JPH0332716B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (a) Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to an auger-type ice maker, and particularly to a method for releasing supercooling of a cooling cylinder.

(b) Prior art Japanese Patent Publication No. 1983-40259 discloses that a hot gas valve is provided between the compressor and evaporator of a refrigerant system to bias a condenser and an expansion valve, and a hot gas valve is provided between the compressor and the evaporator of the refrigerant system. A pressure switch is provided in the hot gas valve, the water supply valve, and the drain valve are connected to the hot gas valve, the water supply valve, and the drain valve, and when the refrigerant pressure decreases due to overcooling of the cooling cylinder, the pressure switch is turned on, and the hot gas valve and the drain valve are opened. , a protection device for an auger-type ice maker that closes the water supply valve is disclosed.

(C) Problems to be Solved by the Invention In this prior art, ice that has abnormally frozen inside the cooling cylinder is melted using hot gas and then drained, but the heat from the hot gas is first transferred through the cooling cylinder. to melt the ice that is in contact with the inner surface of the cylinder. As a result, the melted part forms a cavity, and the heat of the hot gas is then transferred to the cooling cylinder and then to the ice via the cavity. In other words, ice melting by hot gas is
When cavities are formed, the heat conduction to the ice gradually decreases, making it unsuitable for uniform ice melting and requiring a long ice melting time.

Furthermore, the configuration of bypass pipes and hot gas valves added to release supercooling has become extremely expensive.

(d) Means for solving the problem In order to solve the above problem, the present invention provides, when the supercooling detection means detects supercooling of the cooling cylinder,
The compressor and auger motor are stopped, the drain valve is opened, water is continued to be supplied to the cooling cylinder, and the sensible heat of the water flowing into the cooling cylinder is used to remove abnormally frozen ice inside the cooling cylinder. This is a method for releasing supercooling in an auger-type ice maker that melts the ice and drains it from the drain pipe.

(E) Effect According to the above method, when the supercooling detection means detects the supercooled state of the cooling cylinder, the compressor and auger motor are stopped and the drain valve is opened. At this time, water in the water storage tank continues to flow into the cooling cylinder through the water supply pipe. The ice that has abnormally frozen within the cooling cylinder is uniformly melted and drained by the sensible heat of the water flowing into the cooling cylinder.

(F) Embodiment Figure 1 shows a system diagram of an auger ice maker that implements the present invention, and 1 shows a refrigerant circuit together with a condenser 4, etc., which is forcedly air-cooled by an electric compressor 2 and a blower 3. It is a cooling cylinder with an evaporation pipe 5 wound around its outer surface, and an ice cutting auger 6 is rotatably supported inside the cylinder 1 by an upper bearing 7 and a lower bearing 8. This ice cutting auger 6 is connected to an auger motor 10 via a reducer 9,
Ice grown on the inner surface of the cooling cylinder 1 is scraped off and transferred to a plurality of compression passages 11 formed on the outer periphery of the upper bearing 7. The compressed and hardened ice is transported to the cooling cylinder 1.
It is emitted from the ejection cylinder 12 connected to the upper part of the. 1
A water storage tank 3 determines the water supply level of the cooling cylinder 1, and the bottom of the tank 13 and the lower part of the cooling cylinder 1 are constantly connected through a water supply pipe 14. 15 is a water pipe that supplies water to the water storage tank 13;
Water level detection device 1 that detects the water level of the water storage tank 13
A water supply valve 17 controlled by 6 is connected thereto. The water level detection device 16 employs a float system in which a reed switch in the pipe is opened and closed by a magnet built-in float 16A that rises and falls depending on changes in the water level, and the upper reed switch 16B is connected to the water supply valve 17.
The lower reed switch 16C is used for detecting water outage. A drain pipe 18 is connected to the lower part of the cooling cylinder 1, and is equipped with a drain valve 19 for opening and closing the pipe.

