JPH0315986Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] Industrial application field This invention is a pump motor that can immediately melt the flocculent ice generated in the ice-making water circulation path of an automatic ice-making machine and prevent the formation of cloudy ice. It is related to the structure of

Prior Art FIG. 11 shows a schematic structure of a downstream type automatic ice maker, in which ice making water stored in an ice making water tank 1 is passed through a pump motor 6 and a hose 2 shown in FIG. 12 to a sprinkler pipe 3. Ice-making water is sprayed onto ice-making plates 4 arranged at an angle.
Since the ice-making plate 4 is cooled by an evaporator (not shown) connected to a refrigeration system attached to the back thereof, plate-shaped ice is gradually formed on the plate surface. Upon detecting the formation of this ice sheet, the ice making operation is stopped, the refrigeration system valve is switched, hot gas is supplied to the evaporator, the ice is thawed between the ice making surface and the ice sheet, and the ice sheet is transferred to the ice making plate. A large number of ice cubes are produced by sliding the ice cubes down from the ice cubes 4 and melting them with a grid-shaped heating wire 5 located on the falling locus.

FIG. 12 shows a sectional view of a conventional pump motor for pumping ice-making water. This pump motor 6
includes a motor 7, a cylindrical body 8 supporting the motor 7, a pump chamber 9 fixedly installed at the bottom of the cylindrical body 8 and immersed in water in the tank 1, and a rotating shaft 10 of the motor 7. It basically consists of a screw 11 which is attached and rotatably housed within the pump chamber 9. Through holes 12 and 13 are formed in the peripheral wall of the cylindrical body 8 at a submerged position close to the pump chamber 9 and at a position above the water surface close to the motor 7, respectively.
is drilled. Further, a water suction hole 14 is formed in the bottom surface of the pump chamber 9, and a discharge port 15 is formed in the side wall of the pump chamber, and the end of the hose 2 is connected to the discharge port 15. The screw 11 is
A disc 16 connected to the motor shaft 10 and a disc 16 which is curved in the rotational direction as shown in FIG.
6 and three blades 17 protruding from the water absorption hole 14 side.

The pump motor 6 configured in this manner is generally called a vertical pump because the motor 7 is installed above the water surface, but it is widely used because it does not require a mechanical seal to prevent water leakage and can be manufactured at low cost. That is, a gap 18 formed between the motor shaft 10 and the top of the pump chamber 9 through which this shaft 10 passes.
However, since ice-making water enters and exits through this gap 18, the through holes 12, 12 are provided in the main body 8 to ensure a water circulation path and to control the water level inside the cylindrical main body 8. The through hole 13 is formed so that the motor 7 will not be infiltrated even if the motor 7 rises.

During the ice-making cycle, the screw 11 is driven to rotate in the pump chamber 9 by the rotation of the motor 7, and the ice-making water in the tank 1 is sucked in through the water suction hole 14, and is force-fed through the discharge port 15 and the hose 2.
The water is sprinkled onto the ice-making plate 4 from the sprinkler pipe 3. A part of the ice-making water sprinkled onto the ice-making plate 4 is rapidly cooled and grows as sheet ice, while the remaining unfrozen water comes into contact with the ice-making plate 4 and the ice being formed and is cooled. In a state where the temperature has decreased, the ice is returned to the tank 1, mixed with the ice-making water in the tank 1, and then sucked into the pump chamber 9 again to repeat the circulation.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention When the ice-making cycle proceeds using the conventional pump motor 6, the cooled unfrozen residual water that returns to the tank 1 gradually cools the entire ice-making water in the tank 1. . As a result of the ice-making water thus cooled being pumped from the tank 1 and sprayed again onto the ice-making plate 4, the ice-making water is supercooled below the surface of the ice-making plate, and begins to freeze with impurities in the water as nuclei. Incomplete ice having a cotton-like or mud-like appearance (hereinafter referred to as "cotton ice") is generated in spots in the ice-making water.
This cotton ice flows down into the water tank 1 together with the unfrozen water, and cotton ice is also generated within the tank. This cotton ice is sucked into the pump chamber 9, gets stuck between the blades 17 of the screw 11, and condenses into a cylindrical shape as a whole. This phenomenon is more likely to occur as the cooling gradient is made steeper in order to cool the ice making water sprinkled on the ice making plate 4 in a shorter time and increase the amount of ice made.

