JPH04273963A - Ice making device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the torque required for rotating an ice making tray by a method wherein a separate ice making part is formed on each of the upper and lower surfaces of the ice making tray and the ice making tray is turned over upon completion of the ice making in one ice making part and heated water is fed into the other ice making part, so that the ice can be removed from the tray. CONSTITUTION:In a method for making ice by an ice making device provided with an ice making tray 11 having a separate ice making part 11a on each of the upper and lower surfaces thereof and adapted to be rotationally moved by projecting rotary shaft parts 11b and 11c and a shaft member 23 having a drill-shaped, twisted part, the steps comprising monitoring the the water temp. inside the ice making tray 11 by an ice making thermistor 11a embedded in the rotary shaft part 11c; feeding water into one ice making part 11a on the upper surface of the ice making tray 11 to make ice; energizing electrode parts 21a and 21b upon completion of the ice making to heat shrink a shape memory alloy made spring 24 so as to retreat a movable part 22, whereby the shaft 23 is rotated by the action of the twisted part 23a to turn over the ice making tray 11; and feeding a slightly heated water into the other ice making part 11a of the ice making tray 11 through a water temp. control circuit, whereby the ice in the lower ice making part 11a is melted and dropped therefrom and whereby the water fed into the upper ice making part is cooled for ice making.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ice-making apparatus that makes ice by cooling ice-making water supplied to an ice-making tray using a cooling means.

0002

[Prior Art] Conventionally, refrigerator-freezers are generally equipped with an ice-making device for producing ice, and such an ice-making device usually includes an ice-making tray and a rotation mechanism for rotating the ice-making tray. an ice storage container for storing ice, a water supply means for supplying ice-making water to the ice-making tray, and a cooling means for cooling the ice-making water supplied to the ice-making tray. .

[0003] Furthermore, in the ice-making process using the ice-making apparatus described above, first, ice-making water is supplied to the ice-making tray by the water supply means, and then the ice-making water in the ice-making tray is cooled by cold air from the cooling means. Next, the ice thermistor installed in the ice tray
For example, a predetermined temperature such as -12° C. is sensed, and after a predetermined period of time (for example, 30 minutes) has elapsed, the completion of ice making is determined. When it is determined that ice making is completed in this way, the rotating means then rotates the ice making tray in a predetermined direction to apply twisting deformation to the ice making tray and release the ice in the ice making tray. At this time,
The ice released from the ice tray is stored in an ice storage container placed below the ice tray. Thereafter, the above-mentioned rotating means reverses the removed ice-making tray in the opposite direction to the above-mentioned direction and returns it to the original horizontal position. By repeating a series of operations such as water supply, ice making, and ice removal as described above, the ice making device stores an appropriate amount of ice in the ice storage container.

[0004] The torsional deformation imparted to the ice tray is achieved by transmitting the rotation of the electric motor constituting the rotation means to the ice tray by decelerating the rotating motion of the electric motor constituting the rotating means using a plurality of reduction gears, and causing the ice tray to move at a reduced constant speed. The ice tray is provided with an ice tray that rotates up to, for example, 160 degrees, while restricting the rotation to, for example, 130 degrees with a rotation restriction portion formed at one end of the ice tray, and The ice tray is molded from a material such as polypropylene, which has excellent flexibility, in order to minimize the rotational torque of the electric motor and improve ice removal efficiency.

[0005]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the above-mentioned conventional configuration, in order to impart torsional deformation to the ice tray during ice removal, ice is made at a constant angular velocity of forward/reverse rotation in the range of 0° to 160°. The plate must be rotated. For this reason,
The electric motor constituting the rotating means must be able to generate a large torque of, for example, 30 kg/cm or more, and as a result, by increasing the strength of each component that makes up the rotating means, The weight of design costs is extremely high. In addition, the electric motor that generates the large torque described above makes a very loud drive noise when ice is removed, so especially when ice is removed at night, the noise of the ice falling into the ice storage container is combined with the noise. The driving sound becomes quite harsh,
The user of the device perceives the above-mentioned driving sound as an abnormal sound. Furthermore, since ice removal due to the torsional deformation of the ice tray as described above is forced, some ice inevitably cracks and falls within the ice tray, causing defects in the appearance of the ice. There is a problem.

[0006]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the ice making apparatus according to claim 1 of the present invention includes a water supply means for supplying water to the ice tray, and a water supply means for supplying water to the ice tray. In an ice making apparatus equipped with a cooling means for cooling water, the following measures are taken.

