JPH0445005Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] Industrial application field This invention is an injection jet device configured to tilt the ice-making water tank together with the water tray with respect to the ice-making chamber during deicing operation, and to discharge the ice-making water in the ice-making water tank. The present invention relates to a drainage device that can vary the amount of ice-making water stored in an ice-making water tank in an automatic ice-making machine to the most appropriate water level depending on the capacity of the ice-making chamber used in the ice-making machine.

BACKGROUND TECHNOLOGY An injection-type automatic ice-making machine that produces a large number of ice cubes by spraying ice-making water from below into a large number of ice-making compartments that open downward is suitably used in kitchen facilities such as coffee shops and restaurants. . The present invention relates to a drainage device used in this injection type automatic ice maker, but in order to contribute to the understanding of the present invention, first the schematic structure of the automatic ice maker will be explained with reference to Figs. 4 and 5. explain. FIG. 4 shows the ice-making mechanism of the injection-type automatic ice-making machine, in which an ice-making chamber 10 defining a number of ice-making compartments 12 opening downward is horizontally arranged in a casing (not shown). On the top surface of this ice making chamber 10, an evaporation pipe 14 communicating with the refrigeration system is provided.
are closely arranged in a meandering manner, and by circulating a refrigerant through these during ice-making operation, the ice-making compartment 12 is forcibly cooled.

Directly below the ice making chamber 10, a water tray 18 including an ice making water tank 16 is pivotably supported by a support shaft 20 so as to be tiltable. During ice-making operation, this water tray 18 is held horizontally and parallel to the ice-making chamber 10, as shown in FIG. 4a, and during ice-making operation, it is energized by an actuator (not shown). As shown in FIG. 4b, the ice-making compartment 12 is opened by tilting clockwise around the support shaft 20 and stopping.

The water tray 18 has a fountain hole 22 corresponding to each of the ice-making chambers 12 for spraying ice-making water, and an ice-making water tank 1 for supplying return water (hereinafter referred to as "unfrozen water").
A large number of return holes 24 for collecting the water in the water tray 6 are bored, and the water fountain holes 22 communicate with a plurality of distribution pipes 38 formed on the lower surface of the water tray 18. Further, a water sprinkler 19 is disposed above the water tray 18, and the water sprayed from the sprinkler 19 onto the surface of the water tray is distributed between the return hole 24 and the front open end of the water tray 18 (which is pivoted by a pivot 20). The ice-making water is stored in the ice-making water tank 16, and is used as ice-making water thereafter.

The ice-making water stored in the tank 16 is transferred to the suction pipe 28.
The liquid is sucked in by the pump 26 through the pipe body 30 and the discharge pipe 32 shown in the figure, and is forced into the pressure chamber 34 . The pressure chamber 34 communicates with the distribution pipe 38 via a water distribution hole 36, and therefore, the ice-making water sent to the pressure chamber 34 is sent from the plurality of water fountain holes 22 to each ice-making small chamber 12 via the distribution pipe 38. Injected into the tank.

Since the ice-making chamber 12 is cooled to below freezing point by the operation of the refrigeration system, a portion of the ice-making water that is circulated and supplied into the ice-making chamber begins to freeze in a layer on the inner wall surface of the ice-making chamber 12. Further, the unfrozen water falls from the return hole 24 of the water tray 18, is collected in the ice-making water tank 16, and is again circulated. When the ice-making operation progresses and ice cubes are produced in the ice-making compartment 12, a sensor detects this and the valve is switched to open the evaporator pipe 14.
At the same time, the actuator is energized to start tilting the water tray 18 and the ice-making water tank 16 (see FIG. 4b). As a result, the ice cubes are discharged from the ice making chamber 12, slide diagonally downward on the water tray 18, and are stored in an ice storage (not shown). Further, the unfrozen water remaining in the ice-making water tank 16 is removed from the tank 16 as the tank 16 is tilted.
The open end 40 of the drain drains into a drain pan (not shown).