When the cotton ice gets stuck between the blades 17 of the screw 11 and becomes cylindrical, the pump discharge pressure decreases and pulsation occurs, the amount of spray from the sprinkler pipe 3 decreases, and eventually the ice-making water circulates. leading to suspension.
Furthermore, if the amount of sprinkled by the water sprinkler pipe 3 is reduced or the spraying stop time is prolonged as described above, the flocs generated on the ice making plate 4 will become uneven ice 19 as shown in FIG. 11, and the appearance This causes the formation of cloudy ice with poor appearance. In extreme cases, the ice-making plate 4 is extremely supercooled, and the ice-making completion thermostat reacts even though no ice is growing, causing the ice-making cycle to start.

Purpose of the invention The purpose of this invention was proposed in order to suitably solve the problems of the prior art described above.The purpose of this invention was to make it possible to immediately melt the generated cotton ice, thereby eliminating cloudy ice. An object of the present invention is to provide a pump motor for an automatic ice maker having a structure that prevents growth.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to suitably achieve the above object, the pump motor of the automatic ice maker according to the present invention is provided with a valve for introducing warm water capable of melting cotton ice into the pump chamber. The valve is characterized by being configured to open in response to a difference between internal and external pressures.

Function When cotton ice is generated, the water absorption hole provided in the pump chamber is temporarily clogged before the cotton ice flows into the pump chamber. Then, while water is discharged from the discharge port, the amount of water absorbed decreases, so that the pressure inside the pump chamber temporarily becomes negative relative to the water pressure inside the water tank. The valve opens due to the difference in pressure between the inside and outside of the pump chamber, and relatively high-temperature water (melted cotton ice) in the water tank is introduced, and the melted cotton water is pumped into the sprinkler pipe. , the cotton ice stuck in the water absorption hole melts and the water absorption hole opens again. This prevents water circulation from being cut off during the ice-making cycle and avoids the formation of cloudy ice. Note that cotton ice can be easily melted with water at a temperature slightly higher than that of the cotton ice, so there is no need to prepare melting water separately; rather, relatively high-temperature water from the water tank can be introduced into the pump chamber. do it.

Embodiments Next, preferred embodiments of the pump motor of the automatic ice maker according to the present invention are shown in FIGS. 1 to 10.
This will be explained with reference to the figures. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention applied to a vertical pump, and FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of the main parts of the pump shown in FIG. 1. The bottom of the ice-making water tank 21 to which the pump motor 20 is attached is formed to bulge downward so as to accommodate a pump chamber 22, which will be described later.
The ice-making water in 1 is stored. The pump motor 20 according to this embodiment includes a motor 24 located above the water surface, a pump chamber 22 disposed in the recess 23 of the tank 21, and supports the motor 24 and the pump chamber 22 above and below. The screw 27 is housed in the pump chamber 22 and is connected to the lower end of a motor shaft 26 to be rotationally driven.

The peripheral wall of the cylindrical body 25 has a motor 2 above the water surface.
A circulating water inlet 28 extending from the vicinity of the pump chamber 4 to the vicinity of the submerged pump chamber 22 is bored. Also, the cylindrical body 2
A water suction hole 29 that introduces the water that has passed through the inside of the pump chamber 22 into the pump chamber 22 is made large at the top of the pump chamber 22.
6 is passing through. The screw 27 includes a disc 30 fixed to the end of the motor shaft 26, and a disc 30 fixed to the end of the motor shaft 26.
It consists of a plurality of blades 31 that protrude toward the water absorption hole 29 side and are curved in the direction of rotation. Furthermore, a discharge port 3 is provided on the side wall of the pump chamber 22.
2 is provided protrudingly, and the ice-making water discharged from this discharge port 32 is passed through a pipe joint 33, a hose 34, and a pipe joint 3.
5 to the hose 2 which communicates with the sprinkler pipe 3.

