JPH038928Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] The present invention relates to an auger-type ice maker, and particularly to a cutter for breaking ice columns coming out of an ice compression passage.

In a conventional auger-type ice maker, in order to convert the shaved ice formed inside the frozen casing and scraped off by the screw blade into ice particles of different sizes and hardness, a fixing device installed at the upper part of the frozen casing is The cutter attached to the upper end surface of the screw shaft in the frozen casing above the blade must be replaced with a cutter of a different shape, or the ice release path must be changed, making it easy to change particle size and ice quality. I couldn't get any different ice.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks, and its main purpose is to provide an auger-type ice maker that can easily produce ice of different particle sizes.

For this purpose, the present invention provides a screw shaft and a screw blade that are rotatably supported within the frozen casing in order to scrape off and guide the ice frozen on the inner wall surface of the frozen casing, and an upper end portion of the screw shaft. An auger-type ice making device comprising: a fixed blade fitted with a screw blade and having an ice compression passage for receiving ice from the screw blade; and a cutter attached to the upper end of the screw shaft for breaking ice from the ice compression passage. In the machine, a positioning part for positioning the cutter at a predetermined position among a plurality of circumferential positions is provided at the upper end of the screw shaft, and the cutter is attached to this positioning part to adjust the circumference of the cutter. a cutter blade support portion having a mounting portion whose directional position can be changed in cooperation with the positioning portion; and a cutter blade support portion that is inclined with respect to a horizontal plane of the cutter blade support portion and has various pitches corresponding to the plurality of circumferential positions. and a plurality of cutter blades fixed around the cutter blade support portion.

Additionally, in a preferred embodiment, the lower end of the cutter blade is provided with a clearance angle to allow ice to escape upwardly.

Next, the cutter of the present invention will be explained according to the attached drawings.

1 and 2 show the structure inside a refrigerating casing 1 including the cutter of the present invention in an auger ice maker. A cooling pipe 19 is wound around the outer periphery of the freezing casing 1, and a thin layer of ice is formed on the inner wall surface of the freezing casing by flowing a refrigerant through the cooling pipe 19 via an expansion means (not shown). Inside the frozen casing 1, there is a screw blade 3 for guiding the thin ice layer upward while scraping it.
A screw shaft 2 having a screw shaft 2 is rotatably supported. The upper end portion 2a of the screw shaft 2 has a smaller diameter than the other portions of the screw shaft 2 in order to fit the fixed blade 7 that compresses the ice from the screw blade 3 while guiding it upward. The end face of the upper end portion 2a has a bolt receiving hole 4 for screwing the cutter 13 attached on the fixed blade 7 to the screw shaft 2, and a bolt receiving hole 4 for screwing the cutter 13 onto the screw shaft 2, and a bolt receiving hole 4 for screwing the cutter 13 onto the screw shaft 2. A pin (positioning portion) 5 for positioning is provided. This pin 5 is axially aligned with the top end of the screw blade,
It is used to determine the relative position of the cutter 13 with respect to the upper end 3a of the screw blade. The three holes 6 drilled in the wall of the frozen casing 1 are fixed blades 7.
is provided to fix the inside of the refrigeration casing 1.

The fixed blade 7 has an upper end portion 2a of the screw shaft 2.
A cylindrical part 8 that fits into the cylindrical part 8, and three thick blades 9 and three thin blades 10 that are alternately arranged around the cylindrical part 8 and spaced apart in the circumferential direction so as to extend in the axial direction. The thick blade 9 has a bolt 20 passed through the hole 6.
A receiving hole 11 is provided for receiving the tip of the. The passage between the thick blade 9 and the thin blade 10 is an ice compression passage 12 that guides the ice upward while compressing it and removing moisture.
Configure.

The cutter 13 located above the fixed blade 7 has a through hole 14 for receiving a bolt 18 and a plurality of pin receiving holes (three in FIG. 2) that selectively fit into the pin 5 of the upper end 2a. A disc-shaped cutter blade support part 16 having a portion) 15, and a plurality of cutter blades 17 fixed around the cutter blade support part 16 and inclined at the same angle (60 degrees in FIG. 2) with respect to the horizontal plane. The bolt 18 is passed through the hole 14.
By screwing into the bolt receiving hole 4 of the upper end portion 2a, it is fixed to the screw shaft 2 and rotates together with the screw shaft 2.

With the above-described configuration, the upper end 2 of the screw shaft 2
Fit the fixed blade 7 into the casing a, pass the bolt 20 through the hole 6 of the refrigeration casing 1 and the receiving hole 11 of the fixed blade 7 to fix the fixed blade 7 to the refrigeration casing 1, and insert the bolt from above the fixed blade 7. 18 through the holes 14 and 4, the cutter 13 can be fixed to the upper end of the screw shaft.