That is, the above-mentioned ice making tray has ice making sections formed on both its upper and lower surfaces, and water is supplied to one of the ice making sections.
When the cooling and ice making is completed, the ice making section is turned over by the rotation means, and the water heated by the water supply means is supplied to the other ice making section, and the ice in the one ice making section is released from the tray.

[0008] Furthermore, in order to solve the above problem, the ice making apparatus according to claim 2 takes the following measures in the ice making apparatus according to claim 1.

That is, the ice tray is molded from a ceramic material.

[0010] Furthermore, in order to solve the above problem, the ice making apparatus according to claim 3 takes the following measures in the ice making apparatus according to claim 1.

That is, the rotating means is a rotating shaft of the ice tray, and includes a shaft member formed with a drill-blade-shaped twisted portion, and a guide hole through which the shaft member is inserted. The shaft member includes a reciprocating member that is provided so as to be movable in the longitudinal direction of the shaft member, and a spring member that is made of a shape memory alloy and moves the reciprocating member forward and backward by changing its shape.

0012

According to the structure of claim 1, the ice making tray having ice making sections formed on both upper and lower surfaces is rotated by the rotating means to invert the upper and lower ice making sections, and the water temperature is controlled by the water supply means. The ice-making water is supplied to the ice-making tray. For this reason, when making ice, the ice tray is turned over using a rotating means so that the top surface of the ice tray is positioned on the bottom surface, and then ice making water controlled at a slightly high temperature is supplied to the top surface of the ice tray that is not made with ice. supply to. As a result, the ice produced on the bottom surface of the ice tray is slightly melted by the heat of the ice making water supplied to the top surface of the ice tray, and the ice is removed by falling naturally.

[0013] Then, the ice-making water supplied to the top surface of the ice-making tray is cooled by a cooling means to make ice, and a suitable amount of ice is produced by repeating the above-described series of ice-making operations.

[0014] According to the structure of claim 2, in the ice making apparatus of claim 1, the ice making tray is molded from a ceramic material, so that the ice-releasing performance can be improved due to its excellent thermal conductivity. Moreover, thanks to the antibacterial and deodorizing effects of ceramic materials, it is possible to produce ice cubes that are highly hygienic.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the ice making apparatus according to the first aspect, the rotating means for rotating the ice tray is a shaft member formed with a drill blade-like twisting portion. It is composed of a reciprocating member in which a guide hole is formed through which the shaft member is inserted, and a spring member that moves the reciprocating member forward and backward.When the ice tray is rotated, the reciprocating member moves due to a change in the shape of the spring member when the ice tray is rotated. The shaft member is rotated and the ice making tray is rotated by the engagement between the guide hole of the reciprocating member and the twisting portion of the shaft member as the ice tray is moved forward and backward.

[0016]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 9. In this embodiment, the case where the ice making device is applied to a refrigerator-freezer is illustrated.

As shown in FIG. 8, the refrigerator-freezer according to this embodiment is provided with left and right doors that can be opened and closed on the upper side, and a freezer compartment 1 is located in the left door. Refrigerating compartments 2 are formed in each door portion on the right side. On the other hand, the lower part of the refrigerator-freezer is provided with left and right drawers that can be moved forward and backward, and the left drawer has a bottle/can room 3, and
A vegetable compartment 4 is formed in each of the drawers on the right side. In addition, between the above-mentioned freezer compartment 1 and bottle/can room 3,
An ice-making chamber 5 is formed, and an ice-making means 10 is provided within the ice-making chamber 5, while a water supply means 30 is provided within the refrigerator compartment 2 near the ice-making chamber 5.

Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 9, the refrigerator-freezer has a cold air duct 6 extending vertically on the rear wall side.
is provided. A cooling fan 7 and a cooler 8 as cooling means are disposed at the lower end of the cold air duct 6, and the cold air sent out from the cooler 8 by the cooling fan 7 is forced to circulate inside the refrigerator. It is now possible to do so.