In the pump chamber 22, a valve device 37 is provided at a lower bottom portion 36 of the screw 27 facing the lower surface of the disc 30, as shown in FIG.
That is, the valve device 37 includes a thread-shaped valve body 38 and a valve hole 39 formed in the lower bottom portion 36. As shown in FIG. 4, the valve body 38 includes a disc-shaped valve body 40 that is removably seated on the opening end (valve seat) of the valve hole 39 facing into the pump chamber 22, and It is composed of a shaft portion 41 having a smaller diameter and a disk-shaped stopper 42 fixed to the other end of the shaft portion 41. In addition, as shown in FIG. 3, the peripheral wall of the valve hole 39 and the lower bottom portion 36 are provided with water to guide the movement of the valve body 38 within the valve hole 39 and to allow water to flow in when the valve body 38 is opened. Four protrusions 43 are provided to secure the road. By forming a recess 44 inside the pump chamber 22 of the lower bottom portion 36 as shown in FIG.
The valve body 38 is spaced apart from the end of the motor shaft 26 to prevent the valve body 38 from interfering with the motor shaft 26 even when the valve body rises when the valve is opened.

Next, the operation of the pump motor according to this embodiment configured as described above will be explained with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6. First, when water is supplied into the ice-making water tank 21, the amount of water increases from the bottom of the recess 23, and the water pressure causes the valve element 38 to rise and fill the valve hole 39.
Ice-making water enters the pump chamber 22 from the ice-making water. When the valve device 37 is completely submerged in water, the valve body 38 is lowered by its own weight, and the valve body 40 is seated on the valve seat of the valve hole 39, thereby closing the valve. When the amount of water further increases, the ice-making water passes through the inlet 28 and the inside of the main body 25, and enters the pump chamber 22 through the water suction hole 29.

When the ice-making water tank 21 becomes full and the ice-making cycle begins, the motor 24 rotates and drives the screw 27 to rotate, and the ice-making water in the pump chamber 22 is force-fed to the discharge port 32, and the water sprinkler pipe shown in FIG. 3 to the ice making plate 4 is increased. At this time, since the amount of water sprinkled is smaller than the amount of water passing through the water intake hole 29, the water pressure inside the pump chamber 22 becomes higher than the water pressure outside the pump chamber 22, and the valve device 37 is in the closed state as shown in FIG. Retained. The unfrozen residual water that came into contact with the ice-making plate 4 and returned to the tank 1 due to its temperature drop returns to the pump chamber 22, the discharge port 32, the sprinkler pipe 3, the ice-making plate 4, the upper part of the tank 21, the inlet 28, and the main body. 25 and the circulation path of the water absorption hole 29 . However, the water below the valve device 37 in the pump chamber 22 remains at a relatively higher temperature than the water above the tank 21.

The amount of ice-making water returned from the ice-making plate 4 to the tank 21 is 0.
When the temperature drops below 0.degree. C. and the amount of supercooled water increases in the upper part of the tank 21, ice fluff forms and wraps around the metal motor shaft 26 (FIG. 6). This cotton ice is about to be sucked into the pump chamber 22, and the water absorption hole 29
becomes obstructed. Therefore, the water pressure in the pump chamber 22 becomes relatively negative pressure, and the valve body 38 is sucked upward by the negative pressure, and the valve body 40 is moved away from the valve seat of the valve hole 39, thereby opening the valve. Then, the relatively warm water (cotton ice melt water) staying at the bottom of the recess 23 of the water tank 21 flows through the opened valve hole 39.
The pump is introduced into the pump chamber 22 through the pump. This melted cotton ice water flows from the pump chamber 22 to the discharge port 32 to the sprinkler pipe 3.
→ Ice making plate 4 → Tank 21 → Water flows through another circulation path from the bottom of recess 23 to continue sprinkling water from sprinkler pipe 3, thereby preventing the formation of cloudy ice.