3 and 4 are a plan view and a front view of the cutter 13 described above. As can be understood from these figures, the lower end of the inclined cutter blade 17 is provided with a relief angle α for allowing ice to escape upward. This clearance angle α is about 15° as shown in an enlarged view in FIG. 5, and by appropriately changing this clearance angle α, the ice compression passage 12 of the fixed blade
It is possible to obtain ice of different hardness by pressing the ice that is pushed up from the ice or letting it escape upwards. On the other hand, if the pitch of the cutter blade 17, that is, the number of blades per unit length in the circumferential direction, is changed, the first
As understood from Figures 4 to 4, ice compression passage 1
The time interval for breaking the ice columns from 2, ie, the length of the ice columns, can be changed.

Next, the operation of the cutter of the present invention will be explained.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, cooling pipes 1
A thin layer of ice is formed by the cooling action of the refrigerant flowing through 9, and this thin layer of ice is scraped off by the rotation of the screw blade 3 and guided above the frozen casing 1.
It enters the ice compression passage 12 defined between the thick blade 9 and the thin blade 10 of the fixed blade 7. The shaved ice that has entered the ice compression passage 12 is guided upward and compressed by the shaved ice that is pushed up one after another by the rotation of the screw blade 3, so that water is removed and the ice becomes columnar ice. Exit passage 12. and,
On the fixed blade 7, the cutter 13 is attached to the screw shaft 2.
Since the ice cubes are rotating together with the ice compressor, the ice cubes coming out of the ice compression passage 12 are broken off by the cutter blade 17.

Here, columnar ice is pushed up one after another from the plurality of ice compression passages 12 as the upper end 3a of the screw blade rotates. That is, when the screw shaft 2 rotates in the direction shown by the arrow in FIG. It crosses the lower end of 12 one after another.
Therefore, the ice compression passages located directly above the upper end 3a change one after another, and the six ice compression passages 12 are located directly above the upper end 3a in turn.
The ice in the ice compression passage located directly above the upper end 3a is compressed and pushed up by the ice guided by the upper end 3a.

In this way, the columnar ice is pushed upward in order from the six ice compression passages 12, and since the cutter 13 is rotating together with the screw shaft 2, the screw shaft 2 is in the relative position shown in FIG. 2 with respect to the fixed blade 7. In some cases, two ice compression passages 12 are provided on the right side of the pin receiving hole 15a that fits into the pin 5 at the upper end of the screw shaft and above the upper end 3a of the screw blade.
The two cutter blades 17a that enter the upper region a will be involved in breaking the columnar ice from the ice compression passage 12a. This is because the circumferential portion of the fixed blade from which ice is pushed upward from the ice compression passage 12 is directed from the lower end of the fixed blade 7 close to the top end of the screw blade 3 in the direction of rotation of the screw shaft 2. 7
It is about 1/3 to 1/4 of the total circumference of
The columnar ice is continuously pushed up from the two ice compression passages, and in the case of FIG. 2, 12a serves as these two ice compression passages. The two ice compression paths are changed periodically by the rotation of the screw shaft. The length of ice obtained can be adjusted depending on how many cutter blades 17 are placed on these two ice compression paths 12, and the greater the number of cutter blades, the shorter the time interval at which the columnar ice is broken. As the ice ages, it becomes shorter, and conversely, if there are fewer blades, the ice becomes longer.

Therefore, when the pin receiving hole 15a of the cutter 13 is fitted into the pin 5 of the screw shaft 2 and the two cutter blades 17a are used for breaking columnar ice as shown in FIG. is obtained, and pin receiving hole 1
5b is fitted to the pin 5, since there are a large number of cutter blades 17 on the right side of the pin receiving hole 15b, the number of cutter blades that enter the area above the two ice compression passages also increases, and the grains are You will get a small piece of ice. As can be understood from the above, in order to change the size of the ice particles, the cutter on the downstream side with respect to the rotational direction of the upper end 3a of the screw blade (or the pin 5 at the corresponding circumferential position) Just change the number of blades.

Further, as shown in FIG. 5, the hardness of the ice can be adjusted by changing the relief angle α of these cutter blades 17. That is, clearance angle α
If is small or zero, a part of the columnar ice pushed up from the ice compression passage 12 comes into contact with the bottom A of the cutter blade 17 and is compressed further, so that hard ice is obtained. On the other hand, if the relief angle α is large, the columnar ice immediately escapes upward along the bottom portion A forming the relief angle α after passing the lowermost end of the cutter blade 17, resulting in softer ice.

FIG. 6 shows another embodiment of the cutter of the present invention, which differs from the cutter shown in FIGS. 2 to 4 in that it has four pin receiving holes 15. By increasing the number of ice particles and/or increasing the number of blades of the cutter blade, the range of adjustment of the size of the ice particles can be further expanded.
In addition, as shown in Fig. 6, when the diameter of the screw shaft 2 is large and the height of the fixed blade 7 (or ice compression passage 12) is not so high (i.e., in the case of a large auger type ice maker), the cutter Since the number of pin receiving holes and the number of cutter blades can be increased, the number of adjustment points can be increased.