Next, the electric circuit of the present invention will be explained based on FIG. 20 is a power switch, 21 is a first relay connected in series with the upper reed switch 16B,
It has normally closed first relay contacts 21A and 21B. 22 is a second relay connected in series with the lower reed switch 16C, and has a normally open second relay contact 2.
2A and a normally closed second relay contact 22B.
17 is the water supply valve connected in series with the normally closed first relay contact 21B; 23 is a thermostat that detects supercooling of the cooling cylinder 1 based on the outlet temperature of the evaporation pipe 5; and 24 is a thermostat that detects supercooling of the cooling cylinder 1. An overcurrent detection device 25 detects by the current flowing through the auger motor 10 is a third relay connected in series with the overcurrent detection device 24, and has a normally open third relay contact 25A and a normally closed third relay contact 25B. and the always open third
The electric compressor 2 and the blower 3 are connected via a relay contact 25A. 26 is a fourth relay having a normally open fourth relay contact 26A, and 19 is the drain valve, which are connected in series with the supercooling contact 23B of the thermostat 23 and the normally closed third relay contact 25B. 27 is the normally open fifth relay contact 2
A fifth relay 28 having a normally closed fifth relay contact 27A and a normally closed fifth relay contact 28 is a timer, and includes a timer contact 28A that opens after a predetermined period of time has elapsed from energization.

Next, the operation of the present invention will be explained based on the above configuration. First, when the water storage tank 13 is empty, the upper reed switch 16B is open and the lower reed switch 16C is closed. When the power switch 20 is turned on, the water supply valve 17 is opened via the normally closed first relay contact 21B. Then, water supply from the water pipe 15 to the water storage tank 13 is started. On the other hand, the second relay 2
2 is excited and opens the normally closed second relay contact 22B, so the compressor 2, blower 3, and auger motor 1
0 does not operate and does not start ice making operation.

The water supplied to the water storage tank 13 is led to the cooling cylinder 1 via the water supply pipe 14, and when the water is supplied to a predetermined water level in the water storage tank 13, the upper reed switch 16B is closed and the first relay is activated. 21 is excited, opening the normally closed first relay contacts 21A and 21B. As a result, the water supply valve 17 closes to stop the water supply, while the second relay 22 is de-energized to open the normally open second relay contact 22A and close the normally closed second relay contact 22B. In order to In order to close the contact 25A and open the normally closed third relay contact 25B, the compressor 2 and the blower 3 are started to start ice-making operation.

During the ice-making operation, ice that has grown on the inner surface of the cooling cylinder 1 is scraped off by the rotation of the auger 6 and transferred to the compression passage 11, where it is compressed into hard ice pieces and then continuously released from the discharge cylinder 12. is released into the world. When the water level in the water storage tank 13 decreases due to such ice-making operation, the upper reed switch 16B is opened, the first relay 21 is deenergized, the normally closed first relay contact 21B is closed, and the water supply valve 17 is opened. When water is replenished into the water storage tank 13 and the water rises above the predetermined level again, the upper reed switch 16B closes, energizes the first relay 21, opens the normally closed first relay contact 21B, and closes the water supply valve 17 to supply water. The water level in the water storage tank 13 is maintained constant by repeating the operation to stop the water storage tank 13.

The above explanation is normal ice making operation, but
The operation during supercooling will be explained below. When abnormal freezing occurs within the cooling cylinder 1, the evaporation temperature decreases, and when the thermostat 23 detects a predetermined abnormal low temperature of the evaporation temperature, its contact switches to the supercooling contact 23B. As a result, the excitation of the third relay 25 is released, the normally open third relay contact 25A is opened, the normally closed third relay contact 25B is closed, and the auger motor 10, compressor 2, and blower 3 are inoperable. The ice making operation will then stop. Also thermostat 23
By switching, the fourth relay 26 is energized and closes the normally open fourth relay contact 26A, and the drain valve 19 is opened. Furthermore, the fourth relay contact 26
By the closing of A, the fifth relay 27 is energized, the normally open fifth relay contact 27A is closed, the normally closed fifth relay contact 27B is opened, and the timer 28 is started.

