JPH0451329Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] <<Industrial Application Field>> This invention relates to a liquid ice type heat storage tank, and more specifically relates to an improvement of an ice maker.

《Prior art》 For cooling systems for houses, buildings, etc., in order to shift the period of use of electricity as a heat source for cooling from peak electricity demand times (generally during the day) to off-peak times (generally at night), electric power A water heat storage method and an ice heat storage method have been developed, in which cold heat generated by water is stored in water or ice.

These systems consist of a cold heat generating device such as a refrigerator and a cold water heat storage tank or an ice heat storage tank, and generate cold heat using electricity such as at night, and store this cold heat as cold water or ice in the above heat storage tank. It is then stored and taken out during the day when cold heat is needed and used for cooling the air conditioner.
In this way, these systems create a time lag between the generation and demand for cold heat, and aim to eliminate the imbalance between day and night power demand.

When comparing the cold water heat storage method and the ice heat storage method described above, the latter, which uses the latent heat of ice, has the advantage of being able to store the same amount of cold heat as the former in a heat storage tank with a much smaller capacity than the former. Because of this, this ice heat storage method has been widely used in recent years.

This ice heat storage method is generally classified into static type and dynamic type from the viewpoint of ice production.

The static type is a type in which a refrigerant circulation coil is installed in an ice heat storage tank and ice is created around the coil, and is also called a solid ice type, and is generally widely adopted because of its simple mechanism.

On the other hand, new methods such as the harvest method and liquid ice method have been developed for the dynamic type, and in recent years,
Development activities are intensifying toward practical application.

This harvesting method involves sprinkling water on an ice-making plate to create plate-shaped ice, crushing it into fragmented ice, and storing this fragmented ice in an ice heat storage tank.

In addition, the liquid ice method is a method in which water is supercooled by mixing glycol-based antifreeze or other antifreeze with water. Under this condition, the water turns into ice particles and forms a slurry-like liquid. Maintain liquidity.

<<Problems to be solved by the invention>> In the case of the static type described above, the cost of the refrigerant distribution coil installed in the ice heat storage tank is high, and especially when the ice heat storage tank becomes large, it becomes disadvantageous in terms of initial cost. This coil makes it difficult to clean the inside of the tank.

On the other hand, the liquid ice method does not have the above problems, but has the following problems.

In other words, the liquid ice method, for example,
As shown in the figure, from the ice heat storage tank 1 to the liquid transport pump 3
A mixed liquid of water and antifreeze (glycol-based aqueous solution) L is sent to the ice maker 2 at the ice maker 2, and while flowing down the channel 4, it is cooled by the refrigerator 5 and sent to the outside of the channel 4. The water in the mixture L of water and antifreeze becomes supercooled and turns into ice particles, forming liquid ice I.
is generated. The liquid ice I is then sent to the ice heat storage tank 1 and stored therein.

In this way, in the conventional liquid ice type heat storage tank, the ice making machine 2 that generates liquid ice and the ice heat storage tank 1 that stores the liquid ice are installed separately, so (1) the ice making machine 2 must be insulated. (2) If the ice maker 2 becomes larger, the insulation area will increase and the equipment cost will increase. (3) The installation space for the ice maker 2 and the ice heat storage tank 1 will be required, and additional space will be required. (4) When installing multiple small ice machines 2, each ice machine A vast amount of space is required, including maintenance for each ice maker, and insulation is required for each ice maker, resulting in a high initial cost.

There were other problems.

The present invention was made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and its purpose is to provide a liquid ice type heat storage tank that does not require insulation of the ice maker and requires a small space.

<<Means for Solving the Problems>> In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a liquid ice type heat storage system consisting of an ice heat storage tank for storing cold heat using liquid ice and an ice making machine for producing the liquid ice. In the tank, a protrusion protruding outward is provided at the lower periphery of the ice heat storage tank, and at least one ice maker is built in the protrusion, and the ice maker is lower than the water level of the ice heat storage tank. arranged so that the water level is low, and
A pipe for liquid transport connecting the lower part of the ice heat storage tank and the upper part of the ice maker, and a pipe for transporting liquid ice connecting the lower part of the ice maker and the upper part of the ice heat storage tank were provided.