Problems to be Solved by the Invention In the above-mentioned automatic jet ice maker, even if the model is the same, the ice making capacity can be changed within a required range according to the user's specifications.
For example, when increasing the ice making capacity, the ice making chamber 10 built into the ice making machine is replaced with one of larger size. In this case, it is necessary to correspondingly replace the water tray 18 with a larger one, and to provide an ice-making water tank 16 with a capacity capable of storing the optimum amount of ice-making water to be supplied to the ice-making chamber 10.

It is also practiced to change the ice making capacity by replacing only the ice making chamber 10 with one of a larger or smaller capacity. In this case, as shown in FIG. 5, the water tray 18 and the ice-making water tank 16 are each provided with a maximum size corresponding to the maximum capacity ice-making chamber 10 that can be used in the ice-making machine. When using the small-capacity ice making compartment 10, a water distribution port 36 communicating with the distribution pipe 38 on the unused side of the water tray 18 (distribution pipes located at both left and right ends in the drawing)
is closed by means such as a plug. By supplying ice-making water only to the distribution pipes 38 facing each ice-making compartment 12 of the ice-making compartment 10 through each water fountain 22, the ice-making compartment 10 with a small capacity can be accommodated.

However, in the former case, it is necessary to replace the water tray 18 and the ice making water tank 16 when the ice making compartment 10 is replaced, so for each ice making compartment 10 with dimensions corresponding to various ice making capacities, A water tray 18 and an ice-making water tank 16 are required. For this reason, there was a drawback that the manufacturing cost and the manufacturing cost of molds and the like increased. Furthermore, since there is no commonality among the parts of each dimension, it is necessary to store them separately for each size, which creates problems such as requiring a large space to store the parts and making inventory management complicated. .

In the latter case, the ice-making water tank 16 stores ice-making water in an amount that can be appropriately supplied to the ice-making compartment 10 having the maximum capacity usable by the ice-making machine. Therefore, when ice-making operation is performed with a small-capacity ice-making compartment 10 installed, since the capacity of the ice-making machine is set to the maximum, an excessive amount of ice-making water is supplied to the ice-making compartment 10, which reduces ice-making efficiency. There is a problem that the value decreases. That is, the unfrozen water that is injected into the ice-making compartment 10 and cooled by contacting the ice-making compartment 10 returns to the ice-making water tank 16, thereby lowering the temperature of the ice-making water stored in the tank 16. Efforts are being made to shorten the time required to make ice. However, in this latter example, since the amount of ice-making water stored in the ice-making water tank 16 is large, it takes time for the temperature of the entire ice-making water to drop even if the unfrozen water returns to the ice-making water tank 16. This results in a decrease in ice making efficiency.

Purpose of the invention The present invention was proposed in order to suitably solve the above-mentioned various drawbacks. It is an object of the present invention to provide a drainage device for an automatic jet ice making machine that can easily adjust the amount of ice making water stored in the ice making water tank.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to overcome the above-mentioned problems and suitably achieve the intended purpose, the present invention provides an ice-making compartment that defines a number of ice-making compartments that open downward; It is equipped with a water tray that is closed so as to be tiltable and openable from below and has a water fountain hole and a return hole corresponding to each ice-making chamber, and an ice-making water tank attached below the water tray. In the injection type automatic ice maker configured to generate ice cubes by injecting water into the ice making chamber from the water fountain hole, a drain port is provided near the open end of the ice making water tank, and a drain pipe is connected to the drain port. is rotatably disposed, and the opening of the water level adjustment member disposed in the drain pipe is opened at the same level as the bottom of the ice-making water tank, and by rotating the drain pipe, the lower end of the opening is opened. It is characterized by being configured so that the horizontal height of the can be changed.