[0019]The above ice making means 10 and water supply means 3
0 and cooler 8 constitute the ice making apparatus of this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the ice making means 10 includes an ice making tray 11 and a rotating means 2 for rotating the ice making tray 11.
0, a mounting frame 12 for attaching the ice tray 11 to the rotating means 20, an ice storage container 13 for storing ice, and an ice storage device that detects when the ice storage container 13 is full of ice and stops the ice making operation. It consists of a sensing lever 14.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the ice-making tray 11 has a rectangular shape, and ice-making portions 11a are formed on both upper and lower surfaces thereof. Moreover, the ice tray 11 has round bar-shaped rotating shaft portions 11b on both end surfaces in the longitudinal direction.
11c is provided upright, and an insertion groove 11b' for inserting a shaft member 23, which will be described later, is provided at the distal end of the rotation shaft 11b. An ice making thermistor 11d for monitoring the water temperature in the ice making tray 11 is embedded in the ice making thermistor 11d. Further, on one end surface of the ice tray 11 on which the rotation shaft portion 11b is erected, rotation restriction portions 11e and 11e are provided at both ends thereof to engage with an engagement portion 12a' of the mounting frame 12, which will be described later. are formed respectively.

The ice tray 11 is made by adding diatomaceous earth ceramics such as illite to a ceramic material such as alumina or silicon carbide by a dry method such as isostatic pressing. .

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, the rotating means 20 includes a cylindrical guide member 21 and a wall surface 22 at one end.
a cylindrical reciprocating member 22 and a shaft member 23
, a tension spring 24 as a spring member made of a shape memory alloy, a compression spring 25 for bias, and a box body 26 for accommodating each of these constituent members.

The guide member 21 has a flange-like protrusion 21a formed at one end thereof, and an electrode portion 2, such as a ceramic heater, extending along the circumferential direction on the inward side thereof.
1b and 21b are formed. The reciprocating member 22 has a diameter that allows the guide member 21 to fit therein, and the wall surface 22a has a guide hole 22a as shown in FIG.
' is bored, and a flanged protrusion 22b is provided on the outward side thereof.
is formed. The shaft member 23 has a long plate shape and is formed into a drill blade shape with a twisted portion 23a. The tension spring 24 has both electrode parts 21b and 21
When no current is applied between b, that is, when the temperature is low, the tension spring 24
Since the stress of is smaller than the stress of the compression spring 25,
While in the extended state, when electricity is applied between both electrode parts 21b and 21b and the tension spring 2 is heated to, for example, 40°C, the tension spring 2
The stress of the compression spring 25 becomes larger than the stress of the compression spring 25, so that the spring is contracted.

The rotation means 20 has a tension spring 24 inside a guide member 21 having a flanged projection 21a fixed to the inner wall of the box body 26, and a tension spring 24 that connects one end of the tension spring 24 to each electrode portion 21.
b. 21b, and the shaft member 23 is arranged with one end thereof fitted into the inner wall of the box body 26 forming the thrust bearing, and in this state,
The reciprocating member 22 with the shaft member 23 inserted through the guide hole 22a' is fitted onto the guide member 21, and the compression spring 25 is connected to the flanged protrusion 21a of the guide member 21 and the reciprocating member 2.
It is stretched between the second flanged protrusion 22b.

[0025] Accordingly, when the tension spring 24 is in the extended state, the stress of the compression spring 25 becomes larger than that of the tension spring 24, so that the rotation means 20 moves forward in the direction B1 when the advancing/retreating member 22 is in the extended state. While being moved, the tension spring 2 is energized between the electrode parts 21b and 21b.
4, the tension spring 24 is contracted, so that the reciprocating member 22 is moved backward in the B2 direction against the compression force of the compression spring 25. Further, as the advancing/retracting member 22 moves back and forth in the B1-B2 direction as described above, the twisting portion 23a of the shaft member 23
It engages with the guide hole 22a' of No. 2 and is rotated by 180 degrees.

The mounting frame 12 has an L-shape, and its long plate portion 12a has an engagement member that engages with the rotation restriction portion 11e of the ice tray 11 to restrict rotation of the ice tray 11. A portion 12a' is formed in the short plate portion 12b, and the rotating shaft portion 11c of the ice tray 11 is inserted through the short plate portion 12b.
A support hole 12b' for rotatably supporting is bored. The mounting frame 12 has a rotating means 2 in which the shaft member 23 is inserted into the insertion groove 11b' of the ice tray 11.
0 is fixed, and the rotating shaft portion 11c of the ice making tray 11 is inserted through the support hole 12b', so that the ice making tray 11 is rotatably supported.

The water supply means 30 includes a water supply tank 31 for storing ice-making water, a metering container 32 for adjusting the amount of ice-making water supplied to the ice-making tray 11 at a constant level, and a metering container 32 for controlling the amount of ice-making water supplied to the ice-making tray 11. Water supply pump 3 for sucking up ice making water
3, a water supply pipe 34 connected to the water supply pump 33,
It consists of a water temperature control circuit 35 for controlling the ice making water in the metering container 32 to a predetermined water temperature.

