected by a temperature detecting thermostat Th3 and the contact of the thermostat is switched from the side of the contact a-c into the side of the contact a-b. According to this switching, a feed water valve WV is closed and the conduction of a heater H is stopped while a terminal for return driving in a motor is conducted. Accordingly, a lever piece 37 is turned reversely by the reverse rotation of the motor and a changeover switch S2 is pushed to switch the contact from the side of the contact a-c into the side of the contact a-b to reopen ice making operation. In this case, ice blocks are not existing in first ice making small chambers 13 during a period of time until the contacts of the changeover switch S2 is switched into the side of the contact 1-b. A compressor is being operated however whereby the cooling of the first ice making chamber 11 in the condition of no load, which is effected by an evaporator 14, may be contin ued.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application This invention relates to a method for promoting ice making in an automatic ice maker that automatically produces irregularly shaped ice blocks such as spherical ice.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Automatic ice making machines that continuously produce regular hexahedral ice cubes, ice sheets of a required thickness, and other ice blocks are suitably used in various industrial fields 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 with a water tray from below, and ice-making water is sprayed 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 cubes are formed in a large number of ice-making chambers that open downward (without passing through a water tray) by supplying ice-making water directly to the chambers.

In addition, as an ice-making machine that continuously produces wood boards, an ice-making plate equipped with an evaporator connected to the refrigeration system is arranged at an angle, and ice-making water is supplied flowing down to the front or back side of the ice-making plate, and the ice-making plate is The flowing style, in which a plank is formed on top, is widely used. Furthermore, there is an ice making method in which the ice sheets obtained by the ice making machine described above are crushed to obtain fine granular crushed ice, and an ice making method in which water flows down and freezes on the inner wall of the cooling cylinder to form an ice layer, and this ice layer is rotated. An auger method is also used to obtain flaky ice by scraping it with an auger's cutting blade.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention As mentioned above, ice manufactured by various conventional ice making machines includes cube-shaped ice cubes, sheet ice, other flaky ice, and crushed ice.

Among these types of ice, the ones that have the required shape and can be floated on drinks or used as cooling beds for various foodstuffs are:
(Ice ice cubes are manufactured with a fixed shape, but cannot normally be used in their original size),
Recently, coffee shops, restaurants, and other service facilities have been making strenuous efforts to attract customers by differentiating themselves from their competitors in various ways. For example, instead of using cubed ice, which has been widely distributed in the past, we have adopted spherical ice, which will give customers 1.
There is a tendency to try to provide new changes that are one step ahead.

Since this spherical ice is widely used for eating and drinking, it must be clear and transparent ice cubes with high commercial value without clouding due to air inclusion, and it must also be able to be produced in large quantities. Until now, there has been no automatic ice maker that meets this type of requirement. Therefore, the inventor of the present application developed an ice-making machine capable of producing large amounts of transparent and clear spherical ice, and obtained a mechanism that fully satisfies the above requirements. On April 29th, he filed a patent application for his invention ``Automatic Ice Maker''.

The ice maker according to the above-mentioned construction consists of: ■ a first ice chamber that defines a number of first liter ice chambers that open downward and is equipped with an evaporator on the back;
Basically, it is equipped with a second ice-making chamber that defines a large number of second ice-making chambers that open upward, and during ice-making operation, the first and second ice-making chambers close correspondingly, and a spherical, etc. The ice forming space is configured to define an ice forming space. After performing ice making operation with this ice maker and producing ice blocks such as spherical ice in the space, it is necessary to shift to deicing operation and remove the ice blocks from both ice making compartments.

Therefore, the second ice-making compartment, which closes the first ice-making compartment from below, is forcibly separated from the first ice-making compartment, but at this time, the ice cubes themselves are firmly attached to the inner surfaces of the first and second ice compartments. Since both ice-making compartments are frozen, the order in which these ice-making compartments are thawed is important.

When the lid is closed and the first and second ice-making compartments are heated simultaneously, the unfrozen ice cubes in both ice-making compartments fall all at once as the second ice-making compartment is forcibly removed, and the second ice-making compartment opens upward. This is because it causes inconveniences such as the ice cubes getting caught in the ice making compartment and preventing the ice cubes from falling smoothly into the water storage.