《Operation》 In this invention, when cold heat is used during the daytime, cold heat is extracted, ice grains melt, and a mixture of water and antifreeze (hereinafter referred to as mixed liquid) stored in the ice heat storage tank is stored in the ice heat storage tank. The ice is extracted into the liquid transport pipe that connects the lower part of the ice storage tank with the upper part of the ice maker built into the ice storage tank, and the liquid is transported using the difference in water level between the ice storage tank and the ice maker. It passes through a pipe and is sent to the top of the ice maker.

The mixed liquid sent to the top of the ice maker passes through the mixed liquid flow path inside the ice maker and reaches the bottom of the ice maker, where it is cooled by the refrigerator and cooled by the refrigerant flowing through the refrigerant flow path of the ice maker. , the water in the liquid mixture becomes supercooled and turns into ice particles, forming liquid ice.

The liquid ice produced in this way is
The liquid ice is extracted into a pipe for transporting liquid ice that connects the lower part of the ice maker and the upper part of the ice heat storage tank, passes through the pipe for transporting liquid ice, is sent to the upper part of the ice heat storage tank, and is stored in the ice heat storage tank.

In the present invention, since the ice making machine is built into the ice heat storage tank in which the liquid ice is stored, the ice making machine is cooled by the liquid ice when cold heat is generated.

Furthermore, at the end of cold heat extraction, mixed liquid and unmelted ice particles are stored in the ice storage tank, so the ice maker built into the ice storage tank is not equipped with special insulation means. However, the mixed liquid and unmelted ice grains create a state of isolation from the outside temperature. That is, heat loss from the ice maker is absorbed by the ice heat storage tank and can be used effectively.

<<Embodiment>> FIG. 1 shows a preferred embodiment of the liquid ice type heat storage tank according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in the figure, a protrusion 1' that protrudes outward is formed on the lower peripheral edge of the ice heat storage tank 1.
One ice maker 2 is built in this protrusion 1'.

In addition, the built-in ice maker 2 is lower than the ice heat storage tank 1, and when the ice maker 2 is placed inside the protrusion 1', the water level in the ice heat storage tank 1 and the ice maker A difference h in water head is created between the water level in 2 and the water level in 2. This is one of the features of this invention.

In addition, in order to introduce the mixed liquid L in the ice heat storage tank 1 to the upper part of the ice maker 2, the bottom of the ice heat storage tank 1 and the top of the ice maker 2 are connected with the liquid transport pipe 6 as in the conventional case. However, in the present invention, as described above, since the water head difference h can be utilized, the liquid transport pipe 3 as in the conventional example (FIG. 2) can be omitted.

That is, an air pipe 15 with an air flow control valve 14 is provided at the top of the ice maker 2, and a liquid flow control valve 16 is provided in the middle of the liquid transport pipe 6. If the air pressure inside the ice maker 2 is adjusted using the air flow rate control valve 14 and the air pipe 15, the mixed liquid L will flow into the ice heat storage tank 1 due to the water head difference h.
can be introduced into the ice making machine 2 through the liquid transport pipe 6. At this time, the amount of introduced liquid mixture L may be adjusted using the liquid amount control valve 16.

Further, as shown in the drawings for the air flow rate control valve 14 and liquid volume control valve 16, a manual method may be used, or each valve 14, 16 may be connected to a separately provided air injection device, and the air injected from the injection device may be controlled manually. The amount of opening and closing of each valve can be controlled depending on the amount of opening and closing, and various structures can be used, such as automation.

Then, the ice heat storage tank 1 and ice maker 2 arranged in this manner are connected with piping, etc., in substantially the same structure as the conventional one.

That is, the lower part of the ice maker 2 and the upper part of the ice heat storage tank 1 are connected by a liquid ice pipe 7.
A first pump 3' is disposed at an intermediate position of the liquid ice pipe 7 to enable forcible circulation.

Further, the ice making machine 2 described above is, for example, a cylindrical container having a plurality of tubes 4 inside, the lower part of which serves as a conical liquid ice reservoir 8, and the inside of the tube 4 serves as a flow path for the mixed liquid L. The outside of the tube 4 serves as a flow path for the refrigerant that is cooled by the refrigerator 5 and sent.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, the top of the ice heat storage tank 1,
A heat insulating material 9 is provided on the sides and bottom and on the liquid ice reservoir section 8 of the ice maker 2, but if the liquid ice reservoir section 8 is also built into the ice heat storage tank 1, the temperature of the liquid ice reservoir section 8 will be reduced. No insulation is required.