As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the metering container 32 has a convex portion 32a formed therein for supporting the water supply tank 31. A temperature-sensitive thermistor 32b for monitoring the water temperature inside 32 is embedded.

Further, a heater 32c is disposed on the bottom of the metering container 32, and by connecting this heater 32c and the temperature-sensitive thermistor 32b to the water temperature control circuit 35, the inside of the metering container 32 is heated. The water temperature of the water temperature control circuit 35
It is monitored and controlled by

[0030] In the above configuration, the ice making process using the present ice making apparatus will be explained below. In the ice-making process described below, for convenience of explanation, ice has already been produced in the ice-making section 11a located on the top surface of the ice-making tray 11, and the tension spring 24 is in an extended state. It is something that is explained as something that exists.

First, the guide member 2 constituting the rotating means 20
The tension spring 24 is heated by energizing between the two electrode portions 21b and 21b. Along with this, the above-mentioned tension spring 24 is contracted, and the reciprocating member 22 is retracted in the B2 direction. Then, B2 of this advancing/retracting member 22
Due to the backward movement in the direction, the shaft member 23 rotates 180°
The ice tray 11 is rotated and reversed. Furthermore, at this time,
The ice-made surface of the ice-making tray 11 is located at the bottom surface.

Next, the water temperature control circuit 35 constituting the water supply means 30 controls the ice-making water to a slightly high temperature, such as 40° C., from the metering container 32 through the water supply pipe 34 using the water supply pump 33 to the ice-making tray. It is supplied to the upper surface of No. 11 where ice is not made. As a result, the ice produced on the bottom surface of the ice making tray 11 is slightly melted by the heat of the ice making water supplied to the top surface of the ice making tray 11, and randomly sent to one or two ice cubes from the ice making section 11a of the ice making tray 11. The ice falls off naturally and is stored in the ice storage container 13.

Next, when the above-described ice removal is completely completed, the ice-making water supplied to the top surface of the ice-making tray 11 flows into the cooler 8.
Ice is made by cooling air from the after that,
By the ice making thermistor 11d embedded in the ice making tray 11,
For example, a predetermined temperature such as -12° C. is sensed, and in this state, after a predetermined period of time (for example, 30 minutes) has elapsed, the completion of ice making is determined.

After ice is produced on the upper surface of the ice tray 11 as described above, the electrode portions 21b and 21b of the guide member 21 are
21b is in a non-energized state, and the tension spring 24 is in an extended state. Along with this, the advancing/retracting member 22 is advanced and moved in the B1 direction, and the shaft member 23 is moved in the direction opposite to the above.
Rotated 80°.

After that, similar to the water supply operation described above, slightly high temperature ice making water is supplied to the top surface of the ice making tray 11 where no ice is being made, so that the ice made on the bottom surface of the ice making tray 11 is released. The ice is stored in the ice storage container 13. By repeating a series of operations such as ice making, water supply, and ice removal as described above, the ice storage container 13 is stored with the full amount of ice detected by the ice storage sensing lever 14. It has become.

As described above, the ice making apparatus according to the present embodiment includes an ice making tray 11 in which ice making sections 11a are formed on both upper and lower surfaces.
are rotated by the rotating means 20 to rotate the upper and lower ice making sections 11a.
... is reversed, and the temperature of the ice-making water supplied to the ice-making tray 11 is controlled by the water supply means 30. Therefore, by controlling the temperature of the ice-making water supplied to the top surface of the ice-making tray 11 to a slightly high temperature, the ice-making tray 1
The ice produced on the bottom surface of 1 can be released by natural fall, and as a result, the appearance of the ice is improved, unlike the conventional case where the ice tray is forced torsionally deformed. be able to.

Furthermore, since the rotating means 20 for rotating the ice making tray 11 as described above does not need to impart torsional deformation to the ice making tray 11, it is not necessary to apply torsional deformation to the ice making tray 11. For example, 0.1 kg of the member 23
・Since the rotation can be performed with a small torque of about cm, there is no need for an electric motor that generates a large torque of 30 kg cm as in the conventional example, and as a result, the rotation means 20
The design cost of the rotating means 20 can be significantly reduced, and the driving noise generated from the rotating means 20 can be almost completely eliminated.

Furthermore, by using a ceramic material such as alumina or silicon carbide as the material for molding the ice making tray 11, and adding diatomaceous earth ceramics such as illite to this ceramic material, ice making is possible. The ice removal performance from the tray 11 can be improved, and the antibacterial and deodorizing effects of the ceramic material make it possible to produce ice that is excellent in hygiene.