On the other hand, this cotton ice melt water melts some of the cotton ice sucked into the pump chamber 22, and also melts some of the cotton ice drawn into the pump chamber 22.
Thaw the cotton ice stuck in the In addition, the cotton ice stuck inside the main body 25 gradually melts due to the switching of the cooling water circulation path, and comes to float on the water surface of the tank 21. The water channel of the hole 29 is communicated. Then, the water pressure in the pump chamber 22 increases again, the valve device 37 closes, and water is taken into the pump chamber 22 from the water intake hole 29.

Next, FIG. 7 shows another embodiment of the valve device shown in FIG. 2. In this embodiment, a bottomed hole 45 is bored in the center of the shaft portion 41 of the valve body 38, an end extension 46 of the motor shaft 26 is inserted into the bottomed hole 45, and the valve body 38 extends from this hole 45. It is configured to be movable along section 46. This eliminates the need for a valve guide (FIG. 3) provided around the valve hole 39, and allows the flow path of the valve device to be set larger.

FIG. 8 shows an embodiment in which the valve body 38 of the valve device 37 is arranged offset from the rotation center of the motor shaft 26, and a filter 47 for preventing cotton ice from being sucked into the water absorption hole 29 is provided. As shown in this embodiment, the valve device 37 may be disposed anywhere as long as it is on the side opposite to the water absorption hole 29 (that is, on the side where cotton ice is not present). Further, by providing the filter 47, cotton ice does not directly enter into the pump chamber 22, and when cotton ice occurs, it immediately clogs the filter 47, so that the pump chamber 22 is suddenly clogged.
This has the effect of increasing the response speed of the valve device 37 because the pressure inside the valve device 2 becomes negative.

Valve body 3 of valve device 37 used in each of the above embodiments
No. 8 is a pincushion-shaped valve device configured to directly receive water pressure inside and outside the pump chamber, but the present invention is not limited to this type of valve device, and may be applied to other types, such as a reed valve or a negative pressure inside the pump chamber. It goes without saying that the valve device may be configured to open the valve device electrically by separately detecting the pressure. The mechanism in which the valve body is directly opened and closed by the water pressure difference between the inside and outside of the pump chamber, as in the embodiment, is advantageous because it has a simple structure and is inexpensive. Further, by forming the valve body into a pincushion shape, even if the valve body rotates due to the rotation of the water in the pump chamber 22, it has the effect that the original operation can be performed stably without causing any trouble.

Furthermore, Fig. 9 shows an example in which a magnetic pump is used as a horizontal type pump motor.
The ice-making water tank (not shown) has a chamber A, into which the cooled water returned from the ice-making plate 4 directly flows, and a chamber B, which communicates with the chamber A but is separated by a partition wall, as shown in FIG. As such, a water suction hole 55 provided approximately at the center of the side of the pump chamber 50 communicates with the A chamber, and a water suction port 56 provided on the outer peripheral portion of the side portion communicates with the B chamber.

Inside this water inlet 56, there is a valve seat 57 formed by constricting the water inlet, the B chamber and the pump chamber 5.
a ball valve 58 that directly responds to the water pressure difference between the
A valve arrangement is provided which consists of a stopper 59 which prevents the ball valve 58 from moving into the pump chamber 50. Note that a discharge port 60 is provided in the peripheral wall of the pump chamber 50.