For this reason, the inventor of the present application has proposed that one method for breaking ice is to first release the connection between the first ice-making chamber and the ice block during de-icing operation, and then rotate the second ice-making chamber. In January 1988, the company proposed an automatic ice maker with a configuration in which the first ice maker is opened with ice blocks attached to the 211th ice compartment, and then the ice blocks are melted and removed from the second ice maker. The patent application was filed on the 29th. In this method.

After the second ice-making compartment opens the first ice-making compartment, the first ice-making compartment remains unloaded for a period of time until the second ice-making compartment melts and detaches the ice blocks from the second ice-making compartment and returns to the closed state. This means that it is held open. Furthermore, when ice-making operation is resumed after switching from de-icing operation, if forced cooling of the first ice compartment by the evaporator is started from that point on, the first ice-making compartment of the first ice-making compartment will not reach the freezing temperature. , the required waiting time occurs as a time lag. The waiting time for the first ice-making chamber to reach the freezing temperature can be sufficiently compensated for by cooling the first ice-making chamber to the freezing temperature during the above-mentioned time. be.

Purpose of the Invention In view of the above-mentioned circumstances, the present invention is designed to effectively utilize the time it takes for the second ice-making compartment to open the first ice-making compartment, melt the ice cubes from the second ice-making compartment, and return to the closed state. The first ice-making compartment is forcibly cooled by an evaporator in advance, so that ice making in the first ice-making compartment can be started immediately when ice operation is restarted, and ice making with an automatic ice-making machine is performed. The first objective is to provide a method that can promote this.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to overcome the above-mentioned problems and suitably achieve the intended purpose, the present invention provides an evaporator disposed inside the ice maker main body and connected to the refrigeration system on the top surface. a first ice-making chamber having a plurality of first ice-making chambers recessed in its lower surface; and a first ice-making chamber rotatably supported inside the ice-making machine body, which correspondingly closes the first ice-making chambers from below during ice-making operation. A second ice-making compartment is provided with a large number of ice-making compartments, and a second ice-making compartment that separates from the first ice-making compartment to open the first ice-making compartment during deicing operation. After breaking the bond with the ice block first, the second! In an automatic ice-making machine configured to open the first ice-making compartment with ice cubes attached to its second ice-making compartment by rotating the ice compartment II, the second ice-making compartment opens the first ice-making compartment. After that, the first ice making compartment is continued to be cooled by the evaporator to maintain the first fB ice compartment in a supercooled state until the ice block is melted and released from the second ice making compartment and the first ice making compartment is returned to the closed state. .

It is characterized in that when the ice-making operation is restarted, the formation of ice blocks in the first ice-making compartment is promoted by the cold storage effect of the first fB ice compartment.

Examples Next, there are two methods for promoting ice making in an automatic ice maker according to the present invention.
A description will be given below with reference to the accompanying drawings in relation to a device that can suitably implement this.

In addition, according to the automatic ice maker according to the present invention, FIG.
In addition to the spherical ice 1 shown in ), it is also possible to manufacture diamond-cut polyhedral ice 2 as shown in FIG.

(About the ice-making mechanism) Fig. 1 schematically shows the main ice-making mechanism of an ice-making machine that automatically produces spherical ice in an ice-making state, including the slanted eleventh ice-making chamber 11 and this ice-making mechanism. The ice-making compartment 10 basically includes a second ice-making compartment 12 which can be opened and closed from below. The first ice making chamber 11 is a rectangular structure made of a metal with good thermal conductivity, and is fixed to the inside of the casing (not shown) of the H ice machine at a predetermined angle and tilted downward. A large number of open first ice-making chambers 13 are recessed in the lower surface of the first ice-making chamber 13 in a desired alignment pattern. Each first ice-making compartment 13 is formed as a hemispherical recess, and -
As an example, the diameter is set to 31, and the depth of the recess is set to 1.5 cm.

The upper surface of the first ice-making compartment 11 (that is, each first ice-making compartment 13
An evaporator 14 made of a tube that constitutes the - section of the refrigeration system (described later) shown in Fig. 2 is tightly fixed to the top of the evaporator 14 (the top of the evaporator 14). As a result, the first ice making chamber 11 is cooled down to below freezing point. Also during deicing operation.