Therefore, the low-temperature water present in the cooling cylinder 1 together with the abnormally frozen ice is replaced with inflow water from the water supply pipe 14 whose temperature is at least higher than this low-temperature water, and the sensible heat of this inflow water causes the low temperature to rise. As the water temperature rises, the abnormally frozen ice in the cooling cylinder 1 is gradually and uniformly melted and drained.

As described above, when the abnormal freezing of the cooling cylinder 1 is released due to the sensible heat of the water flowing in from the water storage tank 13, the thermostat 23 switches to the supercooling contact 23B.
However, if such a return occurs before the set time of the timer 28 has elapsed, the fifth relay 27 is energized because the timer contact 28A is closed at this time, and the normally closed fifth relay Since the relay contact 27B is open, the compressor 2, blower 3, and auger motor 10 will not start, and the drain valve 19 will not start.
The normally closed third relay contact 2 is closed at this time.
The valve continues to be open via 5B.

On the other hand, if the thermostat 23 returns to normal after the set time of the timer 28 has elapsed, at this time the timer contact 28A is open, the fifth relay 27 is de-energized, and the normally closed fifth relay contact 27B is closed. Therefore, in this state, thermostat 2 is
3 returns to the normal cooling contact 23A, the auger motor 10 starts, the third relay 25 is energized, the normally open third relay contact 25A is closed, the compressor 2 and the blower 3 are started, and ice-making operation begins. At the same time, the normally closed third relay contact 25B is opened and the drain valve 19 is closed.

The above description is a detailed explanation of the method for canceling supercooling when the thermostat 23 detects supercooling of the cooling cylinder 1. In addition, the present invention provides an auger motor 1
Overcooling of the cooling cylinder 1 can also be detected by the overcurrent detection device 24 that detects an overcurrent of zero. That is, when abnormal freezing occurs within the cooling cylinder 1, the load on the auger motor 10 increases and an overcurrent flows through the auger motor 10. When the overcurrent detection device 24 detects this, the auger motor 10 is stopped and the third relay 2
5 is deenergized, the normally open third relay contact 25A is opened, the compressor 2 and the blower 3 are deactivated, and the ice making operation is stopped, and the normally closed third relay contact 2
5B and open the drain valve 19. At the same time, the fourth relay 26 is energized, closing the normally open fourth relay contact 26A, and the fifth relay 27 is energized, closing the normally open fifth relay contact 27A, and closing the normally open fifth relay contact 27B. When the circuit is opened, the timer 28 starts.

The subsequent method of canceling supercooling is the same as described above, and will therefore be omitted. Therefore, the overcurrent detection device 24 can be of an automatic return type or a manual return type, but in either case, the overcurrent detection device 24 returns to normal or the timer 28
The stopping of the drainage operation and the restart of the ice-making operation are controlled depending on which of the set times elapses later.

(G) Effects of the Invention As described above, the present invention effectively utilizes water supplied to an existing water storage tank without adding any new special means to release supercooling of the cooling cylinder. This has the advantage that the abnormally frozen ice in the cooling cylinder can be uniformly melted by the sensible heat of the water in the tank, and supercooling can be released in a short time.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an auger-type ice maker embodying the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a similar electrical circuit diagram. 1... Cooling cylinder, 2... Electric compressor, 10... Auger motor, 13... Water storage tank, 14... Water supply pipe, 10
...Drain valve, 23...Thermostat, 24...Overcurrent detection device.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A cooling cylinder with a passageway for the refrigerant pumped from the electric compressor of the refrigeration system on its outer surface, a water supply pipe that guides the water in the water storage tank, which is appropriately supplied via the water supply valve, to the cooling cylinder, and a In an auger-type ice maker equipped with a drain pipe connected to a drain valve for draining water and an ice cutting auger that rotates within the cooling cylinder in conjunction with an auger motor, supercooling is used to detect overcooling of the cooling cylinder. A detection means is provided, and when the detection means detects supercooling, the compressor and the auger motor are stopped, the drain valve is opened, and water is continued to be supplied to the cooling cylinder. A method for releasing supercooling in an auger-type ice maker, characterized in that ice in a cooling cylinder is melted using sensible heat of inflowing water, and the ice is drained from the drain pipe.