7 to 9 show still another embodiment of the cutter of the present invention. This cutter is equipped with eight cutter blades and two pin receiving holes.
As shown in the front view of the figure, the lower ends of the four cutter blades 17A to 17D all have a relief angle α of 30°, and the remaining four cutter blades 17E to 17H
It is set to 0°. In addition, each cutter blade 17A to 17
H is fixed around the through hole 14 at equal angles, that is, at equal pitches, and each angle of inclination with respect to the horizontal plane is 60°. Therefore, in this cutter 13,
Since a plurality of cutter blades having different clearance angles are fixed to the cutter blade support part, for example, when the pin receiving hole (attachment part) 15A is fitted into the pin 5, the cutter blades 17A to 17C move the ice compression passage 12 When the pin 5 is inserted into the pin receiving hole (attachment part) 15B, the ice is broken by the cutter blades 17E to 17G. At this time, in the case of cutter blades 17A to 17C, the clearance angle is 30°, so the ice escapes easily and relatively soft ice is obtained, while in the case of cutter blades 17E to 17G, the clearance angle is 0°. This makes it difficult for the ice to escape, resulting in relatively hard ice. Therefore, Figures 3 to 9
As can be understood from the figure, the cutter is provided with a cutter blade support having a plurality of pin receiving holes, and a cutter blade support having a plurality of pin receiving holes, which are fixed around the cutter blade support at various pitches corresponding to the pin receiving holes, and having different shapes at the lower end. It is possible to configure it with a plurality of cutter blades having clearance angles.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, a pin was used as a means for positioning the cutter with respect to the screw shaft, but a key, a screw, a protrusion 21 and a protrusion hole 22 that fit into each other as shown in FIG. ), the eleventh
A triangular prism 28 and a triangular prism hole 29 that are fixed to the cutter 13 and have a bolt through hole 28a shown in the figure;
Various positioning means may be used, such as a rectangular prism 30 and a rectangular prism hole 31 having a bolt through hole 30a shown in FIG. 12, or a polygonal prism and a polygonal prism hole (not shown).

Further, as yet another embodiment of the positioning means, means as shown in FIG. 13 may be used. That is, there are a plurality of screw holes 32 for bolts 33 (two in the figure) on the end surface of the upper end 2a of the screw shaft.
The cutter 13 screws the bolt 18 into the receiving hole 4 through the through hole 14, and the bolt 33
through one of the through holes 15 and screw into the screw hole 3.
2, it is securely fixed to the end surface of the upper end portion 2a of the screw shaft.

The pin 5, protrusion 21, triangular prism hole 29, square prism hole 31, and screw hole 32 constitute a positioning part, while the through hole 15, protrusion hole 22, triangular prism 28, and square prism 30 constitute a mounting part. .

As described above, the cutter of the present invention includes a cutter blade support part that is attached to a positioning part provided at the upper end of the screw shaft and has a mounting part that can change the circumferential position of the cutter in cooperation with the positioning part; Since the cutter blade support part is provided with a plurality of inclined cutter blades that are fixed at different pitches depending on the circumferential position, you can simply change the circumferential position of the cutter without replacing the cutter blade. By providing different relief angles at the lower ends of the plurality of cutter blades, it is possible to easily obtain ice of different hardness by simply changing the circumferential position. You can also get ice.
Also, since the cutter blade is slanted, the ice is smoothly fed out, which helps to eliminate ice blockages in the freezer casing.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 is a partial sectional view of the vicinity of the frozen casing of an auger-type ice maker, Figure 2 is an exploded perspective view showing the internal structure of the frozen casing including the cutter of the present invention, and Figure 3 is a plan view of the cutter of the present invention. , Figure 4 is the third
FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of the cutter blade shown in FIG. 4, FIG. 6 is a plan view showing another embodiment of the cutter of the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 8 is a front view of FIG. 7, FIG. 9 is a bottom view of FIG. 7, FIG. 10, FIG. 11, FIG. 12 and FIG. 1
FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view showing various embodiments of fixing the cutter to the screw shaft. 1...Frozen casing, 2...Screw shaft,
2a... Upper end of screw shaft, 3... Screw blade, 7... Fixed blade, 13... Cutter, 12...
...Ice compression passage, 16...Cutter blade support, 17
...Cutter blade positioning part, 5...Pin, 21...
...protrusion, 29...triangular prism hole, 31...square prism hole,
32...Screw hole mounting part, 15...Through hole, 22...
...hole for protrusion, 28...triangular prism, 30...square prism.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claim for Utility Model Registration] (1) A screw shaft and a screw blade rotatably supported within the freezing casing for scraping and guiding the ice frozen on the inner wall surface of the freezing casing, and the screw shaft. A fixed blade that is fitted to the upper end and has an ice compression passage that receives ice from the screw blade, and a cutter that is attached to the upper end of the screw shaft and that breaks the ice from the ice compression passage. In the auger-type ice maker, a positioning part for positioning the cutter at a predetermined position among a plurality of circumferential positions is provided at the upper end of the screw shaft, and the cutter is attached to the positioning part. a cutter blade support part having a mounting part that can change the circumferential position of the cutter in cooperation with the positioning part; An auger-type ice maker comprising a plurality of cutter blades secured around the cutter blade support at correspondingly different pitches. (2) The auger-type ice maker according to claim 1, wherein the lower end of the cutter blade is provided with a clearance angle for allowing ice to escape upward.