JPH0367973A - Ice-making machine and decorated ice - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable a compact type ice-making machine to produce decorated ice by a method wherein, while holding an air pipe by a clamp, a plunger rod from a vertical cylinder is projected by a specified stroke upward and then a compressor is actuated to supply compressed air into water in an ice can from an air pipe. CONSTITUTION:An ice can 3 is placed in a removable manner in a cooling vessel 1 containing a cooling liquid 2 and the top end of an air pipe 12 is connected to the discharge port of a compressor 19 by a hose 20. A clamp 15, 17 releases the air pipe 12 from its seizure and drops the lower end of the air pipe to the inner bottom of the ice can 3, and then a plunger rod 14 from a vertical cylinder 7 is put back to the lowest point once. Next, the clamp 15, 17 is made to seize the air pipe 12 and then the plunger rod 14 from the vertical cylinder 7 is projected by a specified stroke upward; the compressor 19 is then actuated to supply compressed air into water 4 in the ice can from the air pipe 12 with agitation of the water 4. Transparent ice 25 can thus be produced automatically. If decorative objects are placed under water in the ice can 3, decorative ice can be produced easily.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Field of Application 1 The ice making machine according to the present invention is mainly used for producing water-saving ornamental ice creams.

[Prior art] Ornamental standing ice (decorative ice) containing fresh flowers or artificial flowers is required to be transparent ice.

Ice is produced by freezing the water in the ice can by cooling the ice can filled with water in a cooling tank containing cooling f (for example, brine). As mentioned above, the ice used must be transparent.

To produce clear ice, it is necessary to constantly supply air to the water in the ice can to stir the water, and the air is supplied to the ice through an air pipe inserted vertically into the ice can.

Problem E] As mentioned above, transparent ice can be produced by supplying air from a compressor to the water inside the iceberg and stirring the water, but as the ice inside the iceberg grows, the air pipe is closed. It must be pulled up so that the lower end of the opening does not touch the inner bottom of the ice that is forming.

Conventionally, this lifting has been done by a worker at predetermined intervals, and there has never been an attempt to automatically pull up the air pipe as the ice grows.

[Object of the Invention] The present invention is capable of automatically pulling up an air pipe as ice grows, and does not require a lifting vertical cylinder with a length corresponding to the total stroke of lifting the air pipe. It is possible to provide a sufficient ice making machine with a small size, and since transparent ice can be produced, decorative ice with built-in decorations can be provided.

[Means of the Invention] The ice making machine according to the present invention has an iceberg removably installed in a cooling tank containing a cooling liquid, and a horizontal support provided above a plunger rod that is moved up and down in a vertical cylinder. A clamping device for gripping and releasing the upper part of the air pipe inserted vertically into the water is provided on the support body, and the discharge I of the compressor is connected to the upper end of the air pipe with a hose. After the lower end of the air pipe fell to the bottom of the starch syrup or the formed ice inside the iceberg, the plunger rod of the vertical cylinder was moved back to its lower limit, and then the clamping device gripped the air pipe. After the plunger rod of the rear vertical cylinder is moved upward by a predetermined stroke, the compressor is operated to supply compressed air to the water inside the ice can through the air pipe. The ice cubes are decorative ice cubes with built-in decorations equipped with light-emitting diode lamps.

[Example] The present invention will be described below with reference to a specific example shown in the accompanying drawings.

In the figure, reference numeral 1 indicates a cooling tank, into which a cooling liquid 2 made of brine or the like at a temperature below freezing point is placed.

3 is an iceberg containing water, the flange of which is engaged with the upper edge of the cooling tank 1, and is suspended in the cooling tank, and at the top there is a connecting rod 5 that engages with the hanging hook of the crane. It can be detached and attached freely at 6.

A vertical cylinder 7 is fixed to a stationary part outside the cooling tank by a holder 8.

A horizontal support 10 is fixed to the upper end of the plunger rod 9 in this vertical cylinder, and a suitable number of horizontal arms 11 are attached to this support 10.

The horizontal arm 11 is provided with a clamping device for gripping and releasing the air vibrator 12, and this clamping device, for example, as shown in the figure, is attached to the plunger rod 1 of the horizontal cylinder 13.
The air pipe 12 is gripped by the clamp piece 15 at the end of the horizontal arm 15 and the clamp piece 17 of the plate 16, and the air pipe 12 is connected to a hole made in the horizontal arm 11 and a crossbar of the iceberg. It is located inside the iceberg through a hole drilled at 5.

A buffer eye 18 made of silicone or the like is fitted to the lower end of the air vibrator 12, which is made of metal, so as not to damage the inner bottom of the ice cube, and a hose 20 from the compressor 18 is connected to the upper end. be.

The horizontal arm 11 gets in the way when taking the iceberg 3 into and out of the cooling tank, so it must be able to be retracted when taking the iceberg in and out.

Various means can be considered for this evacuation mechanism, such as horizontal rotation of the horizontal arm, but to give an example, as shown in FIG. The horizontal arm 11 can be rotated in three directions by 80 degrees from the horizontal state by the butterfly ff21.

In addition, an appropriate lock 22 is installed to prevent movement in the horizontal state.
so that the horizontal arm 11 can be fixed to the support lO.

Next, the operation of this device will be explained.

(a) Initially, the horizontal cylinder 13 in the clamping device returns and the clamp piece 15. +7 releases the air pipe. As a result, the air pipe 12 is moved by its own weight to the ice can 3.
or the inner bottom of the ice 25.