By opening the hot gas valve HV in the control circuit shown in FIG. 4, hot gas can be supplied to the evaporator 14 and the first ice making chamber 11 can be heated.

The required first ice making compartment 1 in this 11i1 ice compartment 11
An ice-making detection thermometer Th is disposed on the top of the ice-making device 3.

This ice-making detection thermometer 1゛h is installed in the control circuit shown in Fig. 4, and its contacts a-a are closed during ice-making operation.
The contact point c-b is opened), and the contact point ca is set to be opened (the contact point e-b is closed) when the ice making operation is completed. Further, a de-icing detection thermometer 'I'h2 is disposed at the top of another first ice-making compartment 13, and this de-icing detection thermometer Th.

The contact is set to open only when the first ice-making chamber 13 is in a cooling state, and to close when the ice is separated from the ice-making chamber 13 and the temperature rises.

Immediately below the first ice-making compartment 11 is a second ice-making compartment 12 that closes the first small ice-making compartment 13 diagonally from below during ice-making operation and widely opens from the first ice-making compartment 11 during de-icing operation.
is installed. This second ice-making chamber 12 is also made of a metal with good thermal conductivity, and on its upper surface, a large number of second ice-making chambers 15 (consisting of hemispherical recesses corresponding to each of the first ice-making chambers 13) are arranged upward in a required alignment pattern. has been done. The diameter of the second ice making chamber 15 is also set to, for example, 31, and the depth of the recesses is 1.5. Therefore, when the first ice-making compartment 11 is closed by the second ice-making compartment 12 from below, both ice-making compartments 13.1
A spherical space with a diameter of 30 m is defined inside the 5.

In order to allow the second ice-making compartment 12 to be opened widely relative to the first ice-making compartment 11, one end of the second ice-making compartment 12 can be freely tilted via a pivot 16 at the top of the ice maker housing. It is attached to a bracket 45 that is pivotally supported. Therefore,
2nd ice making room 12.

When rotated largely clockwise around this pivot 16,
At the maximum angular position, as shown in Figure 3(a),
With the second ice making chamber 15 turned downward and turned over,
The first ice making compartment 13 is opened. In addition, the second ice making room 1
2 in the counterclockwise direction around the pivot 16, the first
The ice making compartment 13 is closed again.

Note that as the opening/closing means for the 2111j ice chamber 12, an actuator motor AM shown in FIG. 1 is suitably used.

A cam lever 17 and a lever piece 37 are commonly fixed to the rotating shaft of this motor AM.
A coil spring 18 is elastically engaged between the ice maker a and the front end of the second ice making chamber 12. Also, cam lever 1
The cam 17b formed at the base of the ice making chamber 7 is dimensioned so as to be able to engage with the side and surface of the second ice making chamber 12 that closes the first ice making chamber 11. The length of the cam lever 17 is such that its tip 17a engages with the second ice-making chamber 12, as shown in FIG. The dimensions are set. Furthermore, the first ice making chamber 11 is provided with a changeover switch S2 shown in the circuit diagram of FIG. a
-b side to contact a-c side.

In addition, a temperature detection thermometer 1゛h is disposed at a required part of the second ice making compartment 12, so that the temperature of the second ice making compartment 12 can be monitored. This temperature detection thermometer Th,
It is set so that when the temperature of the ice making compartment 12 is below a predetermined value, contacts a and c are closed, and when the temperature is above a predetermined value, contacts a and b are closed. 2nd I again! i An electric heater H for promoting deicing is buried around the bottom of the ice compartment 15, and when the ice making operation is completed, the second ice making compartment 12 is heated to the maximum extent compared to the first ice making compartment 11 by the operation of a motor AM, which will be described later. When separated,
The heater I] is energized. Each second ice making compartment 15
A through hole 12a of a required diameter is bored in the bottom of the ice making water and unfrozen water is supplied and discharged from a distribution pipe 24, which will be described later, through the through hole 12a.

Distribution pipe 2 equipped with a pressure chamber 23 on the back side of the second ice making chamber 12
4 are placed close to each other with a slight gap between them.

A fountain hole 25 corresponding to each of the second ice-making chambers 15 is bored in the distribution pipe 24. As shown in FIG. 1, when the second ice-making compartment 12 is closed to the first ice-making compartment 11, each of the water fountain holes 25 connects to the through hole 12a formed in the second ice-making compartment 15. It is designed to be responsive.