Furthermore, a cold heat extraction pipe 12 is provided which is connected from the lower part of the ice storage tank 1 to the liquid ice pipe 7 via a heat exchanger 11 of a cooling load 10 such as an air conditioner. A second pump 3'' is provided for forced circulation.

Furthermore, the cold heat extraction pipe 12 and the liquid ice pipe 7 are provided with a first switching valve 13 and a second switching valve 13', respectively.

In order to produce liquid ice in this embodiment, the mixed liquid L stored in the ice heat storage tank 1 is introduced into the upper part of the ice making machine 2 through the liquid transport pipe 6 using the water head difference h as described above. and,
The mixed liquid L flows down along the inner surface of the tube 4 in the ice maker 2 and is cooled by indirect contact with the refrigerant flowing outside the tube 4. As a result, the water in the liquid mixture L becomes supercooled and turns into ice particles, forming liquid ice I.
generate.

This liquid ice I is temporarily stored in a liquid ice reservoir 8 formed at the lower part of the ice maker 2, and is introduced into the upper part of the ice heat storage tank 1 through the liquid ice pipe 7 by the first pump 3' and stored therein.

Note that at this time, the first switching valve 13 is kept in a closed state, and the second switching valve 13' is kept in an open state.
The second switching valve 13' is closed when ice storage is completed.

In addition, when using cold heat, first, the first switching valve 13 is opened, and then the mixed liquid L whose temperature has decreased is drawn out from the lower part of the ice heat storage tank 1 into the cold heat extraction pipe 12 for heat exchange. The cold heat of the mixed liquid L is extracted in the vessel 11, and while the mixed liquid L whose temperature has risen passes through a layer of liquid ice I, the latent heat of the liquid ice is taken away and the temperature is lowered. and then sent to the heat exchanger 11 again. By repeating this operation, the cold heat stored in the ice heat storage tank 1 as liquid ice I is used.

In addition, although the above-described embodiment has been described as having one built-in ice maker, the present invention is not limited to this, and a plurality of ice makers may be built in. In that case, a relatively small number of ice makers of substantially the same standard may be mass-produced (reducing costs), and a required number of ice makers may be built in according to the size of the ice heat storage. In addition, when used in such a case, it is not necessarily necessary to operate all the ice makers at the same time, and a desired ice making machine (one or more ice makers may be used) may be operated.

Further, it is not necessarily necessary that the actual height of the ice maker is lower than the actual height of the ice heat storage tank, but it is sufficient to arrange the ice maker so that a difference in water head is created.

<<Effects of the invention>> As described above, according to the liquid ice type ice heat storage tank of the present invention, since the ice maker is inserted into the ice heat storage tank, insulation of the ice maker is not required.

Furthermore, the cold heat released to the outside of the ice maker is received by the ice heat storage tank, improving the thermal efficiency of the entire system.

Furthermore, there is no need for installation space for the ice maker, including the maintenance section, and the space required for the entire system can be significantly reduced. This effect becomes more noticeable when multiple ice makers are installed.

Furthermore, since the ice heat storage tank is used whose water level is higher than the water level of the ice maker, the mixed liquid can be transported from the ice heat storage tank to the ice maker by the water head difference, and a pipe for transporting the liquid can be omitted.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic explanatory view showing an embodiment of a liquid ice type ice heat storage tank according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing an ice heat storage tank and an ice maker in a conventional liquid ice type ice heat storage tank. 1...Ice heat storage tank, 1'...Protrusion, 2...Ice maker, 4...Tube, 5...Freezer, 6...Liquid transport pipe, 7...Liquid ice transport pipe, 8... Liquid ice reservoir section, 9...Insulating material, I...Liquid ice, L...Mixed liquid.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] In a liquid ice type heat storage tank consisting of an ice heat storage tank for storing cold heat using liquid ice and an ice maker for producing the liquid ice, a protruding portion protrudes outward from the lower periphery of the ice heat storage tank. at least one ice maker is built in the protrusion, and the ice maker is arranged so that the water level of the ice maker is lower than the water level of the ice heat storage tank, and the ice maker is located between the lower part of the ice heat storage tank and the ice maker. 1. A liquid ice type heat storage tank comprising: a pipe for transporting liquid that communicates with the upper part of the ice maker, and a pipe for transporting liquid ice that connects the lower part of the ice maker with the upper part of the ice heat storage tank.