JPH04320776A - Ice making device of refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To generate ices having no food smell in view of their sanitary condition by a method wherein a switch for sensing a presence or a non-presence of water in a water feeding tank and a timer for counting a closing time of the switch are provided, and when the closing time exceeds a set time, a replacement of stored water in the tank is informed. CONSTITUTION:In the case that a stocker 3 is full of ices and an ice making operation is not carried out for a long period of time, water is stored in a water feeding tank 5 for a long period of time, odor of foods is transferred to water, so that it is necessary to perform regularly a replacement of water or a cleaning of the water feeding tank 5. Due to this fact, a tank sensing switch 6 turned on when the water supplying tank 5 is mounted at an inner wall of a refrigerator chamber, a cleaning time 16 to be driven with this signal is disposed in a micro-computer 10. In the case that the water supplying tank 5 is not released from its mounting place for a predetermined period of time, a cleaning alarm 17 for the water supplying tank 5 for instructing a replacement of stored water and cleaning operation is displayed.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ice making device for a refrigerator, and more particularly to an alarm device for instructing replacement of water stored in a water tank.

0002

[Prior Art] Conventionally, an automatic ice making device for a refrigerator uses a water supply pump installed in the water tank to pump a certain amount of water from a water tank stored at a predetermined location in the refrigerator compartment into an ice making tray in the ice making compartment. A method in which a temperature sensor installed in the ice cube tray detects that it has frozen, the ice tray is turned over and the ice is dropped into a stocker installed below is repeated, and the ice that is formed is stored in the stocker as it is. has been taken. When the stocker is full of ice, a mechanical detection method such as when a lever installed at the bottom of the ice tray comes into contact with the ice in the stocker when the ice tray is turned over stops the rotation of the ice tray, and the microcomputer in the control unit is activated to make ice. It instructs the operation to stop to prevent ice from overflowing into the stocker. If the ice in the stocker is not consumed and the stocker is full for a long time, ice making operation will not be performed and the water in the water tank will be stored for a long time, which is not only unfavorable from a sanitary standpoint, but also makes the ice that is made into food. Problems such as the transfer of odors have occurred.

0003

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and includes a display that instructs to replace and clean the water in the water tank to prevent water from being stored in the water tank for more than a certain period of time. The object of the present invention is to provide an ice making device for a refrigerator equipped with an alarm device that lights up.

0004

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, a tank detection switch is provided to detect the presence or absence of a water supply tank at a location where the water supply tank is installed, and a control microcomputer is provided with a timer to time the closing time of the tank detection switch. A timer is provided so that when the closing time exceeds a preset time, a notification is given to replace the water stored in the water tank.

[0005]

[Function] According to the above configuration, a tank detection switch for detecting the presence or absence of a water tank is provided at the installation part of the water tank, and by installing the water tank, a timer (hereinafter referred to as a cleaning timer) provided in the control microcomputer is installed. When the energization time exceeds a preset time, the display lights up to indicate when to replace and clean the water in the water tank.