A side plate 49 extending downward from the lower edge of each periphery is fixed to the back surface of the second ice making chamber 12 to form a rectangular dam. As shown in the deicing state diagram in FIG.
It serves the function of accelerating the separation of the spherical water 1 from the second H ice chamber 15 by accumulating the required amount of water supplied from the ice compartment and overflowing the excess water.

As shown in the figure, an ice-making water tank 19 is installed directly below the first ice-making compartment 11 and the second ice-making compartment 12, and a water guide plate 48 extends obliquely upward from the main body of the tank. This water guide plate 48 has its lowermost edge bent downward to form a tank 19.
The unfrozen water is guided to the tank 19 through the bent edge, and the ice cubes during deicing slide down on this water guide plate 48 and are collected in the water storage (see Fig. 3). c)), the water supply pipe 21 led out from the ice-making water tank 19 is communicated with the pressure chamber 23 via the water supply pump 22, and when the water supply valve Wv is opened, the water supply pipe 21 led out from the ice-making water tank 19 is communicated with the pressure chamber 23 via the water supply pipe 27.
9 will be supplied with water.

(About the refrigeration system) Figure 2 shows the schematic configuration of the ice maker refrigeration system, and shows the compressor CM
The vaporized refrigerant compressed in the condenser 28 passes through the discharge pipe 34.
It is condensed and liquefied in the dryer 29, dehumidified in the dryer 29, depressurized in the capillary tube 30, expanded and evaporated all at once in the evaporator 14, thereby exchanging heat with the first ice making chamber 11, and exchanging heat with the first ice making chamber 11. The J ice chamber 13 is cooled down to below freezing. The vaporized refrigerant evaporated in the evaporator 14 and the unevaporated liquefied refrigerant flow into the accumulator 31 in a gas-liquid mixed phase state, where they are separated into gas and liquid. The gas phase refrigerant then returns to the compressor CM via the suction pipe 32, and the liquid phase refrigerant is stored in the accumulator 31.

Furthermore, a hot gas pipe 33 is branched from the discharge pipe 34 of the compressor CM, and this hot gas pipe 33 is communicated with the inlet side of the evaporator 14 via a hot gas valve HV. The hot gas valve HV is opened only during the deicing operation to bypass the high temperature refrigerant (hot gas) discharged from the compressor CM to the evaporator 14 via the hot gas pipe 33.
The ice chamber 13 is heated to melt the circumferential surface of the spherical ice formed inside the chamber and allow each ice block to fall under its own weight. Further, the high temperature refrigerant flowing out from the evaporator 14 flows into the accumulator 31, heats and evaporates the liquid phase refrigerant staying in this accumulator 31, and returns it to the compressor CM from the suction pipe 32 as a gas phase refrigerant. let Note that the symbol FM in FIG. 1 indicates a fan motor for the condenser 28.

(About the electrical control circuit) An example of the control circuit that operates the device shown in this example is as follows:
In the diagram shown in FIG. 4, a fuse F and a water storage detection switch S are provided in series between the power supply line R and the connection point, and between this connection point and the power supply line T. , compressor CM, and fan motor F'M via normally closed contact X-1b of relay X are connected in parallel.

Further, during deicing operation, the terminal a of the switch S2, which is switched as the second ice making chamber 12 is tilted, is connected to the connection point, and the switching contact of this switch S2 is connected to the power supply line T by the following elements. are connected in parallel.

■Timer T ■Series system of ice-making detection thermometer Th□ contact C1 contact a, relay X normally closed contact X-2b, and pump motor PM.

Note that a normally closed contact Tb of the timer T is interposed between the switching contact of the switch S2 and the pump motor PM.

■Normally open contact X-1a of relay X, ice-making detection thermo Th,
, normally open contact T a of timer T, and relay X in series.

■A series system between the normally open contact X-2a of the relay X and the hot gas valve HV, and a de-icing detection thermometer Th2 is interposed between the normally open contact The terminal of the motor AM is connected to the line 'I'.

Further, the switching contact C of the switch S2 is connected to the motor AM via the contact a-b side of the temperature detection thermometer 'I' h.
A water supply valve Wv and a heater H are connected in parallel between the switching contact C of the switch S2 and the line T. The timer T starts accumulating the required set time at the start of the 11 ice operation, and when the required set time expires, opens the normally closed contact Tb and closes the normally open contact 1'a. Let's do it.