The pump motor having such a configuration takes in water from the A chamber of the water tank through the water intake port 55 and discharges it from the discharge port 60 during the ice making cycle before cotton ice is generated. At this time, the ball valve 5 inside the water intake port 56
Since the water intake port 56 is located on the outer peripheral side, the valve 8 is pressed against the valve seat 57 under high pressure and is in a closed state.
When cotton ice is generated and the water intake port 55 is clogged, the inside of the pump chamber 50 becomes relatively negative pressure, and the ball valve 5
8 is removed from the seat and the valve is opened, and the relatively warm water remaining in the B chamber of the water tank is introduced into the pump chamber 50 through the water intake port 56, and the cotton ice clogged in the water intake port 55 is removed. While being melted, the circulating water continues to be discharged from the discharge port 60. The circulation of this warm water also melts the cotton ice that has formed inside the tank. Note that this horizontal type pump motor is usually equipped with a filter to prevent the intrusion of irregular shapes in the water intake port 55, and this filter acts to prevent the intrusion of cotton ice, as described in the embodiment shown in FIG. do.

In each of the above embodiments, the screw was rotated by a motor shaft, but it is also possible to use other types of motors, such as a magnetic pump type motor that uses a motor that rotates the screw without contact using the external magnetic attraction force of a magnet. It goes without saying that the present invention can be applied.

Effects of the invention As explained above, according to the invention, even if cotton ice is generated in the ice-making water circulation path of an automatic ice-making machine,
Since this cotton ice is melted immediately and the supply of ice making water to the ice making unit is not obstructed, the formation of cloudy ice is effectively avoided and a large quantity of high quality ice with high commercial value can be produced. . In the illustrated example, ice cubes are produced by spraying ice making water onto ice cubes arranged at an angle, and the ice cubes are melted into a large number of ice cubes using grid-shaped heating wires. The present invention can also be suitably implemented in a fountain-type automatic ice-making machine in which ice cubes are formed in each compartment by supplying ice-making water from a fountain correspondingly into a large number of ice-making compartments that open downward. .

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a sectional view of a vertical pump motor according to a first embodiment of the pump motor for an automatic ice maker according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of the main parts of the pump shown in Fig. The bottom view of the pump chamber shown in the figure, Figure 4 is an external view of the valve body shown in Figure 2, and Figures 5 and 6 are explanations of the operation of the pump motor shown in Figure 2 before and after ice formation, respectively. 7 are sectional views of essential parts of a pump motor according to a second embodiment of the present invention,
FIG. 8 is a sectional view of a main part of a pump motor according to a third embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 9 is a cutaway front view of a main part of a horizontal pump motor according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
0 is a sectional view taken along the line X-X in FIG. 9, FIG. 11 is an external view showing a schematic configuration of a conventional automatic ice maker, FIG. 12 is a sectional view of a conventional vertical pump motor, and FIG. The figure is a cross-sectional view of the pump chamber showing the screw structure. 3...Water pipe, 4...Ice making plate, 20...Pump motor, 21...Ice making water tank, 22,50...
...Pump chamber, 24,52...Motor, 26,53
... Motor shaft, 27, 51 ... Screw, 2
9, 56...Water suction hole, 32,60...Discharge port, 3
7... Valve device, 38, 58... Valve body, 47... Filter.

Claims (1)

[Scope of claim for utility model registration] (1) The ice making water in the ice making water tank 21 is
In the pump motor of an automatic ice maker, the screws 27, 51 disposed in the ice chambers 2, 50 are rotationally driven by motors 24, 52, and the ice is fed under pressure to the ice making section 4 in the circulation path.
50 is provided with a valve device 37 that opens in response to a pressure difference between the indoor and outdoor areas and can introduce relatively warm water in the ice-making water tank 21 into the pump chambers 22 and 50. automatic ice maker pump motor. (2) The pump motor for an automatic ice maker according to claim 1, wherein the pump motor is of a vertical type. (3) The pump motor for an automatic ice maker according to claim 1, wherein the pump motor is of a horizontal type. (4) The valve bodies 38, 58 of the valve device 37 are opened and closed by directly receiving the pressure inside and outside the pump chambers 22, 50.Claims 1 to 3 of the Utility Model Registration Claims A pump motor for an automatic ice maker according to any of the above. (5) The pump chamber 22 is provided with a filter 47 for preventing cotton ice from flowing into the water suction hole 29. Automatic ice maker pump motor.