The above embodiments do not limit the present invention, and various changes can be made within the scope of the present invention. For example, the spring member for moving the advancing and retracting member 22 forward and backward is not particularly limited to the tension spring 24, but it is also possible to use a torsion spring made of a shape memory alloy.
Furthermore, if the ice tray 11 can be rotated with an extremely small torque, a two-way elastic spring made of a shape memory alloy can be used to prevent the bias compression spring 25 from turning.
The advancing/retracting member 22 can be moved forward and backward without using.

[0040]

As described above, in the ice making apparatus according to claim 1 of the present invention, the ice making tray has ice making sections formed on both its upper and lower surfaces, and water is supplied to one of the ice making sections for cooling. When the ice making is completed, the ice making section is turned over by the rotating means, the water heated by the water supply means is supplied to the other ice making section, and the ice from the one ice making section is separated from the tray. .

[0041] With this, the ice-making operation from the ice-making tray can be performed using the heat of the ice-making water supplied from the water supply means,
As a result, since there is no need to apply torsional deformation to the ice tray, the rotation means for rotating the ice tray only needs to have a small torque, and the design cost of the rotation means can be significantly reduced. In addition, the ice-off operation due to heat as described above is
This is done by randomly dropping one or two pieces of ice from an ice cube tray.

[0042] Therefore, unlike the conventional ice-making tray which performs ice-off operations all at once due to twisting deformation, the sound of falling ice is reduced and the discomfort felt to the user of the device can be reduced. play.

[0043] Furthermore, the ice making apparatus according to claim 2 is the ice making apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the ice making tray is molded from a ceramic material.

[0044] This makes it possible to improve the ice removal performance from the ice tray, and also makes it possible to produce ice that is hygienically superior due to the antibacterial and deodorizing effects of the ceramic material.

[0045] Furthermore, in the ice making apparatus according to claim 3, in the ice making apparatus according to claim 1, the rotating means is a rotating shaft of an ice making tray, and a drill blade-shaped twisting part is formed. The shaft member is formed with a guide hole into which the shaft member is inserted, and a reciprocating member is provided so as to be movable in the longitudinal direction of the shaft member, and is made of a shape memory alloy. This configuration includes a spring member that moves the body.

[0046] As a result, the rotation torque of the rotation means for rotating the ice tray can be obtained from the shape change of the spring member made of a shape memory alloy, and as a result, the device can be made smaller and lighter. can do. In addition, the rotational torque obtained from such a change in the shape of the spring member does not generate a large torque unlike the electric motor that constitutes the rotation means of the conventional example, so the driving noise is extremely low, and as a result, This has the effect of eliminating the discomfort caused to the user of the device due to the drive sound caused by the rotational drive.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing ice making means and water supply means that constitute an ice making apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view showing an ice making tray and rotating means that constitute the above ice making means.

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view showing the above ice tray.

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view showing the above-mentioned rotating means.

FIG. 5 is a front view showing a reciprocating member constituting the above-mentioned rotating means.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a metering container constituting the water supply means.

FIG. 7 is a longitudinal sectional view showing the water supply means described above.

FIG. 8 is a front view showing a refrigerator-freezer equipped with the above ice making device.

9 is a sectional view taken along the line AA in FIG. 8; FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

8 Cooler (cooling means) 11 Ice making tray 11a Ice making section 20 Rotating means 22 Advance/retreat member 22a' Guide hole 23 Shaft member 23a Twisting section 24 Tension spring (spring member) 30
water supply means

Claims (3)

[Claims] Claim 1: Water supply means for supplying water to an ice tray;
In the ice-making apparatus, the ice-making tray includes an ice-making section formed on both an upper surface and a lower surface thereof, and water is supplied to one of the ice-making sections. When the cooling and ice making is completed, the ice making section is turned over by the rotation means, and the water heated by the water supply means is supplied to the other ice making section, and the ice from the one ice making section is separated from the tray. An ice making device featuring: 2. The ice making device according to claim 1, wherein the ice making tray is molded from a ceramic material. 3. The rotating means is a rotating shaft of the ice tray, and includes a shaft member formed with a drill-blade-shaped twisting portion, a guide hole through which the shaft member is inserted, and 2. The shaft member according to claim 1, further comprising a reciprocating member that is provided to be movable in the longitudinal direction of the shaft member, and a spring member that is made of a shape memory alloy and moves the reciprocating member forward and backward by changing its shape. Ice making equipment.