(About the effect of the embodiment) Next, the method for promoting ice making according to the embodiment will be explained. First, turn on the automatic ice maker. At this time, since no ice blocks are stored in the water storage, the water storage detection switch S is closed, and the changeover switch S2 is connected to the contacts a and b. Since the first ice making chamber 11 is maintained at about room temperature, the ice making detection thermometer Th is connected to the contact ca side. The deicing detection thermometer Th2 closes its contact while the WI ice operation is in progress (the contact closes when the temperature of the first!l! ice chamber 11 exceeds a predetermined temperature value). Furthermore, since the temperature of the second ice making chamber 12 is higher than a predetermined temperature value, the temperature detection thermometer rh1 closes the contacts a and b at the beginning of the ice making operation.

Therefore, at the same time as the power is turned on, compressor CM and fan motor F
M, energization to the pump motor PM is started and ice-making operation begins, and the first ice-making compartment 11 is cooled by refrigerant circulation in the evaporator 14 provided in the first ice-making compartment 11. In addition, the ice making water 20 in the tank 19 is pumped to the distribution pipe 24, and each water fountain 25 in the distribution pipe 24 and the first ice making chamber 12 are
The ice is injected into the corresponding second ice-making compartments 15 through the through holes 12a formed in the ice cubes. Note that the timer T starts accumulating the required set time at the same time as the start of the ice making operation.

The sprayed ice making water is the best! After being cooled by contacting the inner surface of the ice chamber 11 and moistening the second ice making chamber 15 below, it falls through the through hole 12a formed at the bottom of the ice making chamber 15, and passes through the water guide plate 48. It is returned to the ice-making water tank 19 and subjected to circulation again. While this ice-making water circulation is repeated, the overall temperature of the ice-making water stored in the tank 19 gradually decreases. In addition, the second ice making compartment 12 has a part in the first ice making compartment 12! It is in contact with the ice making compartment 11, and the 2nd fR
Since the unfrozen water whose temperature has decreased is circulated in the ice compartment 15, the temperature of the second ice making compartment 12 itself gradually decreases to below the freezing point. For this reason, a portion of the ice-making water first freezes on the inner wall surface of the first vJ ice chamber 13 to form an ice layer, and the unfrozen water passes through the through hole 12a, which also serves as a return hole, into the ice-making water tank 1.
9, the growth of the ice layer further progresses, and finally spherical ice 1 is gradually formed in the spherical space defined by the first and second ice making chambers 13 and 15. be done. Note that as ice is generated in the second ice making chamber 12, the contacts a and b of the temperature detection thermometer 'I' h 3 are switched to the a and c sides.

During this time, the timer T times up and opens the normally closed contact Tb, and closes the normally open contact Ta.

When ice making in the first and second ice making chambers 13.15 progresses and the temperature of the first ice making chamber 11 falls to a required temperature range, the ice making detection thermo ThL detects this and the contact a-a is switched to contact c-b, thereby stopping energization to pump motor PM. In addition, the relay X is energized via the normally open contact Ta, which is currently closed,
1b is opened and power supply to fan motor FM is stopped. Further, by closing the normally open contact X-1a, the relay (See the timing chart in Figure 6).

As a result, the first ice-making chamber 11 is heated, and the freezing surface between the inner surface of the first ice-making chamber 13 and the spherical ice 1 starts to melt, thereby reducing the freezing force.

Also, since the de-icing detection thermometer Th2 closes the contact,
The tilt drive terminal m of the motor AM is energized, and the rotation of the cam lever 17 causes the base cam surface 17b to forcibly press the side upper surface of the second ice making chamber 12 downward. As already mentioned, since the first ice making compartment 13 and the spherical ice have been defrozen, the second ice making compartment 12 is forcibly separated from the first ice making compartment 11 and begins to tilt clockwise. And the second
As shown in FIG. 3(a), the ice-making chamber 12, with the spherical ice 1 still frozen in the second ice-making chamber 15, is finally turned over to a substantially reversed state, and the back side thereof is turned over. This leads to a posture that is directed diagonally upward. At this time, the second ice making compartment 1
The t half of the spherical ice 1 exposed from the ice making water tank 19
It is located above the water guide plate 48 of.