Embodiments Next, a preferred embodiment of a drainage device for an automatic ice maker according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Note that the same parts already shown in the injection-type automatic ice maker explained in connection with FIGS. 4 and 5 will be designated by the same reference numerals.
A detailed explanation thereof will be omitted.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a bottom plate 16a that is inclined at a predetermined angle with respect to the upper edge of the ice-making water tank 16 has a weir plate 16b bent at its open end. This dam plate 16b is for damming the supply water or unfrozen water flowing down from the upper surface of the water tray 18 from scattering to the outside of the tank, and for smoothly guiding it into the ice-making water tank 16. Further, the weir plate 16b on the bottom plate 16a of the ice-making water tank 16
A step 4 slightly recessed downward near the bend
2 is formed. A drain port 40 of a required diameter is bored in this stepped portion 42, and a drain pipe 44, which will be described later and is constructed separately, is arranged in the drain port 40 so that it can be freely inserted into, removed from, and rotated.

This drain pipe 44 has a hollow cylindrical portion 44 having a male thread threaded on its outer periphery, as shown particularly in FIG.
a, a flange 44b integrally formed on the upper end of this cylindrical portion 44a, and a water level adjustment member 46 attached to this flange 44b.
This water level adjustment member 46 is connected to the through hole 44 of the drain pipe 44.
A U-shaped upright wall stands upright at the opening end of the opening 46c and partially surrounds the opening, the top of which is covered by a sloped ceiling 46b as shown in FIG. Further, on the inclined upper side of the water level adjusting member 46, an eaves member 50 connected to the inclined ceiling 46b and extending for a predetermined length is disposed in parallel with the flange 44b. Furthermore, extending pieces 50a are integrally formed at both ends of the eaves plate 50 in the longitudinal direction, and extend downward along the inclined surface of the horizontal adjustment member 46 and extend to both sides of the water level adjustment member 46. These eaves plate 50 and extension piece 50a cover the upper part of the through hole 44c in the drain pipe 44, so when the drain pipe 44 is attached to the drain port 40 of the bottom plate 16a as described later, the upper surface of the water tray 18 is covered. A portion of the supply water or unfrozen water that flows down and falls into the ice-making water tank 16 from the open end of the water tray 18 is directly discharged into the drain tray through the through hole 44c of the drain pipe 44. is prevented.

Regarding the installation of the drain pipe 44, the cylindrical portion 44a below the flange 44b is connected to the drain port 40.
ice-making water tank 16 by inserting the nut 48 into the male screw formed in the cylindrical portion 44a.
Fixed. The thickness of the flange 44b is set to be approximately the same as the depth of the stepped portion 42, so that when it is fixed, the flange 44 and the upper bottom surface of the ice-making water tank 16 are
b is configured so that the upper surface thereof is flat.

An opening 46a is opened at the end of the inclined upper side of the water level adjustment member 46 having such a configuration, and this opening 46a is connected to the through hole 44c of the drain pipe 44.
It is oriented in a direction perpendicular to the central axis of. A water level adjusting member 4 is provided in the through hole 44c of the drain pipe 44.
Ice-making water flows only through the opening 46a of No. 6.

As can be seen from FIGS. 2a and 3a, when the drain pipe 44 is disposed at the drain port 40, the center axis of the drain pipe 44 is at a predetermined angle with respect to the horizontal plane (the bottom plate of the ice-making water tank 16 16a) is inclined. Therefore, the drain pipe 44 is centered around this axis.
When the opening 46a of the water level adjusting member 46 is rotated, the opening 46a of the water level adjusting member 46 is rotated.
The horizontal height of the lower end of a changes. That is, as shown in FIG. 2a, the opening 46 of the water level adjusting member 46
When the opening 46a faces the weir plate 16b, the lower end surface of the opening 46a is located at level _l1 .
However, as shown in FIG. 3a, the opening 46
When the opening 46a is rotated to face the weir plate 16b at 180° on the opposite side, the lower end surface of the opening 46a will be located at the level _l2 below the level _l1 .
This depends on the orientation direction of the opening 46a.
The ice making water stored in the ice making water tank 16 flows through the through hole 4.
This means that the water level flowing into 4c is variable. The water level variable range of the ice making water (the variable range of the horizontal height of the opening 46a) is set in advance so that the water level is optimal for the maximum capacity ice making compartment 10 and the minimum capacity ice making compartment 10 used in the ice making machine. Set.