(b) Next, the vertical cylinder 7 is operated to return and the plunger rod 9 is pulled down to the lower limit.

(C) The horizontal cylinder 13 of the clamping device is then actuated, the plunger rod 14 is projected, and the clamp piece 15. Grip the air pipe with +7.

(d) Next, the vertical cylinder 7 is actuated to cause the plunger rod 9 to protrude upward by the required stroke, thereby separating the lower end of the air pipe from the inner bottom of the rice price or the inner bottom of the ice 25 by a distance @l.

(e) The compressor 18 is then activated and compressed air is supplied to the water within the iceberg, thereby stirring the water.

(f) After the required time elapses, the ice 25 on the inner wall and inner bottom of the rice plate becomes elongated, and the lower end of the air pipe and the generated ice 25 elongate.
When the interval between the inner base and the inner base becomes small, the pressure 1i! @19 will stop.

After this stop, the operations (a) to (f) described above are repeated, and the air pipe is successively pulled up so that it is always a distance away from the inner bottom of the formed ice.

The air pipe is raised every hour by a timer, and each cylinder and compressor are operated in response to a command from a control circuit having an appropriate sequence circuit.

For the vertical cylinder 7, a so-called sensor cylinder whose plunger rod operating stroke is variable in multiple stages (around 2 stages) is used, so that the operating stroke of the plunger rod is smaller in the latter half of ice making than in the earlier half. .

In addition, examples of the volume of the rice price, the supply amount of compressed air, the operating stroke of the vertical cylinder, etc. are as follows.

U.S. price・・22 sentences Cooling liquid...Brine (-10°C to -20°C) Vertical cylinder operating stroke (text) Compressed air supply amount Initial stage of ice making...6 sentences/1 minute Late stage of ice making... 3 to 4 views 7 views 1 To manufacture decorative ice containing decorations such as artificial flowers, place the decorations, such as artificial flowers 23, upside down in rice water, and place them in a holder such as a sword mountain that is appropriately installed on a ferry rod. At 28, the base of the artificial flower (
The upper end) is held and ice is made using the steps (a) to (f) described above.

In addition, in the case of artificial flowers, if illuminations are attached like a Christmas tree, the decoration ice becomes even more valuable, but a light emitting diode 24 is used as a lamp for the illuminations.

By doing this, the artificial flowers will look even better, and since the luminescent guiot has an extremely low amount of heat, melting of the ice on the lamp portion will be prevented as much as possible, extending the life of the ice.

[Effect] According to the two-part invention, the air pipe that supplies compressed air to the water inside the iceberg is automatically raised to its stroke at a predetermined time. However, there is no need to pull up the air pipe, which can save labor.

In addition, the operating stroke of the plunger rod of the vertical cylinder does not need to correspond to the total lifting amount of the air pipe (the total lifting amount from the beginning to the end of ice making), but it is not necessary to correspond to the one-time lifting amount (as described above). Therefore, the vertical cylinder may be a standard product, and there is no need to make a special order, making it possible to provide a low-cost device.

In addition, compressed air is constantly supplied to the light blue water and the water is stirred, so there is no cloudy ice and transparent ice can be produced automatically. This has the advantage of making the ice transparent and making it possible to easily and inexpensively produce decorative ice that makes the contents look beautiful.

In addition, the manufactured decorative ice has a light-emitting diode as a decoration inside, and the lighting or blinking of the light-emitting diode makes it look even more attractive, and it can be made into a product with high added value.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an example of a device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional front view taken along line I--II in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a partially enlarged perspective view. Figure 4 is an enlarged view of the decoration holder, and Figure 5 is a partially broken cross-sectional view of the manufactured decorative ice. Figure Middle L- Cooling tank 2 Cooling liquid 3 Water spout 4 Water 5 Crossing rod 6 Stop 7◆ Mounting cylinder 8 Holder 1 9 ・ 11 ・ 13 ・ 14 ◆ 16・ 18 ・ 20 ・ 22 ・ 24 ・ 26 ・ ・Blanjaron 1・Horizontal arm ・Horizontal cylinder ・Plungeron ・Buffer plate ・Buffer eyepiece ・Hose ・Lock lock ・Light emitting diode ・Holtado] 0 ・ 12 ・ 15・ 17 ・ 18 ・ 21 ・ 23 ・ 25 ・ 27 ・ ・Support・Air pipe・Clamp piece・Clamp piece・Compressor・Speaker・Decoration・Ice・Power source

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) An ice can is removably installed in a cooling tank filled with cooling liquid, a horizontal support is installed above a plunger rod that moves up and down a vertical cylinder, and an air pipe is inserted vertically into the water inside the ice can. A clamping device for gripping and releasing the upper part of the air pipe is provided on the support body, and the discharge port of the compressor is connected to the upper end of the air pipe with a hose. After the ice falls to the bottom of the ice can or the bottom of the ice formed in the ice can, the plunger rod of the vertical cylinder is moved back to the lower limit, and then, after the clamping device grips the air pipe, the plunger rod of the vertical cylinder is moved back to the bottom of the ice can. An ice maker in which compressed air is supplied from an air pipe into the water inside an ice can by operating a compressor after a predetermined stroke is made to protrude upward. (2) Decorative ice, in which a decoration is built into transparent ice produced by the ice making machine described in the preceding paragraph, and the decoration is equipped with a light-emitting diode for lighting or flashing.