At the timing when the second ice-making compartment 12 reaches its maximum rotational position, the lever piece 37 presses and biases the changeover switch S2, as shown in FIG. Switch to Q side. As a result, the drive of the motor AM is stopped and the relay X is deenergized, so that the normally open contact X-1
a is opened and the self-holding of the relay X is released. In addition, the normally closed contact X-1b returns to closed and resumes operation of the fan motor FM, and the normally open contact X-2a also opens to close the hot gas valve HV and resume refrigerant supply to the evaporator 14. Then, cooling of the first ice making chamber 11 is started again.

At this point, since the spherical ice 1 is still attached to the second ice making compartment 12, the temperature detection thermometer Th remains switched to the contact point a-c side. Therefore, the contacts a - a of switch S2
By switching to the side, the water supply valve Wv opens and the water supply pipe 27
Tap water at room temperature is supplied to the back side of the second ice-making compartment 12, and the electric heater H is also energized.
M-pole heating is performed. 2nd i! As mentioned above, a rectangular weir is formed on the back side of the ice chamber 12 by the side plate 49, so as shown in FIG. 3(b), the required amount of external tap water at room temperature is stored in this weir. Said second ice making room 1
After increasing the temperature of 2 and overflowing the excess water,
The water is guided and collected into the tank 19 via the water guide plate 48. As a result, the ice between the second ice chamber 15 and the spherical ice 1 is melted, and as shown in FIG. (not shown). Note that the water introduced into the tank 19 raises its water level, and when it reaches a predetermined water level, it is discharged to the outside from the overflow pipe 50.

When all the spherical ice I leaves the second ice making chamber 15, the 211th! The temperature of the icebox 12 gradually rises due to the influence of the tap water still supplied from the water supply pipe 27. When the ice blocking the through holes 12a installed in each of the second ice making compartments 15 melts, the tap water drops from the through holes 12a, passes through the water guide plate 48, and enters the ice making water tank 19. (see FIG. 3(d)), the temperature detection thermometer Th detects the temperature rise in the second ice making chamber 12, and its contact a
Contact a switches from the -c side to the contact a -b side. As a result, the water supply valve W2 is closed, the heater H is de-energized, and the return drive terminal n of the motor AM is energized. Therefore, the motor AM rotates in the reverse direction and the cam lever 1
7, the coil spring 18 engaged between the lever 17 and the second ice-making chamber 12 urges the second ice-making chamber 12 counterclockwise to return to the tilted state, and the second ice-making chamber 12 is returned to the tilted state. 1 Close the ice making compartment 11 from the door side. Note that the motor A
Due to the reverse rotation of M, the lever piece 37 also rotates in the opposite direction, and the changeover switch S2 is pressed to change its contact point from the a-a side to the a-a side.
Switch to side b and restart ice making operation.

By the way, in the first ice making chamber 13, as shown in FIG. 3(b), during the previous deicing operation, the contact point of the changeover switch S2 was set to
There is no ice block between the time when the switch is switched to the a side and the time when the contact is switched to the a-b side as described above. Moreover, compressor C
Since M is in operation, the first ice making chamber 11 in this no-load state continues to be cooled by the evaporator 14.
Therefore, the temperature of the first ice making chamber 11 has fallen below the ice making completion temperature. Therefore, the contact point of the ice-making detection thermometer Th has already been switched from the a-a side to the c-b side.

In this state, the changeover switch S2 switches the contact a -
When switching to side b, the ice-making detection thermo T b detects the completion of ice-making, so instead of originally being supposed to continue ice-making operation, it enters water removal operation again, and from then on, cooling and cooling in the first ice-making compartment 11 is started. A hunting state occurs in which heating is repeated.

Therefore, in this embodiment, the timer T starts accumulating the required set time at the start of the ice-making operation, and does not accept a signal from the ice-making detection thermometer Th unless the set time expires. 6), that is, at the time when the selector switch S2 is switched to the contact a-b side.

Although the ice-making detection thermometer Th has been switched to the contact c-b side, the normally open contact Ta of the timer T is open, so the relay X is not energized. Therefore, normally closed contact X-1b of relay
rotates, and cooling of the first ice making chamber 11 by the evaporator 14 continues.