Next, the operation of the drainage device of the automatic ice maker according to the embodiment configured as described above will be explained first in the large-capacity ice maker 1.
The case where ice cubes are manufactured using 0 will be explained. In this case, as shown in FIG. 2a, the drain pipe 44 inserted into the drain port 40 of the ice making water tank 16 has an opening 46a of the water level adjusting member 46 at the weir plate 16b.
Fix it in the position on the side facing towards. Note that the opening 46
The lower end of a indicates the water level in the tank 16 that stores the optimal amount of ice-making water to supply to the large-capacity ice-making compartment 10.
l It is preset to be at the same level as ₁ . Water sprinkler 1 connected to this ice maker to the external water system
When the supply water is supplied from 9, the supply water falls into the ice-making water tank 16 through the return hole 24 formed in the water tray 18 and the open end of the water tray, and is stored in the ice-making water tank 16 in a predetermined amount.

As shown in FIG. 2a, when the water level of the supplied water in the ice-making water tank 16 reaches l ₁ , the supplied water flows through the opening 46 a of the water level adjusting member 46 of the drain pipe 44 . Drain pipe 44 through
The water flows into the through hole 44c and is discharged into the drain tray. Therefore, the ice-making water stored in the ice-making water tank 16 is
It is possible to always maintain the amount optimal for the size of the ice making chamber 10. Note that since the upper part of the through hole 44c is covered by the eaves plate 50 and the extension piece 50a, water flows down the upper surface of the water tray 18 during ice making operation and flows into the ice making water tank 1.
The unfrozen water that returns to the ice cube 6 is not directly discharged to the drain tray via the drain pipe 44, and there is no shortage of ice-making water.

Next, when the ice-making operation is completed and the de-icing operation is started, the ice-making water tank 16 is tilted together with the water tray 18, and the ice cubes produced in the ice-making chamber 12 are released, as shown in FIG. 2b. Ru. At this time, ice making water tank 1
Unfrozen water that could not be frozen during the ice making operation remains in the ice making water tank 6, but all of this unfrozen water is discharged from the drain pipe 44 disposed at the end of the ice making water tank 16. That is, since the opening 46a of the water level adjusting member 46 opens at the same height as the bottom surface of the ice-making water tank 16 when the ice-making water tank 16 is tilted, all unfrozen water is drained into the drain pipe 44. can be discharged through.

Next, the case of producing ice cubes using the small capacity ice making chamber 10 will be explained with reference to FIGS. 3a and 3b. In this case, the water level adjusting member 46 is rotated and fixed so that its opening 46a is oriented downwardly on the slope of the bottom plate 16a, that is, 180 degrees opposite to the weir plate 16b. At this time, the dimensions are set in advance so that the lower end of the opening 46a is at the same level as the water level _l2 when the optimum amount of ice-making water to be supplied to the small-capacity ice-making compartment 10 is stored in the ice-making water tank 16. It is set. Note that the drain pipe 44 is only fixed by a nut 48, so the nut 48
By loosening the drain pipe 44, the opening direction of the opening 46a can be easily changed by rotating the drain pipe 44.