[0006]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Examples of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a partially omitted front view of the main parts showing the configuration of the ice making apparatus of the present invention, in which one corner of the freezer compartment of the refrigerator is partitioned to form an ice making compartment, an ice tray 1 having a rotating shaft is provided in the center, and the rotating shaft is One end is rotatably supported on the wall of the freezer compartment, and the other end is connected and held to the shaft of a deceleration DC motor 2 fixed to a partition plate,
A stocker 3 for stocking ice is placed below the ice tray 1, and a water supply port 4 is attached above the ice tray 1. Furthermore, a compartment for holding the water supply tank 5 is provided along the inner wall in one corner of the refrigerator compartment, and a tank detection switch 6 that is turned on when the water supply tank 5 is placed is installed on the inner wall.
The water supply tank 5 is provided with a water supply pump 7, and a water supply pipe 8 is formed from the water supply pump 7 to the water supply port 4 in the ice-making chamber by penetrating the side wall of the housing. An ice tray temperature sensor 9 for detecting the temperature of the ice tray 1 is fixed to the bottom surface of the ice tray 1, and is connected to a microcomputer 10 of a control section via a signal line.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the present invention. In the refrigerator, a microcomputer 10 operates a compressor drive circuit 12 to perform cooling operation in a state set in advance by an internal temperature setting circuit 11. On the other hand, in ice making equipment, the microcomputer 1
0, the water supply pump drive circuit 13 is driven, a certain amount of water is supplied to the ice tray 1 without overflowing, ice is made in the freezing chamber, and the ice tray 1 is cooled to a low temperature (for example, -5° C.) to ensure freezing. , the ice tray temperature is detected by the ice tray temperature sensor 9 and sent to the microcomputer 10, and the microcomputer 10 drives the ice removing device by the ice removing device driving circuit 14 to remove the ice.
The operation is performed so that the state returns to the state before the start of ice making, and ice making is repeated until the stocker 3 is full of ice. In addition, the water supply tank 5 is configured to store an integral multiple of the amount of water supplied for one time of ice making, and the microcomputer 10 counts the number of times ice is made to check the remaining amount of water in the water tank 5. A water supply alarm 15 is displayed to instruct replenishment or replacement of water. As shown in FIG. 1, the ice removing device uses a signal from an ice tray temperature sensor 9 to cause a microcomputer 10 to drive a deceleration DC motor 2 to rotate an ice tray 1 by 180 degrees, and drop the formed ice cubes into a stocker 3. When the stocker 3 is full, press the lever (
(not shown) comes into contact with the ice block and stops the deceleration DC motor 2,
This signal causes the microcomputer 10 in the control section to stop the ice making operation. When the stocker 3 is full of ice or ice-making operation is not performed for a long period of time, water will be stored in the water supply tank 5 for a long period of time, and the water stored in the refrigerator compartment will contain food odors. It is necessary to change the water and clean the water tank 5 regularly. In the present invention, in order to periodically exchange this water and clean the water supply tank 5, a tank detection switch 6 is provided which becomes conductive when the water supply tank 5 is placed on the inner wall of the refrigerator compartment. The microcomputer 10 is equipped with a cleaning timer 16 that is driven by a signal from the water supply tank 5 for a preset period.
If the water supply tank 5 is not removed from the installation location, a cleaning alarm 17 for the water supply tank 5 is displayed to instruct replacement and cleaning of the stored water.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing details of the present invention, in which the water supply tank 5 is installed (21) at the start of ice making operation.
At the same time, the cleaning timer 16 is started (22), and if the water supply tank 5 is not removed during this period (23), the water supply counter 18 is set to N=1 (24), and the water supply pump 7 keeps the ice tray 1 constant. A certain amount of water is poured (25), ice is made, and the ice is stored in the stocker 3 (26). When the stocker 3 is not full (27), the number of water supplies N is compared with a set value determined in advance based on the volume ratio of the water supply tank 5 and the ice cube tray 1, and the number of water supplies N does not reach the set value. In case (2
8), count up the water supply number N by 1, pour a certain amount of water into the ice tray 1 again, and repeat ice making (29). When the number of times of water supply N reaches the set value, that is, when there is no water in the water tank 5, the water supply alarm 15 is displayed (30), the water supply tank 5 is removed (31), water is supplied (32), and the cleaning timer 16 is reset. (33) Return to ice making operation. At this time, if the water supply tank 5 is not removed, or if ice making is stopped because the stocker 3 is full of ice, ice making is stopped and enters a standby state (32), and when the cleaning timer 16 has timed out ( 33) Display cleaning alarm 17 (3
4) Instruct to clean the water tank and replace the water.

[0009]

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, in the present invention, the continuity of the tank detection switch that confirms the installation of the water tank is measured by a timer installed in the microcomputer, and the water tank is not removed for a preset period. In such cases, by displaying a water tank cleaning alarm, it is possible to warn the user to clean the water tank and replace the stored water, thereby making it possible to produce ice hygienically and without food odor.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially omitted main part front view showing the configuration of an ice making apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram diagram of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing details of the invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Ice tray 2 Deceleration DC motor 3 Stocker 4 Water supply port 5 Water tank 6 Tank detection switch 7 Water pump 8 Water supply pipe 9 Ice tray temperature sensor 10　Microcomputer 11 Internal temperature setting circuit 12 Compressor drive circuit 13 Water supply pump drive circuit 14 Ice removal device drive circuit 15 Water supply alarm 16 Cleaning timer 17 Cleaning alarm 18 Water supply counter

Claims (2)

[Claims] [Claim 1] In an ice-making device for a refrigerator, in which an automatic ice-making device is installed in the freezer compartment, and a water supply tank in the refrigerator compartment intermittently supplies a fixed amount of water to the ice-making tray via a water supply pipe, the same water supply is provided at the location where the water supply tank is installed. A tank detection switch that detects the presence or absence of a tank, and a timer that measures the closing time of the tank detection switch are provided in the control microcomputer, and when the closing time exceeds a preset time, the stored water in the water tank is stopped. An ice-making device for a refrigerator, characterized in that it notifies replacement. 2. An ice-making device for a refrigerator, wherein the notification means is an indicator light.