Further, since the normally closed contact '1'b of the timer T is closed, the pump motor PM is energized, and the ice-making water whose temperature has increased in the tank 19 is transferred to each water fountain 25 in the distribution pipe 24.
and through the through hole 12a.

The ice is injected into each corresponding second ice making compartment 15.

At this time, the first ice making chamber 11 is supercooled to below the ice making completion temperature, so the ice making water whose temperature has risen comes into contact with the first ice making chamber 11 and is rapidly cooled, and through this heat exchange. This causes the temperature of the first ice making compartment 11 to rise. When the temperature of the first ice making chamber 11 reaches the ice making completion temperature or higher,
The contact point of the ice-making detection thermometer Th is switched from the c-b side to the Qa side, and the pump motor PM is energized from this system as well.

When the user then turns away, the set time limit of the timer 'r times up, and the normally open contact 'ra closes.

Normally closed contact Tb is opened. For this reason, the pump motor P
Electricity is supplied to M only from the contact Q-8 side of the ice-making detection thermometer Th. When the ice making operation and deicing operation described above are repeated and a predetermined amount of spherical ice is stored in the water storage, the water storage detection switch S is opened and the operation of the ice maker is stopped.

Effects of the Invention As explained above, according to the method for promoting ice making in an automatic ice maker according to the present invention, the 1st fR ice chamber is sufficiently supercooled when ice making operation is restarted, and the pump motor is forcedly operated. Since the ice-making water is circulated to the first ice-making compartment, the ice-making water that comes into contact with the supercooled 111th ice compartment is rapidly cooled. Therefore, the ice-making water reaches the temperature required for freezing in a short time.

The start of freezing in the first ice-making compartment is accelerated, and the ice-making capacity per unit time is improved. Furthermore, within a predetermined time period after the ice-making operation is resumed, the ice-making completion signal from the ice-making completion detection means is controlled to be cut off, which effectively prevents the occurrence of hunting in which the ice-making operation is immediately switched to the de-icing operation after the ice-making operation is resumed. It can be prevented.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of an ice making mechanism that preferably implements the ice making promotion method of an automatic ice maker according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram of a general refrigeration system in an automatic ice maker, and FIG. 3 (a) ~(d)
In the device according to the example. The second ice-making room has been transformed into the first! An explanatory diagram showing over time the state in which spherical ice is separated from the second ice compartment and then released from the second ice compartment toward the water storage. FIG. 4 is an example of an ice making control circuit that controls the operation of the device according to the embodiment. Figure 5(a) is an explanatory diagram showing spherical ice, Figure 5(b) is a circuit diagram showing spherical ice.
6 is an explanatory diagram showing multifaceted ice, and FIG. 6 is a timing chart when the operation of the ice making apparatus according to the embodiment is controlled by the ice making control circuit shown in FIG. 4. 11...First ice making room 12...Second ice making room 13.
...First ice making compartment 14...Evaporator 15...21st
1 ice chamber

Claims (1)

[Claims] It is disposed inside the ice maker main body, and includes an evaporator (14) connected to the refrigeration system on the top surface, and a first ice making chamber (14) on the bottom surface.
A first ice-making chamber (11) having a plurality of recessed ice-making chambers (13) is rotatably supported inside the ice-making machine body, and correspondingly closes the first ice-making chamber (13) from below during ice-making operation. A second ice-making compartment (12) is provided with a large number of second ice-making compartments (15), and separates from the first ice-making compartment (11) to open the first ice-making compartment (13) during deicing operation. In the deicing operation, the first ice making chamber (11) and the ice blocks are first uncoupled, and then the second ice making chamber (12) is rotated to open the second ice making chamber (12). 15) in an automatic ice making machine configured to open the first ice making compartment (11) with ice blocks attached to the ice cube, after the second ice making compartment (12) opens the first ice making compartment (11), The evaporator (14) melts and leaves the second ice making chamber (15) until it returns to the closed state.
The cooling of the first ice making compartment (11) is continued to maintain the first ice making compartment (11) in a supercooled state, and when the ice making operation is restarted, the first ice making compartment (11) is cooled by the cold storage effect of the first ice making compartment (11). A method for promoting ice making in an automatic ice making machine, characterized by promoting the formation of ice blocks in a chamber (11).