When supply water is supplied by the sprinkler 19 in this state, the supply water reaches the water level _l2 in the ice-making water tank 16, and the supplied supply water passes through the opening 46a of the water level adjustment member 46 and enters the through hole 44c. water flows in and drains into the drain pan. Therefore, the water level of the ice-making water can always be maintained at level _l2 . During the ice-making operation, as explained in connection with FIG. 5, the water distribution hole 36 communicating with the distribution pipe 38 in which the unused fountain hole 22 of the water tray 18 is drilled is closed, and the water distribution hole 36 communicating with the distribution pipe 38 in use is Ice-making water is now supplied only to

When the ice-making operation is started after the ice-making operation is completed, the ice-making water tank 16 is tilted as described above, and unfrozen water is discharged from the drain pipe 44 into the drain tray. In this case as well, the opening 46a of the water level adjusting member 46 disposed in the drain pipe 44 is connected to the ice making water tank 16.
When the ice-making water tank 16 is tilted, it opens at the same height as the bottom surface of the ice-making water tank 16, and all unfrozen water can be discharged through the drain pipe 44.

Effects of the Invention As explained above, according to the drainage device for the jet automatic ice maker according to the invention, by changing the position of the opening of the drain pipe attached to the ice making water tank,
Since the amount of ice-making water stored in the ice-making water tank can be changed, there is no need to replace the ice-making water tank even when replacing it with an ice-making chamber with a different ice-making capacity. Therefore, there is no need to manufacture or store a large number of ice-making water tanks corresponding to ice-making chambers of different sizes, and it is possible to reduce manufacturing costs and overhead costs for inventory pipes.

Moreover, since the optimal amount of ice-making water can always be stored in the ice-making compartment regardless of the capacity of the ice-making compartment, ice-making efficiency is not reduced. Furthermore, when discharging unfrozen water, it has a beneficial effect such that all the water can be drained regardless of the direction in which the opening of the drain pipe is oriented.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a drain pipe used in the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the main part of an ice-making water tank when a large-capacity ice-making chamber is used.
indicates the state before the ice-making water tank is tilted, and the second
Figure b shows the state after the ice making water tank is tilted.
Figure 3 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the main part of the ice-making water tank when using a small-capacity ice-making compartment. Figure 3a shows the state before the ice-making water tank is tilted, and Figure 3b shows the ice-making water tank. FIG. 4 is a schematic vertical sectional view showing the ice making mechanism of an automatic ice maker according to the prior art, and FIG. 4a shows the state before the ice making water tank is tilted. 4b shows the state after the ice-making water tank is tilted, and FIG. 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the ice-making mechanism according to the prior art. 10... Ice making room, 12... Ice making small room, 16...
Ice-making water tank, 18... water tray, 22... fountain hole,
24... Return hole, 40... Drain port, 44... Drain pipe, 46a... Opening.

Claims (1)

[Claims for Utility Model Registration] [1] An ice-making chamber 10 defining a large number of ice-making chambers 12 that open downward, the ice-making chambers 12 being closed so as to be tiltable and openable from below, and each ice-making chamber 12 having a A water tray 18 having a corresponding fountain hole 22 and a return hole 24, and an ice-making water tank 16 attached below the water tray 18 are provided, and the ice-making water in the ice-making water tank 16 is passed from the fountain hole 22 to the ice-making chamber. In the injection type automatic ice maker configured to generate ice cubes by supplying water to the ice making water tank 12, a drain port 40 is provided near the open end of the ice making water tank 16, and a drain pipe 44 is routed through the drain port 40. The opening 46a of the water level adjusting member 46, which is movably disposed in the drain pipe 44, opens at the same level as the bottom surface of the ice-making water tank 16, and
A drainage device for an automatic ice maker, characterized in that the horizontal height of the lower end of the opening 46a can be changed by rotating the drainage pipe 44. [2] The drain pipe 44 has a cylindrical portion 4 of a predetermined length.
4a and a flange 44 provided around the outer periphery of the end thereof.
b, and a water level adjusting member 46 protruding from the flange 44b, which surrounds the through hole 44c of the drain pipe 44 and has an opening opening in a direction perpendicular to the central axis of the through hole 44a. A drainage device for an automatic jet ice maker according to claim 1, which has a portion 46a.